Being the Salt and the Light

Have you ever felt that your faith is being tested almost every day of your life? There isn't ever a break. You're tested at home, at work, in the community, on vacation, in the car....(insert your location here). Whether it is your faith in God or in humanity, it is going to be tested. The biggest difference between the testing of your faith in God and in humanity is that humanity will always fail you. God never does.

Over the last few months, my heart has been breaking for families in my community and across the nation. Families are struggling. Marriages are struggling. Individuals are struggling. Some hide it well. Unfortunately, those struggles will find a way to the surface, and when that happens, let the explosion begin. 

We all have our struggles. This blog isn't about not having struggles. It's about how to overcome the struggles, how to form a community of believers to survive the struggles, and how to pray without ceasing to grow your faith in GOD.

Psalm 32:7 "You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance."

Whether we want to believe it or not, people are watching. I'm not talking about Big Brother, Facebook, or Alexa, even though it is weird that things I discuss with friends will show up as ads on FB. People are watching to see us rise, and hopefully, fall. More people seem to enjoy seeing others fail instead of celebrating successes. Which one are you?

To be open and honest, I recently got caught up in FB drama that a family was sharing. After reading one of the posts, I became sick at my stomach because I never saw the struggles the individual was going through when I was a teacher at that school. How did all of us miss this? How are we missing the struggles our friends, family, and neighbors are experiencing?

Let's stop focusing on the person in the mirror and start looking outwards. Not to see who is doing what and gossiping about it. Let's look for ways to help one another succeed, overcome, survive.

Read Psalm 91. It's too long to write here. It's about finding refuge in GOD.

The title of today's blog is 'Being the Salt and the Light.' You may not think that it has anything to do with struggles, but it really does. Over 5 years ago, my daughter and I were talking about how the pain and struggles we experience can be a guide to someone in the future. We do not understand at that moment why it is happening, but years later, our stories or heartbreak can be a survival guide to someone else.

Matthew 5:14, 16 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill canot be hidden...Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Being GOD's Light means that we show others what it means to be a Christian. Not a Christian only on Sunday mornings, but a Christian 24/7, 365. Being GOD's Light does not mean we are perfect. It means we have an ongoing relationship with our FATHER. We try to be the SALT, the good salt, not the worthless kind.

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."

Even if we have lost our saltiness, we can be restored. It is never too late to turn our lives around, get down on our knees, and ask GOD to restore our relationship with HIM. (The only time it is too late is the day of our funeral.)

Acts 3:19-20 "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."

There are many ways people try to overcome life's struggles: food, drugs, alcohol, extracurricular activities not related to sports, money, social media (the list can go on and on). These solutions just add to the struggles and will cause a greater separation between us and GOD. 

Get involved in a strong, biblical church. Create a Biblical Community of a few believers who will keep one another accountable, and more importantly, pray over one another. Have daily conversations with GOD. Praying does not have to be long winded with fancy multi-syllable words. Ask the HOLY SPIRIT to give you strength to overcome your struggles, to give you the right people in your life to help support your recovery, not to lead you astray.

How you build your relationship with the FATHER and how you overcome your struggles with the help of the HOLY SPIRIT will be the survival guide to someone else! What's stopping you? No more excuses.

I am rooting for you. I have a community of ladies who are rooting for me, and I for them. 

Romans 5:1-6 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

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