God
is mysterious. God is difficult to see. God doesn’t just show up one day as the
glowing white bearded man depicted in images and say “Hey, I am God. I exist.”
Why though? Why can’t God just appear in a dream, and say “Whats up!? I am
here.” If God did that, finding and maintaining faith would be so much easier.
But if something is easy to obtain, it would be less valued than something that
is hard to obtain. It is like the grades received from different classes. Last year
I took the most time consuming, challenging, and stressful course I have ever
taken. If you are a high school student or know one, you probably have heard of
a little class called APUSH(AP United States History). I spent one to three
hours every night studying, making flashcards, reading the book, taking notes
on the book, and mentally preparing myself for the next quiz, test, or in-class
essay. It was exhausting, but not in vain. I got an A. That A was awesome, and
I still thank God today for giving me the abilities to achieve it. I got As in
other classes as well. For example, for my fashion design class the grade was
primarily determined by participation. So basically because I put an honest
effort in that class, I received an A. Let’s
be realistic now, the effort I put into fashion design was nothing compared to
the effort I put into APUSH. I didn’t need to in order to achieve the same
result. I ended up receiving the same grade in both classes, but the grades
were not at all equal in value. I find greater happiness when I think about my
grade in APUSH than my grade in fashion design. That is simply because my A was
not easy to achieve. My grade was not given to me as a delicately wrapped gift.
The grade required hard work, doubt, and perseverance.
My relationship with God was not easy to achieve. My relationship with God
isn’t a delicately wrapped gift God just handed over to me. Building a
relationship with God requires hard work, doubt, and perseverance (and a whole
lot of other stuff). If God revealed Himself to me as glowing figure and said,
“Hello. I am God. I am here. I exist. I love you”, I know I would effortlessly
accept God into my daily lives without truly understanding His value. God would
become like the sun. A reliable and inescapable constant aspect of life. So easy to accept its presence. So easy to acknowledge its importance. So easy to forget its value. So easy to not appreciate. So easy not to notice. My life wouldn’t be
worth living, if I never noticed God.
My faith in God has not been
achieved through direct contact with Him. That would be too easy. My faith in God comes from
indirect communication. I guess you could call them signs. Gods signs serve as
validation of His constant presence with us and His endless support. Living
life while noticing all of the different ways God is communicating with us is
hard. It is easy to focus on the world and all of its demands, but it is hard
to make time for God. However, when we fixate ourselves on God and notice His
signs, God gives us something more valuable than anything on Earth. God allows us
to see Him.
I think God wants to make his
presence known, but He wants to do so in a way that will keep us actively
engaged. If God makes himself harder to see, we put in a greater effort to
connect with Him. And because finding God is a difficult task, we are given a
greater sense of glory when we do see Him. When I finally notice one of God’s
signs that I desperately need, I feel like the Miracle Mets when they won the World Series. I feel like an
underdog who has won the championship. The championship being Gods infinite
grace. I have been filled with strong doubt, worry, and confusion that only God
can and has repeatedly beaten. God is here. We just need to perceive his
presence.
God graciously gives me many
messages that teach me lessons and validate his eternal love. God’s signs are
one of the best paths to experiencing God’s message. That is why I wanted to
make this page. To illustrate the signs I have received from God that have
inspired my blog posts. I feel as though when people (myself included) talk
about their faith, they do not typically talk about the personal and intimate
ways God has shown Himself to them. I do not view this as in any way wrong! All
of my religious blog posts I typically talk about what God does for me, and
what his teaching mean. I have explained the what but not the how. I have not
explained how I have come to believe what I believe. How something has come
into existence is just as important if not more important than what actually is
existing. I want to share. I want to explain how my faith has evolved to be
what it is today. How has God shown Himself to me? How did I become a
Christian? How can I be so sure about my faith? Simple. It’s all about God’s
unquestionable signs.
