Respirit--inspiration to refresh your spirit and give you courage

"MAN MADE WALLS"  

Times like this define who I am in my Christianity.  These are times when my 
troubles and my emotions sneak up on me and my thoughts invade my spirit.  How strong 
is my strength in Christ?  It is simple to serve and follow God when life goes exactly the 
way I planned and God and I are in agreement, but how strong is my faith when God's 
plan goes against what I desire?  I sit and wonder why wouldn't "my way" work?  Then I 
hear my Father whisper, "because you don't know the way, you have never been here 
before".  It is easy to say that I have handed my all-and-all over to God when God and I 
seem to be on the same page, but when I look down to see that God has stopped three 
pages back and here I am reading ahead of him, that's when I know I've been the one 
leading instead of Him.  How hard it is to surrender my desires over to God when I'm 
fixed on what I want to come about.  However these are the tests and trials I, and many 
come to face when we are longing to be fixed and guided, then we realize that to be 
guided you have to follow.  Which means even if I don't like the way the road looks 
ahead, I am to still follow the leader.  My faith is made stronger during these trialing 
times and during these times I know my Father looks down on me to see if I truly trust 
him to lead me to a fertile land "full of milk and honey".  During these times I shine 
the greatest and I am given the power to trample the devil harder then ever before.  There 
are so many things in this world I will never understand.  If my Father created the world 
and everything in it then surely he can fix this thing that troubles me.  How simple it must 
be for Him to restore me and pick me up.  Even I, am faced with walls that appear to be 
indestructible, walls that come to separate me from happiness and peace.  However if 
God didn't build those walls then surely he will and can tear them down.  I guess true 
faith manifests during the hard times when you lean on God even when "your plan" 
seems better.  God finds great happiness in seeing his children depend on Him and trust in Him.  
My greatest rewards are granted during these challenging moments because 
these are the times God tests my faith in Him.  These are the times I get a chance to show 
Him how much I depend on Him and show Him He is in charge.  These are the times 
when I can't see what's so great about His plans and decisions for my life, but still I trust 
that He knows what's best for me.  These unpredictable times bring into existence my 
true loyalty to a God I can't see, yet I follow Him and trust Him, Faithfully!      

By: JONTUE PERKINSON