SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

      Our daughter lay dying down the hospital corridor and my heart screamed, “Where are you God?”

      It was the first time in my life an earthquake struck my faith in the message of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall  not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The Bible says, however, if you build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ you can stand through the storms, even a large spiritual and emotional quake and the aftershocks, as I discovered.

      The interesting thing about faith is it’s an act of the will. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” we’re told in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV). The scripture further explains: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (verses 3, 6).

      When we back up into Hebrews 10 we’re admonished to keep believing, even when our faith has been shaken: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” (Hebrews 10:35-39).

            Abraham, after living a long life of believing and communing with God, had his crises when Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to bring about their desires for a child herself. But apparently Abraham kept believing he would father a son and many nations: ^“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20)
            Sarah did become with child and Isaac was born.
            Through prayer, study of the Word and surrounding myself with brothers and sisters in Christ, I found I truly believe those who have faith in Jesus will never die, but have eternal life.
            If your faith sometimes falters, you are not alone, however. Jesus’s disciple, Thomas, said “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
            Eight days after Jesus rose from the dead, although the doors were shut, Jesus appeared right in the middle of the gathered disciples. He greeted them, then said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
            Thomas slowly reached out and touched the place where the spear pierced the Son of God on the cross, and then examined his hands.
            “My Lord and my God,” Thomas exclaimed.
            “Thomas, because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (From John 20.)
            Since we lost our daughter, I have found plenty of evidence that shows we’re more than a body and we’ll live beyond the grave.
            Because I was a newspaper medical reporter and a student of God’s Word, I compiled this information into a book to build your faith: Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. It’s now available at the link below.
            Yet as you read the book, notice I said “to build your faith.”
            Can we prove Jesus rose from the dead? Can we show the world they’ll live beyond the grave?
            No. Despite all the evidence that is so concrete it’s difficult to deny, faith is still necessary for salvation and God requires we believe. Romans 10:9 says “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
            That’s the Easter message in a nutshell.