S.O.F.T.

Introduction
The Deep, Dark Pit


At some point, we all struggle with faith. I have never met a person who said, “God has answered every single prayer just the way I asked, and he has healed every sick person I have ever met. He also comes down from heaven and eats breakfast with me every morning, and we have a nice, long chat face-to-face.” It’s hard having faith in someone or something we cannot see and even harder that our loving God doesn’t answer some of our most desperate prayers the way we want. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist or doesn’t love you. But how do we have faith? More precisely, what do we have to do to live in faith? How do we have real faith in God when there is so much pain and suffering in this world?
We hear stories all the time that put our faith to the test. Someone was shot in a robbery, or a friend is in the hospital in critical condition because he or she was involved in a serious car accident. You think, I know my friend is a good person, Lord. What did he or she do to deserve this? It’s even worse if the trial involves someone close to you—your husband or wife, son or daughter, mother or father, brother or sister. It takes only one incident to change someone’s entire life. And we question God: Why? Why is this happening to me, Lord?
I know I’m not alone in this. There are so many people suffering every single day, and they cry out to God, begging for his help. More and more people turn away from God because they don’t want to believe and have faith in a God they cannot see or because they feel he doesn’t care about them. It has to stop. Something needs to change.
God does care, and he wants us to wake up and understand that our faith matters to him in every possible way we could imagine. We matter to God.
Maybe some of you are reading this right now and thinking, No, I don’t really matter to God, or he would help me.
Let me say it again. You matter to God. You’re important to your Creator. He loves you just as you are, right where you are, no matter how deep a hole you’re in. You matter to God.
I understand how you feel. I have been there. For the past six or seven years, I was living in a hole. Actually, it was more like a deep, dark pit. I didn’t think I would ever get out of that nasty pit, and I wallowed in it for years. I was absolutely, horrifyingly miserable. I was terrified that me and my family wouldn’t have a place to live or enough food to eat. There were so many bad things going on in my life, and I didn’t know what to do or how to handle any of it. I didn’t think God cared about me because I was suffering so much. And there are thousands of people who have this same fear, and for some it is their reality every single day. But I found my way out of that pit—and so can you.
The funny thing is, I have been a Christian for seventeen years. You would think I would have it all together because I was living for God a good seven years before my world began to fall apart. Being a Christian isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. The devil is mad, and he wants to win. It seems like everything I do is difficult. Have you ever felt like that? Like you’re running uphill and getting nowhere? Sometimes it feels like I can’t win, but it doesn’t stop me. I wake up every single day, ready to fight anything and everything that dares to come against my family and me. Why? Because I don’t like to lose. I am a fighter, and the devil doesn’t like it.
I am no longer just fighting for myself or my loved ones. Now I’m fighting for you. I want to take a stand with you and have faith for every single obstacle in your life, and I want us to show the devil that he won’t win. He won’t take you or any part of you; he won’t possess anything you cherish or value. Not your soul, not your love, not your joy or your finances, not your loved ones, and definitely not your peace.
It is a fight that will overwhelm you on some days; it is a fight that will make you want to throw up your hands and say, “I can’t do this! It’s too much! I can’t handle it anymore!” For some, you will literally be fighting for your life. But I am here to tell you that you can do it. I fought for so long to get out of that slimy pit, and it wasn’t easy, but I did it. And I know you can do it, too. I will stand with you, praying for and encouraging you the whole time. I know how important this is, because when I was fighting some of my worst battles, I felt completely alone and desperate. If you need someone to stand with you, I am your girl. We can do this together.
Don’t stay down in your pit. Fight. Stand up and tell the devil no. Ask God to change you from the inside out and let him show you what you were meant to do. Let God examine your heart and be willing to make the changes it will take to make you a better person. Pray for strength every single day. Take a stand with your parents or children. Take a stand with your husband or wife. Take a stand with your friends. Stand on faith together and let God show you how much your faith matters to him.