Prove it.

I had this conversation recently... it was long, intense, thought provoking. Oddly enough, my favorite kind. Anyway, in this conversation, my beliefs were questioned. I am usually uncomfortable with that. I get flustered, try to evade the questions, change the subject. I'm ashamed, at my own weakness. But it's true, and I know it's a problem. The interesting thing about this was, I wasn't flustered. The Lord gave me clarity, and since that conversation, things have been different. Because it wasn't just clarity in the conversation, it was clarity for me.

Do you ever think about "why" you believe in God? As a Christian, I don't question it often. I just believe. But being put to the question, and basically accused of only believing how I do because I was raised this way, told that I don't think or consider things, that I don't actually process through what I've been told... that I have been brainwashed and don't have reasons for what I believe, really made me consider. I not only know that's not true, but I have reasons.

My life has been a normal life. And by normal, I mean, as crazy and random as anyone else's. My siblings were all basically raised like me, and yet we have all ended up making very different choices and stands, all believing different things. Why? Because we have experienced different things. The things I have experienced, personally, have made me choose how I have.

I have experienced God. I know He is real. I can't count the times I have known Him to save me, where I have been on the brink of disaster, stuck in a crazy, crazy mess. I know without a doubt that He is real, that He loves me, and has been personally involved in my life. I know Him to be my Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Justifier. He is incredible, and I love Him because I know Him.
It is as simple as that.

All I can think for my loved ones that don't believe, for anyone who doesn't believe, is that I pray He introduces Himself to you. I pray that you would experience Him, and that He would open your eyes to the times that He has been there before... that you would see Him, and not resist it. That you would let Him prove He is real, that you would believe His proof.

I don't know why I believe and others don't, but He does. And He also knows exactly all that it will take to convince them... all that its taken to convince me. I am so thankful, so thankful for all that Him being Lord means.