PASTOR’S CORNER: Let all of us have an unbroken faith

In the book “Unbroken Faith,” author Diane Docco talks about her autistic son. Diane offered hope for spiritual recovery to adults raising children with disabilities. As her son, diagnosed with autism, enters adulthood, Dianne’s faith remains intact. She trusts that God will always care for her and her son when she is gone.” She said “Uncertainties in life can harden our hearts toward God. We may be tempted to place our faith in other things or people, including ourselves.”

My community friends, challenges will happen to all of us. There are children with disabilities or other things. Our faith in Christ will be challenged. For certain, there will be some things we will not understand or agree with but we can depend on “the rock of our salvation.” That’s the focus of today: the rock. Because be sure, Satan will try to break our faith, for if he can break our faith, he can break us! That’s not going to happen.

Unbroken faith is a faith in God that nothing will snap or break. Though we may have our moments, we won’t lose our faith because we realize that the sharp edges of our lives are smoothed by the waves of life. Will there be pain? Of course! Will our feelings not be hurt? Sure will. Will we have to cry? Better get you some Kleenex tissue because it is going to happen. Broken hearts, let downs and the things we will see from folk who profess to be saved will stun you.

You’d better get ready.

Will bad things happen to good people? In this life, you better believe it! However, when God allows things like these to happen to his children, it is not to break our faith. It is to strengthen our faith and give us an unbroken faith. And, when we are saved by grace, what would ordinarily break us, won’t break us! That’s what unbroken faith is. Unbroken faith says that if my faith is in God, it won’t break. For if it did, we wouldn’t be here today in our right mind; not with what some of us have had to deal with and face head on.

There are parents with children that have down syndrome, children born with cancer, multiple sclerosis, physical disabilities like the children in Africa and India. There are some whose faces are disfigured with tumors, limbs twisted, some bent over and can hardly function. No doubt their mothers wonder that if something happened to them, what would become of their children? Thank God for the “mercy-ship” we see on television of doctors who volunteer and give free charitable surgeries to fix these children and give them a chance at living a normal life.

There are parents of children with autism like the aforementioned mother, people dealing with schizophrenia symptoms and bipolar conditions. Parents of those born this way may wonder what will happen to their disabled children should something happen to them. Surely, they believe that nobody will take care of them like they would. I think most parents with little children think about what will happen to their children when they are young. But, “unbroken faith” calms our fears even though we don’t know the unknown or the future. It gives us a calmness within. We trust God with our anxieties, our concerns and the future. We can’t always figure things out. We won’t always know the outcome of everything as it relates to the future. Unbroken faith knows that God will always care for us and our children whether we are here or not.

Unbroken faith knows that we can trust God and depend on God to take care of everything that we leave behind. In the process of life, what God is doing is smoothing off some of the rough edges around us. David said, “Truly my soul waits upon God: from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved (Psalms 62:1,2).”

Friends, if God is our rock, and he is. If God is our salvation, and he is. If God is our fortress, and fortress means “a military stronghold” and he is. If God is all of these things, we cannot be shaken! Somebody knows that a rock doesn’t shake and it cannot be moved.

David realized that he could not lose, with the stuff he used! He did not put his trust in a man. His strength was not in a woman. His hope was not built around his job, his family, his friends, his wealth or even his enemies. None of these are totally dependable. Why? Because people will be people.

Community, the reason why David did not lose his sanity or faint because of fear. The reason he was able to hold it together and still give God worship and praise and write this psalm was because of the assurance that God was his rock and his salvation.

Friends, so many times in my own life, when the waters was regurgitating and sea billows rolled, the one thought that always brought me solace, peace and calmness in my soul, was the reality that I had Christ in my life. The fact that I had him in my ship, made the difference. Christ has given me so much peace over the years. So many times, even to this very day, the reality of having Christ makes the difference!

Community, when our faith is in God alone, God is our rock and an unbroken faith guarantees that if we rock, we won’t roll!”

Let all of us have an unbroken faith.