Triumphant Faith

You may not want to hear this but faith, true faith, is often predicated by defeat.

In the Western World, where "winning" is everything, this is a very hard concept to grasp. But I can tell you that even in something as simple as learning how to a hit a baseball I had to miss, whiff...fail, dozens of times before I finally learned how to get it right. It took hundreds of more attempts to get it right consistently. That's a baseball. Life and God are much bigger than a baseball.

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell presents study after study that prove that before anyone can truly have any hope of becoming an "expert" at something they must try it a minimum of (are you ready for this?) 10,000 times! 

The truth is that life is frustrating. If we're not careful we can misplace that frustration and start blaming God.  It's not unlike the painting telling the artist that it's not very happy with how things are looking when, first of all, the painting can only see within the frame of its own existence and, most importantly, the painting isn't even finished yet.

When you are frustrated with God ask yourself how many times have you prayed to him, spoken to him, confided in him in your life?  Is it at least 10,000 times?  If not then I've got news for you: you better keep praying. Only then will you find a faith that is not only solid, but triumphant.