Are you a 1 or a 0?

Are you awake? Are you alive? Are you breathing? Can you hear me? Where’s your love? Where’s your faith? Why can’t you forget?

Inscribed.

Inscribed forever in my heart and forecasting my life to come, is this verse from the book of Hebrews, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The transition from unsure to certain is difficult; grasping eternity with God is forever rewarding.

As an undedicated Christian for much of my life, the relationship I held with God was an empty one. My family was never religious. Church seemed downright boring. A Bible was a lucky find within my household. I never understood what my life was about or how it should be lived. There was nothing to point out the emptiness embedded inside of me. The morals in my life were there, but I never understood them. However, salvation was near.

When I was sixteen, things started to fall apart, or so it seemed at the time. I was doing well in school, but life at home was different. I lived two lives, the joyful me at school and the frightened son at home. The wrath exerted by my father coaxed me into submission. The feelings within me hushed. I falsely advertised my heart to the world and unjustly contained my love and passion for what I yearned for in life. With fear, I fled to my grandmother’s house, and eventually divorced my parents. The result created a hole inside of me, a hole that opened up room for God to enter into my life.

Although all the elements of my life pointed to unhappiness, I found myself becoming stronger. My whole life flipped around. Where others would be crying in life, I was progressing. I started involving myself in church and community events instead of evaporating into tears of depression. Slowly, through God, I rebuilt myself.

I chose to go into the youth ministry as an intern under my pastor. Through the church, I reaffirmed my faith in God and dug deeper into my life. I started reading the Bible, memorizing scripture, applying it to my life, and helping others by using what I had learned. With the past no longer a burden inside me, I began to use it as a benefit for my life and others. Being able to relate with others who fall into similar situations and help guide them through their struggles is gratifying. It’s helped me realize that I had never lost my father; in fact, I had finally found him. I now see the world in completely new eyes. A life through Jesus Christ has etched faith, hope, and love into my life; all of which I now use to progress, guide, and live by.

The struggles in my life have only brought me closer to the Lord. I found where my morals in life came from and how my life needed to be lived, rather than just existing in an endless ridge of bleakness. Now my faith is being sure of what I hope for and the evidence to what I did not see.

Good tidings and God bless,
Corey