Fact, Faith & Feeling

Recently I had a situation in my life that made me whine, "But I don't wanna!!" Can you relate? I was invited to an event that I didn't want to attend. I was invited by people I didn't want to be with. So every time the issue came up, I would flatly state, "I can't go because (insert excuse here)."

But it wasn't the truth. Not really. The truth was I didn't want to go. And for good reason.

But that wasn't enough. God wouldn't let me off the hook. It doesn't matter why. So I asked him and his reply was, "Just because you don't want to go doesn't mean you shouldn't go."

Ouch. I mean really, what kind of answer is that?

Have you ever done something you didn't want to do but you knew was the right thing? Like dieting? or exercising? Maybe adoption was not your favorite option, but you knew it was the best decision for your child. Tell me, did your discomfort with the idea keep you from doing it?

When we are faced with a choice, we really have two options. We can go by what we feel, or we can go by what we know. While it's easy to be ruled by our feelings, the fact-faith-feeling train model is really a good one. We make decisions based on fact, what we know to be true, faith, what God tells us is true, and let our feelings come later. Sometimes much later.

Doing the right thing doesn't have to feel good at the time. The feelings will catch up - or they won't - but we'll have the knowledge of the truth that we did the right thing.

So back to my example. The situation still isn't resolved. But now that God has set me straight, I know what is right and true. I guess I'll wait until the situation arises again - if it does - and go from there.

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