Faith gets a Reality Check

The power of the Holy Spirit is evident in scripture and in the miracles, big and small, that we see and read about everyday.  But do we really believe in this immense power in our everyday lives?   Do we really believe that the Holy Spirit has the power to transform ANYTHING? 

I have a fairly strong and consistent faith.  Most times if I were asked that question about the Holy Spirit transforming anything, I wouldn't hesitate to answer affirmatively.  I would say absolutely and cite time after time when God, working as the Holy Spirit, has blessed me or my family.  I would have a false sense of confidence in that belief.

Because today as I sit here writing this I am feeling like I was kicked in the stomach.  I got an answer to prayer that was under no circumstances the answer that I wanted or that I thought was warranted or in anyway deserved.  I am hurt and I am angry.  And me, on my own high horse,  think these feelings are quite justified.  Feelings are just feelings and how you feel isn't right or wrong.  Or is it?

Getting the initial news was a shock so those knee jerk feelings, I believe, are just that.  However, if I truly believe that the Holy Spirit can transform anything then I would calm down and actually pray.  I would stop my interior two year old temper tantrum that I have been feeding since that initial sting wore off.   And I would ask the Holy Spirit into my heart.  I would allow the healing and love of the Spirit to transform me and return my calm and confidence and faith.  I would allow this healing to help me to remember that God, working through the Holy Spirit, has led me through tougher trials than this.  I would remember that God's plan is always for the best. I would accept this answered prayer in the same way I do when I get the answer I want.

Believing in the grandeur of the Holy Spirit is believing as strongly on a chilly, gray, rainy June day when disappointing news shows up as you do on a beautiful, sunny day when every is being answered exactly as I wish.  Our Advocate, sent from God, is with me and guiding me in all situations.  The situations that my limited human mind and heart can't understand are precisely the times when I need to remember and trust in that amazing power of the Holy Spirit.