Alone on the Stairs

I grew up in a small town that has a population with the majority being Christian. Looking back, I sometimes feel as though it was sometimes assumed that you would just naturally become a Christian at a young age. Some of the "basics" of Christianity were sort of hurried over, because we should have just known that. This was not the fault of any one person or organization or anything. It's just that for me the transition of child-like faith to the development of my own faith was hard. It's difficult for me to explain, but I was one of those that needed extra help in this area, but I didn't know it. I sort of felt ashamed that I didn't feel as Christ-like as others, and I never felt good enough. I really just wanted to know how to feel like I was "good enough". How did people get to that place with God? I felt like I was alone on a stairway that would eventually lead me to "that place" where I would finally be "good enough" for God. I was so alone there, and I was often travelling half a step forward, and three steps back.

It wasn't until years later, after I was married, when I went to my mother-in-laws church that my eyes were opened. The pastor began to speak right to me! He said "Do any of you feel like you are on a neverending stairway, trying to reach the top where God is, but never getting any closer? Do you feel you will never be good enough for God, or to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?" Then he said, "These are lies that Satan is telling you. He wants you to believe you are alone on those stairs. He wants you to think you will never be good enough". At this point I was almost in tears, because all my life - up until that point - I had been walking that stairway alone, and never feeling like I was a person God would want. The pastor continued, "Stop believing Satan's lies! He is a deceiver, and a liar! Only God is the truth. He says to us 'Seek and you will find me, knock and the door will be opened'. You are never alone on those stairs. God is with each of us, standing next to us - holding our hand, and helping us up to the next step. You were good enough for God when you accepted Him into your heart and took that first step. There are no goals to reach, or levels of Christianity to get to. You are good enough NOW. He is with you NOW." My life changed at that moment. All those years of believing that I had to get to a certain place to be good enough for God melted away. I was good enough. I wasn't alone. God wanted me to become stronger in my faith, and He would be there to help me get there - and if I failed, He would still be there! Honestly, this was all new to me - and I was rejoicing, finally, in the truth!

From that moment on my life was different. It wasn't long after that a friend and I began a woman's Bible study group - and it has been strong and growing ever since. I feel like a new person, and every day I am learning something new about my faith and what I can do with it. I am writing this today for anyone that may think they are alone on those stairs. You are not alone. Satan wants you to believe that you are alone - don't let him lie to you! I want to encourage you that you are good enough for God today, right now, even in your sin and imperfection. You are good enough. God wants you to grow, and He's there to help - but you don't have to do it on your own.

Think of a child and his father. What father would make their child walk through darkness to get to him? No loving father would do that. He would hold his child's hand, and walk with him. How much more love does our Heavenly Father have for us than any earthly father? He will not make us walk the path alone. He is there - holding our hand. This doesn't mean we won't fall, and it doesn't mean that we won't get hurt. A good father will allow his children to learn from some mistakes, and thus they grow and learn. So it is with God. He doesn't want bad things to happen to us, but He will allow it if He knows that it will make us grow.

But even there, if you seek God, your God, you'll be able to find him if you're serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won't bring you to ruin, he won't forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.

~ Deuteronomy 4:29-31 ~