Dear Friend,

I'm writing this because I feel like someone out there needs this. It may be you, it may be someone you know, but whoever it is, I can feel that they need to read these words.

If you're in that part of life where things just don't seem to be working out, and you may think that God has His back turned to you, you're wrong. Trust me, I've been there. I know that it's not a fun situation to be in, and I've done a lot of thinking about these types of situations. It took me a while, many hours of pondering and a few mistakes that made things worse in between, but I finally figured it out. You see, God isn't ignoring us. He never stops paying attention to His children, even though sometimes it feels like it.

The reason we fall into this rut and feel alone is because we turn our backs. We are the ones who stop paying attention to our Father. Things start going well, and we simply forget to thank Him. Our prayers get shorter, our bad habits get stronger and we think life is a perfect bouquet of roses. We forget that roses have thorns. We prick our finger once, and we fall back into a downward spiral. Sadly, it usually isn't until we hit the bottom when we reach for God once more. We complain that He didn't help us through that hard time, or that he didn't give us the result we wanted out of a situation. In reality, we think that God didn't help us simply because we did not get our way. We go through stages of being angry at God, to being hurt and then asking for His help. This is a vicious cycle.

We often forget that in order to receive God's blessings, we must walk with Him daily, but as I stated earlier, it seems that when things start going well, we begin to walk away from Him. We forget that we still need His guidance, and if we walk away from God, then we can not receive all the blessings that he has to offer. James 4:8 says, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." We need only to stay close to God, and the rest is in His hands.

If you're going through a rough patch with God right now, then restoring your faith can seem tedious. However, starting small can usually provide the best results, and I know this because I myself have gone astray more times than I would care to admit. If you start by praying, even if it is just a small prayer before you lay down at night, it will help. Communicating with God is one of the most important parts of your relationship with Him, and it is comforting to know you can talk and pray about anything!

I also find it helpful to pray in the morning so that my day is off to a peaceful start. It can be difficult to make time for prayer in the beginning, but once you make it a habit, it becomes almost impossible to forget about it even on the busiest days.

The important thing to remember is that no one is a perfect Christian. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Even the most devoted Christians fall astray. What matters is how you mend your relationship with Christ, and how you continue to improve it every day. It's easy to assume that God has left you when things look dark in your life, but it is good to remember that we are the ones who have failed, and that He is waiting with open arms whenever we decide to come back to Him.

I leave you with the simple reminder that some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers, and some of our biggest mistakes are all a part of His master plan for our lives, even if we are not as devoted to Him as we should be. And as Tiny Tim would say, "God bless us, everyone."

Sincerely,

A Fellow Christian