Humanness

"For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept that the love of Christ knows no shadow of alteration or change. When Jesus said, 'Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened,' He assumed we would grow weary, discouraged and disheartened along the way. These words are a touching testimony to the genuine humanness of Jesus. He had no romantic notion of the cost of discipleship. He knew that following Him was as unsentimental as duty, as demanding as love. He knew that physical pain, the loss of loved ones, failure, loneliness, rejection, abandonment, and betrayal would sap our spirits; that the day would come when faith would no longer offer any drive, reassurance, or comfort; that prayer would lack any sense of reality or progress; that we would echo the cry of Teresa of Avila: 'Lord, if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!'"

----Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

This year has been probably the hardest year of my life so far. Before, I used to wonder why would people abandon God or quit Christianity altogether after going through a rough time. But you don't truly get it until it hits you. Until God has stripped everything precious and dear to you - your dreams, hopes, close family ties and leave you nothing but (physical) heartbreak and disappointment.

This is when your faith is tested. 

This is when shit gets real.