I was living an "it's all gonna be okay" gospel

Yesterday was hard. I was angry, hurt, confused, and just flat out annoyed that we still don't have answers to some pretty big issues. I was on my way home from work feeling sorry for myself, wondering why the heck is this all happening, why hasn't it started to get better yet?! Honestly, I felt like Reed and I had taken some big steps of faith. We have listened well and been bold in our faith, so like we passed the test! We already checked those boxes. It is now time for things to start falling in to place.

I basically thought I understood God, that I knew if I did A B and C that He would respond with D E and F. Nope. Thankfully I am surrounded with friends, that don't just let me wallow in my own thoughts. When I voiced these feelings I got this response back:
"Living by faith does not automatically mean we get what we want. The true test of faith, is living it even when we can't see an end in site". 
Dang it.

Why does that have to be true, wouldn't it just be easy to live an "it's all gonna be okay" gospel? Thats what we preach isn't it! Live by faith, then God will make it all better again!

This isn't totally true.

This morning I read the story of the false prophet Hananiah, the people of Judah had just experienced ruin, their homes, everything they knew was destroyed they were in exile. Hananiah declared, "two years! Everything will be fine in two years, God told me!" Meanwhile, the people are hurting and homeless and everything is not okay.
The people had a problem that needed to be addressed, they had work to do, and they needed to LIVE OUT not merely proclaim their faith.

This is us.
The Lathrop family does not need a truthless pep talk to get through this difficult time. We need to live a life that calls peoples hearts to the gospel, that reveals a God who listens, pursues, engages and rescues. Our God isn't going to simply replace what we have lost, He is pursing our hearts, drawing us closer to him, revealing himself to us and promising restoration in His time.

Reed and I will continue to live a life of faith, to call out to our God and search for Him with all our heart, to know that restoration will come, and when it comes it will come in a way we can not deny it is from our God.

There is faith to be lived out not merely proclaimed.