Suppose we could see the stairway of tears, prayers, praises, valleys, and ugly cries that built the way to our mountaintop. It'd be much easier to understand how and why we got here. 

I find myself on a mountaintop built by countless tears, prayers, praises, valleys, and ugly cries. One that seems too good to be true, yet that's the kind of God I serve! A God that doesn't give me what I ask for. Thankfully. "According to His riches, He gives me abundantly more than I can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20). 

My fiancé is nothing I ever pictured, more than I could have imagined, and everything I'll ever need…

We all have something that makes our hearts beat with purpose. Giving. Doing. Fixing. Sending. Going. Creating. Organizing. God crafted us to deliver a unique package of compassion, purpose, and light into our specific areas of influence. I love that our God only asks for things we have within our capabilities. We have a unique and valuable skill set to offer God.

It was early Tuesday morning. She was coming out of her deep slumber after being unconscious for more than 24 hours. She thought, "I'm going to die. This is my day of going home to see Jesus." She remembers saying, "Jesus, I love you. I am ready for you."

It was that very moment Anne Bosman saw herself. It was an out-of-body experience. She walked down a vast dark muddy road covered in thick dark clay. The road was lined with thousands of trees as far as the eye could see and tall as the sky. ..

No. They prayed. They sought the Lord. The answer was no.

Larry and Ashley Fulmer had been trying to conceive for six years. They desperately wanted a family. But they struggled to get pregnant. As so many also struggle with infertility, the questions arise- why God? I did everything right. Why is this not the plan for us?

First came the cancer, then the betrayal, then the debt, then the car accident, then the death, and another death, and then the tornado. 

When it rains, it pours. 

Fran Weisser was 18 years old when she was saved in 1973. Her husband, Bill, was saved at 15 years old. They met in their 30’s and needless to say, they have been through some stuff. Now at 66 years old, married for 30 years, Fran loves God and her husband more than ever. How? Because they weathered the storms, well. 

What do we do when the answer is “not yet” and “no”?

There is a before and after to every good story. A before and after to every spoken prayer. A before and after to every testimony that makes the hair stand up on our arms.

It’s the part where faith is literally made, purified, and built. It’s the part when we can’t see, but we believe it anyway.