Believe without seeing.

By Briana Booker

I was watching the movie the Miracle Maker, a film about the miracles of Jesus. I have not seen this movie in a long time and it really hit home for me today. Happy to believe without seeing is a beautiful thing. I am not even talking on a religious sense. I am talking about believing in yourself and believing in your hopes and dreams.

No matter if you believe Jesus as the son of God or not, the story of Jesus and his teachings are amazing. You can not go wrong with the truth of the word and neither should you fear it.

No one is perfect and I believe there is always room for improvement in ones actions and words. Recently, I have come to terms that sometimes the death of a habit does not mean a bad outcome. You have to die to get to where you want to be sometimes. Sometimes, you will not recognize the death of the person you once were, and other times, you will know.

Sometimes, we have to start out as that random mustard seed blowing in the wind that comes upon a foreign settlement to become one of the greatest trees.

To believe gives you more power than you think. Hope can make dreams that seem near impossible become realities. Sometimes you have to go through the storm to see happier days.

What was so refreshing about the Miracle Maker film is that it shows you have to take risk to gain something bigger and greater than your personal wants and needs. Sometimes, life is about a greater will than your own.

Sometimes, we are stronger when we build our house on solid stone versus the easier structure of building on sand. When the storms come, the sand will wash away but the stone will remain.

I was builidng on sand for years and gaining nothing from it but sorrow. However, I have learned some grief is necessary. Sometimes the best days are the ones mixed with laughter and crying in one seating. It makes you a stronger person and prepares you for the greater opportunities set before you...but you have to believe they exist before obtaining these blessings.

I had to touch the marks of my past to stop doubting my future that peace can exist, if i allow it. If you believe, you must forgive yourself for belittling yourself and giving up on yourself. Find a way to open up yourself and be open to what the world around you offers.

I really do believe that all whom are lost can be saved, if we stop wanting to be lost. I wanted to stay lost for awhile because I didn't want to lose what I thought I needed to survive. However, the old wine is not satisfying anymore. I rather have the new wine. I want the new one that makes me live. I want the new one that does not make me afraid to change so that I can be and recieve better in my life and beyond.

Sometimes, we rather take some other way than the challenging way. We would rather run,but it is not our will that we should be serving, we should be serving the higher will of existence...that will called destiny.

Allow yourself the opportunity to push your life boat out to the deep. I am learning to do that more often. I have been so use to having my boat in the shallow waters that I have prevented myself from obtaining the better catch out in the deep.

How can I tell one person I can take the speck of dust out of his or her eyes when I have a log in my eye? It does not make sense.

I am learning now to start with my own soul. I am learning now not to let the past make me silent and afraid to be better. I am learning to live. I am learning to build something new. But this time I am going to build upon a rock and not the sand.

I want to learn to be as humble as a child again. I want to learn to trust. I want to learn to love myself and my neighbor. If that is not a path to happiness, I do not know what could be...but I am going to try.

Please check out the Miracle Maker sometime! It is a great movie for thought for all ages.

How to keep the faith during sadness.

We all have a story to tell. We all feel pain. But what to do when we have lost something dear to us? What to do when we have no control of an outcome?

Often these questions are especially asked when we lose a love one to death. We feel mad at the world and, if believers of God, we ponder why us? Did we do something wrong to deserve this?

I am here to tell you I have been there and done that. I am here to tell you that more than just you and me have been in those shoes. I am also here to tell you...do not lose faith.

I know you are thinking easier said than done, right?

Yes, it is one of the hardest lessons to give your worries and attachments away. It is hard to say that you feel true happiness after feeling a loss close to your heart.

I felt like my world had fallen apart when I lost my brother to illness, almost two years ago. I was mad at the world. I was mad at God.

I literally took hibernation from the external world. I was in much pain,but I do remember church folks telling me to believe.

Eventually, after they stopped telling me that, life went on. People kept moving, while I was still mourning. Sometimes, I would cry at night or look at a picture feeling sad. Then, in the morning, hide my sadness behind a smile.

But then, I realized, I had to stop feeling sorry for myself, my family and my brother. There were people who have suffered as I have in similar experiences. There were people that have been through worse, such as losing an entire family.

And sometimes one has to wonder during a funeral are you crying because you feel sorry the person has passed or are you crying because you were left behind? You felt the person was obligated to still be alive because you could not bear living without he or she?

It is understandable.

But what I have come to grasp is that you have to give your worries away and enjoy those in your life at all times! Maybe it is true that people come into your life for a reason, a season,and a life time.

Maybe what counts is just the present. Maybe you should hope for enough joy to make you kind and appreciative. Maybe we should hope for enough struggle to make us strong and wise. Maybe we should hope for an enough sorrow to make us know we are only human. And above all, maybe we should try to live our lives to the fullest because we are never guaranteed tomorrow.

What does this have to do with comforting you? What does this have to do with making you less angry at the world? None of what I have said eases the pain...only time can do that.


But maybe this will make you smile:

When we were born, we were crying to show we existed, to show we were alive. Everyone around us was smiling, welcoming us to the world. Maybe death is the reverse way. Maybe you or a loved one can be smiling, while everyone around you or your loved one is crying. Smiling on the good times and smiling because you/he/ she are finally at peace and one with God.

Now that is a fairytale I can roll with, thinking only that life was but a dream.