Adversity either refines and strengthens our faith or destroys it. Parkinson's Disease has been the fire that has refined, purified and strengthened my faith. It has sent me running to the Bible to search out who this God of ours really is. I had to know what I could believe about Him and what was fiction. Then once I knew what the Bible revealed to be as truth about Him, I claimed it in faith (not feelings), and acted out that belief. There have been some terrible trials through the years to be sure. During these times of testing, I was tempted to despair and slip through the cracks of fear, unbelief, confusion and doubt. It seemed as if every truth I learned and tried to hang onto, was challenged by the author of fear himself. Knowing that there was no light or comfort within myself, I clutched the Truth to my heart as if it were a life-jacket in a stormy sea. My illusions fell away like the skin that a snake sheds. Indeed, the skin of the devil himself (ideas and beliefs that God is not Who He says He is, and He will not do what He says He will do) was shed to reveal untruth.
I would never want to repeat a moment of the trials that I have endured, but the blessings are rich and the promises are deep that I now embrace. Though they are freely given it has not been without cost.
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