Melanie can carry on a conversation with ease. People like talking to her because she encourages discussion. Faith is a big part of her life and she often gets asked questions about it. Melanie knows that critical thinking is always essential, particularly when it comes to the topic of faith. Some people do not have faith in a living God, and instead rely on themselves and their works, while others rely on their feelings.
God created us with the ability to feel; can you imagine being unable to delight at the birth of your child, incapable of enjoying a beautiful sunset and unable to feel sad at the tragic loss of a loved one? Our feelings, in all their complexity, needn’t be something we run from, but rather we can bring it all to God, like David, who expresses his joy, anger, laments and more to God in the book of Psalms. Melanie too thanks God that she has feelings, and yet does not forget that feelings do not make a reliable master, as she knows how fickle feelings can be. You cannot depend on feelings to validate your walk with the Lord Jesus. Valid emotions are simply the by product, the result, of faith and obedience. Walking in the Spirit means living a life of faith; secure in the faithful God.
All of us put our faith in something. We have an option to trust in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, and His word. Jesus who defeated death by His sacrificial offering on the cross and rising from the grave on the third day, to unite us with the living God.
Melanie often mentions about David’s encounter with the giant Goliath (1 Sam.17). While all the soldiers were paralyzed with fear. David believed that God was bigger than Goliath and that God’s promises were truer than Goliath’s threats. Jesus is the living God and His words of love and acceptance give us peace and joy when we put our faith in Him.