MARIANNE B. LORDI In difficult times, God is with us

In the face of all that has been happening in the news, most people have been trying to adapt their lives and move on.
Violence, murder, pornography and an assortment of other crimes are becoming far too prevalent. What is most frightening is that a lot of people are becoming desensitized to the evils of our time. We are digressing to a point of complacency.
When the attack of Sept. 11, 2001, came upon us, it shook us to the core. We had become comfortable in our freedom since the usual terrorist acts were stories we heard from far away lands. Now we had come face to face with our vulnerability.
It was then that most people turned to God with their fears. It did not matter to some people that they had been giving God a form of perfunctory worship at best. They now approached God and demanded to know where he was when the terrorists murdered innocent people.
Always with us
The truth of this sad story is that God was always with us. He stayed with us even when we left him. The Spirit of God resides within the hearts of those who have placed their trust in Christ Jesus. It never ceases to amaze me that the majority of people can believe that it was God's hand that created them, yet cannot accept that God wants to be with them in all that touches them.
We serve a God who was in existence long before the terrorists decided to attack us. The Bible never tells us that we will not have troubles. In fact, Jesus tells us in John 16:33: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." He promises that he will be with us through our problems.
Helping out
God will use each of our trials to strengthen us in our faith. We cannot lose no matter what comes against us if our trust is in God. In 1 Kings, the Israelites were in battle with the Arameans. The Arameans advised their king that the Israelite God was the god of the mountain but they could win if they fought the Israelites in the valley. They were wrong. God delivered the Arameans into the hands of the Israelites.
The God we serve is able to fight our battles no matter where we stand. There is nothing that God can't and won't do for the person who seeks the Lord with all his heart.
There have been a lot of problems in the Mahoning Valley that have hurt this community. But I believe that if we pray and keep our eyes on the Lord, there is nothing that will be able to destroy us. And I know that with prayer, the God of the mountain will surely be the God in the Mahoning Valley.
X Marianne B. Lordi attends Highway Tabernacle in Austintown.