Our difficulties

Wow I just realized that I wrote only one post last month. Fail -___-

Okay, now to the real topic here.

Sometime earlier, a friend of mine told me she doesn't go to church anymore because despite numerous prayers from her family and friends, her mom still lost the fight to breast cancer. Thinking that prayers don't work anymore, she stopped going.

I can't blame her; cancer is a devastating force in my family as well.

Now comes the ultimate question: if God loves us and is all-knowing, why does he let bad things happen to good people? For a while, we even blame Him for the loss of our loved ones. We blame Him for our hardships and struggles.

At least in my church, people believe that God helps those who help themselves. Such people show God that they want to act to persevere, not by wishing. The hardships we endure show how we can go stronger, mentally and spiritually. BUT now that I think about it, we can do very little when a loved one is dying.

Everybody has a different experience, though. It would probably be fair if I share mine. When my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, our whole family fell into shock. The nights of worry, the times when I saw her ill, the times when she lost all her hair...but we never stopped hoping. We never stopped praying. Eventually, she recovered. Our family's thanks go to God for keeping her strong.

Unfortunately, the same story didn't carry out as well when my grandpa died of liver failure. The doctor said he had only a few months left. That was four years before my grandpa finally passed. At that moment, I was both angry and thankful to God: why did He keep my grandpa strong before finally taking him away?

When it comes down to it, why do bad things happen to us when we need God the most? Where do we go from there?

So many questions, so few answers.

I still hold onto my faith. Miracles have happened before.