How often do you go into a restaurant, enjoy a great meal, okay a decent meal, and then get the fortune cookie/bill. Everyone takes one of the cookies, cracks it open and reads the fortune to each other. Many times, we laugh at the fortune and leave it on the table. However, once-in-a-while we keep one of those fortunes because we think, "wow, that really applies to me," or at least I hope it applies to me.

How often do we take verses we have heard from various preachers and teachers or read from portions of the Bible and treat them like we do fortune cookies? If they don't fit what we believe, we simply turn the page. Or, at the very least, we put those verses aside for another more appropriate application.

Far Fetched? Not at all. Are you afraid that deep down maybe your Christian (PRAYER) life is like a fortune cookie?

Simply stated, don't we do the same thing with scripture? The ones that bring us joy and warm fuzzies, we embrace. The psalms that sing of praise and thanks we love, we gladly recite. The Psalms of God's love and protection, of course we remember.

However, what about the verses that talk about going into the pit and God forgetting us. Why do we act as if they do not exist? Why do we treat those like a bad fortune cookie? Maybe we need to embrace Psalm 30:8-10 and think about how we are like the psalmist who has almost given up hope. And, just think, if the psalmist can ask God "are you still there," then maybe its okay for little ol' us to do the same.

Too many times, we are petrified of admitting that sometimes life is too much. We think that admitting our fears shows a lack of faith. We feel we need to put on a happy face and keep the cliche' going. Why? If David, the psalmist, is asking, "God, can you hear me? Are you there?" - why can't we recognize that God also put those verses in the Bible, and with good reason.

Here is the truth: sometimes God says, "Look people, I love you but sometimes you are going to feel like all is lost. And that is okay because you are going to find out that no matter what you go through, I am still here. You will find out that I will not leave you no matter how you feel, or how things look. So take heart. Saints throughout history have felt and experienced the same things. And they and you are still precious saints."

So, you will be glad to know that God never says: don't ever doubt or you may lose your salvation. Unfortunately, that is what some of us think and therefore our Christian life is hardly something the world wants. If we crack open the wrong cookie and our life is a mess, we deny that we are in the valley.

Remember... living in denial isn't something the world wants. They already know what that is and are doing it. They want to NOT live in denial, to have some honest answers. However, even more importantly, you want to have and know honest, real answers to your own questions.

"My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus Christ asked that on the cross. (Matthew 27:46) So if Jesus Christ asked that question, maybe it is permissible that there are days we have that same feeling and question, and you know what? Our question does not change whether God is there or not. He is. And that is the beauty of it.

Finally, we like to tell agnostics and atheists that God is there whether they believe it or not. Well, guess what? God IS there whether we believe it or not, whether we are in a valley or when we sometimes think we are just going through the motions of our faith. God is there.

There is one vitally important last and final point: God sent Jesus Christ not to make us super-humans dependent on how strong we are feeling, but to let us know He is God who is always there whether we choose the right fortune cookie or not.