~~~DOUBTING THOMAS TURNS INTO A BELIEVING FOLLOWER!

--"My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed.
---(John 20:28) -- horray

--ONE OF the things that amazes me most about God is the way He is able to work with our doubts and turn them into something else. By a divine alchemy we can never comprehend, God turns the straw of our lives into gold.

He promises this in His Word: "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do: I will not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:16 /NIV).

We all have our rough edges that require smoothing. The disciple Thomas was famous for his--think of him and one word comes to mind: doubt. Thomas is best remembered for his worst doubt: "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it" (John 20:25 / NIV).

But there's much more to Thomas than doubt alone. Thomas loved Jesus deeply. Earlier, when the disciples tried to talk Jesus out of going back to Judea, where he would face sure danger, Thomas was the first to show himself faithful. He said, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him" (John 11:16).

The Bible is full of the prayers of people like Thomas--people who love God and are committed to Him but struggle in the moment. Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? ... O Lord, please send someone else to do it" (Exodus 3:11, 4:13 / NIV). Jeremiah complained, "Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled" (Jeremiah 20:7). Gideon asked, "How can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" (Judges 6:15). Job lamented, "I cry to you, O God, but you don't answer. I stand before you, but you don't even look" (Job 30:20). If these prayers are anything, they are honest. God wants us to be real with Him. He deeply desires "truth in the inner parts" (Psalm 51:6 / NIV). And when we give ourselves to Him, questions and all, He is able to take our struggles and forge them into faith.

That's what happened with Thomas. When Thomas called out, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28), he was the first disciple to grasp that Jesus was God in the flesh, standing right in front of him. God used Thomas's struggles to get him there. In a single moment Thomas takes a huge leap of faith over the heads of the other disciples and lands on his knees in a striking confession of faith.

When we pray our questions and are honest with God about them, He who is able to accomplish "infinitely more than we might ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20) [He] can bring good from them we never imagined.

Christ is a strong Savior! He is so strong, He can even take that "something that's holding us back--that challenge we can't quite get over--and turn it into a subject of praise.--" signpraisegod
Thomas is proof of it--proof that God is able to shape every facet of even our darkest doubts unto they shine with everlasting light.
For that to happen, we have to give them to Him. We have to trust in our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer Jesus Christ.~~

--[Praying the Prayers of the Bible/ JB~]
-- ---"Raise a Hallelujah"/ Passion (feat Brett Younker) // <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0l9hzxF730>
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Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." [John 14:6]