"There Are No Atheists in Foxholes"

“There are no atheists in foxholes.”

An aphorism.

In circumstances of fear, stress, or peril, most of us will believe and hope in a higher power. Personally, I hold onto the belief of my God in these circumstances for my own strength. The irony of it all is that I find myself a praying Christian in my foxhole when the war is raging around me; and ignorant when the world around me is calm and quiet.

I think most of us do.

There are times during this war when your fellow soldier falls; times when you think all is lost and hope is gone; times when you think there is not anything in this world that could bribe you to take one more step forward; and times when you wish you could sink and disappear in the walls of your foxhole.  And yeah, there will be times during this war when you are so consumed by all that overwhelms you that you will beg for death itself to save you from your misery. When the war seems to be too much—when you question what you're fighting for and the precious people and things that matter most to you; when nothing seems worth the cost of the war that rages outside of your foxhole: remain assured that you are never alone.

There may not be a war every day but conflicts are everywhere. We fight battles on a regular basis and bullets are fired at us from all fronts of our lives. There will always be someone or something that would like to see us to our end in a bloodbath of our own doubt and disbelief, or to stand in our way and make us believe we are nothing more than a mistake or a failure. We fight battles between good and evil, battles with our friends, with our faith, and within ourselves on a daily basis. Truth is: Life isn't always beautifully packaged and handed to you. Sometimes you have to fight for what you love and what you dream.

We forget that God is omnipotent and that He has the power to do anything. He has the power to deflect the bullets and to give us the strength we so desperately wish for when war rages. We forget that if we have faith in Him and believe in Him that we can have strength beyond our imagination.  It bothers me that when the wars aren't raging, I forget the power that God has to make my life so much better than it already is. It bothers me that I can be so quick to cleave to Him in my times of trial and affliction and that once He’s pulled me through and brought my feet safely back to the ground, that I am so quick to forget Him and all that He has done for me.

God is not just here for us to call on for strength and comfort in the sanctuary of our foxholes during times of war. He’s not just here for us when times are hard. He’s always here, and He wants to be an active part of my life; of all of our lives. Yes, when times are hard, He knows our pain. When Christ was crucified, He experienced it. I tend to forget that He has experienced and knows our joys as well. He isn't “fair-weathered”, as my friend Jamie would put it. He’s weather proof.

So today, I realized that I'm through being a "foxhole" Christian. I have been blessed with the constant comfort, strength, and guidance of God—even when there’s peace. I'm grateful for this. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

2 Timothy 2:3