Who came up with the idea that Christians had to be okay all the time?  I have heard many solid Christians say, “…but, it’s okay,” or, “I’ll be okay.  I have to be.”  I’m sorry if what I am about to say offends anyone.  You may e-mail or comment as you see fit.
You do NOT have to be okay.  It is okay not to be okay.  I responded to a friend who said she had to be okay with, “Lean on me.  I have big shoulders.”  To which we started singing the familiar song, Lean On Me.  To another friend I said, “No, it isn’t okay.  It stinks.  [Ironic, since I was standing in the bathroom at that moment!]  I’ll be your horrible friend, and admit to you how it really is.”
Friends, it is quite alright not to be okay.  I am reminded of Moses … when he was not okay.  He was worn out and could not keep his hands lifted to win the battle.  My dear Christians, that is where we come into play.  We need to admit we are not okay and let others set us down and hold up our hands.  Exodus 17:11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
     Oh, how we need to support our brothers and sisters in Christ by lifting them up when they are tired and worn from the battle.  How we need to be willing to admit that we need an “Aaron and Hur” to keep the faith.
The faith is the knowledge that God is.  He just is.  Chonda Pierce, a Christian comedianne, wrote in her book Laughing In the Dark:
“One evening at sunset, I had a breakthrough.  I sat quietly and watched the sun — a beautiful ball of orange fire — drop slowly into the ocean. … And as objectively as possible, I thought, That was beautiful.  There was no song or swell of emotion that brought me to that conclusion.  The sight of a fiery-orange sun disappearing into an endless expanse of blue sea is a thing of beauty — always has been, always will be.  Some things can’t be denied, no matter how you feel.
“At that moment I realized that the presence of God is like the splendor of the set:  It can’t be denied, no matter how you feel.”
Know that even if you are not okay, God is.  We know this to be true, no matter how we feel.  So, when death comes, when situations among fellow Christians attack, when the doctor gives the “bad news”, when the prayers feel as if they have hit a ceiling to come crashing down . . . know that He is.  God loves you.  This I know to be true.