There’s a popular phrase people of faith like to use when life gets hard.

We won’t be shaken.

We make t-shirts, write songs, preach sermons, and update our Facebook statuses with this catchy truth. The only problem is, what if it’s not true?

I was listening to a song with this lyric on a run one time, when it hit me: We can’t really say we won’t ever be shaken.

Because what if you are?

What if, even with God in your life, something happens that shakes you to the core? What if you lose the things that matter most to you? What if you reach rock bottom and are hit with the stark realization that you can still fall?

I think this happened to a guy in the Bible once.

And we don’t like this, because we like to think that when we invite God into our stories He brings a giant Walmart happy face sticker and slaps it on our faces, so we’re still smiling no matter what happens.

Yes, God is our strength, but that doesn’t mean He insulates us from pain. It doesn’t mean that He helps us muster up enough willpower to refuse to be shaken by anything life throws at us. Rather, it means that at our weakest point, when life has chewed us up and spit us out, He enters into our pain and gives us the courage to get up and give it another shot. He is always with us … even when we’re being shaken.