Do you ever lose faith in God?
Thank you for your question. I think anyone who is in any way serious about their faith has doubts and struggles, sometimes for long periods of time. Great saints have written about being in a "desert" in their prayer lives - feeling totally dry, unrefreshed and far from God.
There is a difference, though, between having struggles with prayer life, and questions about God, and really losing faith. For me personally, even when there are times when I do not understand God, or feel angry (or at least, completely baffled) with God for things that have happened to people I love, or feel disconnected from God, somehow there is a spark of faith which remains alive in me, so that I do not ever, in fact, stop believing that God is there.
I do not know what has prompted your question, and naturally each of us are on our own journey of life and faith. But I think there is an important distinction between the ways our faith can be challenged and actually stopping believing in God altogether. If there are particular struggles in your life right now, it is fine to challenge God in prayer, and good to keep asking questions, and discovering new information.
It may sound like a bit of a cop out, but it is also true to remember that we cannot have all the answers, all the understanding. We are not God - we are ourselves, limited by the time that we live in, and our own personal skills, abilities, and weaknesses. To lose faith in God ultimately means stopping trusting that God is God. As ever, our best model is Jesus, and when we look at his most testing moment, in the Garden of Gethsemene, we hear him say, "Father, let this cup pass me by. But let your will, not mine, be done." In our moments of doubt, uncertainty, fear and challenge, we have to have enough faith to trust God, trust that he loves us, and trust his will, even when we can make no sense of it at all.
From your question you already know that it is not always easy, but I wish you the very best in your continuing search and journey in faith, to an ever deeper trust in God's love for you.
Article Written: 22nd May 2005
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