“Let your life reflect the faith you have in God. Fear nothing and pray about everything. Be strong, trust God’s word, and trust the process.” – Germany Kent
When things are going great, and there’s not much to complain about, it’s so easy to feel positive, full of hope and thankful to God for all of His blessings.
But when desolate times knock on our door and things slowly start going south, losing our faith in God becomes even easier.
A while back, I was going through a pretty rough period in my life.
It was one bad thing after another and it genuinely seemed as if God had decided to finish me off and toss me aside as if that was somehow what I deserved.
Life really threw me a curveball and I just couldn’t deal.
My love life was falling apart. My BF at the time decided to leave me after two years together, with no real explanation other than that it ‘wasn’t me’ and he just needed to ‘find himself’.
Yeah, in translation—find himself far away from me… And as if reeling from that soul-shattering break-up wasn’t enough, I lost my job almost at the same time and I could barely afford rent.
I had just moved to the city a few months prior so I wasn’t really friends with many people, as I was literally just trying to get going and find my niche, so making friends was still on the back-burner.
I was jobless, broken up with and without a single friend in close proximity who I could vent to.
I barely made ends meet and I would cry myself to sleep at night and hunt for jobs (and friends) during the day. It was rough.
I’ve got to say, that was a pretty shitty situation to be in. And it really tested my faith in God.
I didn’t necessarily question His existence, I just believed that He had given up on me. I could no longer feel His presence and I was so doubtful that I ever would again.
I mean, how was I supposed to feel differently? I had literally nothing good going for me and I wasn’t in the best place emotionally, to say the least.
But soon it hit me.
I had been so full of faith just a few weeks before all the shit started happening and suddenly, when life became too real, I just stopped believing? I was so disappointed with myself.
I was taking it all for granted. All the blessings God provided me with in life suddenly didn’t matter because I was going through a challenging time?
I knew better than that and I could see the error of my ways.
Everybody goes through their darkest hour. Everybody has a curveball thrown at them at one point or another… but is that a reason to lose your faith?
No, that is when your faith in God is supposed to be stronger than ever. That is when God is testing you and you can’t let your doubts get the better of you.
Just because He is quiet doesn’t mean he doesn’t see your pain. Just because you cannot feel His presence as powerfully as you did before, doesn’t mean He’s not looking out for you.
No, things aren’t great right now but who’s to say it won’t get better? If you don’t experience bad things, you’ll never be able to fully appreciate the good ones!
And that’s why when God is quiet, you need to learn to read between the lines.
Don’t give up. Not on yourself, and especially not on God. He is always there, He is just testing you with these temporary challenges.
Believe that better things are coming because you know what they say… After the rain, there’s always a rainbow. And trust me, you’ll be able to see yours sooner than you believe.
Take this as an opportunity to show Him how strong and resilient you are. Keep your chin up. Pray and believe that He can hear you.
Let God be the light in your personal darkness, even when the light is temporarily dim.
In order to truly be able to feel His existence and strengthen your hope, first you need to be able to show Him your faith when He’s silent.
God desires only the best for all of us, including you.
He wants to get you away from your darkness but first you need to show Him your faith is intact and you are not taking Him for granted.
When your faith in Him is as strong during the difficult times as it is when you’re at your happiest, that’s when you’ll realize He never really left.
Don’t let His silence weaken your spirit or diminish your faith.
The occasional rain you face along the way is an inevitable part of life that will help you appreciate your rainbow that much more, once you finally get to it.
