Dealing With Doubt
As a Christian, when doubts arise it is very easy to immediately think you are doing something wrong or as if your faith is not strong enough. However, doubts are normal and beneficial to growing in your faith because we do not know all the answers. So, from time to time we are going to have questions come up that we do not know the answers to, or scenarios occur in our lives that cause us to doubt things, but all of those reactions are very normal… so you do not have to ever feel like you are alone in doubt.
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 73:26, which says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” This verse is especially comforting when I did and do face doubts. God knows that we will fail time and time again, but through it all, He is still our strength. My mom used to tell me that if you don’t have doubts, you probably are not pursuing your faith as much as you should, but when doubts come up it is important to give those back to God.
Doubts deepen faith, and sometimes it can be really hard to see that. Additionally, it can be the last thing on our minds to go to God in our doubts, but He wants to hear our struggles and help us grow through them. Also, sometimes it is easy to want all the answers in regards to Christianity because there is so much unknown. However, due to God’s power, He is not going to share all of the answers with us to every burning question we have, so sometimes we need to learn to be okay with never learning the answer to our questions. But, in the midst of that struggle, continue to pursue God daily, be in His Word, and rely on others in your community to help you overcome your doubts.
Speaking from personal experience, when I have faced doubt, I began to feel like a terrible Christian or as if my faith was not strong enough. But that is the exact opposite of the reaction I should have had because my faith was strong enough to question things in the first place. So, do not think that doubt is equal to a lack of faith, rather think of it as something pushing you to deepen your faith. Regardless of how confused we may be when we have questions, hold on to the faith you already have, and use that to push you to become a stronger believer than you were before.
Above anything else, never feel alone in your doubts because we all go through them. Pushing through it is what takes the most effort, but gives the most reward. Don’t give up on your faith because of a doubt that challenges your faith, but use it to allow yourself to strengthen your faith, who you are as a person, and who you are as a believer.