Understanding Faith in the Midst of Difficult Days

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is evidence of things we cannot see.

—Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

Think for a minute about all the changes you’ve experienced in life thus far. Some good and some not so good. Contemplate where you’ve been emotionally and spiritually during those changes; who you were and who you are today. Can you see God at work in your life?

The main reason I journal is so I can look back on my life and see God’s hand at work. 

Six years ago, when I was two years into my diagnosis, I wrote the following:

Photo by Karina Skrypnik

Now, because of changes in my health, I feel like I’m living in the “land of limbo.” A holding pattern, waiting on God. Physical limitations keep me shut down. I’m a high achiever with nothing to achieve; a beaver with no dam to build. I long to be serving God, yet I feel as though I’m sitting on the sidelines, waiting for Him to call me into the game.

It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him …  —My Utmost for His Highest daily devotional (Sept. 19)

I’m in training in God’s gymnasium — with hand-tailored tests and trials to build up my faith and teach me to trust God, no matter the circumstances He engineers. It’s tedious. God is teaching me truths I may not have learned if my life had remained comfortable.

I’ve had a resistant spirit to what God is doing in my life through pain. Resistance leads me to frustration, which leads me to discontentment and lack of trust. I become restless and impatient, which robs me of joy and peace. 

Lack of joy, peace, and trust causes me to question if God is good. It causes me to question God’s love for me. I wonder if He’s absent in the midst of my circumstances. God’s sovereignty over my life apart from His love would be harsh, even cruel. And sometimes it does feel that way. But then, I’m forced to face the facts — the truth of God’s own words:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. (Romans 8:35, NLT).

It takes faith to take God at His word. Like the Apostle Paul, I choose to believe.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39, NLT).

So, I rest in God’s love … and I wait and pray. I journal. I stay in His Word, and I pray some more.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out

I engage in what He is doing around me when I can. And I keep trusting that He has a plan for me. Life as I have always known it may never return. I’m learning to be okay with that — again, for today.

God is good because His Word says He is. David in Psalm 86:5 (NLT) says,

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.

A good and loving God says He will never leave me:

I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. (Hebrews 13:5, NLT).

So I choose to take God at His Word. What I choose to believe affects how I choose to behave every day — living to represent Him well, to make God look good to others… all for His glory.

It’s hard. Some days I fail. Every day I get another opportunity to put into practice what I know to be true. I’m learning to persevere and remain faithful.

And I’m learning to press on.

Photo by Alex Shute

Fast forward to 2022. God has done amazing things in my life!

You can only live courageously by faith in the midst of your pain if you saturate your heart, mind, and soul with God’s Word. The strength of our faith is in direct proportion to our level of belief that God will do exactly what He promised. Faith rests on the pure Word of God alone. And when we take Him at His Word, our hearts are at peace. —Streams in the Desert (p.156)

Faith is a steadfast determination to believe what God says. It is a law of the spiritual life that every act of trust makes the next act less difficult, until at length, if these acts are persisted in, trusting becomes, like breathing, the natural unconscious action of the redeemed soul. —Hannah Whitall Smith

Remember, our faith is always at its greatest point when we are in the middle of a trial, and confidence in the flesh will never endure testing. Fair-weather faith is not faith at all. —C.H. Spurgeon

The only way to know strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm through severe testing. —George Mueller

Faith is a fact and not a feeling.

Emotions are terrific servants, and terrible masters. —Dallas Willard

The words of the saints long gone before us capture my heart today. Their words express my personal experience.

I’m not the same person I was six years ago. God has given me strength, stamina, and perseverance. 

He hasn’t shelved me, waiting only for the days to pass until heaven becomes an experiential reality.

I’m a vibrant, growing child of God who contributes to Kingdom work when God opens that door for me.

Life is filled with joy and not misery because I have a choice.

No matter what your story entails, my desire is that you’ll find what I have found in the midst of incredibly hard circumstances: HOPE.

~ Ally