Keeping the Faith
How do we keep the faith in difficult times? That’s the big question on my mind lately. It is true that sometimes our struggles bring us closer to the God of our understanding but what do we do when they only make Him feel farther away?
Recovery isn’t something that happens all at once. It would be great if we could suddenly be “all better” and all difficulty would fall away, but that isn’t usually the case. For most of us the challenges will probably come in different forms but they will almost certainly keep coming. There are times when it is hard to see the light at the end of tunnel because the tunnel just seems so long. There are days and drawn out nights when it seems almost impossible to believe that relief will come. There are moments when the storms of life become overwhelming and we can start to feel hopeless.
My own family is in the midst of such a challenge as we make our way through these final weeks of 2015. We have been greatly blessed with a new addition to our clan this year but our angelic little guy came with some physical challenges that have broken his poor mama’s heart, tested her beliefs and driven the rest of us to our knees. And while many of those prayers have been answered, the process has been so agonizing and so exhausting that I have had to stop and wonder how God could allow such suffering in such an innocent new life.
It is a heavy time to be writing about faith and a hard time for me to give advice about spirituality. So I offer you the only thing I know for sure. There is a power, an energy, and a force of some kind that is greater than my own egoist nature. I don’t know exactly what it is but I have a feeling that it may be something very practical and scientific, just too advanced for us to fully comprehend. If you can get past all the religious debates I don’t think it matters so much what you call it but I do think it’s important to believe in something… So when believing in God gets hard I turn to science, to coincidence and to love.
It is a scientific fact that people can do things that indeed seem miraculous. In emergencies, we can access superhuman strength. We have moments of great clarity and wisdom that are proven to come from accessing parts of the brain that we seldom use. Sometimes through miracles of modern medicine and at other times beyond all explanation the direst cases of injury, illness and disease can be healed. We are constantly learning more about the way energy works and the similarities between looking through microscopes on this planet and through telescopes that reach out into the universe. I am convinced that we are all connected in a very physical and scientific way with the same energy that moves through everything that has ever existed. I believe those are all signs of a Higher Power at work.
What we often call coincidence can play a large part in explaining that connection. If we are honestly searching for moments of relief we must admit that information, answers, solutions and resources seem to have fallen into our hands at times when we felt that circumstances were beyond desperate and past healing. Sometimes it is something from within us, an automatic sense of knowing or inspiration that changes everything. At other times it is something that comes from out of nowhere as a situation plays out, bringing serendipitous relief with exactly what we need at exactly the right time. Again, I believe these are situations where a Higher Power is working in our lives.
More commonly though, more practical and more powerful than either science or coincidence, I believe that it is usually love that relieves suffering. We have the power to lift each other up and we have the power to heal. It is kindness, understanding and patience that heal our broken hearts and restores our faith. Sometimes it is a stranger offering a kind word or gesture that keeps us hanging on to hope. For many it is family and friends holding us close when we are hurting that help us to keep believing and it is love that holds us all together when we reach the breaking point. Never underestimate the healing power of love. There is no doubt about it – love is a tangible form of energy. Any time we are loving or being loved the Highest Power of all is at work.
But that just brings us back to our original question. What do we do when relief hasn’t come? What happens when people disappoint us, when circumstances rule against us and science fails? The truth is we don’t usually get to choose the channels through which the reprieve will come. We are learning to stop and appreciate moments of relief no matter how brief and we begin to recognize even the smallest of blessings. It’s not easy but at some point we lay down all of our expectations and all of our fears. There are times when we have no choice but to surrender and believe that help is on its way. Yes I did say surrender but I most definitely did not say give up. We never give up.
Recovery asks us to keep putting one foot in front of the other and doing the next right thing. We can believe in the miracles of science and the divine interventions of coincidence. We keep on loving each other and loving ourselves no matter how long it takes. Your Higher Power is at work in your life even when your faith is weak. Keep on believing, keep that little glimmer of faith alive and you will find courage where you thought you had none, you will find strength that you never knew you had and all the patience and energy required to weather the storm. I have come to believe that this is part of the human experience, and perhaps the entire reason why we are here… The storms are part of the process. There is hope, there is help and there is peace to be had if we can accept that this is how we learn. This is how things and people change. This is how we find out what we’re made of and how we grow.
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through,
how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure,
whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain.
When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same
person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
~ Haruki Murakami ~
You can help BREAK THE STIGMA by sharing your story directly with Heroes in Recovery and letting them know that Marta sent you. OR you can contact me through email [marta@heroesinrecovery.com] with your information and I can help you through the process.