Faith Feels Foreign in Flourishing

In my most recent blog, I wrote about the need to shift our language in the church from focusing on humanity’s depravity to instead embrace our new lives in Christ. After all, in him, “Nothing’s Missing.”

As I’ve pondered what it means that nothing’s missing, I’ve realized how much of my relationship with God has been founded on what’s missing in my life. For as long as I can remember, I’ve centered my faith on what I lack, what I need, what I pray desperately will change.

And while it’s good to bring our needs before God, I firmly believe there should be a deeper foundation for that relationship than exasperation with current circumstances.

For years, I’ve prayed and sought in the hardest of times—a heart condition, an emergency surgery, a mentally ill and abusive parent who didn’t want to heal or respect boundaries. Prayer and scripture reading and seeking God in the midst of lament and sorrow feel comfortable.

So, as I’ve recently found myself in a peaceful and joyful season, I’ve felt spiritually disoriented.

I don’t know how to have a relationship with God when life feels simple and easy.

I’m not sure what faith looks like when my needs are met, when I’m not desperate for my circumstances to change.

Faith in times of blessing feels foreign. 

I’m not sure how to navigate this disoriented spirituality other than a lot of trial and error. But I’m thankful that God is patient and kind and desires relationship with me more than my perfection in pursuit.

Right now, I have more questions than answers…but I think they’re questions that will lead me in a good direction:

• I know how to trust in seasons of longing and despair and hope—but what does it look like to keep crying out to God when I truly have all I need?

• How do I forge a relationship out of delight rather than desperation?

• What does it mean to have faith when I’m not waiting for anything to happen?

My prayer is that these questions press me into deeper, more emotionally authentic intimacy with God.