How Faith Helps
CLE Team Discussion — How Faith Helps During Transitional Times.
How does faith help when the roller coaster of life comes to a stop and you are hanging upside down? You can fill in the blank with your version of what has halted the roller coaster. Major transitions (moving, giving birth, adopting, changing jobs) are difficult times to adjust to in life because you don’t know when it will end. It seems as if you will be hanging upside down indefinitely. At least that is how I feel in my life.
It is during these times that I return to my faith. I begin to recall the various times in which God has been faithful to see me through the other side. I don’t like – let me change that to I intensely hate feeling out of control. Yet, as I hang upside I am trusting that God knows when to turn it around. I also hold onto verses in the Bible that bring me comfort. One of them is Psalm 121. Specifically verses 3 and 8. I take comfort and have faith that God is watching out for me wherever I am headed.
Psalm 121 New International Version (NIV)
A song of ascents.
3 He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber;
8 The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
M. Gabriela Cantú, MA, LPC
Senior Therapist
How Faith Helps in Recovery
When the question, “How does faith help?” confronts me, I often think about my own journey of recovery and how my faith has helped me. First, let me clarify that faith for me can mean different things. I have faith in God. I also have faith in a group of like-minded individuals.
I have faith that God hears my prayers and that he answers those prayers in his time. I have faith that no matter what happens there will be a group of like-minded individuals working a program of recovery…the names and faces may change but the principles remain the same. Faith helps me believe in people, it gives me a sense of hope.
I also have faith that should I choose to return to a life of active addiction, I will surely die. Faith is knowing in my heart.
Michael Birch, M.A., LCPC
How Faith Helps in Adversity
I’ve got family, and though supportive they can let me down. I’ve got friends but they can be just as busy and unavailable as I am, I’ve got a therapist, but I meet with him every other week. I have access to people but they don’t always understand what I mean or need explanation before I can just get to the point.
God isn’t necessarily like that. He gets me even when I don’t. He understands what I need even when I’m still unsure. He meets me where I am, and helps pull me along to where it is that I need to be. He is my rock, my guide, and he’s really just waiting on me to more consistently engage with him and listen to the things he has in store for me.
When I’m struggling its helpful to know that I can tell him how difficult my struggles are. When I’m hurting its helpful to know that I can tell him just how much it hurts. I don’t need him or anyone else to just simply make it better, I need to be heard. In the silence that follows I hear him amplifying what my inner voice has been trying to say all along to provide comfort and encouragement.
God is like the megaphone for my inner voice. He knows what it is that I need and reveals that to me as well. He’s engaged in the process with me, and through prayer, crying out, singing and just being quiet and still, I can slow down enough to let him in on where I am and allow him to help me in the ways that only he can do.
For me, faith in God does not make adversity go away or even lessen the pain or upset that comes along with it. For me, faith in God strengthens me and gives me the ability to persevere even when the going is tough.
Andrew Mercer, M.A., LCPC
Therapist
The team at the Center for Christian Life Enrichment is dedicated to conversation, engagement, transformation, and change. We are collective, collaborative and are active partners with clients in the counseling process.