Holding your faith when you feel backed into a corner
Prefer listening to articles over reading? No worries, this post is also available to listen to on medium.com.
“Faith is not the absence of doubt; it is the means to overcome it.”
Do you have a grounding foundation to hold onto when swimming upstream?
Whether it’s God, the Divine, Mother Nature, the Universe, etc., you must have a more omnipresent power to believe in to fall back on and have faith in when the going gets tough. Hard times & struggles, and inconveniences are inevitable, so knowing a higher spirit is guiding you & having your back can help you have a foundation to relieve any anxiety and not stay overwhelmed.
Today I’ll share a time when everything that could go wrong went wrong culminated all at once and how I kept my peace of mind amidst the chaos. Looking back at pivotal moments during these events, I realized that growing in faith in myself and God was a deliberate choice, and it helped me push through during the situations. When sharing these, I want to inspire you to keep the faith even when you feel backed into a corner.
When it rains, it pours.
Photo by Alvin Leopold on Unsplash
In Summer 2022, I had a paycheck missing on payday. I had just returned from a birthday trip where I spent the extra money and expected the check to repay my used funds. Of course, this happened the week before living expenses were due, so you can imagine the stress I could have found myself in. I will admit, the first few hours of that morning; I anxiously looked on Reddit and Google to find out how others who dealt with this handled it. Then I realized that I needed to be intentional about my thoughts and have the choice to continue ruminating about what could go wrong, or I could remind myself that God is in control. After considering both options, I took a moment to pray and meditate on God’s word. Some of my favorite scriptures to meditate on when I need to release anxiety are:
- Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made.
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV For we walk by faith, not by sight.
- Philippians 4: 11-13 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
- Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen and help you. I will uphold you.
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
- Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
After doing that, I found comfort in being proactive, so seeing where I could cut subscription costs, I called my credit union& other companies to delay upcoming payments. In this blog post, Four books that changed my relationship with Money, I reference some great tips to help you become more financially savvy. Yes, the goal is to have several months of savings, but if you don’t have that saved up *yet* you can use other methods while working on your savings goals. I knew I was building up savings and didn’t want to touch any money, so finding alternatives was important. One of the steps outlined in Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich book is that companies will be more willing to work with you if you have shown yourself capable of making systematic payments on time. In addition, actively keeping a pleasant rapport with the companies can help you in the long run when you need time to get your life together.
Everything isn’t always rose and glitter.
This SAME day when I discovered my paycheck wouldn’t be received until next week, I had a free car diagnosis scheduled with Meineke. But, unfortunately, I found I needed a new battery, so more money had to be paid out!
Talk about the stress I would succumb to if I didn’t work with God to create internal peace. If I hadn’t already been proactive earlier that morning, intentional about my thoughts, and stayed encouraged about my *current* circumstances? Imagine the breakdown I would have had if I had allowed those emotions to remain suppressed and not dealt with as they came up. The build-up would be too heavy, and the burden would have stressed me OUT! Listen, the urge to start to stress and despair is easy to give into and understandable when multiple things happen at once… but we don’t have to!
We can choose to focus only on what we can control. I was surprised that I felt calm and didn’t have the urge to cry in the middle of the car shop. If you need help dealing with negative feelings and keeping the faith, I recommend you read my blog post, which has these steps to help you deal with negative emotions such as being overwhelmed.
A job not invested in your growth is hard to stay invested in
Not being satisfied in your place of work can be detrimental to your well-being when you spend so much of your time dedicated to working. While looking for another position, I became curious about how many hours individuals work in their life.
According to data collected from Freshbooks.com, It has been estimated that the average person will spend one-third of their life at work. So that’s roughly 90,000 hours at work over your lifetime.
If that doesn’t convince you to find a source of income that gives your life a little sparkle, I don’t know what will!
Either way, whether it’s a job you love or hate, to pay bills, save, and travel, we need that mula coming in! So imagine how I felt, working a job I was not supported in and being overworked passed my title and pay… to not receive my paycheck on time? Talk about a slap in the face!
How did I deal with the frustration of working this job with everything else going on?
I reminded myself I could do anything I set my mind to because the Lord was on my side!
You are a capable human being that can :
- Creating a side hustle, doing local babysitting, or dog sitting/walking
- Leverage learned hard skills in demand in your field that you could freelance to earn extra income
-Challenge yourself mentally and empower yourself through positive self-talk and action
-Letting go of control and giving your problems/anxiety to God
Then do not worry yourself into stressing about things in the material and physical realm.
You are already on another level of abundance spiritually and at one with your Creator. It can feel ridiculous to say this amid financial woes, but think about it this way… you are having a current struggle in your life.. that isn’t changing at that moment. Is it better to drown in despair about your battle, or is it better for your mind and well-being to focus on affirming that you can handle this by knowing that God is by your side?
PHILLIPPIANS 4:13 I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me.
Affirming yourself works wonders whether you use biblical references, but I only reference what works for me. So feel free to take what resonates and leave what doesn’t!
Cassandra Mack has a saying in her youtube videos that I watch religiously… “Your gifts will make room for you.”
Anytime I find myself unnecessarily stressing about job resources, promotion, an equitable pay raise, etc., I stop myself in my tracks and say, “Your gifts will make room for you, Britt, no need to fret God got your back, and front and side to side.
If you let it, this world will make you anxious about its state and the probability of surviving. So instead of giving into the spirit of fear, I recommend starting a daily practice where you connect with your Creator, whether you believe in mother nature, the universe, God, or all 3, and tune out the chaos.
This can look like this:
-Dedicating time to walking outside and soaking up Vitamin D. By appreciating nature, you praise Mother Nature.
-Journaling your thoughts
-Finding ways to give gratitude for what is going right in your life. Are you alive? Are your bones working correctly? Are you breathing without needing assistance? Did you smile today? If so, what caused you to smile? Are you thankful for interacting with that person, having internet access to watch that funny video, etc.?
-Daily prayer with God by speaking or writing. By consistently opening a communication channel with God, you are willing to hear his messages of wisdom via other mediums in the universe! For example, I have written out an idea to God and prayed on it, seen synchronicity via a conversation with a friend, seen a success story with an individual who looks like me in my field, heard just the right song on shuffle that resonates with the thought!
Finding Belonging in a Community
If you have difficulty staying encouraged, I recommend joining a local community. For example, suppose
you are a non-believer of Christ. In that case, you can join a non-denominational church surrounded by people who have faith and are encouraging and loving to others regardless of their beliefs. There are also a variety of universalist churches that focus on humanitarian rights. Be open to embracing different methods of connecting; you might learn something new that transforms your beliefs. On the other hand, you may find that after discovering new approaches in other communities, you only align with your original belief systems. Doing this helps you narrow down what neighborhood you want to join and clarifies your values. I like to think of it as a tune-up on a car or a RE-UP when you are playing a video game and need more points, goodies, etc.
We are blessed to have free access to Google and other search engines! Suppose you are uncomfortable with going to a physical church. In that case, plenty of sermons are now available on Youtube and online groups you can join related to your needed area of focus. One of my favorite online church services is Cassandra Mack’s Sunday phone call. With Cassandra Mack’s phone service, you get to hear a message eloquently broken down while not solely focused on religious messages but said in a way we all can relate to. After her statement, she opens the phone lines for you to share your concerns with others worldwide!
(FYI, in this post, I am not getting paid to promote Cassandra Mack. I have used her services, read her books, journaled with her workbooks, and participated in community online events for at least six years plus, and I am a living testimony and advocate of her work. Plain and simple: she is the TRUTH and keeps it honest, which I L-O-V-E)
I am a HUGE advocate for self-growth and embracing yourself fully, but there is no denying the importance of knowing you have people to pour into you as you do them. Having a community to help you feel encouraged will reinforce the previous steps and motivate you to focus on what is essential. Sometimes it is challenging to do it all on your own, and this guarantees that when you slip up and lose focus, you can share your mistakes and have a community to uplift you and push you to keep going!
The other side of the rain..brings a rainbow.
Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash
On days when everything seems wrong, it’s easier to give in and feel disgruntled and like life is hard and there is no way out.
We can choose to stay in that place mentally, or we can choose to look forward to every day we have on this earth and practice gratitude for being alive!
Life comes at you fast… you better buckle up for the ride!
Here’s a funny anecdote…I started this post back in July 2022.
As I’m editing and writing this April 2023, that same car I needed a new battery for and bought four new tires last year… was written off as a total loss the previous month due to getting rear-ended in January. Do you see how much the universe has a sense of humor? So now all I can do is throw my hands up and laugh at how the circumstances change repeatedly.
Nothing is in my control; instead of stressing, I choose peace.
Look back at every stressful occurrence you have faced in your life. Are those occurrences still ongoing? Or can you reflect on how they got resolved and the sigh of relief you felt when it was handled?
If only we could bottle up that feeling and open that bottle when necessary and spray it like perfume!
Photo by Emily Wang on Unsplash
While we don’t have a physical bottle of that issue resolved to spray on, we can create our essence that knows no matter what, I will be alright!
Life has shown me that and will continue to.