Can you lose your faith?

Recently I read about the famous Hillsong worship leader who said he is losing his faith. I also know a few friends who said they were faithful Christians but lost their faith along the way due to questions they had or circumstances in their lives. There have been times when I myself felt like I am not as enthusiastic or faithful as I used to be. However, here is the thing, faith is a gift according to Ephesians 2:8 " For by grace you have been saved though faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God".

Since it is a gift given, it cannot simply go away on its own. A gift however can be kept in a corner and never used, it could be ignored or it could be given away. Faith is something that needs to be constantly exercised or it weakens like any muscle in your body would without exercise. Let's look at some of the common reasons why people feel they are losing their faith and what to do it those situations.

Going through a dark time in your life

You maybe a faithful Christian and at some point in your life you may have also had a very personal relationship with God but recently you are experiencing a period of dryness in your spiritual life. This is usually the case with me. Whenever I am in a tough place in my life, I find it difficult to pray and connect with God. Sometimes I pray but I do not receive consolation through my prayers and that sometimes leads to despair.

Well this is completely okay and normal! Its like seasons, you can't have summer all year long, it has to rain sometime. However, you can't sit home all day because its raining outside, you have to go out and make that extra effort to get to work whether you like it or not because you know its important. The same goes with our spiritual life, simply don't give up. Even if its to hard to pray, try! Even if serving God is difficult right now because of your situation, make the conscious decision to do it anyways because you know it is his will. It is in situations like these where God really builds your faith. You transform from a Christian who simply loves God for what he has given you to someone who loves God inspite of what you may have lost and trust that he will get you through it. Like St Paul who had a thorn in his flesh and begged God to take it away, but God simply told him " My grace is sufficient for you". We too can learn to lean on the grace of God in situations of darkness and despair.

Questions about God

It is good to have questions about your faith and about God. What is not good, is that we stop looking for the answers. There are many who had questions but never bothered to even look for the answers, thinking that their question was something that cannot be answered. However, the Catholic Church has been around far longer than you and me, in that time, they have had to search through scripture, science, history and geography to understand and answer countless number of questions. And probably the answer to your question is right there, but you didn't take the trouble to look.

I also was once at a stage where I encountered questions which I thought would change everything and felt sure the Church didn't have the answers. Thankfully, instead of running away from them, I enrolled in the Ministry of the Word program in a nearby seminary. It taught me how to question and also how to search for the answers in scripture. I was amazed and continue to be amazed by how logical, in-dept and vast the teachings of the Church actually are.

There is one thing however, that I learnt through my experience and that is, first comes faith and then understanding you can't remove God from the picture and then analyze his teachings. "Unless you believe you cannot understand" Isaiah 7:9.

Something takes more importance in your life

We can give away our faith, by giving the position of God to different things in our lives like our work, social life or even a family member. Take for example, Sunday Mass, is it a priority for you or would you skip it if something else came up? When you constantly give other things or people more importance than you give God, they become idolatrous as they take you away from worshiping God. There is a saying "Count your blessings", that is actually a good idea. Every time you remember what God has done for you, it makes you more aware of his presence in your life. Jesus wants you to remember him which is why he gave us the Eucharist and said "do this in memory of me", so while going for mass is important, it is more important to remember for whose sake you came.

Faith is a gift given in love by your Father. Some are lost without it, some are grateful they got it, some are searching the skies for it but unfortunate are the ones who had it and forgot all about it.

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