Breaking Doubt
How to Grow Your Faith During Tough Times
Let’s be honest—faith sounds great in a hymn or Instagram post, but in real life? It’s messier than a church potluck after the toddlers get to the dessert table first. When life sucker-punches you, when prayers echo back like unanswered emails, and when God feels as silent as your group chat during moving day, doubt doesn’t just sneak in—it kicks the door open and sets up camp. And if you're the type who overthinks everything (hello, fellow tortured intellects), you probably find yourself caught between wanting to believe and wanting to scream, "This makes zero sense!" But here’s the good news: according to Steps to Christ, God isn’t scared of your doubt. “God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith” (p. 105). In other words, He’s not running a pyramid scheme.
Ellen White, who definitely wasn’t into feel-good fluff, doesn’t tell you to “just believe harder.” Instead, she gets real. She says it’s “impossible for finite minds fully to comprehend the character or the works of the Infinite One” (p. 106). Translation: you’re not going to get all the answers, so maybe stop trying to Google your way into certainty. But she doesn’t leave you dangling—she reminds you that there’s enough light to walk by, even if you don’t have a spotlight and a detailed map. Faith isn’t a full understanding—it’s the guts to keep walking when your theology has more gaps than your Sabbath School attendance record.
Growing your faith during hard times isn’t about turning into some spiritual superhero who eats trials for breakfast. It’s about admitting you're lost, tired, and possibly a little annoyed, but still dragging yourself toward the light. White writes, “If we wait until every shadow of doubt has been removed… we shall never come to the light” (p. 107). In other words, if you're holding out for 100% clarity before trusting God, you’ll die waiting—and probably bitter. Faith isn't blind. It's just slightly nearsighted with a decent sense of direction and a refusal to give up.
So to the thinkers, the skeptics, the formerly-on-fire believers now surviving on decaf hope: there’s still room for you at the table. Faith isn’t about perfect certainty—it’s about persistent curiosity mixed with stubborn trust. As Ellen White cleverly slips in, “The mysteries of the Bible are not such as to discourage inquiry” (p. 106). Basically, God isn’t allergic to questions. He’s not going to smite you because you dared to ask, “Really? A talking donkey?” What He’s looking for isn’t a spotless belief résumé but a willingness to keep showing up, even when the feelings are gone, the answers are late, and your spiritual tank is running on fumes.
In the end, breaking the chains of doubt isn’t about escaping uncertainty; it’s about learning how to walk with it without letting it handcuff your hope. The real miracle is not that you believe instead of doubting, but that you keep believing through the doubt. If you can laugh a little, cry a little, and still pray “I believe, help my unbelief,” you’re in good company. Maybe even holy company. And that quiet step forward—cynicism, confusion, and all—might be the most faithful move you’ll ever make.
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