Have you ever felt distant from God?
You pray.
You sit quietly.
You show up.
But God does not seem as close as before.
You may wonder:
Where are You, God?
What if feeling distant from God does not always mean God is absent?
What if sometimes God is taking you deeper?
There are times when prayer feels consoling.
We feel peace.
We feel close to God.
We sense God’s presence.
But there may also be seasons when those feelings are not there.
That does not necessarily mean something is wrong.
Mother Teresa experienced this.
For many years, even while serving the poor and living a deeply faithful life, she often did not feel God’s presence the way she longed to.
She experienced long periods of spiritual darkness.
And yet she kept praying.
She kept serving.
She kept showing up.
She did not wait until she felt close to God before taking the next faithful step.
Her experience reminds me that feeling God’s absence is not the same as God actually being absent.
That speaks to me.
Perhaps God is sometimes inviting us to trust beyond what we feel.
To keep showing up.
To keep sitting quietly.
To keep consenting to God’s presence and action within us.
Even when we do not feel much.
I remind myself:
God’s presence does not depend on my ability to feel God’s presence.
God is here.
God is with me.
My job is simply to show up and remain open.
Sometimes I ask myself:
Will I still sit with God when I do not feel God?
Will I trust that God is present even in the silence?
Of course, feeling distant from God can also come from exhaustion, anxiety, grief, distraction, or simply being overwhelmed by life.
But I do not need to panic.
I can notice what I am experiencing.
I can bring it honestly to God.
And I can keep returning.
Perhaps the silence is not empty.
Perhaps God is doing something deeper than I can presently see.
Have you ever experienced a season when God felt distant? What helped you keep showing up? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Grateful you are here,
Rich