When Trust Feels Hard, and Faith Becomes the Way Forward

There are days when I sit with my journal open, pen hovering wondering why certain tasks in my life feel so hard. It surprises me sometimes. The tasks that stretch me are not always the biggest ones. Often they are the steady responsibilities, the ones that ask for courage I did not realize I needed.

If you have ever stood in that place, willing but unsure, I think you know the feeling.

You want to trust God, yet there is a tiny hesitation in your chest.

What if the path is harder than you thought?

What if you cannot carry it well?

I find myself asking what I most need to know about God in those moments.

What truth about Him steadies me enough to take the next step?

Scripture helps me sort through that question.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I go back to the stories of people who faced what seemed impossible. Moses looking at the sea with no plan except obedience. Esther standing outside a door that could have changed everything. Peter lifting his foot over the edge of the boat even though the storm had not calmed.

I think about how none of them were certain of themselves.

They were certain of Him.

That thought settles something inside me.

For the past two weeks, the word faith has been the theme I keep returning to.

I did not intend to study it this long, although perhaps that is how God works sometimes.

I found myself in The Lectures Of Faith and the verse in Hebrews keeps echoing in ordinary moments. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

I find myself replaying this verse and say it to myself while making dinner or pulling into the driveway.

That word substance keeps catching me.

Perhaps because I need to know that my hope has weight. That my trust in God is not imaginary or fragile. Scripture teaches that faith is assurance, something solid enough to act on even when my eyes cannot see the evidence yet. It becomes the power that moves me forward when hesitation tries to keep me still.

So when I consider the difficult tasks in my own life, I think about the patterns of God. How He has shown up before. How He has parted seas and strengthened the timid and steadied the ones who were sinking. I remember moments in my own story when His presence was so clear that I still hold them close. Maybe that is why He invites us to remember. Looking back helps me breathe easier about what is ahead.

In the end, what I most need to know about Him is simple. He has not changed.

The God who carried them carries me.

And even when I forget, which happens more often than I admit, that truth draws me back again.

Faith becomes the bridge between where I stand and where He is leading. It holds my hope.

It offers evidence for what I cannot see yet.

It gives me courage for the next small step, even if I am still uncertain about everything that comes after.