Lord, Help My Unbelief (Post 4 of 5, Coping With Tragedy)

Welcome back to my blog series where we’re talking about how to cope well with tragedy or crisis. This week’s focus is prayer, but I’m going to put a little spin on it by partnering it with something I think we all struggle with – unbelief.

Unbelief keeps us praying small prayers because ultimately, we don’t really believe God will come through for us on the big things. But as God’s Chosen and Crowned daughters, we must deal with our unbelief so we can be strength and light in our fragile and dark world.

In his book on prayer, Dick Eastman says, “Many come close to defeating this doubting spirit and some almost succeed. Faith, however, is never ‘almost.’ Real prayer consists of bold, confident petitions and a certainty that the answer will come. Until unbelief is conquered, progress will be halted.”

When I think of progress being halted, I picture someone or something that has gotten themselves stuck. Last winter, I went on a hike with a group of teenagers that was supposed to be easy, but when the leader decided to go off trail, our hike changed dramatically. We found ourselves fighting our way over rugged terrain and through thick brush. One of the girls jumped off a rock and landed knee deep in mud.

She. Was. Stuck.

I waited to see how she would react. Would she cry about the mud sucking her shoes right off her feet when she tried to move? Would her scrapes and bruises keep her from finishing the hike well? After all, this detour was not her idea. It was the leader’s. She was not prepared with proper footwear and now look what happened! Her favorite shoes were ruined! I am excited to tell you that this young lady handled herself with such grace. As we helped pull her out of her sticky situation, she laughed about her mud-soaked shoes and pants, and finished the hike with a positive attitude. She later shared that God used that experience to teach her how to rise up when a situation literally tried to pull her down and make her stuck.

We can learn so much from this story! Tragedy or crisis throws us off course and onto a rugged path we never planned for or wanted to explore. But for reasons that are higher than ours, God decided to allow it. As we fight our way through the pain, there comes a time when the mud of grief, bitterness, fear and despair sucks us in. When this happens, it forces us to answer this question -- do we trust him with our suffering or not? In the struggle to answer this question lies an opportunity.

We get to choose if we’ll stay stuck or rise above our circumstance.

For those who choose to sit in their unbelief of God’s love and faithfulness, they will stay stuck in their anguish. How that must grieve God’s heart as he kneels in the mud beside them holding out a rope that will pull them to a place of peace, rest and joy. But for those who cry out, “Help my unbelief!” while grabbing hold of the rope of God’s promises, they are the ones who will rise up with strength and joy. They are the ones who will see goodness and beauty in the land.

They are the overcomers.

Friend, God calls us to pray when we face trials. He gives us his promises to help shape our prayers, reminding us that he is faithful to his word and is always looking to perform it. May you find comfort as you rest in him today. 

If you missed the other posts in this series, here are the links:

We Will Not Be Consumed

Set Your Mind

Remembering God's Promises

Anna Frye is a speaker, author, television host and founder of the Chosen and Crowned tribe. She invites moms and wives to celebrate imperfect progress fueled by the grace of a perfect God. She helps women bravely talk about the messy places of life, instead of hiding shamefully under them. She believes that lasting beauty comes when women courageously surrender their ashes to God and allow him to do something mind-blowingly amazing with them. If this resonates with you, then you belong with the Chosen and Crowned tribe. Connect at www.ChosenAndCrowned.com/blog