Dealing with Doubt

“I just don’t know what I believe.”

“I’m not sure about heaven.”

“I just don’t think a loving God would make me go through this hard stuff. I just don’t know . . .”

These past several months, something very strange has been happening. God has been placing people who doubt in my path.

It took a while for me to see it, but recently it hit me hard. People I care about are having serious doubts about God and faith.

To be honest, I don’t really know how to deal with it. I wonder, why me? I am not equipped to handle their questions. I’m no theologian, that’s for sure. Doubt is real and scary and too big for me to handle. It makes me feel all squirmy and uncomfortable.

But here’s the thing. I think we all have to deal with doubt every now and then in order to really make our faith our own. And every now and then people we love will struggle. I wonder, will we pat them on the back and tell them that everything will be O.K. or will we really be there to help them through their crisis of faith?

I want to be a helper, I really do, but until recently I wasn’t sure how to do that.

I’m still learning, but I’ve come up with a few ideas that I think might be helpful, so I’ll be sharing them over the next few weeks in a series titled, “Dealing with Doubt.” If you’re a doubter or you know someone who doubts, please hang with me for the next few weeks as we explore this topic together.

Tell me your thoughts about doubt. Your questions. Let’s do this together.

Next week: Dealing with Doubt: Know what you’re dealing with.