Feeling as though Faith is fading away.

[Frokni]

Hi there,

Need some advice on passages, prayers and bible verse to help me pray through this time in my life.

-Local church community non-existent (full of older people who don't want change) and am finding it hard to take a step into a new one
-Looking to move house and want to ensure we go somewhere by a rich church community.
-Left a fab churcg community in Central London to move out to Northants but we are not settled at all (reasons include as well as church: living with my mum in the house and my own family, DH, DD1 and DD2 (this is our first home and girls are young), House was a huge financial stretch as we needed room for mum so money is not great)
-schools are terrible in our area so don't want to send DD1, am planning to Home Ed.

I am blessed in many ways but really struggle living with mumat this stage in my life. Feeling as though i regress to my stressed teen years at times lol!

I wish at times like this i had a prayer group, bible class, house group of people like me. I guess if i did i would feel more settled.

Anyway, any guidance? Recommended texts or prayers?

Thanks in advance x

Is this a season of lament? It sounds like there are lots of changes and maybe the psalms would be a place to find the emotion that is underneath where you are now.

Reading your post reminds me of Psalm 42, where the writer is very candid about how he misses the way things used to be and wonders where God is in it all. It might be worth taking some time to meditate on this Psalm. As mostlydrinkstea says, there is a good model in the Psalms about being honest and real about our struggles. There's no need to pretend before God, we can simply say things are hard and we're finding faith stuff difficult right now, and invite God in to that pain. In the Psalms the writers often turn to God after pouring out their agony, and say that they will remember, they will praise - and then because of that active decision their perspectives shift. I've found that true in my own life, too.

It does sound like a tough time of transition for you. In my experience we often grow in faith through these kinds of things, although they hurt at the time, because we can use it to dig further in to who God is rather than relying on church structures and people around to keep the faith fires burning. It's when we do that we find strength for the journey, though it can be incredibly tough.

Have you looked for new churches? It might be joining something new will encourage you in ways you can't envisage; there may be people who can come alongside and encourage.

Please do join our prayer and chat threads here, too, we're a community who support one another - online can be just what people need at certain times.

Hope things feel more settled soon and you feel more at peace within your circumstances :)