I have been having a rough time with my faith lately. It's not that I haven't had trials in my life because I have. I have a sick kid and nothing could be more frightening than that, right? Wrong. Because in some ways, lack of finances/job can be more terrifying. When we found out Josh was sick, we had insurance. Now, 9 years later, we find ourselves losing the security that the Marine Corps has provided for so long. So there goes the insurance. What's one new worry, eh?
So my faith is pretty much non existent at this point. I never considered myself a conditional Christian but I realize, belatedly, that I may very well be just that. I never wanted to be that. When my son was sick, I never considered myself one. But when faced with circumstances such as these, I've become timid. I had faith. I had, so MUCH, faith that God was going to protect us. God takes care of his own, right? I thought so, too. Now I know better. I threw myself on His mercy and in the end, we were not taken care of. For over a year I told myself, this is not happening to you. Pray, Maria, pray. We serve a God who can move mountains. We serve a God who takes care of us. But he didn't. And it hurts. It hurts more than I ever thought it could.
So after that day in August, I was deflated. Everything I had lived for the last 15 years was suddenly a lie. A sham. What good is religion when you can no longer trust the omnipotent? And I found myself being completely and utterly.....alone- for the first time in my life. Obviously, I've been alone before. I've spent time without my husband, kids, family. But I always knew, when I was in that valley, I had God there beside me. And now, I feel the inexplicable grief of losing Him because I know with a certainty that I did in fact lose him. I can't find him anywhere. The pain is crippling. I can only brush myself off so many times before I realize that I am better off on the ground, so that when someone comes by to kick me, I don't have very far to fall.
Now I'm faced with wonder. Is living a life free from religion really so grand? Is it grander than living, knowing that you have doubts but not looking into those doubts because your religion, your God is your comfort? Do you continue to prove that he doesn't exist or do you give up and go back to the way of life you had before because that life was comfortable? I think I'm at a crossroads here. Something very big is happening in my life. Good or bad, I'm not sure which.
You may balk at the notion, but I tend to look at those leaving religion in the same light as those leaving an abusively neglectful relationship. He never beat you, but he always let you know, somehow, someway, that you just weren't worth the attention you so badly needed.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're finally free, of course the first place you go is a cold, dark, lonely one; you were in love! Even love for a bad man is real love, and it has to be approached the same way when it's time to move on.
You've spent decades relying on this father figure, and if you've come around to another way of thinking, it's going to take some time before you breathe in that first, deep, sweet breath of personal, uninhibited oneness, and I wouldn't doubt your decision just because you feel like you're stumbling by yourself for now.
Grieve. Then rejoice. In that order. <3