Hello ,

Faith is often spoken of as strength.

But what happens when faith itself feels painful?

There are moments when belief feels steady and confident. And then there are moments when divorce shatters your security, death empties your home, betrayal fractures trust, illness shakes your body, or disappointment quietly dismantles the future you thought you were building.

In those moments, faith doesn’t feel triumphant.

It hurts.

Scripture does not hide this reality. In 1 Peter 1:6–7, we are told that though we may suffer grief in “all kinds of trials,” our faith is being tested and refined like gold in fire. Fire is not comfortable. Refining is not painless. But the presence of fire does not mean the absence of God.

David cried out in Psalm 13:1, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?” 

That is not the voice of rebellion. It is the voice of a believer in anguish. Scripture preserves his cry to show us something essential: faith can speak honestly to God.

History gives us a sobering example.

In 1873, Horatio Spafford lost his four daughters in a tragic shipwreck after already enduring financial ruin and the death of a son. When he later sailed across the Atlantic and passed near the place where his daughters had drowned, he wrote the words to the hymn It Is Well with My Soul. That hymn was not written from comfort. It was written from the depths of grief. Spafford did not deny his pain. He chose to anchor himself in the character of God despite it.

This is the tension we will explore.

• What do you do when loss destabilizes your world?
• How do you pray when heaven seems silent?
• How do you process doubt without abandoning belief?
• How do you trust when you do not understand?
• How do you rebuild when everything familiar feels gone?

We're about to embark on a 5-day series entitled, "When Faith Hurts."

This series is not about offering shallow answers or quick fixes. It is about learning how to walk through divorce, death, betrayal, illness, and disappointment without severing your connection to the God who holds eternity.

Faith may hurt.

But pain does not mean God has left.

And loss does not have to mean spiritual collapse.

Over the next five devotionals, we will walk honestly through the places where faith aches—and discover how it can endure even there.

Musical Reflection: My Faith Has Found a Resting Place

Have a great day and God bless!

Pastor Mike / The Open Word