Episode 6 - Why Does God Feel So Far?

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Download Episode 6 Reflection Guide

Show Notes:

Summary

This episode addresses the common experience of feeling distant from God during prayer and faith, especially in seasons of spiritual dryness. It offers reassurance, practical advice, and encouragement for believers navigating these challenging times.

Key Topics

·         Spiritual dryness and feeling distant from God

·         Practical ways to reconnect with God during seasons of silence

·         Understanding that feelings are fleeting and not the truth

Takeaways

·         Feelings don't define God's presence or absence.

·         Consistency in prayer and faith practices sustains us through dry seasons.

·         God's silence is often a sign of growth, not abandonment.

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Transcript:

Stephanie (00:00)

this is a mic thumping moment. You don't have to feel close to God to steal.

be close to him.

Hi friends, welcome back to Glory and Grit, where faith meets real life. if you're new to the podcast, you might enjoy starting with the first three episodes where we talk about the heart behind Glory and Grit. I'm your host, Stephanie, and let me start by saying, I'm really glad you're here.

Have you ever had these moments where you're praying and it feels like your prayers are just hitting the ceiling?

not because you stopped believing, but because you just feel like you stopped feeling him. So, let's talk about it together.

when this happens, sometimes your prayers can start to feel like a routine. Like you're saying the words because you know you're supposed to. Morning prayer, check. Lunch prayer, check. Nightly bedtime prayer, check.

And not only that, but you're saying them, but you're not having a feeling with them when you're saying them. You're not having a connection with them.

And it can feel like you're saying the words, but they're not going anywhere. They're not leaving you and going to someone. They're just leaving you and going

into the empty

You can feel that the silence, the no response, is that there's no one there.

There's this giant void between you and God and he can't hear you That might leave you with questions like ⁓ And these may be questions that you haven't even said out loud, but they're starting to creep into your mind you're starting to feel

Am I the only one this is happening to why is this happening to me? Why don't I feel God?

close to me anymore. And if that's where you are, I just want you to know you are not alone.

This is not something that happens only to new believers in the faith, new Christians. This is not something that happens to those who have just found God in their lives and they're finding a little struggle here and there. This happens to long-term believers as well. It can really happen to anyone.

The important thing that I want you to remember is that this is a season, baby. This is not permanent. This is a season, a moment in our lives because seasons come and seasons go.

This is not your whole life story. This is not the end of your story. It is just a part, a seasonal part of your story.

It's not failure. You're continuing to show up. You're continuing to pray. You're continuing to serve. You're continuing to attend church. You're continuing to do all the things that you know to be the right things to do. So this is not failure. It's also not punishment. God does not take His love away from us to punish us for something that we've done.

or that we're doing in our lives. God does not withhold his love to say, well, I told you not to do that and you did it anyway, so I'm withholding love from you today. I'm taking my love back. God does not do that.

Faith isn't always emotional. Our faith is not based on how we feel. And just a gentle reminder that if you'd like to spend more time reflecting on on this topic there is a reflection guide for this episode available on the website.

Mike Thumper, just because something feels a certain way doesn't always mean it's true.

Feelings don't equal the truth, I'm sorry. Feelings are fickle, they are fleeting. They come and they go

Feelings are one of the fastest changing things about us. You love him this moment, you hate him the next. You like her this moment, you dislike her the next. You love strawberry, now you're sick of strawberries. Emotions come and go, they don't stay consistent.

with what's really happening in our lives. So that's because we feel that our mother-in-law doesn't like us doesn't make it true. Sometimes the mother-in-law not only likes you but she loves you. Just because we feel that God isn't there does not make it

always emotional

silence doesn't mean that God is absent.

For one, he isn't absent. And even if he's silently with you, it doesn't mean that he doesn't love you, that he's not there, and it certainly doesn't mean that he's not working in your lifestyle. Faith deepens differently in the choir seasons.

You're learning to trust God more and you're also learning like a baby. You're learning to stand without constant support. You're learning to walk without having to constantly be reassured that you can.

And I like to think of it's like when you pray to God and you say, ABC, Heavenly Father, thank you for this. And I'm asking for ABC. And I've studied it out in my mind. I've researched it. I've done all the things to figure out how this should happen. So to make this happen, I have taken the actions.

because we should act and not be acted upon. So I've taken the action of researching this for myself to find out how to get the results that I want. I'm praying to say I'm going to follow through with ABC unless you tell me otherwise.

If you don't tell me that my thoughts are wrong or that my thought process is wrong, that I'm going to continue to move forward with what I just asked you for clarification on. And then you proceed to move forward. Well, if

And this is my way of saying it. I hope it comes off the way that I'm trying to say it.

So after you've said, I'm going to do A, B, and C, and then while you're doing A, God is quiet.

and then you're doing B and now you're feeling like there's distance between you and God because you don't hear anything. And then there's C. That is your faith at work right there because you're learning that, okay, God's being quiet.

have given him my answers and...

I hope this comes off the way I mean it. I've given him my answer and now I'm going to proceed forward and he's being quiet. But I'm not going to take that as he's not there. I'm going to take that that he's saying, you told me what you were going to do. I think it's an okay idea. I'm going to let you proceed forward. So I'm going to let you like a little baby take a step.

Get your steady yourself, take the next step, steady yourself, take the next step. Without me having to constantly be there to hold your hand and to reassure you. I hope that makes some kind of sense. But that's the way I have been thinking over the last couple of years whenever.

praying for something or trying to make a decision about something is

There are moments when you can pray to know and then there are moments when you can work things out for yourself.

and then pray to know if those things you should proceed forward with and that you will unless you're told otherwise. So that gives our faith an opportunity to increase and strengthen without having to have God constantly holding our hand and reassuring us.

So if God hasn't gone away, why does it feel like he has?

It's possible that you could be going through a growth season like we just talked about. You're taking those baby steps and God is sending back and going, okay, good, good, go ahead, take the next one. Good, good job, baby. Go ahead, take the next one. you're doing really well.

And you're growing in your faith, in your ⁓ spiritual strength, in your physical, mental, emotional strength. So it could be that the distance you feel is that moment of allowing you to have your growth.

to be closer to what it is you're trying to be or what he would like for you to be. That could also be counted as trusting without constant reassurance. Taking those steps, you know? And it could be that we're just emotionally exhausted.

When we're emotionally and spiritually exhausted, we don't feel the things that we normally feel. And if you're in a calling or position where you are constantly absorbing those who you are steward over, if you're a pastor, if you're Relief Society president, if you're...

branch president or something, that where people are coming to you constantly to receive uplift, direction, or things like that. You're absorbing all that stuff and it can, after a while...

become exhausting physically and spiritually. And then you have the world coming at you, life noises from the world coming at you as well, your

charity responsibilities, work responsibilities, sorority, fraternity responsibilities.

or other organizations you're in responsibility, grandparent responsibilities, aunts, uncles, you have all these things also coming at you. you have a bunch of life noises that are constantly, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

around you and you can begin to feel a little distance between you and the Lord. Also it could be unprocessed hurt or disappointment and let's be honest when we are hurt we tend to come inward.

or when someone has truly disappointed us. I don't mean like, ⁓ I didn't want that for dinner or, know, ⁓ I didn't want to go here today. I mean, when someone truly disappoints us, where it affects our heart and our feelings, we truly can feel rejected and like...

they're not there for us. They're not there for us. So if you're in a season like this,

What do you actually do with it?

Well, one is keep showing up. As they say, keep showing up, keep showing out. Be consistent. If we are consistent in our faith, consistent in the things that we know, it will eventually get better.

Even if it feels dry right now, consistency will always come over emotion. So just consistently keep showing up, regardless of those emotions, and they will begin to die down, and the truth will begin to shine forth. Continue to say your prayers, even if they're short prayers, just be honest.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for all that you have given me with. Today, I need you. I don't know what I need. I don't know ⁓ what's going on and why there's a gap between us, but I need you and I need to fix it. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

think short honest prayers are very tender to the Lord. I know that he will take that.

over long, wordy, eloquent, beautifully stated prayers that mean nothing. And not all long prayers mean nothing. I have been accused of doing, not accused, mentioned that I can sometimes do long prayers. And the person saying it wasn't complaining, he was telling someone that I do beautiful...

long prayers and a very good prayer, whatever, whatever, in saying that because I will pray for what's on my heart for me and then I try to be in tune to the spirit of what the people around me need and try to pray for their needs as well. So it's not that long prayers are bad by no means don't leave here thinking that long prayers are not bad.

But when you are feeling some kind of way, some kind of distance between you and the Lord, He doesn't need that long praying.

if it's not from your heart. I pray from my heart. That is what you want to give him. And if that has to be a short prayer, it's okay. It's even better because you're being honest with the Lord and you're trying to close that gap that has developed between the two of you. Sometimes, and I talked about this last week, sometimes...

We just need to be still. And we can say the words that I'm being still, I'm waiting for inspiration, but then sometimes we have to actively be still.

not just physically keep our body motionless, is that the word? Motionless. But we also have to Calm your mind.

block out the noise if you need to. Sometimes sometimes we could have so much noise going on that we can't hear because our feelings can be loud and the noise around us can be loud coming from various directions but God is always very quiet.

these things that are.

shouting at us and coming at us, then we can't always hear the gentleness that the Lord speaks to us with. And then another thing to do is to lean on what you know, when our feelings, as fickle as they can be, when our feelings have us feel that there's a distance between us and the Lord.

when we talked about staying consistent. Also, lean on what you know. Remember what you know to be the truth.

You can always refer back to that because if you knew it was true then you also know that it's true now, regardless of what you're feeling. You still know it's true. So go back to what you know. And again, as things work forward, you will start to feel

again.

And don't forget to lean on your community. Surround yourself with people who know what you know to be true. And when you are struggling or when you are having those moments where you are feeling distance between you and the Lord or unanswered prayers or ⁓ unloved, whatever it is you may be feeling,

Go to those people that you have in your community. It helps to have a tight-knit community to fall back

a pastor, your branch president, your ward president,

whatever your spiritual leaders position is lean into that

You keep your family relationships close if you possibly can because those are people you can also lean on and get yourself some good faithful friends faithful to the Lord faithful in

how they live their lives to reflect their belief in Jesus Christ and the Lord that you can call on when you're having those times and also they can call on you when they're having those times, but they can help you remember what you know to be true. And I don't mean like help convince you. mean help.

remind you of what you have said and what you have known to be true. Because sometimes when we're feeling off or some kind of way,

can forget sometimes when we knew.

the gospel was true. When we get wrapped up in how we feel distance or how the Lord feels distance to us, the things that we knew can get clouded. So it's good to have communities who can remind us of, hey,

you made this covenant and you knew it was true. So what has changed between now and then? Isn't it still true? Has it changed? Has the Lord changed? And so that's what I mean about get yourself some good faithful friends who are faithful to the Lord and then faithful to their covenants and then can be faithful friends for you.

I hope that made sense. I go off on a tangent sometimes. I've tried really hard to curve that for the podcast. This is a mic thumper. And if you're new to the podcast and you're unaware about a mic thumper, I stumble over those words sometimes.

is my husband would always say when there was an important point in a class we were teaching or even taking, he would stomp his foot on the floor and say foot stumper, which meant that that was a really important point that should be remembered or learned or written down because it might be on the

in this situation it's ⁓ very good life point. So you're not going to hear my foot stomping on the floor because the editor

⁓ will cut that out

So I do a mic thumper to let you know this is one of those things you should always remember. And if you're watching the video, then you'll see me tap the mic. But if you're listening to me on your favorite podcasting service, then you may or may not hear it because the editor has a tendency to...

quiet or mute the thumping of the microphone. Just like when you hear me take that deep breath at the beginning. Sometimes it removes the breath and you just hear me exhale. It removes the inhale as I exhale. So anyway, sorry. I told you I go off on a tangent sometimes, but ⁓ the mic,

this is a mic thumping moment. You don't have to feel close to God to steal.

be close to him.

I'll say it again. You don't have to feel close to God to still be close to him.

And I've had some of those seasons in my life as well where I felt that there was, that God felt far away from me. And I can tell you for me, and I am not, this may not be a way that you have felt, but my experience.

has been on those times that I have felt distance or far from God. I don't always notice it immediately. It's like I'm going and I'm going and I'm going and life is coming at me in various directions and things are getting cloudy. I've got too many decisions to make and I've...

got so much going on and I'm feeling run down and mentally exhausted, emotionally exhausted. And I'll be honest, starting this podcast was one of those things.

because there's a lot to be done. But in the past when I felt that, like I said, I don't always notice it immediately, but when I start to feel like something is wrong, something is off, there's a part of my life that's missing. I'm feeling...

boxed in and I don't feel that I have this love and joy that I once had wrapped around me. I don't feel it anymore. I feel like there's a void and the void is coming at me and I'm feeling more.

I'm feeling more less of what I felt before. I know that's a crazy way to say it, but. ⁓ And then I start to think, what is happening? What's going on? What's happening in my life? And then I start to think about it and I start to feel it more. And then it starts to dawn on me slowly.

I don't feel God in my life right now. What is happening?

And then I begin to self-assess. Again, this may not be something that has happened to you, but I'm telling you again, my experience, in all transparency, this is how it happened for me enough so that it clicks in my head to notice that whenever it happens again, to catch it quickly, I hope. That's my prayer.

So I start to self-evaluate what is happening in my life right now that I'm not able to feel him close to me. And for me, it's been, at that time, it was... ⁓

wasn't praying. I mean, I was routine praying, all transparency, if I was even doing that at that moment. I was not praying openly. I didn't have an open line of communication between me and the Lord, so I wasn't doing scripture studies. I wasn't ⁓ fasting, and I wasn't out doing anything wrong.

You know, and I was still going, wasn't, didn't feel forced to worship, but maybe I was not always connected during worship. You know what I mean? I was a little elsewhere, you know. You can't see me if you're on the podcast, but I'm pulling out of my brain into various directions.

and I realized that all those things that kept me close to God, to my Heavenly Father,

were things that I was not doing.

So I realized at that moment that I had stopped doing the things that allowed me.

to feel closer to Him. The things that help me build my line of communication, build my faith, build my knowledge base of God.

and it had caused, and I think for me, it made that space bigger and more noticeable. Now, I relied back to what I know because what I know is that God never moves. And I was able to fall back on that during those times of feeling that there was distance between us.

He never moves. And I realized that I moved by not doing those things that I had been doing that kept my relationship with Christ solid.

I hope that

So I didn't have this big moment where everything changed, okay? But I did come to realize that God hadn't gone anywhere.

So if you're in a season where God feels far away, where it feels quiet or distant, where you're still showing up, but it just doesn't feel the same.

I just want you to know God hasn't gone anywhere.

Even if you don't feel him, even if it's quiet, even if nothing seems to be changing, he is still near.

my thumper.

Just because God feels far doesn't mean he is.

Remember that there is a reflection guide for this episode, episode six, that you can get that can help you process a little more with various questions to help you think about how you would handle this season in your life and more.

And as always, it's available on the website, gloryandgritpodcast.com. The symbol is spelled an.

Now, I'd like to leave you with this scripture from Isaiah.

Isaiah 41 10.

Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Fear thou not.

For I am with thee.

Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

I'm your host Stephanie. I'm really glad you were here today. If this episode brought a little hope to you today, or you know someone who's having some of these feelings, please share this episode and a prayer with them. Remember, glory doesn't come without grit. See you next week.