Faith: The Anchor & the Lift

Faith: The Anchor & the Lift

Faith is many things. It's the quiet voice inside saying “you’re not alone” when the world feels heavy. It’s the hand you reach for in the dark, even when you can’t see the light ahead. Faith doesn’t always change your circumstances overnight, but it changes how you walk through them, how you interpret them, and how you keep moving.

There are seasons when your faith is flourishing: prayers answered, doors opening, joy abundant. But there are also seasons when faith feels fragile, barely a whisper, not a roar. Those seasons don’t diminish faith’s value; they refine it.

Why Faith Matters

1. Meaning when life doesn’t make sense. When pain hits, uncertainty looms, or you feel lost, faith gives you a framework. It offers hope that there is a purpose, even when you can’t see it.

2. Better mental & physical wellbeing. Research shows real correlations between faith/spirituality and health:

   • One major review found that in 175 of 224 studies (78 %) religion was positively associated with life satisfaction, happiness or morale. Pew Research Center

   • According to a Gallup + Radiant Foundation analysis of global data (2012–22), religious people scored higher on indexes of positive experience, social life, and optimism. Gallup.com+1

   • A study reported that people with a religious upbringing who prayed or meditated daily were ~16 % more likely to report higher happiness as young adults, ~30 % less likely to have initiated sex early, and ~40 % less likely to have a sexually transmitted infection. Harvard Chan School

   • One survey of mental-health clients found that over 60 % agreed that relying on their spiritual or religious beliefs helps them feel mentally healthy. BioMed Central

3. Community and belonging. Faith often comes packaged with a supportive tribe - people who share beliefs, hopes, and values. Having community matters: it combats loneliness, gives you a place to belong, and people to remind you of your worth when you’ve forgotten.

4. Resilience in the storms. Faith isn’t a promise of no storms. It’s a guarantee you’re not walking them alone. The research suggests faith can be a protective factor: for example, higher religiosity has been associated with lower rates of depression and faster remission in many studies. PMC+1

How to Find Faith (When It Feels Hidden)

• Start small and simple: a whispered prayer, a moment of silence, a line of scripture or poetry that resonates.

• Notice creation around you: a quiet sunrise, a kind gesture, the persistence of hope in someone else’s life. These can awaken faith.

• Ask questions, even if your voice shakes. Doubt knows how to show up; faith shows up because you asked.

• Choose today to believe there is Someone / Something bigger, wiser, more loving than your current pain.

• Move into community: faith rarely flourishes in isolation. Visit a group, talk with someone who lives what you’re hoping for, and ask for their story.

How to Hold On to Faith

• Journal your story: write down miracles (big & small), answered prayers, “I remember when…” moments. On hard days, go back and read them.

• Build routines that anchor you: morning quiet time, weekly gathering with people of faith, reading something that nourishes your soul.

• Recognize negative spiritual coping: If your view of God or higher power is judgmental, distant, or punitive, that kind of faith setting can harm your well-being. One study noted that when the relationship with God is loving and satisfying, people reported fewer mental-health symptoms; the opposite held when God was represented as judgmental. Stanford News

• Protect your heart: If life is whispering that you’re unworthy, unlovable, irrelevant - faith reminds you the opposite is true.

• Allow seasons of silence and waiting. Faith often deepens in the spaces where you don’t see the immediate result, but you keep showing up anyway.

Why the People Around You Matter

The people you choose to walk with will either raise your faith or shrink it. Here’s what to look for:

• People who believe in you when you can’t believe in yourself.

• People who inspire you to be better, not drag you into toxicity.

• People who pray with you, talk faith with you.

• People who celebrate your wins and hold space for your pain.

Conversely:

• If someone repeatedly drains your light, questions your worth, dismisses your hopes, or makes you question your soul, you don’t have to stay.

• Faith grows in soil that nourishes, not in environments that suffocate.

Putting It All Together

Faith isn’t passive. It demands your yes. It asks you to step into the unknown with your hand open, your heart willing. It doesn’t mean you’ll never feel fear. It doesn’t mean you’ll never doubt. But it does mean you’ll always have a place to stand: grounded in something bigger, together with others who walk with you.

And when you surround yourself with people who uplift you, remind you of your worth, and deepen your faith, you become not just a survivor, you become a beacon. Your faith doesn’t just carry you; it gives others reason to keep going.

The Emily Joy Project
Faith • Healing • Sisterhood
If this message resonated, I invite you to visit theemilyjoyproject.com and share your story. Because your faith, your healing, your journey - matters.