Embracing discomfort, not expertise, in order to find our faith

Written By Rachel Wahba-Dunkley

I posted a somewhat controversial message on Threads the other day about the connection between prayer, unhealthy church leaders, and creating a real, genuine relationship with God.

I got a little smoke, but honestly it ended up leading to some civil discourse that was respectful and enlightening.

The responses helped me to realize that we are still very much unable to hold things in tension. If we accept that the mainstream church culture is unhealthy, then that means a whole list of things that we don't want to sit with or accept as true. So instead of acknowledging a very real reality that has been reported and researched, we instead cancel the whole concept and everyone who believes that way.

Tension and real faith

We need to start learning how to think for ourselves, instead of perpetuating the beliefs we've been raised with but never questioned. And to do that, we must learn to sit with and embrace tension, discomfort, and questions.

I would argue that real faith is there - in the tension, wondering, questions, confusion, yearning, discovering. In the compassionate curiosity. In the dark night of the soul season. In the celebration of life services. Faith is there.

We have greatly misunderstood faith in western Christianity to mean being an expert with full confidence and all the answers about God…when in reality, we are constant learners at best. And being a constant learner is very much okay.

One of the many characteristics of God is that He is mysterious. And this is because we are humans, limited by our human understanding. But instead of embracing our limitations and understanding how these limitations actually create a fuller trust and freedom in God, we instead reject them because not knowing is not an option for western Christianity.

Failing to embrace our limitations

There's so much we lose out on when we fail to embrace our limitations. 

We overly rely on ourselves, creating unhealthy and unholy pressure that God never intended for us.

We miss the glimpses of heaven and God winks, letting us know that He sees and knows us. 

We depend on people who claim they're experts, instead of leaning into a personal, deep relationship with God for the answers we're looking for.

I am not saying to ignore leaders and just only rely on yourself. What I am saying is that this currently out of balance, where there's an over-dependence on either other people or our individual selves that actually hurts our relationship with God.

So my invitation to you is to embrace a spiritual discomfort and explore it with God. What's that theological stance that you have but never really explored why? Is there a spiritual discipline that's become more action and less heart? What makes it hard to believe tough things in the Bible that you want to ignore? 

 My hope is that you allow yourself to be real with God and yourself. May you take off the pressure of keeping up appearances, take off the mask that the world requires, and sit truthfully and fully with God. Even if it's uncomfortable, even if you get answers you don't like, the depth of care and trust with God is there, waiting and ready for you.💜

Need more support? Lemme help you sis:

  • The Soft Place where you can journal with God without the pressure to be perfect

  • Righteous Rage Roomwhere you can vent without getting all the spiritual bypassing comments

Rachel Wahba-Dunkley
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