5 Things to Do When You're Feeling Doubtful and Discouraged

Somewhere along the way in Western Church history, Christians went from being a passionate people who expressed their fluctuating emotions to God, to a pious people who kept their emotions in check and handled their problems on their own.

King David, who expressed his hurt, happiness, anger and frustrations so beautifully in the book of Psalms, would not be welcomed in some Christian circles today. At some churches, anyone who admits to having doubts or are discouraged due to their circumstances are frowned upon by other Christians, who as of yet, are not having the same problems. 

God can use our discouragement to do a Divine work in us

The truth is Christians who love God will have moments of discouragement and doubt and will question God about why certain things are happening to them. Just take a look at Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45).  Was Jesus discouraged? Yes. His death was agonizingly slow and painful. Did Father God actually forsake Him? No. But the Father knew that He could not intervene in the Divine and supernatural process that reconciled sinful humanity back to Himself. 

We must face the fact that there will be times on our Christian journey where we won't understand what is going on in our lives and will sink into doubt and discouragement. When we get discouraged, we often believe that our circumstances are more powerful than God's ability to change them.