Everyone experiences a loss of faith at some point in their lives, and it can be particularly distressing when you feel like you don't know how to restore it. You may be questioning the ability of your faith to help you make decisions or feeling disconnected from what used to give you hope. However, there is good news: Faith can be restored. It's a gradual process that requires hard work, but if you're willing to put in the effort, you can regain your faith and begin living more optimistically than ever.

What can we do when we lose faith?

Faith means believing and putting our trust in something, even if it has no definite proof of existence, such as faith in a god or something spiritual. Strong faith makes our bond and relationship with someone or something firm. However, as certain things happen, our faith can get shaken. It can get eroded or entirely lost due to things like being overwhelmed with problems, not receiving help when needed, depression, stress, or a feeling of betrayal because things don't happen as you expect. It's normal to question your faith if things don't happen according to how you wish or perceive them to occur.

A lack of faith can make it seem like you don't have any control over what's happening around you and feel helpless. This can be bad for our well-being, as we may become numb to what's happening around us and cause us to lose motivation to live well. Restoring faith can be challenging and requires time and effort for it to go back to a state where we can feel strongly again for what we believe. The process is gradual, and some things can help us bring our faith back over something.

1. Give things a second chance

We may believe in something because we expect something or someone to give us what we need. We may want the assurance to maintain our beliefs and motivation throughout everyday life or support during difficult times. We put our faith in something because we don't have complete control over a situation, and we entrust the other party to do something. However, things won't always happen as we want, and the thing we put our faith in may not necessarily commit to us giving what we want. Expectations can be broken, resulting in a loss of faith.

We must remember that we may rely heavily on something else while the other party isn't obligated to respond to us similarly. We may have thought that the other party could give us something we may have difficulty attaining or doing. However, our expectations may be wrong, and the other party may not be perfect, so they may fail to give us what we think they could. If so, one thing that can help us is giving the other party another chance to prove that our faith is not misplaced. Maybe the circumstances were not right the first time, so things did not work. Try trusting something again, and things may be a success the next time around.

2. Talk to people

Lost faith can be difficult to restore if you try to do everything yourself. Talking to people can make you feel better, and they may give you a different perspective or some practical advice. It will be beneficial to speak to someone more spiritually inclined about life, such as a priest or a church member of your religion. Talking with people helps unload some of our burdens as long as they are willing to listen to us.

3. Look at the bigger picture of things

There could be a reason why things do not turn out as we expect, and we may never get an answer why. It is possible that only later do we realize that if things turned out as we expected, it could have been something that will not benefit us, or it could be the other way around that a loss turns into an opportunity. Look at what you have, and you may feel blessed for still being alive and having possessions and the capability to do things others can't. Remember past troubles that seem impossible to solve, yet you overcame them for some reason. Look at the wonders around you and things that are way bigger than you, such as looking at the sky, the various wonders of nature, or the vastness of space. Things may not have worked right now, but in the grander scheme, there can be something better waiting for you.

4. Engage more in spirituality

Spirituality has something to do with supernatural things and can be greater than what we know and see. It can help us renew our faith, especially if the crisis concerns belief in a god. Meditation and gaining a broader perspective open our minds to what could be there, such as forces holding the universe together and unseen things leading to a meaningful life. Faith borders more on the unseen and something that cannot easily be proven by science, so immersing oneself in spiritual things may help us gain much-needed faith in things we may not completely understand but still choose to believe.

5. Pray and take some time off

Things can be troubling and overwhelming, so we may want things to be okay now, especially if problems keep popping up. Times of trouble, such as when natural disasters strike or financial issues happen at the wrong times, are when our faith usually gets tested, and it can feel easy to blame someone, such as God, for all our troubles or see things differently, such as losing your faith on humanity or the system. When things become too much, try not to worry about everything simultaneously and focus on dealing with one thing at a time. The thing we have put our faith in may not precisely be responsible for all the troubles we are facing, and if we are getting angry for not receiving help from them, there could be a suitable time for something. Try not to associate every tough situation you face with your faith, as there could be other factors causing them. Take some time off, relax, and pray if you believe in a spiritual entity. Praying is a way of communicating with something spiritual, so use it to deliver your concerns to those you believe in and think that they will do what's right at the correct time. If your faith is shaky, give it time to strengthen by focusing on the positive things.

Renewing faith takes time.

Faith can be our last hope when we have exhausted every option available, and it's the only thing that can keep us believing that things will improve and be okay. So it's understandable that it is challenging to restore faith if it's the only thing we have left, and nothing else will work to help us in difficult situations. Only time will tell if our faith can go back to how it was once before, depending on what things happen next in our lives. No matter what happens, it is up to us to believe again in something or place our faith somewhere and take a more pragmatic approach to life. What is essential is that we find something that can comfort us during trying times and give us a reason to hold on until things improve.