How I Keep Trusting God When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

Even though I don’t always know the why, I keep choosing to live by God’s standards — and He always shows me the blessings in His own timing.

I've been blessed to have been born into the Church. My parents were (and still are!) wonderful teachers to me growing up and taught me a lot about faith and staying strong in the Church. They showed me by example how to stay faithful and strong, especially through hardship.

Staying Strong, Even Without All the Answers

I remember I was in college and a Young Women leader from my ward growing up reached out and asked if I could be a "guest speaker" for an activity they were having. There were a few other guest speakers (ranging from ages 20 — which was me — to 60) too. It was a fun Q&A activity — the young women could ask us about anything: dating, temple, mission, etc.

One young woman asked why members of the Church are encouraged to wait until 16 to start dating. I was asked to take the question. I did my best — I said something along the lines of, "I'm not sure why we have to wait until 16 to date, but I did my best to live by that anyways. I know that God won't be disappointed in us and we won't be in trouble if we go on a couple dates before that age, but it's a guideline He gave us for a reason."

I felt kind of embarrassed right after because I didn’t really know the answer… But then one of the other speakers — a wonderful Sunday School teacher of mine in my teenage years — spoke after me and said something like, "Rachel probably doesn't realize this but she just shared something super valuable — and a great lesson for us all. Even though she doesn't know exactly why God asked her to do something, she continued in faith and did it anyways."

He made me feel so much better about my answer, haha. But him pointing that out became a defining moment for me. From then on, I continued to do my best to live by God's standards — even if I don't know exactly why.

God Reveals Answers in His Timing

This comes back to the testimony that I’ve built: I know God will show me — in His own timing — the blessings and answers I’ve been looking for. Knowing this has made my life more joyful, less discouraging, and overall a whole lot better.

God Loves Questions

This doesn’t mean I don’t ask questions — I have many questions, and asking them is GOOD. God loves questions! But there’s a big difference between questioning and doubting.

When I question things, I look for an answer through God as my source — with His guidance and by asking people I trust. And I still do my best to live by the commandments and guidelines given, even if I don’t fully understand them.

Doubting, on the other hand, feels like the opposite. It stems from Satan’s malicious temptations. Doubts can fester if we let them — people can turn to unreliable sources and drift from God. The biggest difference is that a true question comes from genuine curiosity, while a doubt often starts as a statement with a question mark tacked on.

"The word testimony begins with a test, and the word question begins with quest." — John Bytheway

I love this quote. It shows that both are good, but they take a lot of time and effort.

All Good Things Take Time

All good things take time — and they’re worth the wait. I’ve gained and received my own answers to my questions, and that’s what’s helped my testimony grow stronger.

Anytime I go through something hard, my first thought is why? I really believe everything happens for a reason. Just the other day my car got towed and it ended up being a $375 ticket! But instead of letting that bad moment get to me, I’m choosing to believe there’s a lesson behind it.

I’ve already seen so many blessings come from this — mainly the love, support, and empathy shown by my loved ones. And one lesson I learned — besides paying better attention to signs where I park, haha — is to be as patient with my husband as he was with me. When I told him, he said it was going to be okay rather than being angry or yelling at me, and helped me through everything — it was the first time I’d ever gotten towed, and he was exactly what I needed to get through the mess.

Choose Faith

I know that hard times will come — they always do — but I’ve learned that I can choose faith every time. I can choose to trust that God is in the details. I can keep asking, keep searching, and keep walking forward even when the why isn’t clear yet.

And every single time I do, my testimony grows a little stronger.

Tell me in the comments below!

What experiences do you have with this? How has asking questions strengthened your faith? I love hearing and learning from your experiences too!