Faith helped me through the dark periods

Faith is very important in hard, dark periods. It’s like a hand on your back, moving you forward. Faith may tell you, “It’s scary, but believe in God and keep moving forward.” Faith can be interpreted however you like. This is simply how I see it during this terrifying time around the globe, with all the social injustice in America and the literal plague that is COVID-19. Faith is hard to come by nowadays, and yet, people are coming together, supporting each other through this. Well, I’d feel wrong talking about faith without giving my experiences with dark periods and how faith helped me.

After everyone was driven into quarantine, I had a really, really heavy weight on my shoulders. I was working on my self-esteem, along with having to live up to the high expectations from my parents. I grew darker and full of despair. I remember specifically one night, I was up late doing an assignment, right at my desk, and my thoughts suddenly swarmed and flooded my mind; thinking about every worst-case scenario.

Questions like: Will I see my grandparents again, my friends? Will I have to live the rest of my life like this? I wanted to block out such things so much but I couldn’t. My eyes basically drained themselves that night; I cried for at least an hour-and-a-half. But then I thought; I prayed. Right after the prayer, I started to think, “Is this really going to bring me down? All the things you’ve been through, you are going to let THIS bring you down? Have faith in God and have faith in yourself and you can make it through anything.”

As of late, I’ve cast away my dark, foggy outlook on life. I know that bad times will strike, but they will not last forever. So, I keep moving forward. Right into the — maybe — scary future with a bright new outlook. Sure it will be an extremely hard transition, but I promise, you will make it through this. Well, this is just my story on faith. I hope this inspires people to change the way they look at things. Keep positive, try hard to stay strong, thrive and smile. Your faith will help you through this madness. Thank you for your time, stay safe, healthy and faithful.

Terrell Dawkins, 13, is an eighth grader at Blessed Sacrament School in Albany.