Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science

by Mike McHargue

Here are four exercises you can start with as you build a prayer and meditation practice in your own life.

But, no matter which exercises you’re doing at any one moment, it’s vital to pay attention to your mental outlook. Research tells us that meditation and prayer work best when you prepare your mind by understanding four core ideas.

I doubt I’ll ever be able to resolve the contradiction between the indifferent universe I understand through science and the intimacy I find with God in prayer. All I know is that even when I was working through existential doubts about God’s nature and character, prayer was the one place where God consistently met me.

Belief in God can be beneficial to people, and prayer can rewire the human brain. The largest institution in history devoted to belief in God and exercising that belief is the Church. The scale and scope of the Church are vast resources for anyone who wants to know or experience God. Beyond its more numinous activities, a church is a ready-made system of social support, community, and belonging.

The Bible is art.