For the people who struggle with their faith because it’s not an object, this is for you.

Faith, to my concrete mind, is highly abstract. I can see the products of a strong faith in God, or a strong faith in the good of humanity, or a strong faith in the general good – but I cannot touch faith. I cannot see a physical manifestation of faith. It’s not like the floor I stand on or the car I drive. It’s not an object and has no body of its own, but inhabits the bodies of humans.

I don’t know if other ESFJs struggle with their faith, but I feel like it’s always trying to pull me into the light of God, while my concrete, disbelieving body is pulling me in the other direction, saying, “but we are being pulled toward the invisible! Where is the reality in this?!”

There will be people who will read this and will offer words of encouragement. Go to church! they will say. Read your Bible! And to them, I say: I do these things weekly and daily. I also pray. I pray over my day, over my clients, over my husband and family and friends, and over myself. But for those who struggle in their faith because it’s not an object, you know what I mean. Those seemingly small but significant moments where you’re caught between your physical body and the “rational” part of your brain, and the spirit that God has put in you that always seeks Him. It comes with its challenges.

It also comes with endless reward, especially as a concrete-thinking HSP. It means that I’m easily moved by my Hezekiah Walker Pandora playlist. (Like everyday, y’all.) It means that when I look at the world and see children helping and encouraging other children, my concrete body gains another ounce of faith in the goodness that God put in all of us. And there are countless other concrete blessings that rain down on those of us struggling with the abstract nature of faith.

So for my concrete-thinking sisters and brothers in Christ, I say this to you: I hear you, I’m with you, and keep fighting your corporeal’s view on faith. It’s easy to see the difficult parts of maintaining faith, and difficult to see the ways in which faith manifests in all of us. Even in you.