When Doubt Feels Bigger Than Your Faith
Terrian on a big God.
Is God really big enough for what you’re facing?
Terrian’s answer starts in Exodus. “My encouragement for people who are wrestling with if God is big, I go back to all of the stories in the Bible that even nonbelievers know,” she says. The Israelites stood trapped between the sea and their enemies. Then the water split. “That didn’t come from a human,” she says. “That came from a God who is so big — far bigger than the deities that the Egyptians were serving.”
A Bigger God Than the Grave
She points to Jesus next. “His disciples and all of the followers had lost hope,” she says of the days after the crucifixion. “But our God is so big that He defeated death and He rose from the grave.” “If God can split a sea, and He can resurrect from the grave, there’s literally nothing impossible for Him,” she says. That conviction shaped her song “Big God.”
“I wanted to bring the joy that comes from that into the song,” she explains. “I’ve seen Him show up as just a big God, just in my life.”
From the Inner City to Here
“I’m from the inner city,” Terrian says. “A lot of people would think there’s no way you could get here from point A. I believe God has big plans and big dreams for me. And He can do the impossible.”
The same big God meets Terrian in her hardest seasons.
“In those moments, circumstantially, it’s not a joy,” she admits. “I’ve found being able to sit still in the Lord’s presence, and really wrestle,” she says. “There’s a stillness that comes before I can even start talking and expressing what I’m dealing with. And then after that stillness comes the wrestling, where I ask the Lord why, or what am I to learn from this season of suffering.”
Worship Is the Language
“The Lord has used those moments to give me the beautiful gift of joy, to where I can stand in strength, even though I’m suffering. That is a literal superpower.” She names Nehemiah’s words to a grieving nation: “the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV). Suffering hasn’t cost her that joy — it’s revealed it. “Sometimes being like Christ is also suffering,” she says. “And finding joy in that has been nothing but the grace of God.”
Maybe your life doesn’t look like proof yet either. Ask God for what feels impossible, and watch how He moves. When the wait gets heavy, let worship carry what you can’t say— that’s where His strength meets you.
Want to go deeper?
The Joy That Holds You, a free 7-day devotional on YouVersion, walks you from understanding what real joy is to discovering where it comes from and how it holds you up even on your hardest days. Through scripture and reflection, you’ll learn to receive joy instead of chasing it—joy that never runs out.
Take the next step toward a strength that holds steady no matter what kind of day you’re having.