I feel like God is far away
Feelings about God's presence are not evidence of God's presence.
You are not spiritually dead. You are spiritually tired.
What the Fathers call spiritual dryness
The desert tradition names this experience: akedia, desolation, the 'dark night.' It is so common that the entire book of Psalms is built around it. The Psalmist moves between 'The Lord is my shepherd' and 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?' in the same collection. Spiritual dryness is not a sign that you have done something wrong or that God has left. It is a season. Every serious Christian you admire went through it. The Fathers treated it like spiritual weather, not spiritual failure.
Why God sometimes feels distant
Sometimes God allows dryness so that we discover whether we love Him or only love the feeling of Him. When the consolation is removed, what remains? If you find yourself still showing up — still praying, still fasting, still choosing the right thing — even without the feeling, you are discovering that your faith is real. The feeling was never the foundation. It was only the sunlight. The root grows in the dark.
What to do when prayer feels like talking to the ceiling
Pray anyway. Pray short. The Fathers say: when prayer is dry, don't try to manufacture emotion. Say the Jesus Prayer. Light a candle. Read one Psalm slowly. Put your body in posture — kneel, face East, make the Sign of the Cross — and let the body carry the prayer when the heart cannot. The dryness will pass. It always has. God is closer than your breath, whether you feel it or not.
Scripture
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?”
— Psalm 22:1
Sit with this
When was the last time you felt close to God? What were the conditions of your life then?
Prayer
Lord, I cannot feel You right now. And I am not going to pretend. But I am still here, which means something in me believes You are here too. Come close. Not when I deserve it — now. I am tired of the distance. Amen.
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