How to keep the faith in difficult times?

This year has been to describe it briefly, puzzling for all.

And for many it has been very difficult keep faith in the improvement and not to fall into despair. The constant problems of daily life plus the global chaos unleashed by a pandemic, have damaged the confidence of many in the spiritual path.

When we see how others suffer, or perhaps we suffer ourselves, we think that we have been abandoned and we are losing faith.

But we must bear in mind that difficulties, illnesses and problems should not prevent us from moving forward and thinking about a future with hope and above all keep our faith in the support of our ancestors and our gods.

When your strength fails, remember:

So as not to fall into despair and keep faith in difficult times we must know that:

First of all, everything happens in life and sooner or later we will get ahead.
Facing problems and placing our faith helps us to mature, to grow in compassion, in patience and to learn that there is always a lesson behind a challenge.
The elderly teach us through their wisdom that, coupled with the most difficult situations, the best works of the human being arise, so we must maintain hope in seeing the rainbow after the end of the storm.

Each person has their own faith

We must also bear in mind that each individual decides what to believe, whom to worship and the best way to develop their spirituality.

Religion can be a powerful bridge of faith to find tranquility, emotional and bodily stability, a way to find relief and comfort, and, most of all, hope.

Placing our faith in Saints and Orishas

In Cuba, religion is strongly syncretized and "Cubanized", so many put their faith in Catholic saints and African deities at the same time. And that's fine, because each person believes in their own way and thus forges their spiritual path and their refuge against those storms that life brings us.

We ask the Holy Orishas for love, tranquility and peace, but above all for good health, we present some of the orishas and their comparison with the Catholic saints that we Cubans venerate so much.

Orisha	Syncretism with the Catholic Saint and requests
Obatala	It is Our Lady of Mercedes, peace, tranquility and health are asked of her. His blessings are pure and give us abundance.
Eleggua	He is the Santo Niño de Atocha, he opens our destiny, roads and good opportunities in life. Development and prosperity are asked of him.
Shango	The mighty Santa Barbara, deities of thunder and storms. They give us strength for difficult times and courage to face obstacles.
orula	Saint Francis of Assisi and the great fortune teller Orula give us wisdom, clarity in our thoughts and teachings to make better decisions in our lives.
Oggun	It is San Pedro, strength and determination are asked of him to be victorious on the way. Santo and Orisha who do not let us fall in the worst moments, are the staff of support.
Yemaya	Virgin of Regla, Protective Mothers of all her children. They take care of and protect our spirit with their powerful mantle, they shelter the way so that nothing bad happens to us.
Oshun	The Goddess of love and Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre are also mothers, they give us love, kindness and abundance, they accompany usañato achieve our mission.

Knowing how to keep faith is not always easy, trust fails us and in difficult times we lose our spiritual path, yes, one day everything will be a bad memory, let's be strong and everything will pass.