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I read the following excerpt from The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence and it struck me as something I have also experienced in my walk of faith. A period of closeness with God and then silence. And it seems that no matter how hard I pray, I hear nothing. 

Yet, my determined faith remains, even as my frustration grows. My desperate need to hand onto my faith in God's goodness, in His presence, remains.

And then, just when I'm ready to give, there is a whisper that reminds me of God's presence. 

I hope this passage will be of interest to you as well...

During this period I often fell, yet just as often I rose again. Sometimes it seemed that all creation, reason, and even the Lord Himself were against me...and faith alone was for me. I was troubled with the thought that perhaps it was pure presumption o my part to believe I had received favor and mercy from God, and that this presumption only pretended to have taken me to a point that others arrived at only after going though many difficult stages. On occasion I even thought perhaps my simple touch with God was just a willful delusion on my part, and that I didn't even have salvation!

Amazingly, all these thoughts and fears did not diminish my trust in God but rather served to increase my faith. Finally, I came to the realization that I should put aside all the thoughts which brought about these times of trouble and unrest. Immediately I found myself changed. My soul, which had been so troubled, then felt a profound sense of inward peace and rest. 

Ever since that time I have walked before God in simple faith. I have walked there with humility and love. Now I have but one thing to do: to apply myself diligently to being in God's presence, and to do nothing and say nothing that would displease Him. I hope that when I have done what I can, He will do with me whatever He pleases.

The Proactive of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence