Stan,
Never a JW. I so do not want to answer this because the atheist on this forum are going to pipe in. I have nothing to say to them.
With that said I am 65 and at the age of 50 I walked away from Religion because I realized at that point it is all man made. I still strongly believe in God and feel a very strong connection with God through daily devotion. I also do not believe the Bible is the word of God. Just written by men claiming it to be the word of God. A question I have asked many times since making this decision is: If God had created Religion how many Religions would he have created? I believe in a loving and caring God who wants all of us to get along with one another. I do not blame God for all the suffering that goes on in the world as I did not blame God when I lost my son nor when I had cancer.
I have always felt a very spiritual closeness with God because of the troubled life I have lived and I felt only he was the one that carried me through those times. I feel he walks beside me in the good times and carries me in the bad times.
My faith in God keeps me from getting depressed during some mighty tough adventures. He keeps me going for the brighter tomorrow which does come.