Abstract Recent empirical studies demonstrate that faith is a resource that can contribute to personal resilience in difficult life events. Since few studies have focused on how women draw on their faith to cope with homelessness and associated life stressors, this study is an attempt to fill this gap. By examining women's accounts of experience with homelessness and homeless shelters in Croatia, we explore the role of faith in their lives. Using qualitative methods, to explore the meanings homeless women attribute to their experiences of faith, we discuss whether these experiences buffer stress and facilitate coping with adversity. It is recommended that future studies should further explore homeless people's expressions of faith to gain insight into the scope, depth and diversity of these resources.