You are missing the point...and are apparently too caught up in your own experience to hear any other comments. I do not question or deny your most common understanding. But you deny my explanation, and therefore do not know of it, though I am not the first to have told you.
I specifically gave the example of Paul on the road to Damascus who had absolutely no faith and believe in Jesus (just the opposite) and how he came instantly to "know" Christ...as an example of the distinct difference compared to the way you and many others experience things. The point is that the faith and believe routine is NOT the only way to come to the knowledge of God and Christ...and it is the "knowing" way that tells the non-believing world that the Christian "belief" is not just all in the mind of those who profess it...because some of us can say, NO, we DO NOT believe [only], but "know."
I have used Paul as an example in order to not make this about me. But now, I will also speak of Christ, who complimented those who "believe", but made the greater claimed of assured knowledge, which I also claim: "Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness." John 3:11
In conclusion, and my point from the start, is that those who believe, do not believe in vain, and those who have faith can rest assured that we do not wait upon an unsure conclusion, but have had knowledge of the truth since the beginning.