BFP

Yes, actually there is...full moon is Thursday, and we are just coming out the other end of a major solar flare.

I agree with Oak...many Christians share this same issue of forgiving and loving their enemies. And I also agree with his suggestion of putting it out of your mind as much as you can. God grows us each in our individual ways. Might I suggest, for now, just asking The Lord to give you a forgiving heart and leave it at His feet. And trust The Lord to show you these things in His time. He will. You are not a failure as a Christian...quite the opposite in fact. You are a man after Gods heart, seeking him and trying to please. You are a much loved son of the King!

I think you have to just believe that you were doing what the Lord was leading you to do at the time, and be happy that you were the one he chose to do that service for you...whether you were rewarded or not. I can understand the resentment well though. I think she was very lucky to have you, and if had been more selfish who knows what would have happened to her, and instead of resentment you might be feeling guilt these days instead. The Lord planned it, exactly the way it happened. And you were chosen to do a wonderful work for him, and you obeyed! Now that is special!

I think *most* things can be swept under the carpet for the few days a year that this happens. And then there are the big situations that really run deep..like heroin or other drug addicts that cannot be tolerated period. They destroy the holidays for everyone with thier manipulating ways and acute psychosis. But such is life.

Hey, have you ever looked into the Candida connection? Something else to google...lol! Actually I am off to refresh myself on that very thing. It can cause all kinds of issues

It took me a long time to not miss chocolate! I have been chocolate free for at least five years now...and don't crave it or miss it anymore. The first year or so was hard. Try doing a food journal...see how you feel after eating this and that...your problems could be very simple sensitivities...and you could also be dealing with a yeast problem. Yeast can really mess up a body

Another great thing I use often to cure many issues is juicing. It will give your body a flood of nutrients that it needs. I am not a huge believer in vitamins to be honest. Food is the Essense of life. If you give your body what it needs, and take away the stuff that hinders, like processed sugar, white flour, and any junk food...you are allowing the body to heal itself. And our bodies were designed to heal themselves. If you can, buy a juicer, and run carrots, apples, oranges, celery...almost any fruit or vegetable. There are a great many juice recipes online. Another great and healthy thing to do is drink a lot of water...add the juice of a quarter lemon to it...great cleansing benefits to that. Look into flax seed oil...it is essential fatty acids. Omega 3 rich...and can help the body in many areas. Add fiber to your diet in any form you can take it. Another thing I know is that a healthy gut s a healthy body...add some healthy gut flora by taking acidophilus (the stuff found in yogurt). You can buy it in pill form...but don't bother with the one on the pharmacy shelf. You're looking for the one that is refrigerated. Mine is called DDS plus. This stuff, all on its own can make a big different on health. As I think of other things I will post them... You do your own research on the things I am telling you about and you decide what is right for your situation.

Have you looked into celiac or gluten sensitivity? The bloating and fatigue, and cramping after eating wheat suggest a possible intolerance...and trace amounts can cause symptoms as well. What I might suggest is following a gluten free diet for two weeks and see how you feel in two weeks time. That will usually tell you a lot. Another thing I would be looking into is adrenal fatigue... http://www.celiac.ca/index.php/about-celiac-disease-2/symptoms-treatment-cd/ http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/what-is-adrenal-fatigue Look into these two things. Both have diets to follow to try and clear up the symptoms. Praying that you find answers!

I can totally understand your frustration...and can clearly see where you are coming from. It is very difficult when it involves a child and you are trying to keep the child's heart pure for as long as you can. So many people don't seem to understand how children are affected by what their parents watch in the home. At the same time, however...for some reason, your wife is getting something from it that she thinks she needs. Maybe watching all these uncontrollable people makes her feel somewhat controlled or better about her own life...that she may not be pleased with at present either...just a thought Or maybe she is using it as a power against you. Do you have an attitude that demands submissiveness from her in all areas? I am not in any way assuming anything here...just thinking about reasons why she may be doing this and not paying attention to your feelings on the issue. In my house it is quite simple...my husband thinks he needs television in the evenings to wind down. I don't understand it...haha because quite frankly television has the opposite effect on me, it winds me right up! I can clearly see how her job change could very well be a big part of the problem, and maybe she just needs time to sort it all out within herself.

Ditto!

Well, he is an adult, and free to make his own choices at 18, like LadyKay said. And Man is also right, your sisters house, her rules...if she doesn't want that in her home then ban it. If he doesn't like it he may think of moving elsewhere though and she will have no control whatsoever if he does that...in any part of his life. Not an easy thing to have to deal with, but none of today's issues are

My husband is very much like your wife when it comes to television. Our television does happen to be the most offensive thing between us,and I have had issues with it since we married 20 years ago. The television,that is. I don't have issues with my husband though because I will not allow the television to destroy our relationship. Bottom line is that you will never be able to control your wife's television habits. The only way i can tear my husband away from his in the evenings is to come up with something more interesting to do together. And that can't be done every day of the week. I have chosen to ignore it. I have learned to be able to be in the same room and not even hear or see what he is watching, ...and the tv is really not worth the fight. Miss Placed gave some really good advice above:) And Fez may be right in your case...the television may be the noisiest problem in your home, but is it really the root of the issue?

((Hugs)) Can you find someone to pray with you about this? Someone who will seek the Lord on the root and such? I do know the root...it was a combination of things...big things. It's the cure that evades me. Thanks for the hugs

There's more going on than "getting hurt" or "a bad pastor." When going to church feels like returning to the restaurant where you got food poisoning from, and that feeling doesn't go away, you can't keep telling the person that "getting back in the saddle" will eventually fix the problem. When Churchianity gets in the way of one's ability to connect with both God and the body of believers, you can't keep telling that person that their solution is to "steeple-chase" until they find one they can connect with, nor to suck-it-up and change your attitude and the problem will work itself out, nor will telling that person the solution is for you to be the solution give the person any confidence or idea on how in the world they can radically change anything. You might as well ask a shy person to attend a party full of strangers as the solution for them to make new friends. Nebula there is so much truth to your posts, thank you! I have huge church anxiety...and I have come down on myself for it many times over the years. Even on the days that I actually do get there, I sweat, my heart beats crazy, I get dizzy and I want to run from it. The church I go to these days is an excellent church with an excellent pastor! There is nothing wrong there...but something in my past has poisoned my present...unfortunately I have not yet found the cure. And it has nothing to do with the music I listen to or any of that..! I have fed myself only good spiritual things for a LONG time, and Christians still scare the crap out of me! Jesus doesn't, and I have a wonderful relationship with Him. He truly does walk with me and talk with me...so much! But He seems to disappear as soon as I hit the church parking lot haha

I have been thinking a lot about ministries and homelessness and the church. And would like to share some thoughts. i hope they come across in the right context Back in the day, the church was the community. If there was a problem, the church pulled together and helped those who needed it. If you needed it, you could go to the church for food, for rent money...for almost anything if you were really in need. People respected it. And if they were moochers it was a lot less obvious. Then came in governmental social programs. You could go to the government and they would help you. The problem is that with the government taking over, there was less in the way of counsel...of community. It was almost doomed to fail from the start because at the church people knew you and encouraged you to get on your feet. Perhaps jobs were offered. With the government, it was different. And it son became a sense of entitlement to receive social services (to many anyway) Meanwhile, the church was pushed into the background...it became less evident that the church was helping provide for the poor. The church gives to organizations, but they are no longer the organization, so people no longer realize what the Christians do to help those who need it. When someone tries to go to a church now, for help, they are directed to a social program (I've seen it many a time) And that person walks away confused, wondering what ever happened to good Christian aid. There are still a few ministries that are directly related to the church, that the world can see clearly as coming from the Church...but they have come to rely on the government more and more. And so they have been able to separate the love of Christ from filling a need. I am not sure If I have expressed this in an understandable way... But I think that for the church to survive, and be what it was meant to be, we have to get back into the forefront with these ministries, instead of serving in the background the way we are at present.

No, what I mean is stop using the homeless as pretext for why you don't go to church. If you really cared about the homeless, you would be participating with churches and other ministries who are on the front line of ministry in that area. Your "care" for the homeless would be expressed in action, not in condemnation of other Christians. If you would, please explain to the readers here how you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am everything you say I am. Yes, please...I would like to hear it too.

No, what I mean is stop using the homeless as pretext for why you don't go to church. If you really cared about the homeless, you would be participating with churches and other ministries who are on the front line of ministry in that area. Your "care" for the homeless would be expressed in action, not in condemnation of other Christians. And how do you know that Man doesn't minister to the homeless? And I have yet to see you ask what it is that has perhaps led him to his conclusions. I have yet to see that you have shown any CONCERN for why he might feel the way he does. All I have seen is your critical remarks about what he should be doing WITH the church. He quite obviously has a passion burning in him about this issue. Disregard for peoples feelings, and admonoshing him critically for his feelings doesn't bring anything but further distance between those who have a dislike for the church and the church.

Thanks Man...I think when many people think of the homeless they automatically think of the addicts, or the mentally ill. Those two areas are perhaps the most difficult to help. But we really have to keep in mind that there is another homeless population out there that consists of hardworking families with children, who have landed in the homeless pile and really and truly need a hand up...not just a hand out. I know that here in Canada, if you are suddently homeless and you do not have permanent address to give, none of the social service agencies can help you until you can provide a place of residence. But you cannot get a place of residence if you have no money. It is a catch 22. And there are a great many catch 22's when you find yourself homeless. Opening the churches to these families could make a world of difference for them. I can recall actually, when I was a child, we did have a few families live in the church basement for different reasons...and you know, some are still members of that church to this day, and the others may have moved on, but are still part of a church somewhere. I know that from the beginning of this thread, over and over again you have tried to open eyes to the homeless CHILDREN...the most vulnerable, the ones that Jesus would definitely take straight into His arms and make things right for...no matter what we need to give up of ourselves. No one seemed to be hearing it, I read terrible words pretaining to the homeless on this thread. I appreciate you sharing this

1 Chorinthians 13...1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing I think some of us quit church for this very reason...too many speak with their own knowledge and not love. And clanging cymbals are not very easy on the ears. Seems to me that perhaps the ones who have left the church are the ones who are more easily broken, and nothing was done to help them when they did break. Seams to me that often there is so much knowledge, that the wisdom of this is no where to be found. The world has no hold on someone that has truly found Jesus...and the church has to remember that neither do they, if Jesus can't be found in their church. Instead of speaking do's and don't's and tossing around convictions, maybe we should first learn how to truly love. This thread lost me when the cymbals started after someone expressed a heartfelt concern.

You can rest assured that these films portray the lives of those who really are living in the spirit...and life in the spirit brings with it great joy, even through sorrow. It brings great relief, even in times of stress... It brings the Lords healing, in so many ways. Your spirit it stirring because the Holy Spirit is showing you the possibilities of a spirit filled life. And no one can go wrong following the spirits stirring A forgiving and loving spirit is what Jesus wants each of us to have, so that we may see the joy that comes with the morning. Let your spirit be stirred. you know my spirit has been stirred as well in past weeks. I have a daughter that I love dearly and we have had our ups and downs. She is grown and has her own children. She is a great mom and lives for Christ. The Spirit convicted me the other day while I was there that i haven't given her a hug in many many years. Not that we dont spend time together, we do, and we love each other...but I have this wall around me it seems in some areas. And hugging is one of them. (tough skinned on the outside) Anyway that day the Spirit prompted me in a big way to just grab her and give her a hug and tell her how very much I love her. Funniest thing...she shouted from the rooftop! She called to her husband as I hugged her and said "Hey honey!!! Look, my mom is hugging me!" Her joy was so apparent! Obviously it was something the spirit knew she needed, and I didn't have a clue until I was prompted. What a joyous moment! Let your spirit be stirred...love and forgive those around you. Ive been going through alot of the same lately and wow! I can only say let the love flow. You won't regret it. Ask the Lord to fill you with it. It will come out exactly where it's needed and in just the right dose

I agree with Omegaman...it is all pretty normal...just google storm, hurricane, earthquake...etc and put in any year...there will be a great storm in history for every year. Start in 1900... It was Galveston Texas...8000 residents lost thier lives...1901 November...huge storm on the Norh East Coast. 40 ships wrecked, sailors lost lives. It is all very normal. But like your friend, where I live we don't get anything...well maybe to you five ft of snow overnight would be something, but we just get out our snowshovels and everyone pitches in to shovel out...work is usually cancelled for a couple of days and that is that. I thank God all the time that I don't have the worries that coastal communities have. I would live in fear of the next one all the time.

I have a feeling that none of you have ever been homeless before. Well I have, as a young teenager And I know well what desperation can cause an otherwise great kid to do in order to survive the streets. Homeless children are a huge cause for concern...simply feeding them a couple of times a week right where they are (in tents, cars, under bridges etc) doesn't cut it.. They need so much more than that. They need to be protected, and KNOW THEY ARE SAFE. Know they have a warm bed, good food every day...and adults who love them. Examples to follow. Did I mention the word SAFETY?? They need you just as much as your own kids do. If it were YOUR child on the street, would you be satisfied with the idea that there are shelters out there that are always full to the max...and I'm sure we all know what goes on in shelters and why many homeless avoid them all together...or do any of you know any of that? Are you truly interested in knowing? Not a place you would ever want any of your own children to be. If it were your child would you be satisfied with simply giving to your neighborhood church and expecting that they will take car of it? Would you feel that as long as they could find a soup kitchen that's open a couple of times a week and a tent to sleep under they are fine? Do any of you have any idea the predators out there that take full advantage of the homeless every day? Easy to sit in church and feel good about tossing a few dollars into a offering plate to help the homeless. Not so easy to open you home to them is it? Not so easy to open the church door to either in many cases I get your point Man...

People all have opinions about what is wrong with the church, and what is wrong with the people to prevent them from attending church services, and I do like to hear both sides. But I do not like to read posts directed at an assumption about a certain individuals heart and where they stand with the Lord. That is just hurtful and not what this thread was supposed to be aimed at I am sure. There are many who have been terribly hurt by the church, and encouragement is a much more acceptable way to deal with these hurts than to push that person further away with hurtful comments. Please respect others feelings here...

If one has to muster up patience in order to attend a local gathering, what does that say about the gathering? If one is attending just for the sake of attending, that one is attending for all the wrong reasons. In some ways yes, you are right Man. There are certain churches I wouldn't even be able to muster up enough of anything to walk into..(the ones I walked away from to begin with)...but there are also times that it is something within myself that is out of place. And I think the point is, never give up, on yourself, on God, or on those places. Just trust God, and let Him love you to the point that many of those things don't bother you anymore. But perhaps you are called there to minister to someone who has the very same issues as you do. I won't be attending just for the sake of attending anymore...but will hopefully be open to Gods call to serve the least of those...and those who have been discouraged. And just let His light shine through. Much easier said than done at times...i know. You are looking at one of the most imperfected Christians on earth when you look at that picture to the left

There is no perfect church. It would be nice to find the church where everyone loves from only pure motives, where there are no personality conflicts, where every sermon is a homerun and the worship always feels like we are in the New Jerusalem. But that ideal church which does everything right simply doesn't exist in this vale of tears. People are looking for love and acceptance in the church, as well. There are broken people in the church who are still nursing their wounds from the cruelty of the world and we don't do them any good by thinking that we won't attend church until all of the conditions are right. The church has problems because people are flawed no matter how long they have been saved. There is something to be said for being able to muster up the humility and patience to worship and participate in the Body of Christ even when the conditions aren't ideal and things are not always to our liking. Yes, there is definitely something to be said for being able to muster up the humility and patience to worship and participate no matter what