Is it difficult for you too?

[GerdaHannah]

hi friends,

I will come straight to the point.

Is following God's way difficult for you too?

Sometimes I think of the good experiences in my past life, of the people i liked and loved. And I miss them badly. I am aware that I could go back to them, but staying in God's will is preventing me from doing so. And I feel sick. I still love God and want to trust in Him, but this feeling of missing them is also there.

Please share your thoughts.

Is this normal?

[kat8585]

Absolutely. This struggle won't end til Jesus comes.

[MorningGlory]

It will always be difficult. When you don't do the party hardy thing anymore you leave a lot of people behind. It's worth it to me, personally, because being with the Lord is more important. The pleasures of the world are transient; He is forever.

[InnerSe1f]

It will always be difficult. When you don't do the party hardy thing anymore you leave a lot of people behind. It's worth it to me, personally, because being with the Lord is more important. The pleasures of the world are transient; He is forever.

Yes that is true, it really is worth being with God rather than our old pleasures. But as everyone else, i've had/still am having the same troubles.

Edited February 18, 2009 by InnerSe1f

[tah]

No, not at all or in any way do i miss anyone enough to think about returning to the vomit of my old life..

Loving those who are lost that were part of my "before life" has nothing to do with my desire to be close to the Lord..

But you do remind me of a Scripture with your remark..

There is a "faith chapter"... Hebrews 11..

You will be blessed..

and another one... Ecc.11:9

I have experienced too much of God desire or want anything else....

Perhaps that is part of being "old"...

And let me add one more thought.. God does give us the desires of our heart..

Where your treasure is, there your heart is also...

careful what you desire....

May His Spirit fill you and lead you in all your ways...

Trust him with those you love and pray for them ...

[EricH]

Yes, there are times it is hard. But as Tom Hanks said in, League of their Own, "Of course its hard. Its the hard that makes it great. If it was easy, everyone would do it."

[Leonard]

After a while, it becomes habitual, and is no longer such a struggle.

[Trusting Jesus]

Don't let the "good experiences" of your past lure you back. We tend to remember good things, but forget the bad things. The farther you move away from "yesterday" and draw closer to God you will find that what you experienced as "good times" were really not so good! I am sure you had many friends who were good friends and you love them, but that doesn't mean you should go back to those friendships (yes, there are many in my past that I feel the same way about. Something you can do for your old friends is to pray for them.

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Nathele

[JBagley]

I'd like to take this opportunity to share a bit about my life, and my walk out of the darkness.

I was raised in a Christian household where we were pushed into faith instead of simply being shown the way. This did nothing more than push me away from Christ, and even though I knew it was the only way to salvation I refused to have anything to do with church or the Bible. I lived however I wanted, even purposely doing things that I knew would displease Him. I scorned God, Jesus, everything about Christianity. As a soldier in my first deployment to Iraq I mocked the faithful around me, instilled doubt and criticism where ever I could, and generally did everything in my power to take away from the glory of God.

Fast forward a year, to my second deployment overseas. I wasn't even supposed to be deployed again due to having a surgery for an injury sustained in my first deployment. However, my surgery was "cancelled" by my chain of command so I could be deployed. To add more fuel to my fire, my wife informed me that she could no longer handle the near-constant separation and she was filing for divorce. Finally, the morning I was to fly out my family suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina's little sister, Rita. I lost contact with them three days before my ship date.

Let's review:

1. I was in pain from an injury and the only means to relieve it was taken away so I could be deployed again, involuntarily extending my military contract beyond my release date.

2. My wife of six years decided to leave me, informing me of the decision after I had been locked down (the unit is under lockdown 48 hours before they fly out, typically).

3. I lost contact with my family after phone lines, water and electricity were cut off due to one of the most severe storms in my area's history.

Needless to say, I was watching my life fall to pieces around me. I was so full of bitterness and hatred (yes, hatred) that I actually began looking forward to going back simply so I could hurt people as I saw fit. However, I had no idea what was about to happen in my life.

I decided that I was going to spend whatever free time I had while deployed *objectively* studying Christianity. I looked at it as, "What is so great about a bunch of stories about people from thousands of years ago, and a man that no one can even prove existed?" Little did I realize that this study would bring me into the faith without even realizing it. As I began reading and taking notes, I began to ask questions about the writing, and the people behind it. Eventually my mindset toward the Bible began to shift more to accepting it as truth than trying to poke holes in what I was reading. I even found myself seeking out other faithful members of my platoon asking questions and looking for opinions about what I was reading. Toward the end of the deployment, a series of strange events occurred:

1. The previously mentioned injury worsened to the point where I began developing nerve damage, prohibiting use of my right arm. This required immediate evacuation for surgery.

2. While in transit (possibly the most difficult time to receive any correspondence) I received divorce papers from my (now) ex-wife. It turned out that she had become a Wiccan, and decided to leave me for her cousin's husband.

3. It was determined after I returned stateside that my shoulder would be permanently damaged and that I would not be able to return to service overseas, despite my separation anxiety from my fellow soldiers.

It has been two and a half years since all of this happened. I have since solidified my faith in Christ, been given a wonderful woman to share my life with, and returned to my hometown and my family with a job that is able to support us well and be able to give to others (You'd have to live here to realize how rare that is). It took the most difficult journey of my life to bring me to this point, but looking back I don't think I would have ever turned away from my "old life".

To answer your question: I will always miss my brothers-in-arms, but I have been rewarded with a second chance at life. I'm in one piece, I have my family, and I have my faith that God will not put anything in my life without a lesson to be learned from it. It is this fundamental lesson that made me realize why we're here: not to compete for things, but to tell others of the validity of eternal life.

[Trusting Jesus]

What a wonderful testimony -- full of encouragement. It's interesting how sometimes it takes problems such as you faced to open our eyes to the truth. I'm glad you opened you eyes to Jesus.

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Nathele