Samantha86 Posted November 10, 2017 Group: Newbie Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1 Content Per Day: 0.00 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/10/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted November 10, 2017 Hi all, ive been a Christian for about 2 years, I have bi polar and I find church sermons seem to tell you, you can be more, do more, be better etc.. I'm just not like other people and I feel like there's a Christian mould that we are subconsciously told we need to fit. I think God make me with limits and when I try to be other than how God made me I feel miserable. It's not just church but society as a whole preaches the "god of self improvement". Any thoughts on this? Do you agree/ disagree? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmuffet Posted November 10, 2017 Group: Royal Member Followers: 34 Topic Count: 1,991 Topics Per Day: 0.48 Content Count: 48,689 Content Per Day: 11.80 Reputation: 30,343 Days Won: 226 Joined: 01/11/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted November 10, 2017 16 minutes ago, Samantha86 said: Hi all, ive been a Christian for about 2 years, I have bi polar and I find church sermons seem to tell you, you can be more, do more, be better etc.. I'm just not like other people and I feel like there's a Christian mould that we are subconsciously told we need to fit. I think God make me with limits and when I try to be other than how God made me I feel miserable. It's not just church but society as a whole preaches the "god of self improvement". Any thoughts on this? Do you agree/ disagree? God loves you just as you are. He wants to have a loving relationship with you and He wants to be a part of your illness. All you need to do is ask Jesus Christ into your heart and believe.Ask for forgiveness and put your life in His hands. God knows more about your illness than you do. He wants to help you get through your difficult times if you will let Him. We as Christians are not perfect and we will not be perfect until we get to heaven. God has a tremendous amount of grace and mercy. Let Him love you unconditionally which is what He wants from you. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK1110 Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 22 Topic Count: 87 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 6,874 Content Per Day: 2.42 Reputation: 9,612 Days Won: 4 Joined: 07/18/2016 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/10/1986 Share Posted November 11, 2017 (edited) God loves you just as He made you. We are called to do our best to become more like Christ, not like other flawed humans. When we compare ourselves with others, we see only the outside, and not the heart as God does. We don't really know them and how worthy or unworthy they are of being role models to us. Christ is our role model. It's Him we should aim to be more like. The good news is that it's impossible to be just like Him, and He knows that and that's why He came for our sakes. Each day, just ask God to make you a tiny bit more like Christ, to respond to and love others in a Christlike way, to stay in the word and in prayer, and love, obey, and trust God fully. Don't worry about living up to some human standard. When we ask God to help us be better, we're asking Him to make us better, not ourselves. He is the potter, and we are the clay. You're right that we can't change and live up to a standard on our own; it's God who gives us that strength and makes that change in us. You needn't worry about your own lack of ability to become less broken; it is God's role and His pleasure to be the one to fix you, day by day! Edited November 11, 2017 by BK1110 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post secretopossumcabal Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 207 Content Per Day: 0.09 Reputation: 188 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/15/2017 Status: Offline Popular Post Share Posted November 11, 2017 Speaking as someone who has been depressed for most of his life, the best line in all the psalms imo, is "The lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those that are crushed in spirit". It was in the lowest parts of my life that I realized that there had to be something more to this planet besides human vanity; God was that answer. When I was at my lowest, I saw him who was at the highest. The spirit came to me because this world left me brokenhearted. Through your weakness he will come to you, rely on his strength to carry you through your ambitions. He didn't place you here with utter indifference, even Jobs utterly ruined life served a purpose and inspiration. Remember that Christ's power is made perfect in weakness. The afflictions of the righteous are many. Self improvement is important, God doesn't want us to be lazy. He wants us to create, just as he creates. He knows that there is satisfaction in good work. Ecclesiastes tells us that it is good that a man should be pleased with his work, for that is his lot. Don't hasten yourself and expect to build Rome in a day. Even throughout my depression, I look back at my previous drawings and realize that not at one moment did I ever stop improving. I struggle a lot with completing pictures, but even if I can't build the entire building yet, I've got the framework down, and one day it will flower for me, one day it will all make perfect sense. Be patient with yourself, small improvements are very very good, but standing still is never the answer, he who sows the wind reaps the storm. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne222 Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 32 Topic Count: 476 Topics Per Day: 0.17 Content Count: 6,559 Content Per Day: 2.28 Reputation: 7,638 Days Won: 9 Joined: 06/12/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted November 11, 2017 1 hour ago, BK1110 said: God loves you just as He made you. We are called to do our best to become more like Christ, not like other flawed humans. When we compare ourselves with others, we see only the outside, and not the heart as God does. We don't really know them and how worthy or unworthy they are of being role models to us. Christ is our role model. It's Him we should aim to be more like. The good news is that it's impossible to be just like Him, and He knows that and that's why He came for our sakes. Each day, just ask God to make you a tiny bit more like Christ, to respond to and love others in a Christlike way, to stay in the word and in prayer, and love, obey, and trust God fully. Don't worry about living up to some human standard. When we ask God to help us be better, we're asking Him to make us better, not ourselves. He is the potter, and we are the clay. You're right that we can't change and live up to a standard on our own; it's God who gives us that strength and makes that change in us. You needn't worry about your own lack of ability to become less broken; it is God's role and His pleasure to be the one to fix you, day by day! I agree Bk1110 . Nicely said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debp Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 52 Topic Count: 1,021 Topics Per Day: 0.15 Content Count: 12,321 Content Per Day: 1.80 Reputation: 16,370 Days Won: 92 Joined: 07/19/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted November 11, 2017 All of the above posters have given you great counsel. Be yourself, God loves you unconditionally. We all grow spiritually at different rates so don't compare yourself to others. Keep walking with Jesus in your daily life, and you will grow accordingly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riccardo Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Seventh Day Adventist Followers: 4 Topic Count: 0 Topics Per Day: 0 Content Count: 281 Content Per Day: 0.10 Reputation: 167 Days Won: 0 Joined: 06/25/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted November 11, 2017 There is a lot of good advise above. I particularly like Secretopossumca who has been through it as I have. Remember that most people have no clue what you are going through, even though they think they may be giving you an uplift they quite often miss the mark & place a arrow in your side accidentally. Jesus loves you & knows your heart, read Romans 8:28 God Bless 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Adams Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 25 Topic Count: 61 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 9,606 Content Per Day: 3.97 Reputation: 7,795 Days Won: 21 Joined: 09/11/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted November 11, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, Riccardo said: There is a lot of good advise above. I particularly like Secretopossumca who has been through it as I have. Remember that most people have no clue what you are going through, even though they think they may be giving you an uplift they quite often miss the mark & place a arrow in your side accidentally. Jesus loves you & knows your heart, read Romans 8:28 God Bless Right on! I sooo understand how you feel I believe. I have been out at night, under the stars, pleading with the Lord. Why Why WHY?? "I think God make me with limits and when I try to be other than how God made me I feel miserable. It's not just church but society as a whole preaches the "god of self improvement". If you can, understand that the ones you think want you to conform, are really often just as lost as you are. The Lord treats you as EQUAL to any other human. You have just as much worth as any other person. If you are a round peg and do not fit a square hole, do not fret over this. The Father of Light and the Lord of Lords knows all about you. You are not alone. Ever. It is OK to be you! Isaiah 44:24Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, "I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,.." Isaiah 41:10'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' Edited November 11, 2017 by Justin Adams oops spell 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 15 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 395 Content Per Day: 0.12 Reputation: 319 Days Won: 0 Joined: 04/20/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted November 11, 2017 Acceptance is the key to all our problems. Accept it when you feel down, and accept it when you feel up. In both cases, stay in touch with Christ, stay in touch with The Shepherd and He will lead you along the right path of acceptance. Once you can accept it, everything that you would not accept vanishes. When we have a story about feeling down, that story makes it feel worse and we suffer for it. Through acceptance, the story vanishes. Though we may still feel down, it no longer bothers us because we have accepted it. This liberation from our suffering makes us feel grateful. In that gratitude, we are back to loving God unconditionally. To accept, I usually let go of an old belief I had from my old nature (without Christ in my life) that if things don't go MY way, I won't be/feel okay. But my new nature (with Christ in my life) knows I will still be okay if things don't go MY way. So it's okay if I am down or up or whatever. Knowing I am okay regardless, helps me to accept it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to3 Posted November 11, 2017 Group: Royal Member Followers: 22 Topic Count: 139 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 4,228 Content Per Day: 1.23 Reputation: 3,076 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/28/2014 Status: Offline Share Posted November 11, 2017 (edited) Hi Samantha 86; Thanks for sharing your heart and your true thoughts. You are not alone, with having these thoughts, with having these life struggles. Many here on this worthy site also are coping with different MH problems, from bi-polar, to depression, to schizophrenia, to anxiety , to autism, to personality disorder etc. but not everyone who has these will speak up about them in the open, so thank you for being an open voice, because you definitely are not alone with the concerns that you have expressed. With that said, like many who have already responded is that we have to be ourselves and find what we can do with what God has given us and what life has throw on us. For sure this life places a lot of expectations on people to be something. The worst thing is to try and be something you are not. Many times, that comes from not knowing who you are to begin with. And people who have suffered early life trauma to the extent that it broke or split them quite deeply from within, particularly have a hard time discovering who they are. and until Gods life solution coping tools are found, life is not easy to cope with, and can seem hopeless. The dynamics of a dysfunctional family can very much be part of this confusion along with living in a toxic environment. If possible renouncing oneself from toxic environments can help, but you know even prisoners in prison ( where they have no place to go) have found ways to cope with their life through finding Gods love through Christ Jesus and His Word. As we grow into adulthood, that is when we can either continue trying to live a lie from early trauma conditioning or we can decide that we want to wake up and find our true selves. Trauma hypnotizes us to the world standards, it puts us to sleep, from this, we can become quite lost. God wants us to have life and life abundant. Gods wants to awaken us from the sleep of satans rule over us. Jesus the Good Shepherd John 10:10 Christ Jesus said: 9I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. 11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.… Waking up to God"s Christ consciousness is a process that we need Gods help and His plan of Mercy and grace us to find it again. For sure, that in Christ Jesus, you are the child of God He always intended for you to be. The moment you decide to turn your sins over to God and become willing to trust and follow Him, you begin the process of waking up to your true self. If you don't know what you were intended to be, now is a good time to get closer to God and His Word. God through His Holy Spirit will guide and show you how to be you and learn to be you from what God has given you to begin with. Please don't feel alone, I too for a long time did not know where i belonged, I did not know the real me, I lived trying to fit in, trying to be what i was not, and that is the worst thing you can do. Finally seeking God and keeping up pursuing God, has helped me to discover who i am and who i am through Him. A lot has to do with not paying so much attention to this world system and focusing more on what Gods Word says and finding ways that you can live your life peacefully through the ways of Christ Jesus. Slowly aligning yourself to Gods Word and less and less to the worlds standards. God through His only begotten Son Christ Jesus will show you who you truly are: the good, the bad and the ugly. The Holy Spirit of God will help you resolve your inner issues and struggles, provided that you seek to have daily relationship with Him, just talking to Him, asking Him, the Holy Spirit of God to show you the way and reading His word. I promise you that He will show you the way, He will give you peace, He will show you the things that you need to let go of so to get better, and allow the real you to come forth. He will bring to you understanding and His peace along with it. Many times its us, through anger, fear, pride, impetuousness, stubbornness, rebelliousness, that closes ourself off from God, and by doing this we close of His ability to help us.But the more we open ourselves to God and begin placing our trust in Him, and become willing to let go of certain behaviors of this world that we may have been conditioned in, the more He can work in us, and in our hearts and transform us step by step into the child of God we were always intended to be. The child of God is within your soul, it has nothing to do with any bodily handicap we may have, it has to do with what is in our hearts and by God's Christ consciousness we live by. This world lives by antichrist consciousness, its purpose is to steal,kill, destroy, destroy the God given soul, the God given Christ consciousness. Every man/woman has been given a measure of faith, what we do with it determines our final outcome. satan tries to steal away that faith, that God given innocence, Christ consciousness. God through His Word and plan of Mercy & Grace comes to restore it. Without faith=faithfulness to God, it is impossible to please Him or find your true self in Him, and find back your God given consciousness=Christ Consciousness that brings to your mind and heart what is right and what is wrong. Hebrews 11:6 : Hebrews 11:6 This relationship with God for it to be working needs to be in symbiosis= mutual If God has given you or allowed handicaps in your life, they are there for you to learn not only to live with them but to overcome them, and to live with them as best you can with Gods help always and also overcome them with Gods help always. Romans 8:28 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. The struggle of life will continue one way or another, because that is part of life. Part of life is to overcome it and every new challenge that this life in this world presents us with. satan rules this world and is the great deceiver. Ultimately satan wants us to give up on Gods plan of Mercy and Grace. Never GIVE UP satan is the great oil snake salesman, he knows you and your weaknesses and will always come to tempt you through the mind. By trying to instill thoughts into your head, and these thoughts if you give them to much importance like a virus they multiply and can eventually corrupt fully your soul by driving out Gods Christ consciousness that can become with and through satans full corruption, a seared consciousness, incapable of discerning anymore right from wrong, what is moral and what is not. Sin confuses and corrupts Gods Truth and Gods morality But amazingly so, God through his plan of Mercy and Grace is the Great Retriever and Savior of lost souls that seek His help. God can do what man may have already given up on. Christ Jesus said: with man is is not possible but with God ALL THINGS ARE possible. -found in God's Word in Holy Scripture:- Luke 18:27, Mark 10:2, Matthew 19:26 26 ***Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”*** Luke 11:9, Matthew 7:7 7 Christ Jesus said: ***Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.*** Keep knocking on Gods door and He will open and respond back to you and help you. God comes to reach you through your heart. There is a difference between satan trying to reach you through your mind and God trying to reach you through your heart. By God being able by you being willing to trust in Him, He can transform your heart, heal it and also transform and renew your mind to become more and more wholesome. Gods promises to all who seek Him: 2 Timothy 1:7 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Philippians 4:8King 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:6-7 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Matthew 7:7 Christ Jesus said: 7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.… Deuteronomy 31:6 6"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." Hebrews 13 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, Gen. 28:15; Deut. 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6So we may boldly say: Ps. 27:1; 118:6“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” In Christ we become: Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Peter 1:6 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. virtue that is not tested is not virtue. In life we are always given tests of faith. How we react to every test of faith determines if we have learnt the lesson or not. Learning to cope better with any life disability is learning to overcome our impediments, thus we improve. We may have for the rest of our life to live with certain disabilities, but what makes us grow is how we learn to find new ways within ourselves in coping with these disabilities in a positive way. Well what is so positive ? Well God is, He restores our soul and refreshes us continually with His living waters now living in us. The Love of God forgives, heals and saves We are also called to be His children and give Him honor and thanks and also learn through Him to forgive. Mathew ch6:14 14(Matt. 7:2); Mark 11:25; (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13)“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But Matt. 18:35; James 2:13if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Edited November 12, 2017 by 1to3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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