Spiritual Crisis

[Guest mamasota]

I'm tired of walking. I'm tired of the race. Sad, eh? Is it sadder that I'm looking for encouragement from prefect strangers. Sometimes it feels like being a Christian's too hard, you know?

[eagleswings]

awwww bless your little heart thats when you lean hard on Jesus He will never leave you or forsake you.......... Let him carry all your burdens for his burden is light and his yoke is easy........... i will be praying for you keep your eyes on Jesus and off circumstances and the world remember in the end we win!!!!!!!!!!!!! may the Lord Jesus will you with the peace that passes all understanding in His Name Amen

[Leonard]

May the Lord grant you special strength and encouragement, even TODAY! +

[gypc]

Get to the cross and hang on. Help is on the way!!

In his love,

Brian

[SueZQ]

Hello mama,

It is not sad that you're looking for advice, as believers we are to encourage each other and to uplift each other in prayer! You did a good thing posting your struggle my friend! You now have an army of prayer warriors lifting you up before the throne of God.

I don't know how long you've been a Christian, but I do know that each one of us goes through this journey with the Lord much as a baby grows.

Often I see people getting frustrated because they see another Christian that they want to aspire to be like. Each step in Christ is unique to you because it's a personal relationship. Jesus cares for you, knows what you need when you need it. If you rely on His Holy Spirit to lead you, not people, you will find that He will move you to the next phase effortlessly. It's when we try to do things on our own that we lose our peace and it seems our hope dwindles.

If we can help in anyway, please return and post a new post. God has placed so many people here that have such a vast array of knowledge and are faithful to respond and help.

God bless you my friend, be encouraged that He will never leave you or forsake you, EVER!

Hugs in Jesus,

Sue

(PreciousSpouse)

[Elisabeth]

It is not sad that you are looking for encouragement from perfect strangers.

We are all part of the Body of Christ.

I have found that when it seems hard to be a Christian, it's because I don't want to change. I want to hold on to my ways. But I've also found that God's ways are better than mine!

It's not hard because God makes it that way. It's hard because I make it that way. With a little help from Satan as well.

Stay in touch here.

[shepherdsgrace]

Hello,

I understand! But remember that being a sinner is harder..by far. The pleasure of the wicked last only for a season. Our hard time is now, with seasons of joy. And then the brightest of futures. Praise God we are not living for the present but for that which is to come. May you be encouraged.

And it is nice to talk to strangers. There is a freedom and a safety that is restful. Lots of us understand!

[RGR]

mamasota,

I came here almost 3 years ago looking for advice on a problem myself. Let me assure you, fellow Christians are not complete strangers, lol!

One thing I find helpful is going through the Psalms with a highlighter and highlighting passages that apply to what I'm going through. Find anything you can on encouragement, etc. and let God speak to you through those.

Father, I lift up mamasota to You right now. We know that even Jesus found the way burdensome sometimes; we see where that He often went by Himself in seclusion to pray to renew His strength. I ask, Lord, that You would hold mamasota close and give her a refreshing, please. Give her a spirit and attitude of praise, Father. In Jesus name, amen.

[jesussaves]

Momasota,

There is a kindred spirit between brothers and sisters in Christ. You need not feel like a stranger even tough we don't know each other personally.

Know one thing I have realized whenever I find things getting hard? It is usually the devil trying to bring in discouragement. But, when I sit in the presence of the Lord and begin to praise and worship Him, remembering where He has brought me from and that He'll do it again, pretty soon I can see how His burden truly is light and His yolk easy...because it is He that carries us when we feel the load getting heavy. And, like always, and right on time, He sends me something from His word that stirs up my faith and encourages me. Sit at the feet of the Master today.

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we will reap if we faint not." Galatians 6:9

"I would have lost heart, unless I have believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord;..." Psalm 27:13-14

The Lord give you strength and peace through each new day.

[Guest truespirit]

Mama, as others have told you here, you mustn't ever feel embarrassed or ashamed coming to your Christian brothers and sisters. We have one Father, those that believe, and therefore we have to be there for one another. I tend to have a habbit of writing long posts lately (Too long, perhaps). I'll try to make this quick-forgive me for any grammar errors-

My situation wasn't much unlike your own when I came here. I got caught up in the devil's game of "Knowledge." I was trying to "Prove" God by the world around us, something I honestly do believe that He did for me in the end, but the fact of the matter is that I felt like I wanted to give up many times along the way. I didn't want to ever necessarily turn my back on Him, but I just couldn't understand why He wasn't giving me anything to work with, you know?

I went on a "Self mission" by meeting with old Christian friends. I went to visit with an old pastor, an old Christian friend, family. In a sense, I was "Forcing it" a little bit-I wanted to find something, some word or phrase, that would make sense of it all for me right than and there.

I don't think you're alone these days, mama, I really don't. One look at the behavior of the world around us today offers some support for that.

In today's world, we find Christians angry with fellow Christians, and a world conflict where we find terrorists doing something evil each and every day.

We have politicians here at home on both sides of the aisle behaving like little kids in many respects. Within the faith, we have some preaching about hell while ignoring the graceful beauty of Christ's teachings, while we have others that want to define their own "Way" that they're "Going to believe," etc. We find character judgements of others that seems never ending-everyone is perfect now, when everyone else they know is either evil or dumb. We find less and less compassion for the hearts of those in pain, those going through struggles that we ourselves can't always understand.

We have families living for wealth and prestige while their children are moreless being neglected at home. Others that cannot control their spending habbits. Others yet who can, but because they choose to put their family first, are unable to feel the financial security of knowing that they will be able to provide for their family day to day.

There were five million new STD's diagnosed in this country last year alone, meaning there were probably 15-20 million new ones alone, in actuality. Alcoholism and drug abuse still running rampent. "Mad birds" flying around the world evidently having the potential to torch off a pandemic. Global warming issues that are affecting our crop supply. "Mad scientists" inventing newly modified crops, those that look as if they have come right off of Mars.

A quarter of the population is on sleeping pills, another quarter are on anti depressants, all of which evidently are capable of solving short term problems, but yet never seem get to the heart of the issue for people. Half of today's population is walking around like zombies-alive, but detached from this true reality that we've created here on earth.

Mama, if you have a conscious in today's world, if the Holy Spirit is with you, I doubt that many of us at all are all too thrilled with what this has become. It's impossible not to feel that way.

On the same hand, however, just like your brothers and sisters have told you here, regardless of what we ourselves have done to our world, our home, He is, and always will be there for you. As ugly as life can be at times, He will always be there for those that love Him, those who repent and accept Him into their heart.

I went through a battle much like you. Once I turned to Him, I was a little nieve, personally. I thought it would be easy. Once I noticed everything that was wrong with the world, I thought by turning to Him, He would fix everything for me overnight in many respects.

It certainly didn't work that way, though. Rather, it has taken about a year, and I'm still "Not done" with this journey (It never will be here on earth). Eventually, the point came when He led me to explore some of the things in my own life, my own character, and soon I realized that there was plenty wrong that I was doing myself. I discovered that I was a sinner, you see, in need of salvation.

Slowly but surely, I began to fear God. That was the part that just about did me in. The loving Father that I had always known, suddenly He had become someone that I feared. And it went on that way for a long time.

Had He not put me through that part of it though, mama, I never would've realized some of the things that I had been doing wrong. I never would've understood just how much hate and anger had been in my heart. I never would've realized that while I was probably coming from the right perspective in my former life when it came to looking down on certain things and behaviors, the way I used to deal with them (Judgement) without fully sharing the good news of the Gospel with such people, even though I thought I was doing things the right way at the time, I know now that I could've handled them much better. I hadn't swept my own doorstep, and therefore, I probably wasn't too far off from having been like the pharisees back than. Than there were the issues involved with my own life, the sins I had committed against Him.

Eventually, I decided that I must be "Perfect." I would not commit a sin, I would be "Perfect." During that time, I was researching quite a few different areas purtaining to medicine. As an "Amateur" in this area, I somehow had been given the ability to see through quite a few of these "Mazes." Before long, I was studying the acetylcholine neurotransmitter and its ester pathways~, I was grasping the theory behind the "Leaky Gut Syndrome," I even began to comprehend a good portion of the "Kreb's Cycle," and what's behind some of this "Metabolic X" Syndrome. I learned such things pretty quickly, to be honest about it, so much so that my doctor didn't even understand much of what I was "Presenting."

Soon, I began ordering countless bottles of vitamins and nutritional supplements, believing that I could "Show those doctors something." At that point, "Suspicions" arose from within about the medical profession. "There are cover ups! They could cure people if they really wanted to!" Pride had set in. Ego. I had become "Powerful." In the meantime, what I wasn't catching on to was the fact that through this "Power," and by taking handfuls of different nutritional supplements, etc, I was getting pretty sick-physically and emotionally. Not to mention the fact that altogether new fears were setting in based on all of the different things that I was learning about health, etc.

Thankfully, God rescued me once again. I started to pray that I would be more humble, thankful for the REAL gifts of my life. I kept praying, and praying. After a few months, the REAL accomplishments set in in my life, mama- and none of which were of my own doing. It was all Him.

A year later now, somehow, someway, I don't feel hate or anger anymore-not for the annoying neighbor, the cocky brother in law, world affairs, etc. I have made every effort to repent for the sins I've committed in life, both in terms of my actual behavior and those I might have hurt emotionally along the way.

Along the way, my perspectives and priorities have changed altogether about life. No more fancy cars, no more goals for that mansion, no more arguments, no more judgements of others when I don't truly understand the circumstances they've been through all the time. No more putting others above others. I now tend to find more meaning in and celebrate those cases where the most humble have come to accomplish something, you know?

Furthermore, "Knowledge and truth" has become something altogether different. There will be no more "bows" on my part for the "Astute mind." Having graduated from a state university system, I realize now that I was only taught to learn how to survive in this world, but there is no REAL meaning in what I learned, and certainly nothing "Honorable."

Suddenly, one day, you read the book of Matthew, and somehow, someway, you come to realize that each and everything that our Lord Savior Jesus Christ speaks of is what your heart has been changed into-and it was never forced, it was never directly pushed that way based on anything that you've read, etc, but it "Just happened."

In one sense, the message of Jesus that you've always known and loved, but hadn't always placed first in your life, is still the same thing. Those Sunday School lessons long ago, that Jesus hasn't changed. He is still the loving King that has always been there for you.

After experiencing your own inner battle like this, however, His life is no longer only that of a wonderful story and figure that you love, but you have now come to the understanding that it means EVERYTHING. You realize that if our world was filled with people as powerful and meaningful as Jesus, we truly would be living in Heaven on earth. When it comes to Jesus Christ, and the lesson and ultimate sacrifice that He made for us, there isn't anything at all that doesn't mean everything. He is perfect. His world is perfect, the most beautiful, loving example of anything at all that we could ever dream of.

Without the struggle, without the battle, mama, I am personally convinced that we can't always get to know Him, the true meaning of His message. Jesus came to help those that needed Him. He lived His life for those less fortunate, those that were experiencing trials in their life, those that were without hope in an evil world. But He came for them, and He brought with Him a heart that had more meaning and love for people than anyone or anything that we'll ever know, all with the help of the Holy Spirit and of course, God.

We were told that we would be living in an evil world, one in which there will always be the pharisees among us and of course, the devil himself with all of his trickery, ready and willing to deceive us at any chance he gets.

Christ did not come to condemn people that loved Him, the Trinity. He did not come to condemn those that are taken advantage of, those that are sick and poor that go without a loving hand picking them up, nor did He come to condemn those that are willing to pick up the fallen and embrace them with the love and care the Holy Spirit has to offer. Nor did He come to condemn those that try and try to live up to the Word of God, the laws He gave us to live by so long ago that bring honor to Him, and less pain to those with the goodness of heart.

God loves all of His children. He loves those that honor His name and try to do what they can to help others out of their belief in Him. We can't ever forget that, the meaning that's found in that message, a message that no other could ever bring.

So in this time of struggle and pain for you, mama, never give up on the One that loves you more than any other ever will. He's real, His promise is real, and He will never leave you so long as you don't leave Him. Our time here on earth is but a blink of the eye in the bigger picture of things, that you mustn't ever forget. Keep your love and heart in Him, keep your faith, mama. He will always be there beside you. Thank Him for the many gifts of your life, repent for the wrongs that we have committed, ask Him to come into your heart, to guide your life. That's what I did. It started with a simple prayer. Little did I know, mama, that the proceeding journey would be the greatest, life changing journeys of my life. I'm still on that road, and I always will be. Somebody told me once that to accept Jesus Christ means that we accept a great part of the pain of this world along with it. I believe that now more than ever. So it's not all "Fun and games." I firmly believe that Jesus wants us to be happy, to experience joy. On the same hand, by living in the world we do, with all of its pain, we are bound to feel its pain, too. The key is to never allow our pain to turn to anger and hate-that's what the devil thrives on, not our loving Father.

We live in drastic times, there's no getting around that. A year ago, I told one of my parents that I felt His return could be near. They told me not to get too upset because they could remember hearing that back when they were young, some fifty years ago. A year later now, however, they agree with me, moreless. Whether or not He returns in my lifetime or not, I couldn't possibly know that answer, and we're not to dwell on that, regardless. Yet, one look around at today's world, and one can't help but think that the day could be coming. When so much of the world has lost its heart and soul, afterall, we know that our Redeemer could be on His way soon.

In the meantime, mama, the next time your driving alone at night, look up to the stars that He's made for us, and know that the King is up there sitting on His throne. And if your heart is with His, He's aware of your pain. But He won't leave you, either. If you proclaim yourself to be His child, you will always have that moment, that night with the sky. That peace, and you're allowed to cry sometimes, you know, for His love is absolutely beautiful.

And if you ever have a day that you feel you cannot get through, turn your back on the ways of this world. Say no more to the greed, the self centeredness of this place we've made. Go visit an old friend, drop off a toy for a child at the Salvation Army. Walk into a nursing home and visit with some of those that are lonely, those in need of a good Christian friend to talk to, even if you don't know anybody there personally. When satan does this to us, when he leads us to believe that there is no more hope for us, etc, that's when it's so important to remember that God's power is always greater than his. Sometimes all we have to do is search inside for the answer. If we don't always come up with one right away, it doesn't hurt to reflect back to the life of Jesus at that point, the goodness of His life that we treasure so deeply. We won't ever find the real message if we do good deeds because we think that we "Have to in order to earn salvation," it won't ever work that way.

On the same hand, if we love Christ with all our heart, we believe in His message, and we feel overwhelmned by this world and its wicked ways, than it might not hurt to try something different once. Perhaps you'll make the day for a little senior citizen alone and in desire for a Christian's companionship. Or perhaps there's a little boy somewhere with a birthday coming up that has gone without for too long, his parents unable to afford getting him a little birthday gift. Or perhaps there's an agency in need of a volunteer for a couple of hours one day a week, a place where the Christian's heart might be able to make the difference for another. Many have told us that God has His people ready to go when He needs them, you know. So eventually, I would guess, that day comes for all of His true children.

Good luck to you and your family during your difficult time, mama. Never give on Him. The battle can seem relentless at times, overwhelmning. But in the end, just as I have learned (And still am in the process of learning), there is a point to all of it. Sometimes it can take a long time to get the answers we're looking for, but I have every bit of confidence now that He'll provide me with what He wants me to do for Him. The same for all of those that stand by Him.