A step.

All spiritual discussion is focused here. You may share your testimony, anything you have learned about the Word, or shout your praises to God here. Also the hub of all CAA bible studies.

A step.

Postby FllMtl Novelist » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:11 pm

Hey.

I've had a bit of an epiphany recently, if anyone's interested in reading about it. XD; (I hope it kinda makes sense... >_>;; )

For a long time now, my Christian growth hasn't been great. Way back, I was doing well and had a good daily routine going as far as Bible reading and prayer are concerned. But then I couldn't keep it up any longer and it kinda collapsed. I haven't been that regular since.

I also started getting depression, and every time I started to get my spiritual feet under me again, my depression would help me to fall back once more. I can't pray during a fit of depression. If I'm thinking I'm so lowly, chatting with the One Perfect Being will make it worse.

After staying away from God during depression, despite my reasons, I felt guilty. Everyone always says to turn to God during times or trial, when you're not doing well. But I didn't. I felt it was this thing you were supposed to do, and even though I had reasons, I'd failed.

Eventually I'd come back and pray, and things would be better for some length of time. But it never lasted. I never made any real headway, and once depression came back, I just repeated the whole cycle.

Which made me feel my efforts were pointless. Why bother trying if I was just going to mess it up again?

Also, even when I did pray, I never felt I was doing it 'right'. God is great, right? The greatest thing ever. How dare I try to pray, then space out, then ramble on and on about nothing really important? God's a big deal. He has better things to do than listen to me whine about how frustrated I am with myself or my parents' conflicting messages.

People would tell me God wants to hear whatever I have to say, "because he loves me".

But I couldn't rationalize that.

Believe me, I wanted to believe it but couldn't convince myself it was true. Why would God love me? I'm a sinner. (Naturally, I understood that He loves everyone around me, but I could not for the life of me understand why he'd love me.) I'm a terrible person. I'm lazy and cranky and impatient and don't act near as loving as I should.

This and the realization that I'd been going in circles for the last year or so, without making any lasting progress spiritually, brought things to a halt. If I started prayer again, depression would hit and I'd back off, then I'd stay away out of guilt until I eventually returned to my current state, and the cycle could do what cycles do best.

Scared to repeat myself, I decided to just stay away from God, period. Any attempt I made at growing spiritually would ultimately fail, and I didn't want to deal with that again. Unless I had some incredible breakthrough, or some miracle occurred, I wasn't budging. And I didn't expect to budge any time soon. It stayed like this for weeks if not months.

Then, earlier this week, I had a little breakthrough.

I'd finished reading a book, inside which a character says, "If there's no other reason for it, it's always love."

For various reasons (it was a good book), that bit of dialogue stayed in my head late that night as I tried to sleep. And then suddenly, I understood--and actually believed: Love isn't always logical. You can't explain it. And it makes you do things you wouldn't normally do. Love is a perfectly legitimate reason in and of itself.

Then my logical brain kicked in and went, "Now wait a second. Are you going to explain away everything you want to believe but can't otherwise justify with love?"

Then I remembered people I know.

My Dad works like a dog to make enough money to support the family and to make sure the house isn't falling apart.

My Mom is unbelievably patient with us kids including me, even when goodness knows I don't deserve it and in her place I'd bite someone's head off.

My friends are also kind and really patient with me, even when I'm being stubborn or just really stupid. They were praying for me past the point where I'd essentially given up.

I concluded that if humans can do that, God can--and infinitely so. So much that it can include even me.

So now I believe that God loves me, and I'm praying again. I've read more of the Bible in the last week than I have in months. I'm doing better overall now.

I realize this isn't the end of my problems, but it is a step in the right direction, and I am thankful for that.

So... praise God! :jump: ^^;
Hats wrote:"Frodo! Cast off your [s]sins[/s] into the fire!"

EllaEdric 06:53 -IM SO UNEQUIPPED TO BE A MAN ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY.
User avatar
FllMtl Novelist
 
Posts: 1722
Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 6:31 pm
Location: Spa Maria

Postby Okami » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:22 pm

Praise Him, indeed! That's quite the epiphany. :) God's love is spectacular in such a way that it all can click together even when we feel like we're falling apart and away....He always snatches us back!

This makes me think of Wavory's song, "The Tale of the Dragon's Defeat." A friend of mine recently introduced it to me, and I've fallen in love with the symbolism of Christ of a valiant knight. ;)
~*~ Blessed to be Ryosuke's wife!
"We will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to
meet her needs, to write love on her arms." ~ Jamie Tworkowski
User avatar
Okami
 
Posts: 1771
Joined: Sat May 12, 2007 10:00 am
Location: Michigan

Postby bkilbour » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:08 pm

Awesome :D
I'm glad to hear that God broke that wall!
Hebrews 12
John 14
Matthew 6
Psalm 119
May God be glorified!
User avatar
bkilbour
 
Posts: 327
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:33 pm
Location: Bangor, WA

Postby MrKrillz0r » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:43 am

Awesome. ^^ It feels like I've read a story about my own life more or less. o0

Anyway keep looking forward! :D
User avatar
MrKrillz0r
 
Posts: 462
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:43 am
Location: Sweden

Postby Sapphire225 » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:29 pm

That is an awesome testimony. I'm so happy for you! :)
"Because the World isn't as cruel as you take it to be." ~ Celty, Durarara!!

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
~Deuteronomy 31:6



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. ~ Iris Murdoch
Image
User avatar
Sapphire225
 
Posts: 640
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:49 pm
Location: U.S.A


Return to Testimonies & Spiritual Growth

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 83 guests