Getting concerned about apathy

[Lady Bug]

Hi, I'm getting a little concerned that my constant facing adversity against the practice of my faith is going to cause me one day to not care anymore. I thought I was remaining resilient for the longest time but I'm questioning it.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Hi, I'm getting a little concerned that my constant facing adversity against the practice of my faith is going to cause me one day to not care anymore. I thought I was remaining resilient for the longest time but I'm questioning it.

Keep praying for these people who dump adversity in your path. Forgive them as much as you can. Being angry with them only harms you.

 

[Lady Bug]

Keep praying for these people who dump adversity in your path. Forgive them as much as you can. Being angry with them only harms you.

I don't feel like my anger is voluntary though. The apathy is slowly starting to creep up. But your advice is still correct.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I don't feel like my anger is voluntary though. The apathy is slowly starting to creep up. But your advice is still correct.

Anger is not always voluntary. So you can't always just switch it off. Often it is visceral. But it is also habitual, and can be broken, often with much difficulty, like other bad habits. Hang in there. I am a recovering anger man myself.

 

[AlexB23]

Hi, I'm getting a little concerned that my constant facing adversity against the practice of my faith is going to cause me one day to not care anymore. I thought I was remaining resilient for the longest time but I'm questioning it.

I prayed for you. Christians face adversity for a reason, cos Christianity is the one, true religion. Satan tries to attack Christians, but God has already won. Here are two verses that can help.

2 Timothy 3:12 (NIV): "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

John 5:18-19 (NIV): "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

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[fide]

Hi, I'm getting a little concerned that my constant facing adversity against the practice of my faith is going to cause me one day to not care anymore. I thought I was remaining resilient for the longest time but I'm questioning it.

You might probe you own heart, to try to discern why exactly adversity is a problem for you. Why does it matter? How is the adversity expressed, and why does the expression of adversity matter to you?

 

[mourningdove~]

Hi, I'm getting a little concerned that my constant facing adversity against the practice of my faith is going to cause me one day to not care anymore. I thought I was remaining resilient for the longest time but I'm questioning it.

It is very hard to stay zealous for the Lord when we are isolated. We weren't designed to be 'lone ranger Christians', but sometimes life's circumstances make it that way, for a season.

Online communication appears to work well in your situation, as you appear to be able to do it. Have you ever thought about participating in an online Zoom study with other Christians so that you can continue to grow in your faith, and stay encouraged?

The Women of Grace ministry consistently provides online book studies. There is a fee for these; the fee is less for the shorter studies and more for the more extended studies. The studies are informal; you can participate live or just watch them. If you aren't available at the live Zoom time, playback links of each session are available to watch at the WOG website. The persons in these studies, usually women of all ages, seem very nice and very committed to continuing their growth in Christ.

There is a new WOG study beginning in September. And if you get on their free mailing list, you will be notified of all studies as they become available.

https://www.womenofgrace.com/events/365

Another idea might be for some of the women here to pick a spiritual book and do an online book study together here in the forum.

The important thing for us all is to keep growing in Christ.
Isolated, none of us does well for long.

God bless.

 

[RileyG]

I'm in the same boat and can appreciate the prayers.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Lately, I've been employing the sign of the cross whenever an intrusive thought comes by, it has been helpful.

 

[fide]

.......

The important thing for us all is to keep growing in Christ.
Isolated, none of us does well for long.

God bless.

I just wanted to reinforce that last comment on your post: we must "keep growing in Christ". Infused into us at Baptism is a living supernatural personal "new self". We must nurture, protect, honor that Gift lest it stagnate - neglected - wither and decay. An old axiom is, if the Interior Life received in Baptism is not growing toward our intended spiritual maturity it is receding toward death: there is no "staying in the same place" in the spiritual life.

 

[RileyG]

I just wanted to reinforce that last comment on your post: we must "keep growing in Christ". Infused into us at Baptism is a living supernatural personal "new self". We must nurture, protect, honor that Gift lest it stagnate - neglected - wither and decay. An old axiom is, if the Interior Life received in Baptism is not growing toward our intended spiritual maturity it is receding toward death: there is no "staying in the same place" in the spiritual life.

Thank you for your wisdom.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

Hi, I'm getting a little concerned that my constant facing adversity against the practice of my faith is going to cause me one day to not care anymore. I thought I was remaining resilient for the longest time but I'm questioning it.

Not sure I understand your question. Are you concerned about not caring about adversity?

Or not caring about following the Lord and thinking the cross is no longer worth it?

In the first Instance, we are to pray to detach our hearts from material things and esteem of the world. Jesus tells us we will be hated by all men for his name’s sake.
If the hatred no longer causes you to care, that is a good thing. You don’t have to react every time someone provokes you. It is a sign of maturity.

If you think that the Christian walk in His Church is no longer worth it, that is your temptation and spiritual battle. It is not to be ashamed of.

The only thing that God gives us that is free is our will. We do not have freedom over our emotions or freedom over our circumstances, but we have the freedom to choose God despite our feelings or circumstances
If Satan senses that your will is weak, he will play with your feelings and circumstances to get you to reject God. That is what he does, because he does not want you to love God forever in eternity. He wants you to reject God and join the demons forever in hell.

If you feel too weak, you need to pray more. The Christian path is not easy, and many saints have gone through what you are experiencing. It is called the dark night of the soul.

It is a mark of honor, as God is allowing you to be tested to your fullest extent. God loves you and cares for you.
The Earth is temporary and apathy is temporary. There is only one way to eternal life in Heaven. God wants you to use your will to follow Him, not your feelings and circumstances

That is what love is. It is a choice of the will.

God gives us the example of marriage. We are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. What are our marriage vows? In sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better or worse, till death do us part.

I would not trust my wife if she only loved me when I was rich, nice and healthy. She shows her love for me by loving me no matter what.

God wants that same kind of love, and with Him, it’s not death do us part, it’s adversity till death, then He wipes all tears from our eyes and we enjoy Him forever. Eye has not seen nor ear heard what God has in store for those that love Him.

Do not fear your apathy, but rather rejoice. It is a sign that God loves you and has great things in store for you, if you use your free will to love Him and persevere to the end. Read the book of Job. He says, though He slay me, still I will serve Him

Peace be with you

 

[Lady Bug]

Not sure I understand your question. Are you concerned about not caring about adversity?

Or not caring about following the Lord and thinking the cross is no longer worth it?

I'm not sure how to word this. Let me try. What I mean is:

- someone constantly biching at you because you go to church
- they wake up at whatever time, it doesn't have to be a specific time, and if you're up too, they start biching with you that you go to church
- you lose sleep because of that biching session and can't go to Mass
- you tell yourself that next week you'll try again
- the same thing happens though
- by the fifth or sixth week, you start telling yourself "Well I feel absolutely miserable because I 'can't' go to Mass, but I'm starting to lose strength here and I'm tempted to give up. So far I still want to try but it's fading because it's too difficult to deal with this anymore."
- by the seventh or eighth week, you start telling yourself that you might as well wait until the other person dies because it's certainly not going to get better. You start saying "screw it."
- it gets harder each week to motivate myself to do the readings for the coming Sunday's Mass, since the probability keeps increasing of me not going. I do the readings but it's becoming more of an effort. It used to be easy. Praying is becoming more of an effort. That had always been easy. I'm even losing motivation to say Grace before eating. This is bad.

If I didn't have to be a caretaker of this person I'd let him almost rot, but I would feel guilty afterwards.

 

[RileyG]

I’m so sorry.

 

[mourningdove~]

@Lady Bug

Sometimes when we feel like we may be losing our faith, that's when we need to lean on the faith of others.
No matter what happens, no matter how bad it may get, please don't stop coming here.
There are people of faith here, who love and care about you.
And it is okay to depend on their faith, until yours becomes strong again.

 

[Lady Bug]

@Lady Bug

Sometimes when we feel like we may be losing our faith, that's when we need to lean on the faith of others.
No matter what happens, no matter how bad it may get, please don't stop coming here.
There are people of faith here, who love and care about you.
And it is okay to depend on their faith, until yours becomes strong again.

I want to keep coming here but how long until people ignore me?

 

[mourningdove~]

I want to keep coming here but how long until people ignore me?

We won't. Good friends in the faith stick together, thru the good times and the bad. God made us to be that way!

 

[RileyG]

I want to keep coming here but how long until people ignore me?

I won't ignore you. I will keep you in my daily prayers and always respond.

Remember God is faithful and loves you.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I want to keep coming here but how long until people ignore me?

Not gonna ignore you.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

I'm not sure how to word this. Let me try. What I mean is:

- someone constantly biching at you because you go to church
- they wake up at whatever time, it doesn't have to be a specific time, and if you're up too, they start biching with you that you go to church
- you lose sleep because of that biching session and can't go to Mass
- you tell yourself that next week you'll try again
- the same thing happens though
- by the fifth or sixth week, you start telling yourself "Well I feel absolutely miserable because I 'can't' go to Mass, but I'm starting to lose strength here and I'm tempted to give up. So far I still want to try but it's fading because it's too difficult to deal with this anymore."
- by the seventh or eighth week, you start telling yourself that you might as well wait until the other person dies because it's certainly not going to get better. You start saying "screw it."
- it gets harder each week to motivate myself to do the readings for the coming Sunday's Mass, since the probability keeps increasing of me not going. I do the readings but it's becoming more of an effort. It used to be easy. Praying is becoming more of an effort. That had always been easy. I'm even losing motivation to say Grace before eating. This is bad.

If I didn't have to be a caretaker of this person I'd let him almost rot, but I would feel guilty afterwards.

This person is certainly bringing you down and is part of your spiritual battle. I am in a similar situation in that I am married to a non-Catholic in a marriage that can never be annulled, not even by the Pope.
She laughs at me and insults me when it comes to religion and obeying the commands of God. I used to think that I had to convert her and convince her to become Catholic. I’d get jealous of others that would say that when they came to the faith, their non-Catholic wives who were once hostile to the Church were converted. I thought, oh yeah? That ain’t happening to me.

I tired to control my wife and make her know that she is completely dependent on me, so she would respect me. Didn’t work.

For a time she left me and took our young daughter with her. I was crushed and had no one to turn to. All I could say was I have made a marriage vow to you that cannot be broken. For the sake of our daughter, I do not think that it is wise for you to break your vows either. When she left, I had told her I was on my way to speak with my priest, and she said that my going to Church was making me crazy.

It hurt and I wanted to go get her, but I was filled with the thought of God saying let her go, follow thou me. I prayed for her and did not chase her. After a week or two she came home with my daughter. She said she came back because I did not act like a jealous man chasing her down.

I was still arrogant because I felt in my mind that she came back because of my money. I have a lot by the standards of the world, she is incapable of working and does not qualify for disability. Life without me would have been hard for her.

God could not stand my attitude, so He chastised me by allowing my business to lose a great deal of cash by theft, and it would have kept going on of my wife had not alerted me to the fraud.

She has not converted but acted like a true wife when I was fired from my job due to my Catholic beliefs. God showed me that it is not my job to convert her, that is His. My job is to obey Him. He said in thoughts that came to my head not an audible voice, what is my command to you concerning your wife? You command me to love her and give myself for her Lord. Well, what are you doing? Keeping everything for myself and treating her badly because I believe she does not obey you, Lord. That is not what I commanded you, I said vengeance is mine and I will repay. It’s not your job to punish your wife for disobedience.

I was immediately convicted and gave my wife full power of attorney over all my affairs. God gave me the example of Mary, whom He made Queen of Heaven and Earth.

You make your wife Queen over your house and let me worry about her obedience. You obey me. I was ashamed and I said yes Lord. My wife has not converted, but our marriage is so much better than it ever was. I let go and placed her in God’s hands. My relationship with God has greatly imoroved and gets better everyday.


I don’t know your exact situation, but Satan is attacking you. He wants you to give up
If you can’t leave because it is impossible to live, I pray for strength for you to withstand the attacks of the person you are with.

If you can leave, I highly recommend that you do so. Your presence will not help that person and it is killing you. It is not your job to convey them, God will do it.

If it is only guilt keeping you there, that guilt does not come from God. He says, let the dead bury their dead, follow thou me

Got to confession and tell the priest to what is going on, and take the Eucharist as much as possible

Peace be with you