Not sure where to turn

[xDirtx]

Hi, my name is Helen.

[Could be a long post!]

I have come to a cross roads in my faith.
When I was 8 years old, after doing my Holy Communion, I turned my back on the Church.
I was brought up as a Catholic but no one in my family is a practising Catholic.

I don't know why I did, I think it was more to do with the fact I didn't understand what the Priest was trying to teach us as children, nor the Masses every Sunday. Also there was a lot of family problems and health problems that I have gone through from an early age to now at the age of 26.

Now I find myself turning more to my bible, and trying to pray.

The only thing is, I want to find a parish that I feel comfortable in, and look towards making my Confirmation. But I don't want to become a part of a parish, only to move away due to the nature of my work or my fiancée's.

I don't really know what to do, or where to turn, I feel quite lost and on my own in finding my way. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

~Helen

 

[SailorofLife]

I think you speak volumes of your attitude to prayer when you say "Trying to pray". Perhaps your not praying with enough conviction. Just keep reading the Bible and keep praying to God for guidance. Have a moment to silence your mind and then see what God says then. Too many Earthly thoughts clogging up your brain can get in the way of God's message! Stay strong with God and the rest shall follow.

 

[fm107]

Hi xDirtx,

Are you born again?

John 3:3
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 

[Johnnz]

A book such as Basic Christianity by John Stott could be helpful. It is a straightforward and well presented book by a well recognised Anglican priest.

John
NZ

 

[xDirtx]

@SailorofLife - Thank you, moments of silence are few and far between and it is very good advice.

@fm107 - No I was raised a Catholic.

@Johnnz - Thank you very much. I'll have to ask to get this book ordered in as the book shops around where I live aren't well supplied with books unless it's directed at the Church as a target, not the other way around. Which is a shame.

 

[SailorofLife]

If I had enough posts to PM you; I would send you some decent Youtube links. But I don't have 15 posts...so that's the end of that one lol.

YouTube "Christian Meditation". You'll find guided ones on there. I highly recommend it. Patience is required though as mastering your mind is not easy for the beginner. But once you can empty all the worldly rubbish from it and focus on the Lord; then it's truly beneficial and you can listen to God's words with crystal clarity.

 

[SailorofLife]

If I had enough posts to PM you; I would send you some decent Youtube links. But I don't have 15 posts...so that's the end of that one lol.

YouTube "Christian Meditation". You'll find guided ones on there. I highly recommend it. Patience is required though as mastering your mind is not easy for the beginner. But once you can empty all the worldly rubbish from it and focus on the Lord; then it's truly beneficial and you can listen to God's words with crystal clarity.

 

[fm107]

xDirtx,

John 3:3
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

We are spiritually dead in sin until we come to the conclusion that, yes, I am a sinner, I have broken God's laws, not obeyed him and gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). I'm not worthy of Heaven (Romans 3:23).

It's when we believe in what God has done (sending the Lord Jesus to die in our stead) and ask him to become our substitute for sin and trust in him for forgiveness on account of what he has done. We have spiritual re-birth through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

We recognise our need for a saviour and recognise him as that saviour, repent of our sins and believe in him for salvation. Repentance is a change of mind or attitude towards sin.

Here is the message which you should have heard in Church. Hopefully the way the man explains it will help you understand. But do ask if you have questions!

Street Preaching 8 Dec 09 - YouTube

 

[xDirtx]

SailorofLife I will definitely scroll through youtube in the morning for said video's after a good night of sleep. Thank you very much, I don't know how I didn't think of that!

fm107 I have to say I re-read your message so many times because it really hit me in the chest. Those passages I will have to meditate over, and the video I shall watch in the morning. Thank you so much.

Thank you both so much.

 

[Peripatetic]

@fm107 - No I was raised a Catholic.

Helen,

The Holy Spirit works in many different ways. Being born again can also take different forms. Some people have a specific event, some are born into a Christian family and slowly grow in faith over the course of their lives, some have faith as a young person and return after wandering away for a time. There is no set formula.

The same can be said for prayer. You don't need a proper style. God never misunderstands us, so we can always feel safe during prayer. In fact, the Holy Spirit even prays on our behalf when we don't know how.

Romans 8:26-27:
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

This should give us comfort. As long as our motivations are inclined towards God, we will be helped no matter how weak we feel!

Also: it's OK to try out a church for a while without committing to join right away. In fact, you could try a few and see what happens. Just take this journey one day at a time. You're doing great!

 

[paul1149]

Hi Helen,

It's awesome that you're returning to the Lord. Hebrews 13 tells us that Jesus is both Author and Finisher of our faith. Elsewhere Jesus tells His disciples that they didn't choose Him - He chose them. Maybe realizing that God really is in control will help you receive His peace and rest in Him as you sort out the questions you have. Prayer is basically simply talking to God, and as Peri says above, can take many forms.

 

[Harry3142]

Helen-

Since you grew up in the Catholic Church your religious education more-than-likely consisted mostly of ecclesiastical laws which you needed to obey, or else you could not achieve eternal life. I have a catholic catechism in my library, and it contains 593 pages, not including its index. So it's no wonder that you didn't understand what the priest was saying, since even adults would have been hardpressed to understand it all.

But Christianity is not a set of laws, with the breaking of some of them causing the soul to suffer in purgatory until they have been cleansed, while the breaking of others earns them a direct one-way ticket to hell. Instead, it's the means whereby everyone who accepts what God himself has already accomplished on our behalf has assurance that their sins are forgiven and eternal life is theirs:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26,NIV)

Our salvation doesn't come through our being 'good enough'; it comes through our accepting that it was God himself who did all that was necessary in order to achieve for us the salvation which we could never achieve for ourselves. It was accomplished solely through his work, completed via Jesus Christ's passion and death on a cross in order to provide the atonement necessary to cleanse us of our sins.

In case you're wondering, what I have just said is in complete agreement with The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, the official commentary of The Roman Catholic Church. The teaching now is that what we do is done as a result of our accepting the salvation which God has already earned for us, rather than its being done out of a desire to earn our own salvation. So instead of our performing certain acts while refraining from the commission of certain other acts is not out of a belief that thereby we are 'building a ladder to heaven', but rather as the outpouring of our gratitude to God for what he himself has already done in order to give us assurance of salvation.

 

[parsley]

I want to find a parish that I feel comfortable in, and look towards making my Confirmation. But I don't want to become a part of a parish, only to move away due to the nature of my work or my fiancée's.

It's hard to keep life from changing, so just do what you need to do now, and adapt later when you need to. It sounds like you are going through a lot of changes now, so stability is important -- but wouldn't it be nice to have a parish "family" to write to you when you're away?

It sounds like you might even have some hesitations about how two jobs with travel or relocation might impact your marriage. Be honest about that with your fiance, because this is your life you're handing over to the partnership.