Please help and pray for me!

[Al2424]

I've always believed in God all of my life, but have never followed Christ as closely as I've wanted. Just a month ago I started a new career, I'm getting married soon, and I've had a lot of stress on me. I was in a wrong group of friends, and was introduced to smoking pot that night. I knew it was wrong, but with all the stress on me I did it anyways.. I had blacked out from a panic attack and I felt like I wasn't even alive, it was the worst experience ever. I felt like my soul had left my body.

It's been a month now, and I feel like I don't exist still, or everything around me is a thought. I've been praying so much lately and I've started picking up my bible every night. I have been praying to God during my panic attacks, and it seems to help me, but I keep thinking the what if I'm not actually alive. I keep having crazy anxiety thoughts, and crazy panic attacks. I started working out too, to try to help calm me..

I know this isn't a medical site, and I understand that this may be considered a medical issue.. but I want spiritual advice, I prayer, and I wanna be straight with God, and I wanna leave my old ways. I wanna feel normal again, and I don't want to have these thoughts anymore. My mind is all over the place, and I can't seem to get a grip on reality. I'm scared, and I hope the Lord isn't upset with me, I wanna be right with him.. I wanna take care of my fiancee and family.. I just need help..

 

[Bible2]

What is your diet like? That is, what food & drinks are you consuming daily?

Also, are you taking any prescription medications?

These things can affect the mind.

Once you have ruled them out as a physical cause for your anxiety, the way to remove non-physical causes for anxiety is through constant prayer and thanksgiving to God:

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

 

[kpfru2]

Wow I know how it can feel, when you think everything around you is just a thought, not seeing reality properly. Jesus loves you more then you can imagine, He took many bruises and was nailed to the cross for your sin. God is NOT willing that any should perish, but to all to come to a knowledge of the truth, that means you, God does not will that you would perish. But even our good works to God are filthy rags! I thought about that today, concerning filthy rags, i want nothing to do with, they have no use in cleaning because they are filthy, i don't want to touch them at all. Just throw them out. Thats pretty scary , even our best attempt to do some good is still filthy. So what does this all mean? This is the love of God, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It is by grace we are saved through faith! Our sin put Him on the cross, but he died for us! so when you repent, from your own efforts, and from your wicked ways, and trust Jesus, God willing you will feel better. Just come to Jesus. He asks you to come to Him, you who are weary. and He will give you rest. Jesus knows you alot better then you know yourself and He died so you could have eternity with him! I have believed in God deep down in all my life to, I used to pray alot when i was young, had a relationship with Jesus (well I think i did, i prayed, i recieved answers to prayer, i felt safe when praying, i loved Jesus because He loved me) but I don't know if I was born again at that age. I'm not really sure on the theology of my life, but anyways, I got addicted to drugs in highschool, had no concern for Him at all, addicted to porn, smoked weed every day for 4 years, did other drugs. But still as soon as I opened up the bible I came back to faith in Jesus. since then i've become a bit of a religeous hypocrit by trying to please God in my flesh, or self righteously feeling guilty. all He requires is that we come to Him. He is love, He knows what to do. But you have to repent from your wicked ways and trust in Jesus as your only hope!

 

[kpfru2]

Cast your burden on Him, for He cares for you.

 

[jehoiakim]

My wife had some serious anxiety issues. Our nateuoropathoic doctor helped her a lot especially with something called an a deemed machine and some other homeopathic remedies. My wife had actually gone to the ER with a few panic attacks previously but she is doing much better now. The regular doctor just wanted to put her on mess like prosak and we were not willing to go there because of all the potential side effects. Natural doctors are expensive but in our lives we gave discovered it is very worth it. Some of it is also mental. There is a great sermon you can find online by Timothy Keller of redeemer Presbyterian about peace in which he point out that as Christians often We ask for God to remove irrational fears and he says if We believe in God we can do the opposite and confront those fears and realize nothing that happens to us in this earthly life is worth worrying about in the perspective of Christ and that one day we will exist in him in eternity without fault or sadness or fear but we will one day live as he originally created us to be.

Ps sorry if this is hard to read I am on my iPhone and it auto corrects often and it is not easy to go back and edit

 

[paul1149]

I'm scared, and I hope the Lord isn't upset with me, I wanna be right with him

For some people these drugs trip something in the brain chemistry that isn't good. I can't comment on that, but I can say that God is for you, not against you. He wants you fully reconciled to Himself, that's why Jesus willingly came and paid the price for your sin and error - including this one.

So in your struggles draw near to God, and believe that He will reciprocate, as the book of James says He will. James also says that the prayer of faith heals the sick, so keep exercising faith that Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, will do for you what He's done for so many others. If you don't get what you want right away, persevere and endure, and never give up on God. He is faithful to the uttermost, and will see you through.

In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us to take up the shield of faith. Things like what you experienced have a way of unleashing fear to a degree that we cannot seem to get a hold on. Faith is the antidote. Isaiah says that those who walk in darkness should trust in the Name of the Lord. If you have panic attacks I would suggest doing just that. Keep invoking the Name that is above all names, above all sin, disease and darkness. Hope in that Name, and that will be an anchor for your soul.

One last thing. If I have to choose between believing a bad report and the promises of God, I'll go with the promises. For instance, for decades we were told that nerve cells do not regenerate themselves. Suddenly we find out that that is not true. Blessed were those who didn't accept the final judgment of "science", but rather believed on the Word that says "The Lord... heals ALL my diseases" (ps 103).

 

[Bible2]

Al2424 said in post 1:

I had blacked out from a panic attack and I felt like I wasn't even alive, it was the worst experience ever. I felt like my soul had left my body.

It's been a month now, and I feel like I don't exist still, or everything around me is a thought.

When you say "everything around me is a thought", do you mean it feels like nothing really exists? If so, that brings to mind what someone felt in the Bible: "all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). There, the original Hebrew word translated as "vanity" can mean "emptiness" (Strong's Hebrew Dictionary), in the sense of everything seeming empty of any lasting existence or value.

Also, when you say "everything around me is a thought", if you mean it feels like nothing really exists, can you articulate why this instills panic inside you, instead of some other response? For example, Zen masters & Buddhist monks strive their whole lives meditating in order to experience that feeling, which they see as the highest level of enlightenment, which they call satori ("emptiness") or nirvana ("a candle flame blown out"), & which instills in them not panic, but the utmost equanimity. For they think it's true nothing actually exists, that the only true reality is complete nothingness.

Of course, from a Christian perspective, this isn't the case, & can cause panic as you fear that the nothingness (that which seems to be the true & only reality) is about to consume everything, including you, that it's about to kill you & turn you into nothingness as well.

But it won't, because God exists. He says "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14). And he came into this world as Jesus not to turn us into some nothingness. Instead, he says: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10b).

Al2424 said in post 1:

It's been a month now, and I feel like I don't exist still, or everything around me is a thought.

When you say "everything around me is a thought", do you mean your own thought? If so, one way to counteract that is to think: "Okay, if everything around me is just my thought, then I should be able to poke my finger through this wall next to me. I should be able to 'think' my finger through this wall". Then go ahead & try, thinking as hard as you can to make your finger pass through the wall. Of course, no matter how hard you think, your finger won't get past the surface of the wall, because the wall has its own existence, separate from your thoughts. So then you can say: "Okay, things do exist, on their own. They aren't just my thought".

Al2424 said in post 1:

It's been a month now, and I feel like I don't exist still, or everything around me is a thought.

When you say "everything around me is a thought", do you mean God's thought? If so, try the same finger through the wall trick & you will again prove to yourself that even if everything is God's thought, it still has real existence, real substance. This is because God's thought is so powerful that what he thinks of existing actually comes into & remains in existence for as long as he wants.

Everything continues to exist by God's power, for "by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). We can even think of ourselves as existing inside God in some manner: "For in him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

God is an infinite Spirit & an infinite consciousness (Jn. 4:24, Ps. 139:7-10, Jer. 23:24), so if we exist inside him we would exist in his consciousness, his thought.

A human analogy would be how characters in a novel exist in the novelist's thought. For the characters, their world is just as real as ours is for us. So they think & act in their world just as we do in ours. And their thoughts & actions existing only in the novelist's thought doesn't take away their free will. For as any novelist will tell you, characters take on a life of their own. It's as if the novelist is simply watching in his mind what they're doing, & writing it down. But the characters never have a life of their own in the sense that they could ever exist outside of the novelist's thought.

 

[parsley]

People also benefit from biofeedback. Without fancy equipment, observe your reactions while you are having them. Pause yourself, and instead of listening to the thoughts in your head, switch over to listening to your body. Is your heart rate up... is your breathing faster... are you sweating...is a headache growing. Just observing can sometimes calm things down.

Cause yourself to breathe slower and deeper. Lower your shoulders. Lift your head. Bend your neck each direction. Bodies sometimes connect reactions and sabotage themselves: "I must have a disease so I will trigger an autoimmune response." "I feel dust coming in so I need to trigger allergy responses." "I am breathing shallow, so I must be nervous." "My shoulders are stooped, so I must feel downtrodden."

While our brains seem like the end-all authority of our beings, they are also organs that have chemical reactions. Brains also control physical reactions in our bodies, so if anxiety is encouraged in the brain, then the brain will probably respond by putting the body into fight-flight mode.

Think of your brain as part of the created body, that doesn't always need to be listened to. We like to pride ourselves on intelligence and wit -- knowing philosophical secrets like Matrix-like reality planes. But our brains can lead us astray. (Did you cringe reading that? I did.)

A group of friends may sit around talking about existence, competing over who knows more or who can get deeper into possibilities. Their brains will keep trying to beat the other person, to know more, until they start believing their favorite ideas instead of realities.

It is so important to ground yourself in the word of God. Go through psalms each day, reminding yourself that God is with you.

Even if tangible things were not reality, wouldn't God still be the one who presides over it? So then, it does not matter whether reality is Matter.

http://www.youtube.com/user/caleblai?feature=watch

 

[Emmy]

Dear AI2424. In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus gives us good advice. "The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyself." Then Jesus states this great fact: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Short and to the point, and easy to remember. God wants our Love, freely given and NO conditions tagged on.
We start by treating all we know and all we meet, as we would love to be treated: kindly and with friendly words, always. Love in all we say and all we do, all we advise and all we stand for. Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will empower us with His Love, also. Matthew 7: 7-8: tells us what to do: " ask and ye will receive," then we thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. (all around us, friends and not friends)
We keep asking God and thanking God, and sharing all Love and Joy with our neighbour. God sees our sincere efforts to love and care, and God will Bless us. God will also know that we Love God, because we are following God`s Commandments to LOVE. God is Love and God our Heavenly Father wants Loving children/sons and daughters. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we get up, ask God to forgive us, and carry on Loving and Caring.
A Christian`s geat weapon is Love, Love will overcome all enmity and wrong
behaviour. Jesus our Saviour will help and guide us, and JESUS IS THE WAY.
My prayers are with you, and I say this with love. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ. P.S. Love and Obey, the very best way.

 

[Conchobar]

I have been involved with drugs in my past, a part of my past when God was my "number one priority in spirit", but I didn't know what that meant - I don't know the way God is working in your life through this anxiety but I feel assured that it is for a good cause. God continually teaches us, tests us and toughens us - often all at once through various life experiences. Regardless of where you mind is dragged throughout this time, remain with God and state with full intent that he is your God and ask him to remain with you. He certainly will not leave you! I will pray.

 

[annier]

I've always believed in God all of my life, but have never followed Christ as closely as I've wanted. Just a month ago I started a new career, I'm getting married soon, and I've had a lot of stress on me. I was in a wrong group of friends, and was introduced to smoking pot that night. I knew it was wrong, but with all the stress on me I did it anyways.. I had blacked out from a panic attack and I felt like I wasn't even alive, it was the worst experience ever. I felt like my soul had left my body.

It's been a month now, and I feel like I don't exist still, or everything around me is a thought. I've been praying so much lately and I've started picking up my bible every night. I have been praying to God during my panic attacks, and it seems to help me, but I keep thinking the what if I'm not actually alive. I keep having crazy anxiety thoughts, and crazy panic attacks. I started working out too, to try to help calm me..

I know this isn't a medical site, and I understand that this may be considered a medical issue.. but I want spiritual advice, I prayer, and I wanna be straight with God, and I wanna leave my old ways. I wanna feel normal again, and I don't want to have these thoughts anymore. My mind is all over the place, and I can't seem to get a grip on reality. I'm scared, and I hope the Lord isn't upset with me, I wanna be right with him.. I wanna take care of my fiancee and family.. I just need help..

I have had issues with anxiety attacks. I tired to deal with it on my own, and it ended up in a deep depression. Please seek some professional help with this. Talk to you doctor, to at least get some counsel on where to get help. Medication helped me a great deal. If you need to use medication, don't put yourself down for it. I was on an anti depressant for 6 mo. Then two years later went on them again for a few weeks. I have been med free for years. But they helped me greatly. It may not be what you choose to do, but please see someone to at least explore your options. Anxiety can lead to depression. You really do not want to go there. My entire world went gray.

 

[JCFantasy23]

Some people do have allergies to pot also and I know of someone who passed out when they smoked it

Honestly it sounds like you're under an AMAZING amount of stress/pressure, the panic attacks are full blown and making hard to function. Dissociative feelings (like you're distant from yourself and not fully "there") happen sometimes during real stressful periods that keep lasting. I went through that as a teen. I kept feeling distant, like my head was cloudy and my ears clogged and like sometimes wondering if I was dreaming when I was awake.

Spiritually prayer and continued prayer as you keep doing is the best thing for you. You could try speaking to your pastor too if you have one.

Hope you feel better soon