Signs from God or my Own Thoughts? Help!

[tuliplane]

I have been struggling with this for months now (well years, but a particular theme for months). Multiple times throughout the day usually, I will come across uncanny coincidences. This usually occurs when I have a major life change; the last time this happened in such an extreme way was when I started a relationship with my now husband and into our early marriage. I would get all these "signs" that I wasn't supposed to be with him; I didn't want to disobey God, but I also wasn't sure if it was my own mental health and didn't want to give up something good thanks to my disorder.

This time, I am expecting my first child and get so many coincidences revolving around the idea that my child will be born with a certain condition. Nearly everyday I'll see something related to this theme - whether it's out of the blue stumbling on a blog post about it or seeing pictures of people who have it, just to name some of the coincidences. These occurrences seem to correlate to my thoughts as well - I often will be having this on my mind and then these outward things will pop up at around the same time.

I get that with disorders like OCD, it's quite common to fixate on thoughts and themes and live in your own head, but what's making me question that is that these "signs" are happening outside of my mind, in the real world. I don't even have to look for them; they happen to me. There's so many of them, happening so frequently and at key moments that it makes me wonder what else could it be except God?

It's just really debilitating for me. I don't want to keep thinking about it, but I'll keep seeing more and more things that make me think about and then obsess over it. If God wants my child to be born a certain way, to help teach me something or make some sort of impact, I get that, but why couldn't it just happen without me being told about it first and why would I have to keep being reminded constantly?

It's so hard having a disorder like this and having faith in God because I don't want to doubt God and His ways if something is from Him and He is speaking to me, but having a disorder such as this also really takes its toll and sends in all sorts of disordered thinking.

I'm feeling so tired and spent. I'd like to hear what others think.

 

[Jeshu]

Dear sister instead of freaking those so called revelations why don't you bathe in God's loving goodness for awhile?

i found in my life that an anxious mind never brought me the truth but had me often time fixated on lies, now i call that force in me the false prophet, but then i used to think it was the voice of God yet it brought me terror 24/7

However Jesus warned me of those voices and brought me grace and love for truth instead of fear.

Bathing in God's love over me had me hearing completely different things such as peace, togetherness, unity, bonding, enjoying, relaxing, insight, growing in wisdom love and understanding.

Can you see two kind of fruits?

When lies are at work in your heart they bear bad fruit, so do away with such thinking and feeling, in favour of walking in God's loving truth which brings us good life spiritually even when life is hard or going bad physically.

Be of good courage.

 

[Daisy Rivas]

I have been struggling with this for months now (well years, but a particular theme for months). Multiple times throughout the day usually, I will come across uncanny coincidences. This usually occurs when I have a major life change; the last time this happened in such an extreme way was when I started a relationship with my now husband and into our early marriage. I would get all these "signs" that I wasn't supposed to be with him; I didn't want to disobey God, but I also wasn't sure if it was my own mental health and didn't want to give up something good thanks to my disorder.

This time, I am expecting my first child and get so many coincidences revolving around the idea that my child will be born with a certain condition. Nearly everyday I'll see something related to this theme - whether it's out of the blue stumbling on a blog post about it or seeing pictures of people who have it, just to name some of the coincidences. These occurrences seem to correlate to my thoughts as well - I often will be having this on my mind and then these outward things will pop up at around the same time.

I get that with disorders like OCD, it's quite common to fixate on thoughts and themes and live in your own head, but what's making me question that is that these "signs" are happening outside of my mind, in the real world. I don't even have to look for them; they happen to me. There's so many of them, happening so frequently and at key moments that it makes me wonder what else could it be except God?

It's just really debilitating for me. I don't want to keep thinking about it, but I'll keep seeing more and more things that make me think about and then obsess over it. If God wants my child to be born a certain way, to help teach me something or make some sort of impact, I get that, but why couldn't it just happen without me being told about it first and why would I have to keep being reminded constantly?

It's so hard having a disorder like this and having faith in God because I don't want to doubt God and His ways if something is from Him and He is speaking to me, but having a disorder such as this also really takes its toll and sends in all sorts of disordered thinking.

I'm feeling so tired and spent. I'd like to hear what others think.

That's a good question. We can see that the bible is filled with God's promises found within the New Testament and Old Testament. But one particular verse I want to mention is Amos 3:7 regarding God not doing anything without revealing His plan to the servants, the prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc.). Meaning that everything that God will do is already promised in the bible. When it comes to things that happen in our lives, it much more of one's own thoughts that things happen. For example, if I keep thinking i'm going to fail an exam, there will be a greater chance of that actually happening (having to do with one's own mindset). Also there is always that saying that things don't happen how one plans. I hope this helped a little. Take care!

 

[tuliplane]

Dear sister instead of freaking those so called revelations why don't you bathe in God's loving goodness for awhile?

i found in my life that an anxious mind never brought me the truth but had me often time fixated on lies, now i call that force in me the false prophet, but then i used to think it was the voice of God yet it brought me terror 24/7

However Jesus warned me of those voices and brought me grace and love for truth instead of fear.

Bathing in God's love over me had me hearing completely different things such as peace, togetherness, unity, bonding, enjoying, relaxing, insight, growing in wisdom love and understanding.

Can you see two kind of fruits?

When lies are at work in your heart they bear bad fruit, so do away with such thinking and feeling, in favour of walking in God's loving truth which brings us good life spiritually even when life is hard or going bad physically.

Be of good courage.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! It is definitely so true that an anxious heart brings nothing and that being anxious "does not add one more day to our lives". It really is an area I could use more improvement in to be sure.

It's still hard for me to discern between God's voice and my thoughts. Perhaps these revelations are God and I'm just responding to it in the wrong way by being anxious?

 

[tuliplane]

That's a good question. We can see that the bible is filled with God's promises found within the New Testament and Old Testament. But one particular verse I want to mention is Amos 3:7 regarding God not doing anything without revealing His plan to the servants, the prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc.). Meaning that everything that God will do is already promised in the bible. When it comes to things that happen in our lives, it much more of one's own thoughts that things happen. For example, if I keep thinking i'm going to fail an exam, there will be a greater chance of that actually happening (having to do with one's own mindset). Also there is always that saying that things don't happen how one plans. I hope this helped a little. Take care!

Thanks for your reply! I know self-fulfilling prophecies are a thing and so many ideas come from our own minds. How do we know though what is the voice of God vs our own thoughts?

 

[Jeshu]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! It is definitely so true that an anxious heart brings nothing and that being anxious "does not add one more day to our lives". It really is an area I could use more improvement in to be sure.

It's still hard for me to discern between God's voice and my thoughts. Perhaps these revelations are God and I'm just responding to it in the wrong way by being anxious?

Keep these two truths in mind, especially when you are frightened!

1) God's voice is always in accordance to the truths of Scripture, spoken in love for you and your neighbour. His Voice bring rest and inner peace and builds you up from within. Love for God and neighbour is always the Holy Spirit speaking in our hearts. God's voice causes us to grow in love and truth.

2) The devil on the other hand causes you to doubt God's Word and love, making you confused and anxious on the one, and/or prideful and arrogant on the other hand. The devil's voice brings misery and death into your inner being. Being preoccupied with self is always the result of devil's work in your heart. The devil's voice causes us to become lovelessly selfish.

When you keep these two truths in mind then it is not hard to distinguish between God's voice, your own or the devil's.

The best is to go to God in your anxious self and confess to Him what you are frightened of and repent of heeding fear and ask for His fearlessness back in that part of your heart. After you ask keep giving your fearful self to Him until fear runs out and His peace comes alive in your heart. Keep doing that for as long as fearful heart attacks.

Exercise faith in God's love a lot. The more of God's love you harbour within the freer of fears you will be. Indeed perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment and faith in God's love casts fears about our salvation because of what we have done out in favour of trusting the Lord because of what He has done. Faith in God's love keeps all eyes peeled on Jesus

If you meet truth on your way that this will cause you to rejoice in God and marvel at His greatness, if on the other hand you see truths that make you scared then either the truths are not truths or you listen to the devil about such truths and not to God. Never speculate with or about God's truths. Such is from the false prophet, e.g satan's voice of deceit in our hearts.

Any one who loves God rejoices in His truth. Any one who is overcome by evil dreads God's truth. So when you dread God's truth go to Him and repent of understanding His truth the way you do. For the Gospels is good news to the world, not bad news, we get enough bad news already down here.

 

[covergirl]

I went through this this year and it was tough. O kept seeing little things as prophetic and encouragement but I would see things all the time whole running driving multiple and finally I asked God to help me rest from that cause I didn't want to depend on signs too much. It's His promises and His Word above all else not the pictures in our minds or things that pop up while scrolling. I will also say I have learned that when you Google something, it will also pop up on your social media feed and other websites so that's probably why you are seeing all these adds for the topics you search.

 

[tuliplane]

I went through this this year and it was tough. O kept seeing little things as prophetic and encouragement but I would see things all the time whole running driving multiple and finally I asked God to help me rest from that cause I didn't want to depend on signs too much. It's His promises and His Word above all else not the pictures in our minds or things that pop up while scrolling. I will also say I have learned that when you Google something, it will also pop up on your social media feed and other websites so that's probably why you are seeing all these adds for the topics you search.

Thanks so much for your reply! I have thought about this possibility of googling things and then it popping up elsewhere, but sometimes it seems to be random. For instance, I was reading an article on a website that had nothing to do with the theme that keeps coming up, but one of the suggested articles happened to be about it, and I don't think that was based on my search history, but just a suggestion from the website itself. Have you had anything like that?

Like you, sometimes I get words of encouragement that seem directly related to my thoughts, like going on social media and someone posting verses about not being anxious, and since God speaks through His word, I figure that could be from God, but if that is from God, then the other things just might be too! It really can be so overwhelming.

 

[Mari17]

I have been struggling with this for months now (well years, but a particular theme for months). Multiple times throughout the day usually, I will come across uncanny coincidences. This usually occurs when I have a major life change; the last time this happened in such an extreme way was when I started a relationship with my now husband and into our early marriage. I would get all these "signs" that I wasn't supposed to be with him; I didn't want to disobey God, but I also wasn't sure if it was my own mental health and didn't want to give up something good thanks to my disorder.

This time, I am expecting my first child and get so many coincidences revolving around the idea that my child will be born with a certain condition. Nearly everyday I'll see something related to this theme - whether it's out of the blue stumbling on a blog post about it or seeing pictures of people who have it, just to name some of the coincidences. These occurrences seem to correlate to my thoughts as well - I often will be having this on my mind and then these outward things will pop up at around the same time.

I get that with disorders like OCD, it's quite common to fixate on thoughts and themes and live in your own head, but what's making me question that is that these "signs" are happening outside of my mind, in the real world. I don't even have to look for them; they happen to me. There's so many of them, happening so frequently and at key moments that it makes me wonder what else could it be except God?

It's just really debilitating for me. I don't want to keep thinking about it, but I'll keep seeing more and more things that make me think about and then obsess over it. If God wants my child to be born a certain way, to help teach me something or make some sort of impact, I get that, but why couldn't it just happen without me being told about it first and why would I have to keep being reminded constantly?

It's so hard having a disorder like this and having faith in God because I don't want to doubt God and His ways if something is from Him and He is speaking to me, but having a disorder such as this also really takes its toll and sends in all sorts of disordered thinking.

I'm feeling so tired and spent. I'd like to hear what others think.

Thank you for sharing! This sounds very typical of OCD. In fact, I think you'll find others on here (e.g. Kostilaks) who have the same type of "coincidence" obsession.

I'm curious to know what your core fear is. WHY are you afraid that you are receiving coincidences telling you that your child will be born with a certain condition? If you really think he/she will be, there's nothing you can do about it, right?

Also, do you have any support for your OCD?

 

[tuliplane]

Thank you for sharing! This sounds very typical of OCD. In fact, I think you'll find others on here (e.g. Kostilaks) who have the same type of "coincidence" obsession.

I'm curious to know what your core fear is. WHY are you afraid that you are receiving coincidences telling you that your child will be born with a certain condition? If you really think he/she will be, there's nothing you can do about it, right?

Also, do you have any support for your OCD?

That's the thing. Of course there's nothing I can do about it which makes it all the more frustrating that I keep receiving these coincidences because I'm often under the impression that it's God speaking to me...so why would He keep reminding me of the same thing over and over? Unless He just wants to prepare me, but I think I'd rather just accept what comes than have things told to me ahead of time.

Do you know if the coincidence obsession is common in those with OCD? It's so difficult having OCD and faith in God at the same time because the disorder likes to latch on to faith with scrupulosity as well as trying to discern between God's will and what comes from Him vs OCD. Much Christian advice as far as coincidences points to the idea that they are orchestrated as a part of His divine plan with sayings such as 'there are no such thing as coincidences' and 'everything happens for a reason' which leaves my mind with even more questioning on what is the truth sometimes.

No, I don't have support for my OCD. I've had it since I was 9 years old and have never gotten therapy or counseling. Part of me knows I really should, but the other part is really apprehensive.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply!

 

[covergirl]

That is fear not God reminding you of those things which is actually normal for expectant mothers to go through. God will always help us through His Word above all. It's hard when things pop up on social media but never use social media as a way of determining what God is telling you, same for preachers.

 

[Mari17]

That's the thing. Of course there's nothing I can do about it which makes it all the more frustrating that I keep receiving these coincidences because I'm often under the impression that it's God speaking to me...so why would He keep reminding me of the same thing over and over? Unless He just wants to prepare me, but I think I'd rather just accept what comes than have things told to me ahead of time.

Do you know if the coincidence obsession is common in those with OCD? It's so difficult having OCD and faith in God at the same time because the disorder likes to latch on to faith with scrupulosity as well as trying to discern between God's will and what comes from Him vs OCD. Much Christian advice as far as coincidences points to the idea that they are orchestrated as a part of His divine plan with sayings such as 'there are no such thing as coincidences' and 'everything happens for a reason' which leaves my mind with even more questioning on what is the truth sometimes.

No, I don't have support for my OCD. I've had it since I was 9 years old and have never gotten therapy or counseling. Part of me knows I really should, but the other part is really apprehensive.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply!

Ooh, we're almost the same! I've had it since I was 8. I never got counseling either; I've learned to self-treat. Now that I've learned how, I'm OK (I think LOL), but I'm sure in many cases it's probably wiser, and a faster road to recovery, to get a therapist.

In my experience, OCD likes to keep us rolling round and round on an "unanswerable" problem. So, it probably doesn't matter as much that you couldn't do anything about this issue anyway; OCD's just glad to have something to bug you about. The key, of course, is to stop allowing yourself to get bugged by it. Not that you can really change your feelings, but you can stop doing your compulsions (ruminating, researching, asking for reassurance, etc.). Can you pinpoint your specific compulsions?

My personal opinion, for what it's worth, is that coincidences are, in many cases, not nearly as "providential" as we'd like to think. I do believe that God can and does work in circumstances, and that He's always in control of everything, but I think there are many times that He does not intervene and just allows things to happen naturally, meaning that lots of times coincidences are really that - just coincidences. (Again, just my personal opinion, which is always growing and changing!)

You might find some of the articles/blog posts on Dr. Ian Osborn's site helpful. I'll link to a couple which are related to this issue:
STREET PREACHER OBSESSION – OCD & CHRISTIANITY
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS – OCD & CHRISTIANITY

I can also recommend other good resources, if you like. Also, please feel free to p.m. anytime, if that would be helpful!

 

[tuliplane]

Ooh, we're almost the same! I've had it since I was 8. I never got counseling either; I've learned to self-treat. Now that I've learned how, I'm OK (I think LOL), but I'm sure in many cases it's probably wiser, and a faster road to recovery, to get a therapist.

In my experience, OCD likes to keep us rolling round and round on an "unanswerable" problem. So, it probably doesn't matter as much that you couldn't do anything about this issue anyway; OCD's just glad to have something to bug you about. The key, of course, is to stop allowing yourself to get bugged by it. Not that you can really change your feelings, but you can stop doing your compulsions (ruminating, researching, asking for reassurance, etc.). Can you pinpoint your specific compulsions?

My personal opinion, for what it's worth, is that coincidences are, in many cases, not nearly as "providential" as we'd like to think. I do believe that God can and does work in circumstances, and that He's always in control of everything, but I think there are many times that He does not intervene and just allows things to happen naturally, meaning that lots of times coincidences are really that - just coincidences. (Again, just my personal opinion, which is always growing and changing!)

You might find some of the articles/blog posts on Dr. Ian Osborn's site helpful. I'll link to a couple which are related to this issue:
STREET PREACHER OBSESSION – OCD & CHRISTIANITY
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS – OCD & CHRISTIANITY

I can also recommend other good resources, if you like. Also, please feel free to p.m. anytime, if that would be helpful!

That is so true about OCD fixating on an unanswerable problem! I think you pretty much summed up my compulsions which are ruminating, researching and asking for reassurance. It can be hard not to engage in the compulsion...it's almost along the same lines as an addiction, but it's definitely true that not engaging in the compulsion really does help to alleviate the thoughts.

I agree with you that many coincidences are just naturally occurring phenomenon, however, in the middle of an OCD episode it can be really hard to rationalize that or decipher between what is meaningful and what isn't.

Thank you so much for sending those links! I really did find them helpful and want to go back to look at them even more.

 

[Daisy Rivas]

Thanks for your reply! I know self-fulfilling prophecies are a thing and so many ideas come from our own minds. How do we know though what is the voice of God vs our own thoughts?

Sorry for the late response! It's already prophesied who are those who are given the promises from God that are carried out throughout scripture. In Exodus 20:19 the chosen people of God asks Moses for him to speak to them directly for if God were to, they will die. This also ties into that because of Man's sin, God cannot work through them which is why Jesus at the time of the first coming was the only one able to free God's people from sin because he was born without sin.

 

[Tolworth John]

I'm feeling so tired and spent

Have you seen a psychiatrist or a councelor about your OCD and the intrusive thoughts?
When those thoughts are bad do you have any ways of dealing with them, medication to help etc.

May I suggest you look for and read :- 25 tips for successfully treating your OCD.

It has many useful tips and for intrusive thoughts it suggests only acknowledge them, don't debate or try to suppress them.

Please read it and discuss it with your councelor of therapist.

You are not alone and there are people who can help an encourage you.

 

[Jonathan Walkerin]

No, I don't have support for my OCD. I've had it since I was 9 years old and have never gotten therapy or counseling.

Get that therapy and any medication that they might recommend.

If you notice afterwards that your anxiety and fears are less severe it kind of answers to your question whatever it was messages from God or your OCD acting up.

These problems rarely go away on their own so I believe it would really help your quality of life.

Having a small baby doesn’t decrease your stress levels nor does adding sleep deprivation to the mix help any either.

Get medical help and do it as soon as possible.

 

[tuliplane]

Have you seen a psychiatrist or a councelor about your OCD and the intrusive thoughts?
When those thoughts are bad do you have any ways of dealing with them, medication to help etc.

May I suggest you look for and read :- 25 tips for successfully treating your OCD.

It has many useful tips and for intrusive thoughts it suggests only acknowledge them, don't debate or try to suppress them.

Please read it and discuss it with your councelor of therapist.

You are not alone and there are people who can help an encourage you.

Thank you so much for your advice. I really do want to do more about it. I have not seen anyone for it but am planning to eventually. In my country it is difficult to find a good psychiatrist/psychologist who takes my insurance and I would rather not pay out of pocket the high fees for something like that when there's the possibility it may not even be beneficial.

 

[tuliplane]

Get that therapy and any medication that they might recommend.

If you notice afterwards that your anxiety and fears are less severe it kind of answers to your question whatever it was messages from God or your OCD acting up.

These problems rarely go away on their own so I believe it would really help your quality of life.

Having a small baby doesn’t decrease your stress levels nor does adding sleep deprivation to the mix help any either.

Get medical help and do it as soon as possible.

Thank you! I agree with you that it is necessary to get help as soon as possible...it's just not as simple where I live with limited providers who are good, and/or take my insurance and with the added COVID factor, many of them only do virtual visits which makes me feel uncomfortable. I will try to figure something out though. Thanks again!