Thinking about giving it up.

[Sperry]

Hello all,

I became a Christian about a year ago. Since then I have experienced more pain, difficulty, failure, and disappointment then any other point in my life. When I was young, my mother always told me that God had a plan for my life - a plan for good. This does not seem to be the case with me. It seems that I am better off relying on myself than on faith.

 

[Onlythingavailable]

Hello and welcome to CF!

I don't think it is your faith which has caused all the hurt in your life, but instead it's the fallen state of this world. Jesus didn't promise a dance on roses, but he did say he would be there for us. When things go badly, we can reach out to God for comfort, and I think that is one of the greatest gifts. If you don't mind me asking, how would things be better if you relied on yourself?

We all have our ups and downs. Sometimes I make the mistake of not bringing my concerns to God, instead I pull away thinking He doesn't care, and I don't remember it ever doing any good. God knows us and understands us.

Even if we gain something by not following God, we only have it for a little while, and in the end it is worth nothing. When we die we take nothing with us, just as we brought nothing with us into the world.

 

[goldenviolet]

as we get older we start to ask ourselves many questions. seeking out the answers is difficult through the lenses we are trained to see with. the world is just full of confusion and lies. i'm suspecting that you have several things going on spiritually.
my guesses:
1.) you don't yet fully understand God's love for you, His compassion, His place for you.
2.) you haven't yet understood your place, purpose, your value.
3.) you have not yet understood what the Father is speaking to you; what your personal convictions are: how the Lord plans to shape you.
these would leave alot of hurt and confusion. not being able to understand, or comphrehind enough truths to counter your discouragements. fight the earthly lies. build upon your spirituality. replace your hurt and confusion with truth and comfort.
my heart goes out to you. we need you to exsplore these things and help us give you the fellowship and encouragements you need. weigh out these things on your thoughts, and write to us about your inner struggles.

the right lenses are something we all need to learn. even mature christians have unavoidable earthly trials. we have spiritual seasons of every type; from grieving to joyful... encouraged to discouraged. but the right lenses put on daily, help us to manage through it all. the scriptures are wisdom and encouragement: they help us re-new and build the promises and truths that protect and comfort us. it's not just a learned thing too: sometimes we need to un-learn things too. the most important thing you can know first is Salvation. what does salvation mean? God loves you so much, that He pursues you as you are, to love, redeem and build you up. He doesn't see the sinner you are, He doesn't see the failure you feel. those are earthly lenses (lies)... He sees you longing for Him; He sees you searching for answers. He wants to gather you up in His compassion and grace: and teach you your place and value amoung His children, church, and kingdom. so, first let's start with showing you God's love and compassion, so you can replace your discouragements with truth, love, exceptance. the rest falls into place because He's the Master, Savior, Father, Friend, Shephard... the rest is a daily commitment to allow Him to shape you: see His will....: spiritual growth... give Him your brokeness and willingness... your willfulness and your unwillingness... give Him permission to change you. because on our own: none of us can do it. only He can teach us what we need to know... then before you know it: you'll beable to hear His convictions of love, compassion, and direction in your life. xo dee

 

[Mr.Cheese]

,

 

[FireyAngel]

Pain comes with living no matter what we do or do not believe.

That's it in a nutshell. But I do want to encourage you to not give up. Just posting here is positive step.

No one is superman or wonder woman. Allowing others into your life to support you is a good thing.

 

[Angeldove97]

If I may make a book suggestion for you--- I've been reading through this wonderful devotional book and really growing in faith and strength. You might want to read through some of the devotions as well and we have a thread going on here at CF, though I do highly recommend you get a copy (it's not that expensive either). Check out the thread: http://christianforums.com/showthread.php?t=6777222 Sometimes you just have to sit down with the Lord, tell Him what you're thinking and listen up to what He has to say as well

 

[Anti Existance]

Yeah its a common mistake, people think 'now i believe in God so now God can do all the work for me', unfortunatly it doesn't work in that way. Materialistically God doesn't pay your bills, doesn't clean your kitchen.

God indeed has a plan, but its on a spiritual level. Everything is like a puzzle whom's pieces comes together as time progresses. Every soul in the universe is a part of that plan. God is a form of consious energy, but there's a lot of unconsious energy in this universe, the plan is to convert the unconsious energy into consious energy.

As souls learn over time thru hardships and experiences , the levels of their consious energy comes at a higher level, this brings the total whole of Gods consious energy to a higher plane of thinking. This is how God evolves himself. Although in America evolution is discarded recently by many Christians as non true. Against popular belief i think evolution ,the big bang or Dinosaurs do not go against Gods plan or the bible. There's no reason to asume that the Garden of Eden was on earth, Adam and Eve were in paradise, i believe they got thrown out and were put on a already existing earth. For them life on earth began then, but that really doesn't go against the idea why the earth couldn't be any older.

Anyway , life is what you make of it. God doesn't involve himself into your life because that violates your free will, if by your God given free will you ask God for help, then God can decide to intervene into your life.

Another mistake is to think that God is there to make your life happy, its opposite in order for your soul to become stronger you go thru hardships. here's something nice

Even though before my life was going no where and all I could seem to do was dig myself a deeper hole I learned from all those mistakes. I see that the way to the top is through my effort and wisdom (by trial and error). I appreciate every joy and hardship because I learn how to become stronger and it keeps my momentum strong. Through my knowledge I know all the right things to eat to keep myself energetic and happy. I work out regularly because my body has no limit to its capacity. I read every and anything because it's nice to remember there is a world outside of these four walls. Best of all, I don't fear the future because I know I have what it takes to overcome any situation and make the best of life.

I think that those are really the words you need, in order to get a realistic idea of life.