Has God Ever Helped You

[puzzleannie]

let’s see he created me, keeps me living and breathing, created everyone and everything in my world, sustains the entire universe and has given me hope of eternal life, yup I would say so.

 

[Al_Masetti]

Yes.

One day I was doing a “Holy Hour” and for some reason before I left the house I put a 3x5 card in my pocket.

During the Holy Hour, I had the “urge” to write… and I began writing down all the times God had intervened directly and unmistakeably in my life. All sorts of things. Not always in a life-threatening situation. Studying something totally obscure before a school exam, only to find that obscure thing was a major part of the test… that sort of thing.

I started writing in very tiny script and wrote faster and faster and by the end of the hour, had 75 items…

Nothing mysticial or miraculous… just “amazing coincidences”… that sort of thing.

That was a few years ago… and having been “sensitized” to recognize these kinds of Divine Interventions, since then there have been more than 25 more of them… when they started happening at more than one a day, I had to ask for them to stop. At one point, after one of these “situations”, someone even turned to me and asked, “What just happened?”

Over the years I have compared notes with folks and have found that a LOT of people have had these “strange things” happen to them… all different and unique… I figure it was a way for God to illustrate and teach His Infinity… He is not “just like us, only smarter”…

… God is Infinite.

 

[davy39]

Yes, He has. I am a six year cancer survivor. Need I say more?

 

[Anonymous_1]

solarwind23:

Never. And I have been through some very difficult times. I prayed very sincerely, very desperately. I was a faithful Catholic back then too.

Nothing ever came of it.

I think prayer has about as much effect as placebo, which is some, if you believe you’re being helped you might feeel better and what not. The belief that someone is watching out for you can be very comforting. It can be a source of strength.

But real help? Nope. I’d be a believer if I ever experienced it.

im sorry you feel this way.

 

[Thal59]

solarwind23:

Never. And I have been through some very difficult times. I prayed very sincerely, very desperately. I was a faithful Catholic back then too.

Nothing ever came of it.

I think prayer has about as much effect as placebo, which is some, if you believe you’re being helped you might feeel better and what not. The belief that someone is watching out for you can be very comforting. It can be a source of strength.

But real help? Nope. I’d be a believer if I ever experienced it.

Is it possible that much has come of it but you never considered giving the credit to God? In my post which preceeds yours, I could have decided that I actually saw that on-coming car out of the corner of my eye and that my quick stop was merely the result of my magnificent coordination.

Exactly what kind of help were you looking for? Or is it possible you never looked for or asked for it?

Thal59

 

[Zeke2517]

If god has helped me, I am not aware of it. I’ve had some hard times in my life, especially during early childhood. I recall praying to god as a child asking for answers on why some of these things were happening to me and my family. I also recall being told by various members of chuch that, “things happen of a reason” and “god has a plan” which I guess may be true but I still don’t see it. Maybe I never will, maybe your not supposed to, who knows.

If I were to truthfully answer this question, has god helped me? I’d say no. He has not. I’ve helped myself, and if I am to beleive in god as I was brought up I am to beleive that he/she/it stood idle as I was growing up through tremendous pain and suffering.

That’s not very helpful…

 

[MonicaC]

Zeke2517:

If god has helped me, I am not aware of it. I’ve had some hard times in my life, especially during early childhood. I recall praying to god as a child asking for answers on why some of these things were happening to me and my family. I also recall being told by various members of chuch that, “things happen of a reason” and “god has a plan” which I guess may be true but I still don’t see it. Maybe I never will, maybe your not supposed to, who knows.

If I were to truthfully answer this question, has god helped me? I’d say no. He has not. I’ve helped myself, and if I am to beleive in god as I was brought up I am to beleive that he/she/it stood idle as I was growing up through tremendous pain and suffering.

That’s not very helpful…

I am very sad for you!

But even if you don’t relieze it He is there for you and always has been. We all have a hard life some of us more than others. But if He never did help help you as you state than how would you explain your being here?

No one can do anything on his own.

I will pray for you,

And remember God does love you,

Monica

 

[Al_Masetti]

As painful as it may seem, we are all going to die.

As far as I know, only two people have not died: Enoch and Elijah. [Maybe also Moses and Mary… maybe.]

But everyone else has died. Even Jesus died.

Some of us will die peacefully and some will die in pain, agony and torment. But, die we will.

But then we need to ask: what is the purpose of our lives?

As far as I can tell, we need the time to prepare ourselves (our souls) for the next life. [Christians and others do believe in a life after this one.]

Some people may have a mission (or more than one mission) to perform while they are here.

Indirectly through their suffering, they may be used by God to evaluate others… maybe some “stuffed shirt” who is being given one last chance to help someone other than himself…

I don’t know… I’m sort of making this up… sort of.

But consider this: God is INFINITE. And that which we refer to as “Heaven” will last as long as infinity… forever. And part of Heaven is that we, each of us who “make it”, will be given a share, some fractional share of infinity (small “i”). Mathematically, of course, that is impossible… a fraction of “infinity”.

But, God can delegate to those in Heaven some “fringe benefits”… perfect bliss… absolute total joy…ecstasy 24/7… instant time travel… instant space travel… understanding of earthly mysteries - things that eluded us here.

So, on a comparative basis, the most miserable of earthly experiences is a pathetically insignificant inconvenience compared with the totally wonderful experience of Heaven.

So, in any earthly experience, look for something that maybe we are supposed to learn from it. Or maybe we are supposed to meet someone to help them. There is just no telling what is supposed to be the outcome of any particular encounter in this life.

 

[Anonymous_1]

Al Masetti:

As painful as it may seem, we are all going to die.

As far as I know, only two people have not died: Enoch and Elijah. [Maybe also Moses and Mary… maybe.]

But everyone else has died. Even Jesus died.

Some of us will die peacefully and some will die in pain, agony and torment. But, die we will.

But then we need to ask: what is the purpose of our lives?

As far as I can tell, we need the time to prepare ourselves (our souls) for the next life. [Christians and others do believe in a life after this one.]

Some people may have a mission (or more than one mission) to perform while they are here.

Indirectly through their suffering, they may be used by God to evaluate others… maybe some “stuffed shirt” who is being given one last chance to help someone other than himself…

I don’t know… I’m sort of making this up… sort of.

But consider this: God is INFINITE. And that which we refer to as “Heaven” will last as long as infinity… forever. And part of Heaven is that we, each of us who “make it”, will be given a share, some fractional share of infinity (small “i”). Mathematically, of course, that is impossible… a fraction of “infinity”.

But, God can delegate to those in Heaven some “fringe benefits”… perfect bliss… absolute total joy…ecstasy 24/7… instant time travel… instant space travel… understanding of earthly mysteries - things that eluded us here.

So, on a comparative basis, the most miserable of earthly experiences is a pathetically insignificant inconvenience compared with the totally wonderful experience of Heaven.

So, in any earthly experience, look for something that maybe we are supposed to learn from it. Or maybe we are supposed to meet someone to help them. There is just no telling what is supposed to be the outcome of any particular encounter in this life.

God is our lot in Heaven my friend. he is the source of everything that is perfect and good whether it be beauty, or love or mercy, infinite benevolence…this life is simply preparation for eternity as you stated . But in order to be capable to experience the joy of heaven(the Vision of Gods Glory) we need to learn to love God here. Love is not primarily an emotion but a choice, we need to surrender our wills to God.What good is it to say you love someone and go do that which they despise? That is why free will and obedience are necesary. However, how could we possibly truley appreciate God and His unsearchable greatness? We couldn’t, alone. That is why God helps us, He palces His own Spirit within us, and actually Loves Himself through us. Very awesome stuff!!! he allows us to share in His interior life. God withholds nothing from us, look at the Cross, the Eucharist, He gives Himself completley to us, and to show that we love Him, we are to do the same, and thus…Heaven…we were created for “sexual” union with God…wow!

Anyway I say all this because, we are not created for this world. Matthew Kelly says our yearning for happiness is a honing device for eternity. The pleasures of this world are merley shadows of the True Form(in the words of Plato) In God we find true happiness for His Greatness is never ending…

Love…Greater is no love than a man who lays down his life for his friends…

I could reflect and rejoice over such things all day. Praise God. Solar, Hitelin,imma pray for ya’ll

 

[wcknight]

Absolutely, all the time… I’ve survived for 55 years when so many times, I could have been snatched away. I survived one heart attack with minimal damage. When I was six, I ran in front a car, and my brother says miraculously I was hit by a bicycle instead (as if that is any picnic). I was knocked out, didn’t feel a thing not even pain afterwards.

I ran my car head on into what I thought was a huge tree, and it turned out to be a traffic device, walked away unscathed. The car was totalled, I didn’t even have a scratch.

During the worst times of my life the Lord came through big time with events that bought me unbelieveable joy. I have a wonderful wife and kids, a home, and a great job… and yet there were times, when I was stuck in a miserable job situation, incredibly lonely, thought we would never had kids, or were mired in debt.

I believe God answers every prayer, but as they say not always on our time frame and sometimes the answer is no. But invariably the results turn out for the best. For all the trials or tribulations, so many great and wonderful things have followed.

I used to think that God is sometimes too busy to handle insignificant requests but in some very personal and special incidents, magnificant things have happened. Things that are so unlikely and in a totally unexpected and delightful manner than I believe it is unquestionably the work of the Almighty.

The Lord has been especially gracious and generous to this servant, and I am eternally grateful. I know the Lord has more great things instore, and even if today were my very last day, I would still say thanks for a incredibly wonderful life.

 

[Church_Militant]

YES!
Minimal damage from 2 hurricanes.
Brought me home to Himself and to His church!
I could list a lot more but it get’s really personal…

Oh yeah… God is VERY real and REALLY has helped me.

 

[Scott_Waddell]

Yes, well it is a fallen world according to us placebo Christians. Putting out a laundry list of wordly trouble only builds the case for it.

 

[Thal59]

Hitetlen:

And I just bet that they would trade all that “help” if only they could have thier loved ones back…

There is no need of a trade; they will get their loved ones back.

Hitetlen:

No “tirade” about God’s cruelty, but I will point out the incredible stupidity and self-righteous hypocrisy of such “claims”, usually done by Pat Robertson and other idiots who are safe and secure in their homes. Don’t innocent children also perish in those disasters? Or did they have some hidden “sins” deserving such punishment? Or do you think that God is not powerful enough to spare the innocent ones, while punishing the guilty ones?

Does every death need to be a punishment for sins? If we want to get arbitrary and hypothetical I could argue that every time a child dies, it is because God knows they will have a terribly difficult life so He is just being merciful to them. If 4 year old Adolph Hitler had drowned in the Danube, would it not have been better for him?
There are times when God punishes, there are times when God rescues, but there are many times that are the result of random chance.

Hitetlen:

Bah, humbug!

Scrooge you, buddy.

Thal59

 

[Thal59]

solarwind23:

Of course it’s possible, but how probable is it?

Whatever problems any of us might have chances are they are nothing compared to what people are undergoing in Darfur or North Korea. In the third world children are forced into prostitution. Even in America there are child sex slaves, there is domestic abuse, some people get tortured and killed by serial killers.

Do you really expect me to believe that God went out of his way to interfere to do something trivial for me (that is in fact much better explained by day-to-day-non-divine factors), but does nothing for those people?

If anyone needs God’s help it’s the child sex slaves and people tortured in North Korean prisons for “political” offenses.

A God who doesn’t interfere with creation in my opinion is far more consistent with our world than a God who does interfere and actually helps people.

You have no idea what God may be doing for the inflicted people you mentioned. Nor do we have any idea of how they may have rejected God. Most of the crimes against humanity that you spoke of occur in non-Christian countries. Think about it for a while. From the time of Christ to the present, the countries that have grown and prospered the most are Christian countries.

You, and many people like you, try to judge God based on the reality of the temporal life. But if the second life is eternal, would it really matter to you if you were killed by a serial killer at age 30, or if you died of old age at 99. What would those 69 years mean to you 1 million years into eternal bliss?

And who is to say that any help He may have given you is trivial. Suppose you are a little kid walking to a friend’s house for a party. God sends the neighborhood bully to beat you up. You can’t for the life of you understand how God helped you, in fact, you may blame Him for not protecting you.

That is until you find out that your friend’s house caught fire and a few of your friends perished. “Help” is not always delivered in a pleasant manner.

Of course, it could all be just a coincidence. But, this is where faith comes in.

Thal59

 

[clarkal]

No.

Especially when I needed it the most. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, as some of you may know, this disorder doesn’t mix well with the teachings of Catholicism. The fear of hell drove me to insanity, and to make a long story short (years), I was eventually admitted to the psych ward. He didn’t answer my prayers throughout this ordeal, and it just convinces me more of His non-existence.

Thankfully ( ), OCD is a disease of doubt. I started to doubt my religious beliefs, and I ended up leaving the Church. I can now function like a normal person – but, on Catholicism, I’m insane (even with medication) and could never go back to it.

clark

 

[TOP]

YES, God has helped me and saved my life.

 

[Anonymous_1]

clarkal:

No.

Especially when I needed it the most. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, as some of you may know, this disorder doesn’t mix well with the teachings of Catholicism. The fear of hell drove me to insanity, and to make a long story short (years), I was eventually admitted to the psych ward. He didn’t answer my prayers throughout this ordeal, and it just convinces me more of His non-existence.

Thankfully ( ), OCD is a disease of doubt. I started to doubt my religious beliefs, and I ended up leaving the Church. I can now function like a normal person – but, on Catholicism, I’m insane (even with medication) and could never go back to it.

clark

are you sure it was your OCD?
Do you have issues with scrupulosity? it sounds like you fell into despair which is a temptation of the Devil to doubt the love of God and make us think we are to bad for Him to love us.

do you know that nothing absolutley nothing you can do could make God not love you? He loves you before you did the worst thing youve ever done, while you were in the process of doing it, and after word.

Only reason i say anything is because I have obsessive and compulsive tendencies and these are things I can identify with.

Maybe im way off.

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

Alcoholism runs in my family. I started binge drinking when I was about twenty and kept doing it until in my mid thirties. I drove myself to the hospital and sat there in the parking lot and prayed. I prayed trying to get every contrary urge out of my will; i pounded on the steering wheel; I pounded on my chest; I prayed to God to give me back my freewill (if you’re an alcoholic you know what I mean.) I remember trying so hard to pray and evict any contrary thought other than a desire to ask God to remove this curse which I had inflicted on myself. I walked into the hospital knowing I would never take a drink. I attended a couple of years of AA as service and a way of saying thanks to God. Though I was careful not to put myself in an occasion of sin, I never had the compulsion to drink since that prayer. I thank God for this. I really do.

Oddly enough, though I returned to church, it was lukewarm and I fell away from church. This was not through any intellectual disagreement or loss of faith I suppose, but through perhaps discouragement. Later on I bought a condo and I remember telling my brother (a realtor) I wanted a place near a Catholic Church. I got a nice little condo and it was, but I didn’t go.

Being a couch potato I surfed around and occasionally stopped at EWTN. I think that was a starting trigger. Then I bought a Rosary. Now being in the secular world and living the life I had I also had a problem with pornography that was escalating. Obviously there was a conflict. I couldn’t go back and at the same time lead this double life (well I could but that’s not how I saw it) Again, I wanted out of this sin of lust. When I prayed the Rosary, the pornography went away and stayed away. I know in my heart that Mary successfully interceded for me.

Both times I had supernatural help that I could “sense”, that was most extraordinary, it was to break the chains of sin that had truly enslaved me. I did cooperate but I could have done nothing without external help, because I had tried by myself for years to no avail and both times it was like a light switch or a sudden breaking.

I hope this helps.

Peace,

mike

 

[hurst]

Thal59:

You have no idea what God may be doing for the inflicted people you mentioned. …

… would it really matter to you if you were killed by a serial killer at age 30, or if you died of old age at 99. …

Two excellent points worth noting.

hurst

 

[Dimmers]

clarkal:

No.

Especially when I needed it the most. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, as some of you may know, this disorder doesn’t mix well with the teachings of Catholicism. The fear of hell drove me to insanity, and to make a long story short (years), I was eventually admitted to the psych ward. He didn’t answer my prayers throughout this ordeal, and it just convinces me more of His non-existence.

Thankfully ( ), OCD is a disease of doubt. I started to doubt my religious beliefs, and I ended up leaving the Church. I can now function like a normal person – but, on Catholicism, I’m insane (even with medication) and could never go back to it.

clark

Martin Luther?
j/k

That is quite interesting though, since it was the other way around for me. I had a few OCD, PTSD, ADHD (ADD), and I had serious sleep issues where I would be awake for days/hours on end and only sleep a few hours and then be up for another 2 days. I was on basically all prescription drugs from Wellbutrin, Xanax, Prozac, Zoloft for all sorts of mental disorders. I could not function , I was violent (and coming from Bronx,NY you know what troubles I could have gotten myself into), I cared not for others, I lost it all, job, girlfriend and I even became homeless.

Since I have returned to the Catholic church, all that is gone. Seriously, I am at peace with myself and everyone else.

No pills, no therapy, no psychological treatment did for me what GOD did.

Science didn’t do poop for me. It was GOD who did the wonders.