Has God Ever Helped You

[MaryD7]

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 truly understand what you are saying. I, myself, have been trying to understand for years how God intercedes in our lives and when He will not. I have come to a few conclusions:

1. I was not abused as a child because God had a reason to put that in my life. I was abused as a child because some man had free will and decided that I was his target. End of story. God wasn’t happy about what was happening but He never took away this man’s free will.
2. I do not believe that it was a plan from God that set this abuse in motion. This is a generational sin and I turned out to be one of its victims.

Does knowing this make it any easier to swallow? Of course not. I was the one left with the pain and guilt. I was the one left to pick up the pieces. I was the one who was shaped and formed by one man’s sexual perversion.

But do you know how God did help me? He gave me strength to keep on going. He gave me wisdom to know when I was straying too far from Him. He put good people in my life who helped me heal. He gave me tenacity to keep trying to understand what was going on inside of me as an adult. He gave me the ability and strength to be honest … with Him, my abuser, and those who knew but did nothing to stop him. I told each of them how the abuse affected my life. And I received a soulful apology from my abuser. That, to me, was a gift.

I still don’t understand how God the Father can stand to see His children hurt. I know as a parent that if I saw anyone abuse my child I would be ready to poke his eyes out. The only conclusion that I can come to is that under no circumstances will God take away man’s free will. If He could then what would be the point of our existence?

But what He does do is help us pick up the pieces if we ask Him. He never promised that it would be easy but He is available as long as you ask.

Take a look at your life and who you are today. Can you see God playing any role in the healing process?

 

[LilyM]

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’ve certainly had some hard times in my life too, and like Jesus himself, sometimes I felt like I had been abandoned.

Then I started thinking about how much worse things COULD have been and my conclusion was that God wasn’t idle, he was fighting all the time for me so that things DIDN’T get worse - because if I’d been left to my own devices and stupidity they most certainly would have!

 

[Al_Masetti]

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

It is useful to consider “the resurrection of the dead” as a teaching of the Church.

If it’s within your means, get a copy of “A Travel Guide to Heaven” by Anthony DeStefano. Amazon has it. The author has an imprimatur, but hides it at the back to avoid putting off people who may not be Catholic. He has an interesting way of collecting what the Bible says and what the Church teaches about Heaven.

 

[SemperJase]

Thal59:

Question… Has God ever really helped you?

Yes, in the I-shouldn’t-be-here-today category. About five years ago I had a case of necrotic pancreatitis. It is as bad as it sounds. I found out after the fact that five of the five doctors treating me expected me to die. They had me in the 80% mortality group. I started to have my doubts when they put me in ICU.

I know that people all over the country were praying for me. But for the grace of God…

 

[clarkal]

Dimmers:

Martin Luther?
j/k

Dimmers:

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.

Since you have returned to the Catholic Church, your mental illnesses disappeared? How did this happen? Did God snap his fingers and say, “You’re healed!”? Or was it a process and a result of Catholic teaching?

How did He cure your ADD and sleep disorder?

Thanks,

clarkal

 

[BlindSheep]

Of course, these are not the only ways God has helped me, but if you want something “tangible”:
There was the time I prayed for $100, and that same afternoon recieved an (unexpected) check in the mail for that exact amount
the time I prayed for $20 and found a $20 bill on the sidewalk the same day
the time I was hungry and had no money for lunch, prayed and an aquaintence walked by and handed me a box of cookies (not even having been told I was hungry)
the time I prayed after communion for help in overcoming an addiction to a computer game, then came home, tried to log on, and found the website was down (it never had been before in a year of playing it, and it stayed down after this).

 

[Dimmers]

Since you have returned to the Catholic Church, your mental illnesses disappeared? How did this happen? Did God snap his fingers and say, “You’re healed!”? Or was it a process and a result of Catholic teaching?

How did He cure your ADD and sleep disorder?

Thanks,

clarkal

Well, if you look at what attributes to mental disorders, in some cases it is most likely due to a series of events that have left a devastating impact on a person’s mind. Mine being my son being taken away, a friend being murdered, and the betrayal of a close friend. Then I met a girl, a wonderful girl, who tried to help me as well. I lost her as well. You sit there and wonder “Why did this happen?”, “Why me?” So you sit there and you constantly think about it, it starts to fester in your brain, your mind becomes your worst enemy. Soon as the mind goes, the body goes with it. I lost trust in humanity and therefore closed myself in and kept it all inside. It continued to fester. I became paranoid and would stay awake constantly fearing that which was not. I would walk down the streets and people would look at me and I would think they are making fun of me. That in turn made me feel dirty, the glances (even though they weren’t directed at me) and the thinking that everything I touched with my hand would turn to sh–. So I would wash my hands constantly in fear that I was dirty. To the point where they would be so dry, they would crack and bleed.

So how did the Catholic Church help me? Did God snap his fingers and cure me? No. It was through understanding that God has a plan for us. That God calls us to him in many ways. That God himself suffered and carried a cross for us that helped me understand. Who am I to question God? How he cured me is not of my concerns. I am just happy that I was cured and can be a productive human being again. I owe it not to science or medicine. I owe it to God. It was a calling, no one told me to go to Church, and no one preached to me that God would help.

I’m not here for shock value, for sympathy or praise. No need to lie about anything to make something like the CC look good/bad. It is good in my eyes and that is all that matters. I am simply here to share my story, and if it impacts the life of someone else, then what wrong could come out of that? I’m not the perfect Catholic, nor do I strive to be. For there is only one perfect being.

 

[StCsDavid]

“Another reason can explain the adult conversion. People usually convert after a very stressful situation, where they see no way out, and instinctively turn to a “higher” power. It does not matter that this higher power never helps. They can explain it away by blaming their own lack of faith, blaming themselves. This of course just leads to another vicious circle.”

This is a portion of a post that one “Hitetlen” an atheist, offered to Thistle in reply.

Question… Has God ever really helped you?

I will cast the first vote in the affirmative, though it would take too much space to relate His help in detail where I am concerned.

Anyone else?

Thal59

Every moment of every day God helps me. I could list numerous more profound experiences, but it is the little things that I feel God’s presence the most.