Help, unstable faith

[followerofGod]

I have been tested a lot lately. I am under a lot of stress and am feeling lost. I feel like I have been doubtful about things yet i continue to fight and to not give in. God has done a lot in my life and I feel like I can’t ever be wanted by him, after some things i have done despite the love he has showed me throughout my life. the more i read i feel the more I get lost and confused. I want to know God and I want to know he wants me I feel like I am losing faith and I don’t want to but i cant figure out how to re new it. when it was as simple as believe in him and be saved and no matter your transgressions he will forgive them and take you back. These statements are truth yet I am not comforted fully when I should be.

Please help reassure me, I don’t know what is wrong with me.

 

[Tim_Kirchoff]

Reread the story of the prodigal son. It might help, but otherwise, I’ll be praying for you…

 

[RobNY]

I have been tested a lot lately. I am under a lot of stress and am feeling lost. I feel like I have been doubtful about things yet i continue to fight and to not give in. God has done a lot in my life and I feel like I can’t ever be wanted by him, after some things i have done despite the love he has showed me throughout my life. the more i read i feel the more I get lost and confused. I want to know God and I want to know he wants me I feel like I am losing faith and I don’t want to but i cant figure out how to re new it. when it was as simple as believe in him and be saved and no matter your transgressions he will forgive them and take you back. These statements are truth yet I am not comforted fully when I should be.

Please help reassure me, I don’t know what is wrong with me.

So, you assent to the truths of the faith? You just feel awful?

Well, if this is the case, there is good news. You still have faith. Faith includes assenting to the truths the Church proposes. It doesn’t including feeling good about them.

See, our hearts are fickle. We can be completely convinced in our intellect, and assent to truths with our will, and yet in our emotions feel completely unfulfilled. That’s troublesome, but it’s ok! Many saints go through an intense period of dryness/aridity called the dark night of the soul.

The thing to do is this-- when you feel doubts coming ask yourself “has anything changed that I should doubt now?” If you haven’t had any new reasons to doubt any truth of the faith, then it’s time to give your emotions a kick! C.S. Lewis had a great set of comments on faith to the effect that its persevering in what you know to be true. The funny thing is even when we know something to be true we often waver about it when we’re not directly examining it. So whenever you feel these doubts, make an act of faith, ask God to help you, and know that by persevering in arid times you are doing something very good in God’s sight.

-Rob

 

[4loveofJesus]

May God’s peace, love and mercy be with you all!

God is merciful. No matter how great or how many our sins are, God still forgives us, for as long as we are truly sincerely sorry for having offended Him. God’s mercy is endless, and greater than all sins combined. So, even if your sins are as many as the sand on the shore, God will still forgive you. God is displeased though when we think that He can never forgive us because we underestimate the infinite mercy of Our Good God.

God is always waiting for us. God never abandons us. It is always us that turn away from Him or abandon Him. He waits patiently for us to return to Him, and when we do, it causes so much joy in heaven.

Going to confession, and holy communion regularly helps keep our souls clean and enables us to continuously draw closer to Christ. It renews and strengthens our faith, hope and love for God and infuses our soul with all the great graces that Our Good Lord Jesus is ready to give us, including the awesome gift of Himself.

Cling only to Jesus. Always have faith and trust in His Merciful Love.

God bless!

Blessed be Jesus and Mary!

 

[blessedstar]

Pray.

Where faith is tempted, pray.
Where prayer is difficult, pray.
Where there are doubts, pray.
Where there is weariness, pray.
Where there is loss of hope, pray.
Where there is sorrow, pray.
Where there is discord, pray.
Where there is lack of peace, pray.
Where there is fear, pray.
Where there is suffering, pray.
In whatever you face, pray.

The best and foremost answer to all difficulties is to pray. Often I have said ‘Pray and persevere in prayer’ I have given many prayers for people to say for various times of want and need. Does it seem too simplistic to give this answer to every situation whether it is spiritual, physical, mental or emotional? Does it not seem enough to say to people to pray?

To pray is everything. because the One to Whom we pray is Lord of you, Lord of your soul, Lord of all souls, Lord of Heaven and Lord of the Earth.

If you wish to fulfill the gift of your faith until the end, then pray.

Make it your habit to turn to God in everything and pray even when there is no desire to pray because God will gift this to you at some point and take you from the milk of His breast.

There is nothing that cannot be endured in faithfulness to prayer close to Jesus.

Don’t worry, pray, in prayer be steadfast and persevere in prayer.

I hope this awful spiritual temptation ceases for you and you are duly strengthened in faith once you have endured then possessing all certitude in faith by way of trial.

In these times of trial Jesus is very close to you and upholds you, so turn to Him in prayer.

I will keep you and all of your loved ones in the Living Prayer of my life.

 

[FightingFat]

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me.”

The LORD replied:

“My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

 

[ANGELIC_PEACE]

I have been tested a lot lately. I am under a lot of stress and am feeling lost. I feel like I have been doubtful about things yet i continue to fight and to not give in. God has done a lot in my life and I feel like I can’t ever be wanted by him, after some things i have done despite the love he has showed me throughout my life. the more i read i feel the more I get lost and confused. I want to know God and I want to know he wants me I feel like I am losing faith and I don’t want to but i cant figure out how to re new it. when it was as simple as believe in him and be saved and no matter your transgressions he will forgive them and take you back. These statements are truth yet I am not comforted fully when I should be.

Please help reassure me, I don’t know what is wrong with me.

you are not alone… i feel like that sometimes too…as soon as i start to feel like i am making progress i feel like i have taken steps back and feel even worse off and lost…
all i do is continue to try in my relationship with god (at the end of the day while we can pray for each other each and everyone of us is responsible for our own relationship with god…and others won’t be with us when we die or go to judgement or purgatory we each have to go there alone…although others can be with us through their prayers for us)
i just try to pray small prayers to god through out the day…they are only a few words long and they can be totally your own words…you can use them to pray for yourself and for others…
eg…jesus grant releif and deliverance to all the holy souls in purgatory…jesus assist and save the dying…jesus, i feel lost please help me, confort me, guide me and enlighten me…mother mary pray for me to jesus…etc
you can make them up to suit whatever you need or want to pray for…there are websites with lists of short prayers but it is just as easy to make them up ourselves

ANGELIC PEACE