How do I get my faith back?

[idontknow322]

I’ve been really depressed lately. How can I find happiness through Jesus?

 

[triumphguy]

That’s a bit different than getting your faith back.

Depression sucks.

Check with your doc first. Maybe they can help.

Jesus doesn’t necessarily make a person happy. Jesus gives us peace. Now peace can mean giving up all my worldly possessions and accepting martyrdom - pain and suffering. Not happiness - peace!

The best way to get faith back is to act as if you had faith.
Pray as if you had faith. Thank God as if you had faith. Go to Church and Mass as if you had faith. Go to confession as if you had faith. Receive Jesus in the Eucharist as if you had faith.

It works!

 

[robwar]

sorry to hear this? how are you defining happiness? by feeling good? what do you think makes happiness? Even if you don’t believe or fully believe I would try to find a adoration chapel nearest you and then just go in and sit and be. you don’t even have to pray. Just try to do this. I think that in the end you will feel better and hopefully encounter God.
you are in my prayers. just one more thought, the happiest people are those that focus on others and not themselves. If you focus on others and doing things for them, you will take the first steps towards happiness.

 

[CaptFun]

I’ve been really depressed lately. How can I find happiness through Jesus?

What little I know of you (ALMOST nothing) - is STILL very GOOD! :tiphat:

You are depressed and unhappy - YET wise in seeking Jesus “The WAY, The TRUTH and the LIFE!”

You are humble enough to ask other people for help. Christian help. You seek the body of Christ. Wise again!

You lead others without really knowing it … like the saints do. You publicly started a thread that asks “How do I get my faith back?” This will help others who feel the way you do that they are not alone.

You ask How? Asking counsel from those who have received the gift of Counsel when they received the sacrament of Confirnation and the laying on of hands is wise yet again.

I know I didn’t answer you directly here … however I AM pointing out that maybe you haven’t LOST your faith at all (since you are doing so well) - but the FEELING of elation you once had perhaps.

Great saints are sometimes said to have experienced a “dark night of the soul …” like Jesus in the garden perhaps. He like you didn’t give up but fought that depression. And did something for others that would help them.

Just this last Sunday (second reading) St. Paul implored God to rid him of an illness, a “thorn in the flesh” that Paul saw as an angel from Satan vexing him (making his ministry tough, etc.). The Lord answered “no” in effect, and told Paul that His “grace” was sufficient for him. Paul then realized it was more heroic to be visibly weak yet carry on!

Your depression (which might be VERY temporary - or a special cross that glorifies God day after day) is spoken of by Jesus you know.

**Matt 5:2 **He began to teach them, saying:

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, 4 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

5 Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

6 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

And in fact, while we love happiness - and will have it in heaven - here on earth we must temper it to keep it from becoming silliness and cold to the needs of others.

Luke 6:24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

25 But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh **now, **for you will grieve and weep.

26 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

Thanks for your humble post and your humble name (sort of like an Agnostic that wants to stop “not knowing” lol). This reflection did me a lot of good.

 

[TiggerS]

I’ve been really depressed lately. How can I find happiness through Jesus?

Depression colors everything in life grey or even black - it distorts realities. This can lead one to fear that one has lost or is loosing one’s Faith. Fear can feature highly in a depressed state of mind.
Medicine and those who qualify in medicine as doctors and as good doctors, are God’s Gifts to mankind in the struggle against suffering. You probably will need a doctor or therapist to treat the depression - it is an illness. Accept treatment as the gift of Jesus to you in your own very difficult mental suffering. Depression can be a dreadful suffering in life and sometimes treatment is not in the short term but in the long term.
If you break your leg, you need a doctor. If you suffer cancer, or heart disease, diabetes or any other illness, you need a doctor. The brain is a part of the body just like any other part of the body and the brain is involved in mental functioning - and the brain can misfunction or become ill in some way and this may well affect one’s mental functioning, a sympotom of which can be depression.
It may be or could be that a situation or event has brought about depression and the depression is a reaction to a situation or event. In this case you may need therapy of some kind.
It would take a trip to your doctor to discern the best way of proceeding.

Kept in prayer.

 

[Bookcat]

Pray --seek counsel from a good Priest— read etc.

*True life *is in Christ --even if one is depressed.

Faith goes beyond feelings or ill feelings

(we are not permitted to give counsel here on depression – here is a site that I saw and saved: catholictherapists.com/)

 

[TiggerS]

we are not permitted to give counsel here on depression

Thank you:thumbsup: - and noted.

 

[thomasf]

I’ve been really depressed lately. How can I find happiness through Jesus?

I have been there myself recently, and depression can really affect your spiritual life. Even if you don’t feel it, pray. Read the bible, pray some more. Get to confession and the eucharist, try to get as much grace as you can through the sacraments. Put your head down, and even if you don’t feel it, don’t believe it, pray. It will add up and help your situation.

God bless.