I need a conversion of the heart

  • Thread starter Thread starter Holly3278
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Holly3278 said:
Just an update everyone. I have been considering the benefits to living a Godly life and the consequences to living a sinful life and I can say with full confidence that I have chosen to follow God.
Click to expand...
Praise be to God 🙂
 
Hi everyone. I have one fear of going to confession tomorrow. Could the priest tell me that I have to quit being friends with my best friend? If so, I don’t think I could bear to do that. He has been with me through thick and through thin. He has been there for me when I was feeling suicidal, he has taken me home from the hospital when I had to go, he has taken me to the hospital when I needed to go, he has just been a very good friend. But yes, he does use me some. I really don’t want to quit being his friend and I am terrified that the priest will ask me to quit being his friend. 😦
 
If I can offer one personal practical suggestion, unplug the TV.

I realised recently that even though I go to daily mass, I hear Jesus speak in the gospels for 5 minutes, but I spent longer than that in an average day listening to Homer Simpson’s voice. That’s a wrong balance for your spirit.
 
Holly3278 said:
He has been with me through thick and through thin. He has been there for me when I was feeling suicidal, he has taken me home from the hospital when I had to go, he has taken me to the hospital when I needed to go, he has just been a very good friend. But yes, he does use me some. I really don’t want to quit being his friend and I am terrified that the priest will ask me to quit being his friend. 😦
Click to expand...
Hi Holly…you say he’s been a good friend to you and has been with you when you needed someone around … and the best way to return that friendship or be a good friend is to lead him to Jesus & help him know his faults. It wont be easy but as a friend i think you owe it to him but dont let this relationship take you away from Jesus. Praying for you & your friend.
 
under_his_wing said:
Hi Holly…you say he’s been a good friend to you and has been with you when you needed someone around … and the best way to return that friendship or be a good friend is to lead him to Jesus & help him know his faults. It wont be easy but as a friend i think you owe it to him but dont let this relationship take you away from Jesus. Praying for you & your friend.
Click to expand...
Ok but do you think my priest might make me quit being friends with him? :confused:
 
Just an update everyone. I went to confession this evening and the priest did not make me quit being friends with my best friend. :extrahappy: However, I came back home and immediately started having doubts again. I then slipped and fell back in to mortal sin again. :eek:😦 I am just so mad at myself! :mad: I don’t know what to do. Apparently I have not received that conversion of the heart yet.

And on top of all that, I am no longer even sure that the Catholic Church is true. As I said, I’m having some pretty serious doubts about the Catholic Church. Watch my posts and you’ll find that I will post about these doubts in different forums to get answers about them. 😉 Feel free to participate and help me find answers to these questions if you like.
 
Holly3278 said:
I have just realized that I am not serious about my relationship with God. The only reason that I go to Mass and confession is because I am afraid of Hell. I need a conversion of the heart. I want to live the sinful lifestyle because I find it to be fun. Any help and advice and prayers would be greatly appreciated. Please pray for me! 😦
Click to expand...
Hello!

Wow what courage that took to post here. My hat, if I had one, would be off to you.

I know in AA, they say sometimes a person has to reach “a bottom” (truly no sexual imagery intended) until they want to change. They say that until a person hurts enough they won’t be motivated to change.

And only going to Mass and Confession because you’re scared of going to Hell - well, sometimes that’s good enough. Keep up the good work!!!

I will keep you in my prayers. Please pray for me too as I struggle with these same sort of things.
 
crenfro said:
Hello!

Wow what courage that took to post here. My hat, if I had one, would be off to you.

I know in AA, they say sometimes a person has to reach “a bottom” (truly no sexual imagery intended) until they want to change. They say that until a person hurts enough they won’t be motivated to change.

And only going to Mass and Confession because you’re scared of going to Hell - well, sometimes that’s good enough. Keep up the good work!!!

I will keep you in my prayers. Please pray for me too as I struggle with these same sort of things.
Click to expand...
Hey thanks for the post. I guess I posted this because I am just so desperate to finally be a Catholic and stay a Catholic. Anyway, I am going to keep going to Mass and Confession. Thanks again. 🙂
 
I still need a conversion of the heart. Please continue to pray for me.
 
Well, you can go round and round like that - but sometimes you have to travel in the darkness - this will show you how much you really want the conversion.

If you really want the conversion of the heart it will happen but in the right time too - God has his ways. In the meantime, it is you who has to make more effort, not on the Internet but in real life - spend more time in prayer, find a prayer group or some people with whom you can discuss the issues of interest for you, set up time for reading the Bible and definitely try to attend some retreats - are there any available where you live?
 
Danuska said:
Well, you can go round and round like that - but sometimes you have to travel in the darkness - this will show you how much you really want the conversion.

If you really want the conversion of the heart it will happen but in the right time too - God has his ways. In the meantime, it is you who has to make more effort, not on the Internet but in real life - spend more time in prayer, find a prayer group or some people with whom you can discuss the issues of interest for you, set up time for reading the Bible and definitely try to attend some retreats - are there any available where you live?
Click to expand...
Hi Danuska. I first want to thank you for this helpful advice. Secondly, I want to say that I am not sure if there are retreats in my area. If there is some, they likely cost money that I don’t have.
 
I do not know how big is the city where you are staying or how large is the Catholic community out there, but see what is there, find out if there are any prayer groups out there that you could join, I think this is what you really need, some friends with whom you could share your faith, your doubts and problems etc. The internet is good, but it is not the real thing. Plus, there is something about faith that if you share it with others, you just get more of it… the more you share, the more you grow sort of.-

As for retreats, try searching the internet and writing emails, who knows, maybe there are some programs for students etc (I think you are a student, right?). Well, here where I am staying I just attended a retreat two weeks back - the preacher was one Vincentian priest from India (if you ever get a chance to listen to them, I highly recommend - I have actually one mission on mp3 files, i do not know if i can send it somehow?) - well, all you had to do was sign up for it and give donation if you could… it was at my local Church.
 
Holly, you are in my prayers in a special way. I pray that you will hear God’s voice and seek Him above all other things. I also pray that you will find a good Catholic friend or mentor to guide and counsel you and that you obtain some reading or listening materials that can teach you more about your faith and strengthen your love of God. I also pray that you will never give up your search for a holier life!

Come Lord Jesus. Send Your Holy Spirit to Holly. Come as You wish. Come to her now.
 
Danuska said:
I do not know how big is the city where you are staying or how large is the Catholic community out there, but see what is there, find out if there are any prayer groups out there that you could join, I think this is what you really need, some friends with whom you could share your faith, your doubts and problems etc. The internet is good, but it is not the real thing. Plus, there is something about faith that if you share it with others, you just get more of it… the more you share, the more you grow sort of.-

As for retreats, try searching the internet and writing emails, who knows, maybe there are some programs for students etc (I think you are a student, right?). Well, here where I am staying I just attended a retreat two weeks back - the preacher was one Vincentian priest from India (if you ever get a chance to listen to them, I highly recommend - I have actually one mission on mp3 files, i do not know if i can send it somehow?) - well, all you had to do was sign up for it and give donation if you could… it was at my local Church.
Click to expand...
Hi Danuska. I will see what I can do as far as joining a small group. Thank you. 🙂 Anyway, I am not a student.
kmleo said:
Holly, you are in my prayers in a special way. I pray that you will hear God’s voice and seek Him above all other things. I also pray that you will find a good Catholic friend or mentor to guide and counsel you and that you obtain some reading or listening materials that can teach you more about your faith and strengthen your love of God. I also pray that you will never give up your search for a holier life!

Come Lord Jesus. Send Your Holy Spirit to Holly. Come as You wish. Come to her now.
Click to expand...
Hello kmleo. Thank you for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated. 👍
 
If you are interested, I can try and send some of those files to you, interesting preaching - but I wonder - will they go through the mail - the size is about 35MB each, I think that is ten times more than a song
 
Danuska said:
If you are interested, I can try and send some of those files to you, interesting preaching - but I wonder - will they go through the mail - the size is about 35MB each, I think that is ten times more than a song
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I don’t think a file bigger than 10MB will go through most e-mails. You could try a file hosting service though. There are some free ones out there. 🙂
 
OK, I will see if I can find any sites later - I found the preaching really great but do not just expect that you can listen to something or read and you will just become a differnet person, sometimes as I said, you need to walk in the darkness for some time. Well, looks like St Theresa was not a great saint right way either - even after joining convent she had other things on her mind at first:

St. Teresa Of Avila Teresa was born in Avila, Spain, on March 28, 1515. As a little girl in her parents’ rich home, Teresa and her brother Rodrigo loved to read the lives of the saints and martyrs. It seemed to them that the martyrs got to heaven an easy way. The two children set out secretly to go to the land of the Moors. As they walked along, they prayed that they might die for Christ. But they had not gotten far when they met an uncle. He took them back to their worried mother at once. Next the children decided to be hermits in their garden. This didn’t work out either. They could not get enough stones together to build their huts.

St. Teresa herself wrote down these amusing stories of her childhood. The fact is that when she grew to be a teenager, however, she changed. Teresa read so many novels and foolish romances that she lost much of her love for prayer. She began to think more of dressing up to look pretty. But after she recovered from a bad illness, Teresa read a book about the great St. Jerome. Then and there, she made up her mind to become a bride of Christ. As a nun, Teresa often found it hard to pray. Besides that, she had poor health. Teresa wasted time every day in long, foolish conversations. But one day, in front of a picture of Jesus, she felt great sorrow that she did not love God more. She started then to live for Jesus alone, no matter what sacrifice had to be made. In return for her love, the Lord gave St. Teresa the privilege of hearing him talk to her. She learned to pray in a marvelous way, too. St. Teresa of Avila is famous for having opened new Carmelite convents. These convents were filled with sisters who wanted to live holy lives. They made many sacrifices for Jesus. Teresa herself gave them the example. She prayed with great love and worked hard at the convent tasks. St. Teresa was a great leader and true lover of Jesus and his Church. She died in 1582 and was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. She was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970. St. Teresa taught that we must have a great trust in God’s care for us. She wrote that a person who possesses God, lacks nothing; God alone is enough.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top