I need a saving grace

[Airborne21B]

It’s been a while some of you might remember me. I was pretty active a few a while ago. I need prayers. I don’t know how to make it through the next two years. I’m over stressed, suffering from anxiety, and I haven’t been sleeping well. I miss home, my family, and my friends. I’m overwhelmed by loneliness every waking moment, and it’s getting depressing. My heart is on the other side of the country, and I’ve been filling that space with booze and women. I’m headed down a dangerous path but as much as I know I have to stop, part of me is reluctant to change. It’s become hard to even think about God, and I can’t pray because of the guilt. I feel like I got myself into something that is taking me away, and killing me. Please, I need a light. I need something to carry me through these next two years, because, I don’t think I’m strong enough to make it.

 

[Belle10]

Get the booze and the women out of your life – they’re not going to make anything better (they’ll make things worse!).

Please, pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy and ask Jesus to help you trust in Him.

Praying for you now…

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion - inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is love and mercy itself. Amen.

:hug1: :hug1: :hug1:

 

[dhgray]

Hooraah Airborne. Have you ever jumped alone? Are you the only one in your squad? Of course not. I know how you feel…EXACTLY how you feel. I was with the 35th Signal Bde when I was at Bragg.

I’m going to give this to you soldier-to-soldier (brother-to-brother).

YOU ARE NOT ALONE:

Yes, you are lonely … so was I.
Yes, you miss your family, so do I.
Yes, you are in a self-destructing mode…so was I.

Look deep inside of yourself…no deeper than that…now, what are you looking for? Look deep. You may have to go for a walk, by yourself…I would go to McFayden Pond to think.

I believe you, you are looking for peace. Peace comes from within. The only way to find peace is to ask Jesus to guide you.

I did the whole booze and woman thing, it just left me empty and broke.

Now, go to reconciliation and ask the Lord’s help and go to one of the Masses in your area:
parishbulletin.com/Organizations/21982/Documents/Bulletin_17Augp1.doc

Here is the tough part:
You are going to have to change your friends. Those guys who take you out and get you drunk and laid are not your friends. We all swear our undying love to each other in the heat of battle and in the mist of a party, but if push came to shove and the cops crashed the party, could you count one anyone of them to give up their career for you? You can bet they wouldn’t.

The friends I have now as a Christian-Catholic are definitely not the same friends I had before I surrendered my life over to the Lord.

Your original message was a call for help. Jesus is offering it to you… Will you “man-up” and take a stand or go back to their party?

Once you leve their party, His party can begin.

I’m here to talk if you need me…PM or e-mail.

Hang in there,

Davis
SFC, USA (Ret)

 

[danball1]

dhgray is right on the money when he says to get rid of those friends, if that is the problem. I’m a guy fresh out of college and I know how hard that can be, maybe they would do anything for you and you feel like they’re all you have right now, but i’ve realized that drinking buddies can basically suck your spiritual life right out of you b/c you just kind of fall into a party lifestyle.

Since you quoted Job, remember what happened to him at the end of the story? Try re-reading it again for some help. I’ve seen that with my own life God has taken me through trials that have actually come to help me (even though I thought the complete opposite at the time). So look at this as an opportunity for growth and to really become a “man.” NOT a man of “this world” but of God. The world sure needs more. And when you do get home, make it a point to treat everyone that much better b/c you missed them so much. That being said, maybe now is a good time to further develop your relationship with Jesus. Remember that a relationship with Jesus isn’t some complex process of prayer, simply talk to him as a child would to his father and let him know what you’re going through.

Instead of going out and drinking the next few nights, try staying in and simply read the Bible and talk to Jesus as if he was sitting right next to you, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done b/c he wants to forgive you MORE than you want to be forgiven!

Some good passages
Peter 4:12
Matthew 6:25
Matthew 10:28
Luke 15:11

This is a good quote my buddy used to have, who has been to Iraq and has faced some tough situations although he probably got it from someone/somewhere else: "You only get one crack at LIFE and one crack at death…mind as well make the most of it. Let NOTHING stand in your way. Let NOTHING hold you down. Let NOTHING keep you from becoming EXACTLY who you want to be.

 

[danball1]

forgot to post this…since you did mention woman who can be an extreme temptation, try reading/listening to Christopher West. His website is christopherwest.com. He’s not just some guy who says what he thinks either, he works for the church and has studied Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body. I can promise you without a doubt that if you download his free message or read some of his articles, you’ll never feel the same way about women/sex again. And it’s NOT a condemnation thing, but he explains why the church teaches what it teaches and has totally changed my outlook on sex. Without a doubt, you’ll have a different/better view of things. Hope this helps!

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Have you ever tried intense, consistent, and long-term prayer to Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin Mary? She is the Mediatrix of Graces

The Second Vatican Council (Lumen gentium ## 61-62), said:

… in suffering with Him as He died on the cross, she cooperated in the work of the Savior, in an altogether singular way, by obedience, faith, hope, and burning love, to restore supernatural life to souls. As a result she is our Mother in the order of grace.

**This motherhood of Mary in the economy of grace **lasts without interruption, from the consent which she gave in faith at the annunciation, and which she unhesitatingly bore with under the cross, even to the perpetual consummation of all the elect. For after being assumed into heaven, she has not put aside this saving function, but by her manifold intercession, she continues to win the gifts of eternal salvation for us. By her motherly love, she takes care of the brothers of her Son who are still in pilgrimage and in dangers and difficulties, until they be led through to the happy fatherland. For this reason, the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adiutrix, and Mediatrix. This however it to be so understood that it takes nothing away, or adds nothing to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator. For no creature can ever be put on the same level with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer…"

"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, or our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and ntions, that cannot ** be solved by the Rosary.* There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot **resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. ***
“With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” - Sister Lucy of Fatima

*Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *