Intercessory Stories Wanted!

[living_water]

dulcissima,

It was a beautiful, heartfelt, wonderful story of two very human persons growing in faith and holiness through the experience of temptation. It was a moving and inspiring story and you have not sinned. You overcame the flesh.

Thank you for sharing how St. Therese blessed both of you. I hope that you find happiness.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

First, let me say, I totally understand and agree with your advice and have given it myself on this forum many times simply because of the experience that I had.

Believe me I don’t feel like that about him any longer. I think that temptation was there, but mercifully we were freed from it. Most of the time the only time I do think about him is during communion.

Yes, we did spend way too much time together. Yes, we were closer than we should have been. I would not say that it was a contributing factor to the neglect that he experienced, as that had truthfully been there throughout his marriage and most especially the 7 years prior to when I met him. As for my marriage, it was an abusive one and always had been.

The thing though with us was that we were able to see the big picture…that anything between us would be an illusion that would crumble before us if we pursued it. I have no doubts about that. That is why for me it was so important to see that he have the real thing with his wife, and that she was the only one who could give him what was real.

Even though I am now divorced and alone, I do not entertain fantasies about him. I am totally at peace with the whole thing and grateful to God for truly looking out for what was best for us.

And btw, he does not come to these forums anymore nor spend much time on the internet. I wouldn’t have written it if I thought he would ever read it. His wife did know about me, so I think by not spending the time on the computer, she knows that her husband is entirely hers. I want her to have that security.

I would never ever recommend that anyone ever do anything like that, because it is way, way too risky. Maybe I shouldn’t have even posted it. I don’t know.

May The Lord richly bless you and grant You the consolation of His Presence and guidance of The Holy Spirit in your life and in all things. I think you are very brave and quite wonderful to share such personal details! I really appreciated your story. Blessings and regards…barb

 

[InLight247]

I would never ever recommend that anyone ever do anything like that, because it is way, way too risky. Maybe I shouldn’t have even posted it. I don’t know.

Thank you for posting your story so honestly. It was beautiful.
You are absolutely right that no one should ever do anything like that.
It is God’s grace that you both resisted the temptation and kept your relationship pure.
But not everyone is able to do that.

Just a few weeks ago, one of my good friends shared something with me that happened thirty some years ago.What she shared has a similar nature to yours except it was a day to day living contact, not over the internet, and both persons were single. My friend was a young girl at the time, and the other person lived a devoted chaste life.

The other person in the story has passed away. What happened in the story was to do with his and her resisting temptation. What my friend told me made my heart tremble. I was very …. how should I describe it, I would not say “disturbed”, not “shocked” either, ………,… sympathetic and concerned, yes, those are the words to describe my feelings after hearing it. Nothing sinful happened, but her story still shook me. I couldn’t believe I was so clueless all these years while having very good friendship with both of them.

I was reminded from my friend’s story that the alertness of setting up proper boundary is critical. No matter how pure one’s heart is, we are all human beings. We all have our emotions and weaknesses. Therefore, self-control, proper space and distance should always govern a relationship.

We should not allow a relationship develop into temptation.
We should do all right things to avoid it gearing toward temptation.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

I was reminded from my friend’s story that the alertness of setting up proper boundary is critical. No matter how pure one’s heart is, we are all human beings. We all have our emotions and weaknesses. Therefore, self-control, proper space and distance should always govern a relationship.

We should not allow a relationship develop into temptation.
We should do all right things to avoid it gearing toward temptation.

---

Great points! A healthy mistrust of self is prudent and wise I think, and if we ask The Father not to lead us into any sort of temptation, then we should do likewise and not put ourselves at any sort of risk of any kind and to be alert for situations of risk “therefore be vigilant (not fearful), for Satan is like a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour”. We have no reason to fear Satan - …
1 John Chapter 4
*

3

And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world. *

4

• You are of God, little children, and have overcome him. Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

 

[dulcissima]

Great points! A healthy mistrust of self is prudent and wise I think, and if we ask The Father not to lead us into any sort of temptation, then we should do likewise and not put ourselves at any sort of risk of any kind and to be alert for situations of risk “therefore be vigilant (not fearful), for Satan is like a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour”. We have no reason to fear Satan - …
1 John Chapter 4
**

This is so true. Things don’t “just happen”. We put our self in a position to let them happen. We’ve got to be willing to own up to that and take responsibility for it, I think.

I’m glad that I did get a chance to think this all through more in advance of being divorced. There have been many married men who now will show an interest, and I know to keep a very safe distance and not invite trouble.