Please help

[wkj_123]

Im currently in RCIA and was thinking on the story of Abraham giving up his son Isaac. The thought hit me that maybe I would be called to give up my longtime girlfriend who I care about deeply to become celibate or to the priesthood. I want to obey God but I just dont understand how to know exactly what he wants. I have always felt like married life was for me and this is causing some big stress. As a side note I do suffer from OCD so unwanted/non-true thoughst are always a concern. Thank you very much

 

[Humbly_Hopeful]

Pray for God to unite your will to His. I will pray for this for you also as I am always praying this for myself!

“**I have always felt like married life was for me **” I am slowly learning that what is in your heart that is good is put there by God. Married life is good and if that has always been in your heart then it is possible that is your calling. When I decided to convert I was still in my class and I told the teacher my decision. He immediately set me up with the Priest that he thought would be a good guide for me. This priest is still my advisor and I highly suggest you ask for one while in RCIA.

Is your girlfriend Catholic? Have you thought of praying with her if you do not already?

As far as obeying God but not yet understanding His will, maybe at this time you are supposed to follow God’s will by starting with the basics. Learning the faith, practicing the faith and immersing yourself in Church will build a strong foundation for a faithful life, especially when you have a family and it is your responsibility to lead your family in the faith.

 

[tbcrawford]

I pray God will guide you on your journey of faith. Pray for guidance and read up on bible passages regularly.These things will inspire you.
Perhaps one day you may like to go on a retreat.

When or if God calls you to a certain path in life you will feel drawn that way. In the meantime God bless you

 

[Ducklyn]

Im currently in RCIA and was thinking on the story of Abraham giving up his son Isaac. The thought hit me that maybe I would be called to give up my longtime girlfriend who I care about deeply to become celibate or to the priesthood. I want to obey God but I just dont understand how to know exactly what he wants. I have always felt like married life was for me and this is causing some big stress. As a side note I do suffer from OCD so unwanted/non-true thoughst are always a concern. Thank you very much

The Priesthood is not for you.
May be God is telling you to get married and to stop living in sin.
Propose and be happy.

 

[Lancer]

Maybe this article (excerpts below w/ link) by a former Protestant Professor of Philosophy will help…hope it helps you to at least figure out if your initial thoughts are feasible. Bottom line recommendation…see a pastor and ask for help…be open and not afraid…if God says no on this vocation…that means he has something important for you…“more important”…because it is his will for your life…planned before time even existed…and nothing is more important than to do the will of God…every moment of out life…and especially for the reason he created us in his Divine Economy of Salvation.

Pax Christi

Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King’s College (Empire State Building), in New York City. He is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of over 67 books including:
Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Christianity for Modern Pagans
Fundamentals of the Faith

http://www.peterkreeft.com/images/writings/discernment-roadfork.jpg

Discernment
Does God have one right choice for me in each decision I make?
When we pray for wisdom to discern God’s will when it comes to choosing a mate, a career, a job change, a move, a home, a school, a friend, a vacation, how to spend money, or any other choice, big or little, whenever there are two or more different paths opening up before us and we have to choose, does God always will one of those paths for us? If so, how do we discern it?

Here is the “heart” of the article:

Five general principles of discernment of God’s will that apply to all questions about it, and therefore to our question too, are the following:

1. Always begin with data, with what we know for sure. Judge the unknown by the known, the uncertain by the certain. Adam and Eve neglected that principle in Eden and ignored God’s clear command and warning for the devil’s promised pig in a poke.
2. Let your heart educate your mind. Let your love of God educate your reason in discerning his will. Jesus teaches this principle in John 7:17 to the Pharisees. (Would that certain Scripture scholars today would heed it!) They were asking how they could interpret his words, and he gave them the first principle of hermeneutics (the science of interpretation): “If your will were to do the will of my Father, you would understand my teaching.” The saints understand the Bible better than the theologians, because they understand its primary author, God, by loving him with their whole heart and their whole mind.

3. Have a soft heart but a hard head. We should be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves,” sharp as a fox in thought but loyal as a dog in will and deed. Soft-heartedness does not excuse soft-headedness, and hard-headedness does not excuse hard-heartedness. In our hearts we should be “bleeding-heart liberals” and in our heads “stuck-in-the-mud conservatives.”

4. All God’s signs should line up, by a kind of trigonometry. There are at least seven such signs: (1) Scripture, (2) church teaching, (3) human reason (which God created), (4) the appropriate situation, or circumstances (which he controls by his providence), (5) conscience, our innate sense of right and wrong, (6) our individual personal bent or desire or instincts, and (7) prayer. Test your choice by holding it up before God’s face. If one of these seven voices says no, don’t do it. If none say no, do it.

5. Look for the fruits of the spirit, especially the first three: love, joy, and peace. If we are angry and anxious and worried, loveless and joyless and peaceless, we have no right to say we are sure of being securely in God’s will. Discernment itself should not be a stiff, brittle, anxious thing, but—since it too is part of God’s will for our lives—loving and joyful and peace-filled, more like a game than a war, more like writing love letters than taking final exams.

peterkreeft.com/topics/discernment.htm

 

[poptown]

When you can’t hear God’s voice, it doesn’t necessarily mean God doesn’t speak to you. For the most cases, you are not yet ready, and God wants you to patiently wait and grow.

This means you need to keep letting your desires go, purifying your heart and deepening your understanding of God. For example, it is okay to have a desire of being a “perfect” person, but you need to let it go in order to be able to discern the truth, that is, what this desire is pointing you to. Even if desire is good, we should always remember that it is a means rather than an end; we are living for God, not for desire. In this way, you will overcome this scrupulosity (that is, desiring too much) and walk in the way of holiness, the way which God prepares you and wants you to walk on. Same thing with marriage and vocation. Please be patient, study and pray. When you submit yourself to God, everything will be in peace.

 

[Treytot99]

Simply leave it to god.

God bless,
Trey c.

 

[wkj_123]

Thanks to everyone for their guidance, it truly means a lot.