Problems with God--please pray for rme

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jeberle1970

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I’m new here, so I’m not sure if I really have the right to delve right in to my problems. But I was wondering if anybody on this forum believes that God causes people to suffer for their sins right here on earth? I’m not necessarily a religious person (lapsed Catholic), but my troubles have brought me to this forum and other places for answers.

I’m having very real problems with mental illness–and not depression. It is my understanding that I am being punished for my sins, that I’ve been given many chances to change my ways, but now my chances are gone and I am being punished severely. I’ve talked to a priest about this, and he says that there is NO WAY God would do this to me here on earth, that everyone has chances to come to God and seek forgiveness until the day that they die. But this does not reflect my reality.

The reality of my life right now is very dark. Would anyone believe me if I said that God was not the answer but the reason for my troubles? There are members here on CAF that have been very empathetic to me–one in particular–even if she doesn’t understand what I’m going through.
 
Don’t give up on hope. I am praying for you now and will also include your intentions in my rosary prayers tonight…

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 sinner now
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
 
Thank you both so much for your prayers. I feel that God will not hear my own.
 
jeberle1970 said:
I’ve been given many chances to change my ways, but now my chances are gone and I am being punished severely.
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Like your priest said, your chances could never ever ever be gone. A lot of times God allows Satan to make us suffer if it will turn out for the better in the end, but I don’t know if that’s what you’re going through or not… But there is a chance that this is the devil trying to make your life like hell so you turn your back on God. Please, do not give in!
The reality of my life right now is very dark. Would anyone believe me if I said that God was not the answer but the reason for my troubles?
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God is the only answer, to anything. Besides Him there is nothing else.

You should spend some time in adoration, just reading the bible and praying, with an open mind, and something should pop out at you. Maybe an answer, maybe advice, maybe just the loving consolation that you need right now.

Go to confession too, with a repentant heart, and get these sins off your chest once and for all. Place them in Jesus’s loving hands and He will make you His own again. Hope is never lost. Pm me whenever you want!
Love, your friend, Abby
 
jeberle1970 said:
I’m new here, so I’m not sure if I really have the right to delve right in to my problems. But I was wondering if anybody on this forum believes that God causes people to suffer for their sins right here on earth?
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praying as I am for all intentions here

since you ask, no I do not believe God ever causes suffering, but he allows it in order to bring about some spiritual benefit to us, and generally that benefit is deep conversion, freedom from temptation, liberation from a harmful or sinful manner of life, or preparation for deeper spiritual growth. God does not need to actively cause suffering in punishment for sin, because sin contains its own punishment within it, that is called natural law. That is not to say every one who suffers is guilty of sin, or suffers due to their own sin. The accumulated weight of the evil humans do–original sin–and the effects of personal and social sin on the innocent, cause the most suffering. That is why not only individual conversion but conversion of society and culture is the work of the true Christian.
 
When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it.
But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.
The brother in lowly circumstances should take pride in his high standing,
and the rich one in his lowliness, for he will pass away “like the flower of the field.”
For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass, its flower droops, and the beauty of its appearance vanishes. So will the rich person fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.
No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers:
all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,
for the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.
Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.
Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.
He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.
But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does.
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is vain.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
 
I too will offer you up as one of my Rosary intentions tonight.

NO there is ALWAYS hope. As long as you have one breath in your body there is HOPE. While I haven’t gone through exactly what you are, I know what it feels like to struggle with thoughts and feelings of being lost, or of not feeling forgiven even though I have confessed my sins and repented. We as human beings sometimes place far too much importance on our FEELINGS. Our feelings are not always reliable barometers for our spiritual state. I have come to realize that I have OCD or at least OCD type symptoms in the form of scrupulosity. So again different, but I can relate to mental struggles.

For whatever reason, this is your cross to bear at this moment. At the same time, you absolutely can and should get help as you see fit, and whatever is left is a cross you must try to accept with love and humility. I know it’s hard, I still struggle with my cross as I tend to worry about thoughts that pop in my head and cause me to worry about sin. Who knows, some of what you have may be mental illness, fallen nature, etc. hard to say. But what I DO know is that if you are seeking the Lord with a sincere heart and have confessed and repented of your sins, He WILL not leave you and is with you even when you don’t FEEL that way.

Feel free to PM if I can help in any way.

God Bless
Kevin
 
Thank you for sharing your own struggles, Kevin. You are most kind to consider me in your prayers.
 
I agree with what’s been said about suffering not being a punishment from God. Sometimes our suffering is self-inflicted. For example, if I lead a promiscuous life, I may get an STD. That is a consequence of my sin, not necessarily a punishment. If I later repent of my sin and become chaste, the STD might not go away - I may have to live with it forever. Again, not a punishment because God forgives the repentant sinner, but a consequence of my sinful prior life.

Another thought - you mentioned darkness, which makes me think you are suffering from depression. Perhaps you think that your faith should cure your depression. There may be another cause. There is a wonderful book called Emerging From Depression written by a priest - describing his experience with depression. It debunks the myths and talks about the path toward healing. Perhaps it would be helpful to you.

May God give you peace and joy.
 
Thank you for your kind advice, and especially your prayers, Orchanian. And thanks for the book suggestion.
 
jeberle1970,

God bless you! I too, have mental illness and have been suffering some pretty difficult things in my life (see past posts). It is such a temptation to say it’s God punishing us, but think about it. Would a father punish his children for making mistakes? No, it’s a father’s job to guide his children in the right direction. God loves you and wants the best for you. What I have found that helps is open prayer to God asking the reason for the suffering. I also bring Him my doubts and frustrations and well as praising Him in thanksgiving for all He has given me. Asking Him to reveal the purpose for your suffering may ease your mind about whether or not He’s punishing you. In my situation, I went to a healing Mass for my daughter’s hip displacia, but ended up seeing a vision of Jesus telling me that I needed to go through what I was going through to prepare me for something that was to come. And then life got harder. You never know what the purpose of suffering is until it all starts to make sense later. Sorry if this is confusing or convaluted.

In His Love,

-Hope
 
Reparation through suffering

God of all peoples, please receive from all ages the sufferings of the innocent and the contrite, in reparation for the sins of the guilty!

Behold—

the bereaved and the deserted…the hopeless and the despairing…the displaced and the poverty-stricken…the injured and the physically sick…the mentally and the emotionally ill…the retarded and the incapacitated…the frustrated and the afraid…the isolated and the elderly…the addicted, the imprisoned and the persecuted. Behold those young, to old, sinned against by injustice, misunderstanding, abuse and neglect…those whose hearts this world has broken…those crushed by remorse and racked by misery and sin…those with lives empty of purpose*—all persons with suffering within or with suffering imposed from an external source! *

Please receive their pain, grief and loneliness, their weariness, anxiety or desperation—in conjunction with the spiritual, mental and physical anguish of Your Son, as reparation for all the sins of humankind.

God, through Your love of Jesus, please bless and welcome the sufferers! Hold them gently in Your arms and comfort them. Heal them, claim them, and fill them with Your life and peace.

Please accept all the undirected suffering of those who do not know God. Receive this suffering in atonement for all offences against You and any person. Allow Your mercy, compassion and power to release humankind from bondage to sin, suffering, and death.

You grant me compassion to desire to bring their pain to Your redeeming grace. Therefore, gather their tears, those fallen and those unshed. Draw them up into yourself through the sun of divine love, to purify them as a rain of mercy to fall upon the parched souls of humankind. Thus, we may grow in Your love and the earth may be filled with life and fruitfulness pleasing to Your divine purposes.

Our God, out of all the cries and moans and tears, hidden or revealed, from earth’s beginning, please hear our prayer. Joined as one with Your Son we all cry out—“My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?” Of those who torment and those who pass by uncaring and unseeing, we say—“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do and fail to do!” With Him we then cry trustingly—“Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit!”

God, please listen to our prayer, in union with Your beloved Son whom You raised from death to everlasting glory and joy. In Him who bore all humankind’s sins, please receive all suffering, struggle and sorrow that sin has brought upon our race.

Anything separated from God is meaningless, but in God, all becomes renewed and holy. Please accept from Jesus’ hands the suffering of every person throughout time, held within His own redemptive suffering. This that the whole price of atonement is met, and harmony is restored to Creation in the eternal triumph of Your Kingdom. Thank You, God of our redemption!

“My son, do not scorn correction from God,
do not resent His rebuke;
for God reproves the one He loves,
as a father checks a well-loved son.” [Proverbs 3:11, 12]

“Console yourself with the Lord’s promise to repay ‘twice over with blessing’ for all we have suffered.” [Zechariah 9:12] “Yes, the troubles which are soon over…train us for a weight of eternal glory which is out of all proportion to them.” [1Corinthians 4:17**] Therefore, “be patient…until the Lord’s coming. Think of a farmer, how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has the autumn rains and the spring rains*. [James 5:7]
 
Eternal God, when my spirit has burned to ashes, ground to dust with a boulder of mute and heavy sorrow, please give me trust in Your personal love for me.

When my sins, and mine or others’ mistakes or uncaring have wounded and savaged my heart, where are You to restore what is injured even when I plead for Your intervention and strive to heal the damage? And yet, if You seem absent, I still humbly cry out for Your mercy and healing.

When my efforts leave me helpless with no path left to try, please comfort me and show me a new path.

When others undermine with repeated assaults and short-circuit my resolve, send wise friends to comfort and support me. For no sooner has one problem and heartache eased or resolved than another, equally painful, arises for another or myself.

I seek You but sometimes am left to feel You are steeled against me and my life becomes a flat salt desert. Please help me to trust in You even then, when trust no longer seems possible.

My heart cries out repeatedly, groping in the helplessness of fears, disappointments and grief that words cannot convey; screaming in the silence of my brain. Is my only comfort, some day, death?

Yet still I call on You and place my tatters of faith in You.
 
Jesus, I put my trust in the apparent failure of the Cross, for You are condemned to a criminal’s execution and it seems that Your mission has failed, You who alone could redeem humanity. Who, passing by that day as You gasp Your last breath, can accept that it is God-incarnate whose sweat and blood drips into the dust, from Your drained, dishonoured body! Yet Your human cry of abandonment by the Father is belied by the triumph of love and faith in Your final confident submission. You die, but You have not betrayed the Father’s trust.

Jesus, to my sadness, I fail in many ways and sin against others by my failures. Have I betrayed Your will or mistaken Your purpose? Will You restore me to grace now, Jesus? To do what? Will You show me? Will You fuse together the broken pieces—of my life, of my service—to make a new and better creation? Am I to step around the fragments and to pass another way?

I ask to walk with certainty along the path of holiness that You choose uniquely for me. If not, then please allow me the certainty of buoyant faith. I ask courage to continue through the enveloping fog, trusting each small moment to the illumination of faith and grace.

Jesus out of my failure, loss, and sorrow please bring healing and goodness luminescent as priceless pearls grown around grains of suffering, for Your glory, and for mine and others’ remedy and blessing.
 
jeberle1970 said:
Thank you both so much for your prayers. I feel that God will not hear my own.
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You are underestimating God. God is God! Why would He send His only begotten Son to die for all our sins except yours? Don’t be too hard on yourself. Trust that God will forgive a sincerely penitent person. Three Hail Mary for your cause.
 
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

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

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us. And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, o Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
 
Prayer for Faith
Lord, I believe:
I wish to believe in Thee.
Lord, let my faith be full and unreserved,
and let it penetrate my thought,
my way of judging Divine things and human things.
Lord, let my faith be joyful
and give peace and gladness to my spirit,
and dispose it for prayer with God
and conversation with men,
so that the inner bliss of its fortunate possession
may shine forth in sacred and secular conversation.
Lord, let my faith be humble and not presume
to be based on the experience of my thought and of my
feeling;
but let it surrender to the testimony of the Holy Spirit,
and not have any better guarantee than in docility to
Tradition
and to the authority of the magisterium of the Holy Church.
Amen
You are in my prayers jeberle.

Father please help our friend,that he will have wisdom and understanding.Please grant his heart and mind will be open to You and will know You.Amen
 
I humbly ask for Your mercy for him Lord.

*“Yet ours were the sufferings He bore, ours the sorrows He carried. *
*But we, we thought of Him as someone punished, *
*struck by God and brought low. *
Yet He was pierced for our faults, crushed for our sins.
*On Him lies a punishment that brings us peace. *
**
We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way,
*and God burdened Him with the sins of us all. *
Harshly dealt with, He bore it humbly…
God has been pleased to crush Him with suffering…
And through Him, what God wishes shall be done.
*His soul’s anguish over He shall see the light and be content. *
**
By His sufferings shall my servant justify many,
*…for surrendering Himself to death *
and letting Himself be taken for a sinner, *
while He was bearing the faults of many *
and praying all the while for sinners.” [Isaiah 53:4-6 10-12]
 
Father please hear our prayers for jeberle and grant wisdom patience and understanding.Sometimes we can become dis-illusioned,fearful and disheartened,please may our friend feel Your love surround him and have his faith renewed.Lord in Your mercy hear our prayer Amen

“And the Prayer of Faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him”
(James 5:15).

Jeberle please say this prayer…

God, I come into your presence so aware of my human frailty and yet overwhelmed by your love for me. I thank you that there is no human experience that I might walk through where your love cannot reach me. If I climb the highest mountain you are there and yet if I find myself in the darkest valley of my life, you are there. Teach me today to love you more. Help me to rest in that love that asks nothing more than the simple trusting heart of a child. In Jesus name, Amen
 
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