Sufering question

[PJM]

My dear friends in Christ,

Have you or do you know of anyone who has actually FOUND Christ either in the midst of suffering or through suffering.

Please share the details of this encounter

God’s continued Blessings,

pat/PJM

 

[Scoobyshme]

Yes. There was a young man, 16-17 years old, who was headed down the wrong path in life. His mother, a devout Catholic, asked a priest she knew to talk to him. The priest brought him in and asked him, “Son, what can I do for you?” The young man answered, disrespectfully, “There’s not a thing you can do for me.” And the conversation went downhill from there. Finally, the priest said, “Well, all I can do is pray for you, then.” The young man, still disrespectful, asked, “Yeah? What are you going to pray for me for?” The priest looked at him and said, “That God kicks your butt!” The young man looked at him incredulously and left. A week later, the young man’s mom called the priest in a panic, saying, “Father! Please come to the hospital. My son has been in a terrible car accident! He’s got broken legs and arms and a fractured skull!” The priest admitted later thinking the profound thought, “Yes!” He went visit the young man, who was all bandaged up like a mummy, and looked at him and just smiled. That’s all. He just smiled at him. And left. He went back several times to visit him and talk to him. The young man had a long, hard road to recovery, and in that suffering, completely changed his attitude and his life around. Now, he is a true believer and a model young man! True story.

 

[PJM]

=Scoobyshme;10147927]Yes. There was a young man, 16-17 years old, who was headed down the wrong path in life. His mother, a devout Catholic, asked a priest she knew to talk to him. The priest brought him in and asked him, “Son, what can I do for you?” The young man answered, disrespectfully, “There’s not a thing you can do for me.” And the conversation went downhill from there. Finally, the priest said, “Well, all I can do is pray for you, then.” The young man, still disrespectful, asked, “Yeah? What are you going to pray for me for?” The priest looked at him and said, “That God kicks your butt!” The young man looked at him incredulously and left. A week later, the young man’s mom called the priest in a panic, saying, “Father! Please come to the hospital. My son has been in a terrible car accident! He’s got broken legs and arms and a fractured skull!” The priest admitted later thinking the profound thought, “Yes!” He went visit the young man, who was all bandaged up like a mummy, and looked at him and just smiled. That’s all. He just smiled at him. And left. He went back several times to visit him and talk to him. The young man had a long, hard road to recovery, and in that suffering, completely changed his attitude and his life around. Now, he is a true believer and a model young man! True story.

WOW! Thank you!

 

[twoangels]

My dear friends in Christ,

Have you or do you know of anyone who has actually FOUND Christ either in the midst of suffering or through suffering.

Please share the details of this encounter

God’s continued Blessings,

pat/PJM

I tend to take spiritual experiences with a grain of salt. What I can say is that when I have believed myself to be having a spiritual experience, many times it has been in the midst of suffering – usually depression as that seems to be a burden I tend to fall into.

The first time was when I was about 12. I was having almost daily anxiety attacks that I was trying to hid from my family. One day, I realized I needed to pray in the midst of these episodes. I found praying very difficult to do motivate myself to do, but I forced myself. I ended up praying repetitively every memorized prayer I knew. I then found a copy of the Memorare that I had inherited from a deceased relative. I prayed for that relative and pretty much all the saints to pray for me. I felt a peace come over me like that I had experienced as a little girl when my mother would hold me to comfort me. I felt like I was receiving a spiritual hug. Every time I had an anxiety attack, it would take me probably a half hour to remember to pray, but that was how I memorized the Memorare.

It didn’t solve my problems. It more of gave me a peace and hope to keep going. I eventually learned to associate that peace with God’s presense.

The other time was when I was about 19. I found that pretty much all my goals and ambitions came crashing down. I also felt like all the progress I had made in my depression, anxiety and isolation issues had been futile. I felt like I was back at day one, except things were worse because I had more responsibilities. I found myself during that time suddenly very attracted to the rosary and watching Catholic programing. There were days reading the bible felt like some intense novel I was struggling to put down. I also went to confession weekly during this time. I eventually felt as if God had stripped away all worldly distractions from me so that there was nothing left for me to choose but Him. There was also a point where I felt called to continually ask myself “What do you really want?” till I realized I wanted God’s love which I already had, and I wanted to love God, which I just had to choose to do. My nickname for God at the time became “my beloved.”

Then there was a couple of years ago after I was married. It was a very tough year. We were having problems with both of our employments. We found our attempts to consummate our marriage were terribly painful and the treatment was something I worried was sinful. I felt trapped. That experience still shakes my faith a little today though I still have faith. With our struggles, we took up another daily rosary. We were praying the Joyful Mysteries and I found myself mentally connecting the poverty of the Nativity with the annunciation. I felt like I was being called to not be afraid to get pregnant even though our situation was so uncertain. I also felt fairly certain we were going to have a little girl. We changed our approach and finally sort of consummated our marriage enough (ackward and painful) and got pregnant pretty much immediately. Then my grandpa died which was hard. My grandma started calling me up more frequently and asked when I’d drive over to visit. She lived 5 hours away and with our economic situation, I thought it’d be foolish to visit her before Thanksgiving. We prayed another Joyful Mystery and this time I got caught up in the Visitation. Mary didn’t consider her own needs. She went out to attend to her cousin. We thus decided to take the trip. It was a great trip. About 3 days after we said goodbye to her, my grandmother suffered a heart attack that led to her death. She passed away before Thanksgiving ever arrived. Had I gone with my initial impulse to fearfully not visit her because of economic reasons I wouldn’t have gotten to have that last visit with her and I would have felt terrible. It also gave me hope for the rest of the pregnancy that God was looking out for us even as my employer was threatening to terminate my employment during my pregnancy. I realized that my employer was not a good employer and that I couldn’t see myself raising my child while working there. I thus prayed that I’d find a different job by the end of my maternity leave. I found a job, and my husband found a stabler job as well. We never went into economic ruin and we have a beautiful daughter who is nearing her second birthday.

Even with that, our faith lately feels shaken. A lot of times I feel like I don’t know why we believe. i feel less enthuastic and less certain. other times I think our faiths are just becoming more developed and less superficial.

 

[PJM]

=twoangels;10148199]I tend to take spiritual experiences with a grain of salt. What I can say is that when I have believed myself to be having a spiritual experience, many times it has been in the midst of suffering – usually depression as that seems to be a burden I tend to fall into.

The first time was when I was about 12. I was having almost daily anxiety attacks that I was trying to hid from my family. One day, I realized I needed to pray in the midst of these episodes. I found praying very difficult to do motivate myself to do, but I forced myself. I ended up praying repetitively every memorized prayer I knew. I then found a copy of the Memorare that I had inherited from a deceased relative. I prayed for that relative and pretty much all the saints to pray for me. I felt a peace come over me like that I had experienced as a little girl when my mother would hold me to comfort me. I felt like I was receiving a spiritual hug. Every time I had an anxiety attack, it would take me probably a half hour to remember to pray, but that was how I memorized the Memorare.

It didn’t solve my problems. It more of gave me a peace and hope to keep going. I eventually learned to associate that peace with God’s presense.

The other time was when I was about 19. I found that pretty much all my goals and ambitions came crashing down. I also felt like all the progress I had made in my depression, anxiety and isolation issues had been futile. I felt like I was back at day one, except things were worse because I had more responsibilities. I found myself during that time suddenly very attracted to the rosary and watching Catholic programing. There were days reading the bible felt like some intense novel I was struggling to put down. I also went to confession weekly during this time. I eventually felt as if God had stripped away all worldly distractions from me so that there was nothing left for me to choose but Him. There was also a point where I felt called to continually ask myself “What do you really want?” till I realized I wanted God’s love which I already had, and I wanted to love God, which I just had to choose to do. My nickname for God at the time became “my beloved.”

Then there was a couple of years ago after I was married. It was a very tough year. We were having problems with both of our employments. We found our attempts to consummate our marriage were terribly painful and the treatment was something I worried was sinful. I felt trapped. That experience still shakes my faith a little today though I still have faith. With our struggles, we took up another daily rosary. We were praying the Joyful Mysteries and I found myself mentally connecting the poverty of the Nativity with the annunciation. I felt like I was being called to not be afraid to get pregnant even though our situation was so uncertain. I also felt fairly certain we were going to have a little girl. We changed our approach and finally sort of consummated our marriage enough (ackward and painful) and got pregnant pretty much immediately. Then my grandpa died which was hard. My grandma started calling me up more frequently and asked when I’d drive over to visit. She lived 5 hours away and with our economic situation, I thought it’d be foolish to visit her before Thanksgiving. We prayed another Joyful Mystery and this time I got caught up in the Visitation. Mary didn’t consider her own needs. She went out to attend to her cousin. We thus decided to take the trip. It was a great trip. About 3 days after we said goodbye to her, my grandmother suffered a heart attack that led to her death. She passed away before Thanksgiving ever arrived. Had I gone with my initial impulse to fearfully not visit her because of economic reasons I wouldn’t have gotten to have that last visit with her and I would have felt terrible. It also gave me hope for the rest of the pregnancy that God was looking out for us even as my employer was threatening to terminate my employment during my pregnancy. I realized that my employer was not a good employer and that I couldn’t see myself raising my child while working there. I thus prayed that I’d find a different job by the end of my maternity leave. I found a job, and my husband found a stabler job as well. We never went into economic ruin and we have a beautiful daughter who is nearing her second birthday.

Even with that, our faith lately feels shaken. A lot of times I feel like I don’t know why we believe. i feel less enthuastic and less certain. other times I think our faiths are just becoming more developed and less superficial.

THANKS YOU for sharing!

A KEY I think is recogonizing that God is not merely present and involved in our personal ;ives; He actually IN CHARGE when we permit Him to be. That dear friend is where the comfort lies.

Continued Blessings,
Pat/PJM [OP]