The gift of 'strength'

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Lea101

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Okay so first, story time:

So when I was 15 (3 years ago?), I had a confirmation camp in my church. There was this part of the camp where like 2 people will go up to you and start speaking in tongues and basically pray that you’ll get the gift of ____ (something that you want, usually the gifts of the holy spirit). People usually get slain, or feel weird stuff happening during this time.

(I really do not know how to explain this, I’m kind of aware that I described this process as cult-like, but this thing kind of happened with other Catholic churches so please trust me)

Anyway, that year was really difficult for me- my mom passed away, I self harmed, had a weird fear of calories, etc. So the first thing that popped into my mind was to ask God for strength.

So these 2 people and I started praying. They broke out in tongues, and then the woman suddenly grabbed me and told me “you are my daughter, I love you even though you struggle to love yourself”. My heart started burning and I was like “wow, that’s God speaking to me” and thought I had a really cool spiritual moment. :rolleyes:

But 3 years later and I have 0 strength. I just remembered about this incident and I am mildly annoyed by it. I would like to think I’m being extremely modest but honestly, I’m not strong.

So in your opinion, what do you think ‘strength’ means? What do you think God means when he does stuff like this (giving you false hope and then disappearing) ? How do you hear God. Everything seems so one sided, and I’m beginning to get the impression that he might not be the ‘personal God’ I thought he was, or at least he is at times. Not that I blame him though, I would avoid me too:D

What ‘gifts’ have you received, etc. I’m incredibly bored and annoyed, so entertain my nonsense. It’s either the Catholic forum or me hysterically screaming until my family disowns me 😊
 
Strength is accepting your weakness and relying on God; when you do this, God will strengthen you. You can do all things through God who gives you strength. Don’t rely on your own strength - if you do, you’ll fall. Christ is your strength. I often repeat this prayer from the Traditional Latin Mass: quia tu es Deus fortitudo mea (for thou art God my strength). Remain in the presence of God and give yourself to the Blessed Virgin Mary and you’ll be as strong as an ox.
 
Remember that old Josh Groban song?

“I am strong, when I am on Your shoulders.”

:):)🙂

ICXC NIKA
 
Because saying “false hope” is rejecting what He gave. If the hope was never completely there, neither was the trust in God.
 
LethalMouse said:
Because saying “false hope” is rejecting what He gave. If the hope was never completely there, neither was the trust in God.
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I"m not the OP, but could you expound on that LethalMouse?
How do you know the 'hope' came from God? Maybe it didn't? Couldn't the devil use a need/want/desire/hope we have and wave it in front of our faces to appear as God only make God look bad? Just because something happened at a church function and people were praying, does it necessarily mean it is safe to believe?
 
Lea101 said:
Okay so first, story time:

So when I was 15 (3 years ago?), I had a confirmation camp in my church. There was this part of the camp where like 2 people will go up to you and start speaking in tongues and basically pray that you’ll get the gift of ____ (something that you want, usually the gifts of the holy spirit). People usually get slain, or feel weird stuff happening during this time.

(I really do not know how to explain this, I’m kind of aware that I described this process as cult-like, but this thing kind of happened with other Catholic churches so please trust me)

Anyway, that year was really difficult for me- my mom passed away, I self harmed, had a weird fear of calories, etc. So the first thing that popped into my mind was to ask God for strength.

So these 2 people and I started praying. They broke out in tongues, and then the woman suddenly grabbed me and told me “you are my daughter, I love you even though you struggle to love yourself”. My heart started burning and I was like “wow, that’s God speaking to me” and thought I had a really cool spiritual moment. :rolleyes:

But 3 years later and I have 0 strength. I just remembered about this incident and I am mildly annoyed by it. I would like to think I’m being extremely modest but honestly, I’m not strong.

So in your opinion, what do you think ‘strength’ means? What do you think God means when he does stuff like this (giving you false hope and then disappearing) ? How do you hear God. Everything seems so one sided, and I’m beginning to get the impression that he might not be the ‘personal God’ I thought he was, or at least he is at times. Not that I blame him though, I would avoid me too:D

What ‘gifts’ have you received, etc. I’m incredibly bored and annoyed, so entertain my nonsense. It’s either the Catholic forum or me hysterically screaming until my family disowns me 😊
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First I want to say I am sorry for your struggles.

Second I was going to say that strength means, to me, endurance. Keep on going regardless. It doesn’t necessarily mean ‘you’ve made it’ and that everything that once was hard is now easy. Even an athlete will tell you it never gets easy, though certain things can get* easier.* I have a nephew doing very well in sport- recently got back from a training camp. He was strong here in his hometown, but when he got to this place, he was not in comparison to the others. So, to hear you say that you are not strong, i wonder if you’ve just moved on and not felt that you have grown spiritually. Like all athletics, strength is something that occurs over time, practice, practice and more practice. Its always having an up keep to up keep. Sometimes we just tread in one place for a long time, plateau. If you had not have heard that locution for you- would you be at the same place you are now, or weaker? Every effort builds muscle. If you’ve been making the effort, you’ve been either sustaining where you are or building muscle- slowly. That’s how good muscle is made. Over time, with practice and with care. God also sends us more trials to exercise that spiritual muscle… in this we can be thankful to Him… Yes, I do know that is very glib to say, but over the years you will start to see how those trials shaped you, hopefully for the good, if one permits God to do so. And honestly, you will be really thankful for it later on.

Not to be cheeky, but next time- if there is one- the next spiritual gift you should ask for maybe is patience! (I’m trying to be silly and lighthearted here- I hope this does not offend)

Your emotions about what happened to you make a lot of sense to me. Don’t take these ‘spiritual’ things too seriously… The scriptures say that we should just put our Faith in God and not in events or occurrences. How do you not know that someone was erroneously influenced to say something out of their own mouth? It has happened. Some people mean well, but this is why it is a serious offense to God when people say they speak on His behalf, but do not know what they are saying… it can really end up hurting people and their relationship with God. Not saying that woman was, but that we just don’t know… and if it upset you, then maybe she just was a well meaning woman who saw a need and went for it, which isn’t evil, but misguided that maybe should not have been done in that context.
 
AnneElizabeth said:
I"m not the OP, but could you expound on that LethalMouse?
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 How do you know the 'hope' came from God? Maybe it didn't?   Couldn't the devil use a need/want/desire/hope we have and wave it in front of our faces to appear as God only make God look bad?  Just because something happened at a church function and people were praying, does it necessarily mean it is safe to believe?
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I am not judging a matter of God given or not persay…

However if it is totally positive and in no way contradictory to church teaching it won’t hurt.

Many people on a near regular basis have mentioned at some point a clear (at least to them) sign from God.

They also mention sort of forgetting it and or ignoring its totality.

I myself have been guilty of this and can say after you fail you can look back and be like “well I totally did that easy part but skipped anything I didn’t feel like doing… so how can I blame) God?”

Yeah, number one thing people want is a clear sign from God, I have met an inordinate amount of people who have claims of encounters that are pretty noteworthy and the majority still choose to not do anything that doesnt fit their whims…

That is not how God works persay, give you a sign and you decide “meh I appreciate that but actually going to church ain’t my thing Big Guy…”

Then we wonder why we fail 🤷
 
LethalMouse said:
I am not judging a matter of God given or not persay…

However if it is totally positive and in no way contradictory to church teaching it won’t hurt.

Many people on a near regular basis have mentioned at some point a clear (at least to them) sign from God.

They also mention sort of forgetting it and or ignoring its totality.

I myself have been guilty of this and can say after you fail you can look back and be like “well I totally did that easy part but skipped anything I didn’t feel like doing… so how can I [blame) God?”

Yeah, number one thing people want is a clear sign from God, I have met an inordinate amount of people who have claims of encounters that are pretty noteworthy and the majority still choose to not do anything that doesnt fit their whims…

That is not how God works persay, give you a sign and you decide “meh I appreciate that but actually going to church ain’t my thing Big Guy…”

Then we wonder why we fail 🤷
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yes, for something as clear as going back to Mass- which is a requirement, then I could see very well how that would be wrong to ignore both the requirment and the sign/nudge from God… But other things might not be so clear cut.

I’ve met the people too that claim to have clear signs from God… I can’t possibly argue with that as I’m not privy to that sort of heavenly knowledge, however, there are other times people thought they had clear signs from God but nothing came to be of it and not because people didn’t act upon it.

I can see people ignoring signs too… far to easy to get way off with things such as that. In fact, its not Catholic teaching but Orthodox that says it is better that one ignores the ‘signs’ and just goes along with teaching. The faith is solid, signs and wonders are not and how can we have a good God that would fault someone for being cautious?
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How do we get physically stronger? We take opportunities to practice and train ourselves, right? We might challenge ourselves to do just a little bit more. Sometimes it temporarily hurts. It might even make us feel weak, but if we keep at it, we grow in strength.

So, how do we get spiritually stronger? We take opportunities to practice and train ourselves. God gives us ways to challenge ourselves to do just a little bit more. Sometimes it temporarily hurts. Sometimes it makes us feel weak, but if we keep at it, we grow in virtue.

When we pray for help developing a virtue, most often, God gives us more opportunities to practice that virtue. In this way, we can get better at it.

But remember, too, just like when we stop exercising physically, or do less of it, we might lose some of that previous physical strength, if we stop practicing a virtue, or do less of it, we might also lose some of that previous spiritual strength.

That’s why the Sacraments are so important! 👍
 
CatholicRaven said:
How do we get physically stronger? We take opportunities to practice and train ourselves, right? We might challenge ourselves to do just a little bit more. Sometimes it temporarily hurts. It might even make us feel weak, but if we keep at it, we grow in strength.

So, how do we get spiritually stronger? We take opportunities to practice and train ourselves. God gives us ways to challenge ourselves to do just a little bit more. Sometimes it temporarily hurts. Sometimes it makes us feel weak, but if we keep at it, we grow in virtue.

When we pray for help developing a virtue, most often, God gives us more opportunities to practice that virtue. In this way, we can get better at it.

But remember, too, just like when we stop exercising physically, or do less of it, we might lose some of that previous physical strength, if we stop practicing a virtue, or do less of it, we might also lose some of that previous spiritual strength.

That’s why the Sacraments are so important! 👍
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I don’t know how to develop that virtue. How does one even stay strong. I’m good at pretending that I’m okay, but then that makes the occasional breakdown even more painful 😦
 
AnneElizabeth said:
yes, for something as clear as going back to Mass- which is a requirement, then I could see very well how that would be wrong to ignore both the requirment and the sign/nudge from God… But other things might not be so clear cut.

I’ve met the people too that claim to have clear signs from God… I can’t possibly argue with that as I’m not privy to that sort of heavenly knowledge, however, there are other times people thought they had clear signs from God but nothing came to be of it and not because people didn’t act upon it.

I can see people ignoring signs too… far to easy to get way off with things such as that. In fact, its not Catholic teaching but Orthodox that says it is better that one ignores the ‘signs’ and just goes along with teaching. The faith is solid, signs and wonders are not and how can we have a good God that would fault someone for being cautious?
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Well not all signs point to all things.

God: " have hope and trust me"

Person: “okay”

Person: “it doesn’t work… and God Never said I had to go to mass!”

God’s reveal does not have to include “follow the rest of Me”. What I am saying is that a clear sign of God on any topic also implies the rest… which I have met few and far between who follow.

Like a friend who has had signs of things and lived non-married at her catholic parents dismay with her now out of church married husband.

She never had a “sign” “get married proper!” Because that is already known. If she continues to ignore what she knows why must God be her genie?

You see it is not just about “the sign” it is a totality of things.

Personally I acted partially according to a sign that did not work. Of course I spent much time in doubt and never followed God outside of convenience. I went to mass like 5 times because I could get out of work for it… not because I went to mass for God.
 
Lea101 said:
I don’t know how to develop that virtue. How does one even stay strong. I’m good at pretending that I’m okay, but then that makes the occasional breakdown even more painful 😦
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Sometimes we have the wrong idea about what being “weak” is, and we think strength means giving the impression that we can do everything ourselves, not letting people get too close, not being vulnerable or open to getting our feelings hurt (maybe that’s what you mean by “pretending I’m okay”?). But sometimes real strength involves accepting our limits, being vulnerable, taking responsibility for our faults, or admitting that we’re not okay and need help or support getting through something. But “strength” can have a lot of different meanings.

So, let’s start with this:
What do you mean when you say you have “0 strength”? What does “having strength” look like to you? When someone is strong in faith, what do they do differently than someone who is not strong? If you were strong, how would you act differently than you do now? What would be the difference between pretending you are okay, and actually being strong? What would change about your choices?

Is it about courage to speak up or stand up for what you believe in? Is it confidence in your choices and the ability to “stick to your guns” in the face of opposition? Is it being at peace even in sadness or struggles, trusting that God loves you, despite not knowing what will happen? Is it perseverance in obedience, doing what you should even when you don’t “feel” like it or really want to do something else? Something else, or some combination of these?

The answers you choose are the things you may want to work on doing better and more often. And usually, the only way is to do them. It helps to take on smaller challenges at first, building up to more as you get better at it. Fasting or penances may also help with gaining control over your will (it may be a good idea to check with your priest or spiritual director first). And when you fall, keep getting up and trying again. It will get better if you don’t give up.

I hope that’s a little clearer. Continuing to pray for you. :gopray2:
 
CatholicRaven said:
So, let’s start with this:
What do you mean when you say you have “0 strength”? What does “having strength” look like to you? When someone is strong in faith, what do they do differently than someone who is not strong? If you were strong, how would you act differently than you do now? What would be the difference between pretending you are okay, and actually being strong? What would change about your choices?

Is it about courage to speak up or stand up for what you believe in? Is it confidence in your choices and the ability to “stick to your guns” in the face of opposition? Is it being at peace even in sadness or struggles, trusting that God loves you, despite not knowing what will happen? Is it perseverance in obedience, doing what you should even when you don’t “feel” like it or really want to do something else? Something else, or some combination of these?

The answers you choose are the things you may want to work on doing better and more often. And usually, the only way is to do them. It helps to take on smaller challenges at first, building up to more as you get better at it. Fasting or penances may also help with gaining control over your will (it may be a good idea to check with your priest or spiritual director first). And when you fall, keep getting up and trying again. It will get better if you don’t give up.

I hope that’s a little clearer. Continuing to pray for you. :gopray2:
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I guess strength to me is not feeling despair over everything. I don’t know how to stop feeling an emotion if that makes sense. You can say i have ugly fingernails and i would probably be pouring myself a cup of bleach at this point (but then i don’t want to go to hell, so cue more despair:shrug:) I’m a mess lol 😦
 
I’m sorry you’re going through so much :hug1: Why do you think God gave “false hope”? His hope is never false. He didn’t “disappear”, even if feelings of Him disappeared for a time. 🙂 strength is found in relying on Him, not on ourselves. When we make an act of trust in God and hope in Him, surrender and ask Him to take care of everything Himself, and GIVE IT over to Him, that is how we can fight despair. Despair is not enough hope in God. He created the universe! He can take care of us 🙂 He doesn’t leave us, even if we don’t feel Him there. The more we trust, the more graces we receive. These are things Jesus told to the Catholic mystics. God bless you
 
Monica4316 said:
I’m sorry you’re going through so much :hug1: Why do you think God gave “false hope”? His hope is never false. He didn’t “disappear”, even if feelings of Him disappeared for a time. 🙂 strength is found in relying on Him, not on ourselves. When we make an act of trust in God and hope in Him, surrender and ask Him to take care of everything Himself, and GIVE IT over to Him, that is how we can fight despair. Despair is not enough hope in God. He created the universe! He can take care of us 🙂 He doesn’t leave us, even if we don’t feel Him there. The more we trust, the more graces we receive. These are things Jesus told to the Catholic mystics. God bless you
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I’m trying
 
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