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Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
Thank you for all the support Clare. It is beyond appreciation
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
- Status
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
T
TheQuestioner
Guest
You ever try just sitting there and talking to God?
And what kind of things are you asking for? If you are asking for God to show Himself to you, then you may be getting the answer “no”
T
TheQuestioner
Guest
btw, praying doesn’t make things happen. God makes things happen. Praying is to ask Him to make things happen. That being the case, just because you pray for something doesn’t mean it will happen, simply because you are asking God for something. And if He says “no” then keep trying. Try adding this to the end of your petitions. “your will be done Lord, not mine”. That should help you cope better with unanswered prayers because you acknowledge that God has the power, not you. And God may be pleased with this fact and decide to help you.
F
faithfully
Guest
My mother tells me… The Lord ALWAYS answers your prayers. Sometimes you just don’t understand the answer, or it’s not the answer you wanted.
Recently a family friend was Dx’d with and died 6 months later of cancer. At first, we all started praying for him. Help him heal etc. Then my mom started talking to him about God. This guy was not really the most upstanding individual. Really, he was a “jerk” and that’s putting it politely. Anyhow, they talked God every time they talked. In the end, he really seemed at peace with GOD… Actually ready to meet his maker. And believing full well he would.
I have a feeling that our prayers were answered. I think he was healed. Just not in the context that we were expecting or hoping for. Is he sitting right there next to God?No Idea… But I suspect he’s not frying down below either…
Recently a family friend was Dx’d with and died 6 months later of cancer. At first, we all started praying for him. Help him heal etc. Then my mom started talking to him about God. This guy was not really the most upstanding individual. Really, he was a “jerk” and that’s putting it politely. Anyhow, they talked God every time they talked. In the end, he really seemed at peace with GOD… Actually ready to meet his maker. And believing full well he would.
I have a feeling that our prayers were answered. I think he was healed. Just not in the context that we were expecting or hoping for. Is he sitting right there next to God?No Idea… But I suspect he’s not frying down below either…
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Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
If by “asking for God to show Himself to you” you mean as in me asking for an apparition, not really, although it wouldn’t hurt
. I have been asking for 2 intentions for a couple of months, the “deadlines” being August 11th and August 19th respectively. Both failed. These are the first true intentions that I have come and prayed for in my entire life, and also the first time that I prayed a rosary, bought a miraculous medal, prayed via the intercession of the saints, simply for these 2 intentions. Despite my constant prayer, the intentions did not come to fruition.To cut to the chase, I do ask for God to reveal Himself to me, in the sense that He reveals Himself in my heart. Right now, I feel very hollow and lost (I am below the age of 20, if that helps), and even if 1 one of the intentions were answered (especially the latter), I would know Someone is listening. As it stands, when I pray, it seems as if I’m talking to the air…
Not to go off on a tangent, I was raised in a ‘‘mildly’’ Catholic family. I have heard ex-Satanists and Pagans getting prayers answered and/or experiencing God. I wouldn’t understand why I’m being singled out.
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
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Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
You know, I honestly wish it’s a case of God answering my prayer “in a different way”. But it really doesn’t feel like that at the moment, nor can I fathom how He’ll answer my prayers, since the ‘‘deadlines’’ have gone, and I’m now in for an incredibly tough year ahead.
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
J
JesuXPIPassio
Guest
I’ve felt the same. It’s weird, at one time, I got whatever I prayed for. But then I had a very hellish year and I felt that not only was God ignoring me, but I was being struck with a new catastrophe every two weeks that made the situation worse and worse for me. It was very stressing.
I was a strong, practising Catholic but at that time, I also felt in dispair. I found it helpful to read books about miracles and the more supernatural aspects of our Faith. There are books from Joan Carrol Cruz, for example, that detail miracles with the Blessed Sacrament, images, etc.; I have another book about modern apparitions of saints; even one book about Catholic exorcists. All of it was to keep me from losing faith, because I really was under very severe strain.
Mother Teresa also felt the same despair that you and I experienced. Let’s use this logic. You believe in Catholicism, right? So you must believe that Satan exists. When Mother Teresa was having these problems, she neeed to have an exorcism. What does this show? Satan really wanted her, really wanted to mess with her. Same with Padre Pio. It showed that they were doing something right. The path to God isn’t easy; if it’s hard and these temptations happen, it means that you’re ticking the devil off. As supersitious as this sounds, I think it theologically makes sense (and I’m no neophyte in areas like this).
Maybe you could try adding three more devotions. First, add visiting the Blessed Sacrament. While I cannot say I experienced that it helped me so profoundly, others have, so it’s worth it, and I hope to experience the same too when the time comes. Second, pray to the Holy Spirit; Teresa of Avila found help when she sang the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus. Third, pray to Saint Michael. There is a prayer to him that asks he banishes Satan and the evil spirits. I personally pray it in Latin (excorcists – the real kind – say that the devil hates Latin). You can look for it online, but if you’re having trouble finding it or can’t pronounce Latin correctly (yeah, there is a special way to pronounce some words that isn’t like the English version), you can message me, I’ll teach you how really quickly.
I waited it out and thankfully that awful year has passed. I’m not flying high as I was before and I’m just waiting for God to give me that again, but I do feel that it will happen. I’m certain that it will all have been for a reason and that will be made clear to me when it’s all resolved (it’s happened before and I know it’ll happen again).
J
JRKH
Guest
Thanks, Eugen. It does help some to know you are younger.If by “asking for God to show Himself to you” you mean as in me asking for an apparition, not really, although it wouldn’t hurt
To cut to the chase, I do ask for God to reveal Himself to me, in the sense that He reveals Himself in my heart. Right now, I feel very hollow and lost (I am below the age of 20, if that helps), and even if 1 one of the intentions were answered (especially the latter), I would know Someone is listening. As it stands, when I pray, it seems as if I’m talking to the air…
Not to go off on a tangent, I was raised in a ‘‘mildly’’ Catholic family. I have heard ex-Satanists and Pagans getting prayers answered and/or experiencing God. I wouldn’t understand why I’m being singled out.
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
When we ask God to reveal himself, what we are really asking is that He reveal to us what He wants from us. What is our path etc.
We are all taught that God answers prayers. And this certainly is a promise that Christ has made to us. The Gospel says anything you ask “in my name” will be granted. Perhaps what is needed is a better understanding of what “in my name” entials.
Certainly it isn’t an “incantation” or “magic word”, so this must mean something more. To me it means being immersed in Christ. Knowing Him and desiring to please Him in all of my actions, thoughts and desires. By so doing, I cannot pray for that which Christ would not also desire, and the first thing that Christ desires, as he taught us in the Lords prayer, is the “Thy (God’s) Will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” Christ demonstrated this in the garden of Gethsemene where he prayed that God would remove the “cup”, but ended the prayer with, “But thy Will and not mine be done…”
Thus we have, from Christs own lips, both a specific prayer request and the submissive acceptance of God’s answer, whatever it was.
Just some thoughts to consider.
Peace
James
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Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
That’s a very interesting fact. I’ll try it, and if I require help, I’ll be sure to ask
What I also wanted to ask you, and indeed anyone reading this thread, is the following:
Before disaster struck for me around May-June 2010, I received a book from my English teacher mid-December 2009. Quite lengthy and bulky in shape, I thought it was a novel. It’s titled Future Grace, and was written by John Piper. When class ended (mind you, I still at this time believed it was a novel) I asked my teacher why she gave it. She said “I thought it would be helpful and you would be interested in it”. I was still confused as to why she would give me this book; me and her rarely spoke and barely knew each other (she was our teacher for only roughly 4 lessons). I walked outside the classroom, and as I looked inside the book, I found out that it was not a novel, but a Christian spiritual book. Being Agnostic at the time, with my life going great (no outward indication of trouble whatsoever), I put it in my box for it to collect dust (harsh, I know, but I was Agnostic and God didn’t really serve as any importance to me).
Now, I have always wondered why she gave me that book, and such thought has only just crossed my mind just now. Do you think this was an act of God? Was this foreboding the current state I’ll be in? Mind you, me and her rarely spoke; when she gave it, I was Agnostic and I had no trouble in my life at all; English teachers don’t hand out Christian spiritual books spontaneously. I always wondered why this occurred. What do you guys think?
*And I can’t ask her again because she left in January 2010 to give birth to a child
Better get started with that book
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
B
Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
J
JRKH
Guest
You are welcome.
The goal of our journey is to conform our will to God’s Will.
To be conformed to Him. To be perfected in Love.
So that, bein conformed to Him, we may enter into the beatific vision upon leaving htis world.
Peace
James
J
JesuXPIPassio
Guest
Possible, but I do think it’s far too early to tell.
My experience is that big fixes often don’t come quick. Like I said, I had a hell year. That’s right, a year. And that year was 2008. My 2009 was filled with stress. Things still aren’t completely fixed. I’m just waiting for it, as I’m sure it will happen.
My advice would be just to go with it and don’t be discouraged if you don’t find answers right now. But, yeah, read the book, and let it lead you into reading other books and learning more. Be patient. I’m not gonna lie, it sucks, but there’s nothing you can do about it; you believe in God so you can believe this is all leading up to something.
If you find yourself wafting into agnosticism again, you might wanna read some things about Thomas Aquinas, he gives logical arguments for why there is a God. I don’t suggest that you read the things he wrote himself (not unless you have an enourmous amount of time, because this man was a writer’s writer) but there are books that explain what he wrote and thought in simpler language. It’s just to keep you from being tempted into agnosticism again.
And don’t discount those books on miracles that I talked about in my previous post. They’re not all fluffy spiritual works but they also speak of things in logical fashion (logic is important in religion; faith is meant to be a logical response, not a vague feeling, as agnostics and atheists tend to dismiss).
Find that these notions of a God who cares and really works in our lives are all true, then let that sustain you and help you grow until you can find the answers you need. It’s going to be a process, but better to let it out on earth than to sweat it out in purgatory, right? It sucks but you gotta do it.
J
JRKH
Guest
It very well could be God’s hand nudging you.That’s a very interesting fact. I’ll try it, and if I require help, I’ll be sure to ask
What I also wanted to ask you, and indeed anyone reading this thread, is the following:
Before disaster struck for me around May-June 2010, I received a book from my English teacher mid-December 2009. Quite lengthy and bulky in shape, I thought it was a novel. It’s titled Future Grace, and was written by John Piper. When class ended (mind you, I still at this time believed it was a novel) I asked my teacher why she gave it. She said “I thought it would be helpful and you would be interested in it”. I was still confused as to why she would give me this book; me and her rarely spoke and barely knew each other (she was our teacher for only roughly 4 lessons). I walked outside the classroom, and as I looked inside the book, I found out that it was not a novel, but a Christian spiritual book. Being Agnostic at the time, with my life going great (no outward indication of trouble whatsoever), I put it in my box for it to collect dust (harsh, I know, but I was Agnostic and God didn’t really serve as any importance to me).
Now, I have always wondered why she gave me that book, and such thought has only just crossed my mind just now. Do you think this was an act of God? Was this foreboding the current state I’ll be in? Mind you, me and her rarely spoke; when she gave it, I was Agnostic and I had no trouble in my life at all; English teachers don’t hand out Christian spiritual books spontaneously. I always wondered why this occurred. What do you guys think?
*And I can’t ask her again because she left in January 2010 to give birth to a child
Better get started with that book
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
As you read the book though I sould let you know that the author is not Catholic. He is Baptist. I don’t say this to detract from a book that I have not read. I only mentionit because it may contain things that do not “square with” Catholic teachings.
So be aware of this.
Personally I would suggest you stick with cathoic authors for the time being. The Book inmy signature would be of great help to you and it is, though lengthy, VERY readable and speaks to many of the issues you have raised here.
Peace
James
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Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
I will be aware of it. Thank you ever so much for the advice.
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
P
poor_clare
Guest
Hi EugenThank you for all the support Clare. It is beyond appreciation
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
I’ve been reading your posts and you need a hug. You’re so down on yourself and that’s not healthy. Whatever it is that you’ve think you’ve done God has already forgiven you. You need to forgive yourself. I don’t know you but I know that you’re part of God’s creation and He has a plan for you and He loves you. That love is forever. We as your sisters and brothers in Christ love you. Please love and appreciate yourself and all of the good that’s in you.
I prayed for you in my rosary last night and will continue to do so. Please remember: He’s right there with you. You don’t have to do anything other than just be open to hearing Him.
St Michael protect you
St Therese bless you and be with you
St Francis bless you and guide you
St Clare bless you and comfort you
God bless you
Clare
B
Bohm_Bawerk
Guest
I think it would be impossible to show the extent of my gratitude of the support you and other users’ have demonstrated here. I honestly believe this. If I don’t ever experience God in the way that I requested initially, I have, at least on this night, experienced it through all of you
.I am very glad I found this forum
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
F
faithfully
Guest
I did not know this about Mother Teresa. Do you recommend a book that goes into detail.
Love Padre Pio. An amazing history.
Eugene, We are all praying for you. Keep it up… We all go through really harsh things sometimes. I don’t know why… but we do. You will get through this…
J
JesuXPIPassio
Guest
I don’t know of any books, but in 2001, the Archbishop of Calcutta talked about having to peform the excorcism
archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/04/mother.theresa.exorcism/
time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,173791,00.html
But to the original poster, you should read those articles too. The CNN one writes about how she also felt abandoned by God. The Time one writes that these experiences actually only helps her canonisation cause rather than hurts it; it just shows more of the theology that the devil wants to get to those who are getting too close to God.
J
JRKH
Guest
Eugan,
I just ran across this in the book I recommend below and I thought of you and your concerns of aridity in prayer.
A thrid reason why we may be experiencing dryness in prayer is because God is purposely removing the experience for His presence so as to give us the opportunity to mature in faith, hope, and love. Faith in its essence is, believing with out seeing. As Bernard puts it,
Hope this is helpful to you.
Peace
James
I just ran across this in the book I recommend below and I thought of you and your concerns of aridity in prayer.
A thrid reason why we may be experiencing dryness in prayer is because God is purposely removing the experience for His presence so as to give us the opportunity to mature in faith, hope, and love. Faith in its essence is, believing with out seeing. As Bernard puts it,
“Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believed. (Jn. 20:29)” So, giving room for virtue, he (God) withdraws himself from her (the soul) sight, that she may not be robbed of the merit of faith.
When we continually “see” the work of God in our life there is less need for faith. When the percesption of blessing or presence is removed, ther is an opportunity to excercise on a deeper and purer level, which is very pleasing to God and unites us in a deepway with Him, even when His closeness to us might not be felt.
(Fullfillment Of All Desire, pg 170-171)
When we continually “see” the work of God in our life there is less need for faith. When the percesption of blessing or presence is removed, ther is an opportunity to excercise on a deeper and purer level, which is very pleasing to God and unites us in a deepway with Him, even when His closeness to us might not be felt.
(Fullfillment Of All Desire, pg 170-171)
Hope this is helpful to you.
Peace
James
T
theresa_bloom
Guest
I am feeling the same way. Forsaken and lost. I believe that God hears my prayers and will answer them but when I ask for just the smallest amount of consolation or peace, I don’t get it. I am in agony. My heart and body and soul feel crushed. Why has my God abandoned me. As I write this I recognize that I must unite my suffering with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. If in that I can relieve the suffering of others than I find solace in that. I will still continue to pray for relief believing that one day it will come. In the meantime, I cry, I struggle, I moan. Please God help us who are in need of your presence. Let us feel you around us and console us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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