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I don't know all the answers, or even a handful of the answers. I struggle with agnosticism and drift between Buddhism, Anglicanism, Catholicism, Atheism, and abject spiritualism. I was raised non-denominational Protestant with a preacher for a father and then converted to Episcapalianism .
Anyway...
A few months ago, I impulsively bought an Our Lady of Guadalupe devotional candle that I saw at the grocery store. A few weeks later the idea of a Novena just came to me. I'd heard the word before, but didn't really know what it meant. I surmised what I thought it was (looked it up a few days in and learned I had it right) and began lighting my candle every night after 8pm and saying a prayer or prayers while honoring Mary for nine evenings.
My prayer has been answered and answered with a grace I never would have expected (my prayer was not for material gain).
I don't know all the answers, but I know that something amazing has happened to me, and I wanted to share.
What makes you believe that it was positively the Novena that accomplished it for you?
As I said, I don't have all the answers and I don't want to provoke anyone's ire here. I tend to believe that no one knows the truth, but many have bits of it and it all comes down to how we experience the divine. I think perhaps my nine evenings of concentrated prayer to God in the name of Jesus with honor of the Virgin Mary led to a personal miracle of self-transformation from God. Intention and dedication, I believe, count for a lot when it comes to prayer. I also believe that the Saints and Angels in Heaven are sent by God to guide and protect us. If we open up to "listen" to them, they will bring us closer to Him and His Grace.
As I said, I don't have all the answers and I don't want to provoke anyone's ire here. I tend to believe that no one knows the truth, but many have bits of it and it all comes down to how we experience the divine. I think perhaps my nine evenings of concentrated prayer to God in the name of Jesus with honor of the Virgin Mary led to a personal miracle of self-transformation from God. Intention and dedication, I believe, count for a lot when it comes to prayer. I also believe that the Saints and Angels in Heaven are sent by God to guide and protect us. If we open up to "listen" to them, they will bring us closer to Him and His Grace.
What leads you to believe these things? Is it something you came up with on your own, or is it based on something you read, or got told?
What leads you to believe these things? Is it something you came up with on your own, or is it based on something you read, or got told?
Read or told about making a Novena specifically? All I know so that the word came in to my head a few weeks after I had bought the candle (which I had been using as simple home decor; I like to burn candles). I decided to pray in Novena form, as I imagined it to mean, and then read a dictionary definition of Novena which confirmed I had "guessed" right. Keep in mind that I struggle with belief because of my education in World Religion and Psychology. I don't want to outright say I was "led" to pray in a Novena style, but part of me believes that may have been the case.
I don't know all the answers, or even a handful of the answers. I struggle with agnosticism and drift between Buddhism, Anglicanism, Catholicism, Atheism, and abject spiritualism. I was raised non-denominational Protestant with a preacher for a father and then converted to Episcapalianism .
Anyway...
A few months ago, I impulsively bought an Our Lady of Guadalupe devotional candle that I saw at the grocery store. A few weeks later the idea of a Novena just came to me. I'd heard the word before, but didn't really know what it meant. I surmised what I thought it was (looked it up a few days in and learned I had it right) and began lighting my candle every night after 8pm and saying a prayer or prayers while honoring Mary for nine evenings.
My prayer has been answered and answered with a grace I never would have expected (my prayer was not for material gain).
I don't know all the answers, but I know that something amazing has happened to me, and I wanted to share.
You said something amazing happened.
But did nt say what it was. If it is amazing, I would think you would share it.
Read or told about making a Novena specifically? All I know so that the word came in to my head a few weeks after I had bought the candle (which I had been using as simple home decor; I like to burn candles). I decided to pray in Novena form, as I imagined it to mean, and then read a dictionary definition of Novena which confirmed I had "guessed" right. Keep in mind that I struggle with belief because of my education in World Religion and Psychology. I don't want to outright say I was "led" to pray in a Novena style, but part of me believes that may have been the case.
Is there a reason that you think God listens to a Novela more than any other prayer?
You're making some statements attributing an event to 9 days of prayer. How do you know it wasn't a coincidence?
You said something amazing happened.
But did nt say what it was. If it is amazing, I would think you would share it.
I have been struggling with an autoimmune disorder for years that has recently become intolerable. As in "bad thoughts of ending things" intolerable. On the tenth day, it was in remission.
Is there a reason that you think God listens to a Novela more than any other prayer?
You're making some statements attributing an event to 9 days of prayer. How do you know it wasn't a coincidence?
No, I don't think a specific formula is requirement or necessity or is "listened to" more than any other prayer. I think it and any other form of devotion (church, biblical reading, etc) is a tool that helps to clear the human mind and heart and allow a closeness to God that may, for some, not always be attained in the clutter of daily and worldly concerns. For me, the Novena was a way of accomplishing that clarity and closeness. Not some sort of prescribed "spell" or magic incantation.
Correct, I do not know that it was not a coincidence. I tried to say that in my OP, but I do feel strongly this was the work of God and not an accident.
I have been struggling with an autoimmune disorder for years that has recently become intolerable. As in "bad thoughts of ending things" intolerable. On the tenth day, it was in remission.
I am sorry to hear of your suffering. Seriously. Please know that I'm not in any way trying to make a jab at you personally. Please consider getting some help from a pastor or counselor if any such feelings return. Seriously--there will be people here praying for you (me included).
Praise God that it is in remission! That is great. My question was an honest question--how do we know that it is because of the novena?
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