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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I'm interested to hear what obstacles - of any kind, whether it be personal, emotional, theological, moral - that have threatened your faith, maybe even taken away the faith for awhile, that you've overcome, and how you overcame them.
One example I'll give was my inability to accept a truly young Earth, because of scientific evidence. Now I really did find it difficult to believe a young Earth; read a lot about it, a lot of Creationist books as well, but in the end I reconciled by taking a non-literalist stance. Honestly, I really can't believe in what some of the Creationists say, so it was either that or not being able to believe at all.
I'm interested to hear what obstacles - of any kind, whether it be personal, emotional, theological, moral - that have threatened your faith, maybe even taken away the faith for awhile, that you've overcome, and how you overcame them.
One example I'll give was my inability to accept a truly young Earth, because of scientific evidence. Now I really did find it difficult to believe a young Earth; read a lot about it, a lot of Creationist books as well, but in the end I reconciled by taking a non-literalist stance. Honestly, I really can't believe in what some of the Creationists say, so it was either that or not being able to believe at all.
I once too had a problem with YEC. But the more I got into the Word, the more the Spirit led me to understand Genesis more fully.
I was following one of the two great commands...
Love your neighbor as yourself. which brought me to my knees.
Loving my enemies. Loving people I didn't like and (used to) didn't WANT to like. (much less LOVE!!)
Having the darkness in my heart slowly start to be overcome with the love that He was planting in my heart. It was a painful process. And the rest of the story is for another day.
However, the command to love God with all of my heart, mind and soul.. I found I couldn't do it. I couldn't love Him with that kind of love. It wasn't until HE took my hand and slowly, patiently brought me to the glorious truth of His plan for ALL that I was finally able to start to love God with ALL of my Heart, ALL of my Soul and ALL of my Mind. Because of HIS LOVE for ALL.
And it was then in that great revelation did I understand one of the main beautiful reasons to the two commands. They lead to TRUTH.
For me it was not having my prayers answered in the way I wanted them to be. I knew I wasn't asking for anything selfish, and I thought I had faith, so it really was kind of hard on me. It's taken me quite awhile to realize that having faith doesn't mean believing that if you trust God enough, He'll give you what you want. It means realizing that He'll always give you what it's in your best interest to have and leaving that in His hands.
For me it was not having my prayers answered in the way I wanted them to be. I knew I wasn't asking for anything selfish, and I thought I had faith, so it really was kind of hard on me. It's taken me quite awhile to realize that having faith doesn't mean believing that if you trust God enough, He'll give you what you want. It means realizing that He'll always give you what it's in your best interest to have and leaving that in His hands.
Beautiful.
Thanks for sharing.
He sees what we cannot yet see.
Peace.
I allowed man/men to come between me and God..For years I almost believed that I really was second best..in the home, the marriage and in the building where they met..
That wall was torn down several years ago and now I have a wonderful one on one relationship with Him..
I am also very protective of my faith, and my relationship with God in the rw, so I pretty much stay out of the discussions which always lead to arguements over interpretation and context anyway..
My son was born with a lung disease, and he passed away when he was 15. My trust, faith, and reliance on God grew immensely as the disease progressed. The Lord walked with us and carried us the whole way and helped us to be strong and not live in fear.
After he lost the battle against the disease, the way I describe my relationship with God is that I wasn't angry at Him, but I felt He "hurt my feelings." I was very disappointed because I knew that God was able to make things turn out very differently. I still loved God and was thankful he had my sweet boy with Him, but I had the attitude that God would do whatever He wants anyway, so what's the use in asking. Not having specific prayer requests made me talk to Him less, praise Him less, etc., so my prayer life suffered. I never felt He was far away, though. My praises became easier as I pictured praising him through the eyes of my son who could now see Him face to face.
I wouldn't call it an obstacle so much as a challenge to my faith. Overall, I did very well considering all we went through. God gave me peace and strength to face each day and I've always been so thankful for that. Just like Katzpur, I learned that faith is not believing for the outcome of your own choosing, but believing that God knows best. Since then, God has shown me wonderful, marvelous things about his true character and I love God more than ever now.
My biggest obstacle? I would say it would have to be being able to trust God with every aspect of my life. My whole life I have been kicked down and mistreated, and a part of me wants to blame God for these events. However, as Scripture says, God works for the good of those who love Him; I try to surrender every part of my life still to Him, but sometimes the good things get ruined by the bad and I feel betrayed. Sometimes, I want to walk away. However, I understand that God is the best route, so I continue to try and surrender it all to Him in the hopes of seeing the grand work being brought to fruition one day.
My son was born with a lung disease, and he passed away when he was 15. My trust, faith, and reliance on God grew immensely as the disease progressed. The Lord walked with us and carried us the whole way and helped us to be strong and not live in fear.
After he lost the battle against the disease, the way I describe my relationship with God is that I wasn't angry at Him, but I felt He "hurt my feelings." I was very disappointed because I knew that God was able to make things turn out very differently. I still loved God and was thankful he had my sweet boy with Him, but I had the attitude that God would do whatever He wants anyway, so what's the use in asking. Not having specific prayer requests made me talk to Him less, praise Him less, etc., so my prayer life suffered. I never felt He was far away, though. My praises became easier as I pictured praising him through the eyes of my son who could now see Him face to face.
I wouldn't call it an obstacle so much as a challenge to my faith. Overall, I did very well considering all we went through. God gave me peace and strength to face each day and I've always been so thankful for that. Just like Katzpur, I learned that faith is not believing for the outcome of your own choosing, but believing that God knows best. Since then, God has shown me wonderful, marvelous things about his true character and I love God more than ever now.
Bless your sweet son. This posting made my eyes water as I cannot imagine going through what you have as I have four boys of my own. Thank God for your faith and knowing that your Son is with our Father. Bless you in your continued faith and the bright hope for tomorrow
Bless your sweet son. This posting made my eyes water as I cannot imagine going through what you have as I have four boys of my own. Thank God for your faith and knowing that your Son is with our Father. Bless you in your continued faith and the bright hope for tomorrow
Thank you, Sister!
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