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I lost my beloved “rock”, my dear Dad to Cancer at the early age of 62. At that very time I was living also with an alcoholic husband. I had gone for co-dependency counseling for one year and begged him to attend with me and he would not. It seemed as if though my world was crumbling around me. Shortly thereafter my youngest son, who at the time was in Grade 6, started to show symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He was diagnosed with “bad thought” OCD.
Instead of turning to God for his comfort and support I started to doubt my Faith. Why would God take away my rock while I was dealing with an alcoholic husband and a child who was spiraling down because of this? I needed my Dad and I was not happy with God for taking him away when I needed him most.
One evening, after my husband went on one of his verbal rampages, my son started having what was his first and last psychotic episode. It was during the night and he was terribly frightened and so was I for him. I remember him crying and clutching on to me as we sat on his bedroom floor. That is when God spoke to me and told me I must take my children out of the negative home environment we were living in. He told me that I needed to protect my children and he gave me his blessing. He told me I needed to be strong and that we would be just fine on our own. I will never forget the love that I felt that night from God. My son and I stayed huddled together on the bedroom floor for a few hours. I knew God was with us and that no matter what we would be okay. I left with my children shortly thereafter, that was now 11 years ago.
My life since then has been extremely blessed and that is because I have turned to God earnestly for his Love to abide in me ever since that day. God’s Love in my life has casteth out all fear. I realized that God was my rock and always had been. His Love has made me a better person and I truly am thankful for everything in my life.
By the way, God has played a significant role in assisting my son overcome his OCD. He was only medicated briefly and received exposure and response therapy. My Son always tells me that together God and he are a team much larger than the anxiety disorder. My youngest son wears his faith on his sleeve and wants to tell the World about the Good News. I am so proud of him. His faith is so strong for someone his age.
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.
Hang in there, Nero777. You probably know Proverbs 3:5,6, but just wanted to share. It's my favorite verse:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
God will use all these tough circumstances to make you stronger, more faithful, more forgiving, more patient, etc. God bless you!
I lost my beloved “rock”, my dear Dad to Cancer at the early age of 62. At that very time I was living also with an alcoholic husband. I had gone for co-dependency counseling for one year and begged him to attend with me and he would not. It seemed as if though my world was crumbling around me. Shortly thereafter my youngest son, who at the time was in Grade 6, started to show symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He was diagnosed with “bad thought” OCD.
Instead of turning to God for his comfort and support I started to doubt my Faith. Why would God take away my rock while I was dealing with an alcoholic husband and a child who was spiraling down because of this? I needed my Dad and I was not happy with God for taking him away when I needed him most.
One evening, after my husband went on one of his verbal rampages, my son started having what was his first and last psychotic episode. It was during the night and he was terribly frightened and so was I for him. I remember him crying and clutching on to me as we sat on his bedroom floor. That is when God spoke to me and told me I must take my children out of the negative home environment we were living in. He told me that I needed to protect my children and he gave me his blessing. He told me I needed to be strong and that we would be just fine on our own. I will never forget the love that I felt that night from God. My son and I stayed huddled together on the bedroom floor for a few hours. I knew God was with us and that no matter what we would be okay. I left with my children shortly thereafter, that was now 11 years ago.
My life since then has been extremely blessed and that is because I have turned to God earnestly for his Love to abide in me ever since that day. God’s Love in my life has casteth out all fear. I realized that God was my rock and always had been. His Love has made me a better person and I truly am thankful for everything in my life.
By the way, God has played a significant role in assisting my son overcome his OCD. He was only medicated briefly and received exposure and response therapy. My Son always tells me that together God and he are a team much larger than the anxiety disorder. My youngest son wears his faith on his sleeve and wants to tell the World about the Good News. I am so proud of him. His faith is so strong for someone his age.
Your story gave me chills, SisterKat. It is such a blessing that God understood your pain, and as heavenly father, comforted you when you could no longer turn to your earthly father. I think what you heard from the Lord is the same thing your dad would have told you. I can tell you have become very strong through all of that. I'm glad your son is doing well.
God was also very important to my son. His faith was amazing.
That was truly beautiful.
wow. What a wonderful way to look at it.
God bless you.
Thanks, Sparrow. I wrote a song called, "Praise Him Through Your Eyes" that's based on 1 Corinthians 13:11,12.
"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in
part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."
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 have to really think about this. Only because I'm not sure my faith has ever been threatened. I guess the only incident would be the one we all think about. The questions all humans seem to ask themselves at one point.
Is God real? Does he even exist? Why do I believe in him? Why do I read the bible? Why do I care about it? Why do I kneel down and pray at night to a person I have never seen? Is there really a heaven and a hell? Is life just life as we know it? Does anyone really go on to the afterlife or do we just simply die?
I know that as a Christian, I have asked myself these questions at one time or another. Life has always shown me and given me experiences that not only show me that my faith is real but tells me as well. I don't feel like going much into the stories but I will tell you that I have had strange occurances in my life that have almost killed me and all I have done was pray and after that, things were okay. I have rebuked demons and evil spirits from coming near me and my family and we have been okay. I have sinned and prayed to the Lord to guide me to rightousness and forgive me and I felt like the happiest person on Earth. There is nothing on this Earth that could convince me God isn't real. I know he is. The problem with human beings in general is that we are impatient people. We immediately expect answers and resolutions to things we might not understand. Then when we don't get them, we get angry and want someone to blame. When we can't find anyone, we are quick to turn our backs and thus claim he doesn't exist. And that couldn't be more ridiculous and further from the truth.
I guess my biggest obstacle would be that he didn't appear to always answer my prayers. I was always told ask God and you shall receive. My wife and I have been attempting to overcome numerous short comings over the past few years, such as financial struggle (as the majority of us), job loss, ect... My wife always tells me things happen for a reason, and she truly believes that. She always tells me to be happy for the little things that we do have; a roof over our head, a beautiful son, two cats, each other, and employment. When I would ask for something, and not get it I would ask "why are You ignoring me?" So for me, I've learned to adopt her attitude, and it is starting to work for me (slowly but surely). I've learned that it's not so much that God doesn't answer our prayers, but that when you pray for something and don't receive it, that it may not be the right thing at the right time, and that He has other plans for you. I did witness something the other day that REALLY quantified my faith! I don't want to get too much into detail, but my wife and I received certain documentation that we really needed! The documents were in a UPS envelope and placed in between the door, and screen door. In addition in the door along with the documents was also a pamphlet with the picture of Jesus Christ on the front. It to me was was a God saying "Here's Yer Sign!" For this particular need for our family, I truly feel that it was divine intervention!
I guess my biggest obstacle would be that he didn't appear to always answer my prayers. I was always told ask God and you shall receive. My wife and I have been attempting to overcome numerous short comings over the past few years, such as financial struggle (as the majority of us), job loss, ect... My wife always tells me things happen for a reason, and she truly believes that. She always tells me to be happy for the little things that we do have; a roof over our head, a beautiful son, two cats, each other, and employment. When I would ask for something, and not get it I would ask "why are You ignoring me?" So for me, I've learned to adopt her attitude, and it is starting to work for me (slowly but surely). I've learned that it's not so much that God doesn't answer our prayers, but that when you pray for something and don't receive it, that it may not be the right thing at the right time, and that He has other plans for you. I did witness something the other day that REALLY quantified my faith! I don't want to get too much into detail, but my wife and I received certain documentation that we really needed! The documents were in a UPS envelope and placed in between the door, and screen door. In addition in the door along with the documents was also a pamphlet with the picture of Jesus Christ on the front. It to me was was a God saying "Here's Yer Sign!" For this particular need for our family, I truly feel that it was divine intervention!
Those last few sentences made me smile. The sentence I bolded is exactly how you should be thinking. When you pray, pray for the things you want, but also pray that you will be in His will. There are many prayers that aren't answered the way I want them to, but the Lord answered it, "no or not now." I would rather be in God's will than have all my prayers answered with a "Yes". God bless you and your family.
I guess watching my mom succumb to cancer. She was a true disciple looked to by countless members of the body. A few of those who looked to her for a word from the Lord (at any time/day) have since fallen on hard times spiritually. I was her only child, but she told me in the last days that she wasn't concerned about me, but a few that depended on her too deeply (and weren't grounded in Him).
Sometimes, we depend on people to take the place of a personal relationship with the Lord. As the scripture says, "the grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever".
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