Continue to trust God. He is faithful, always.
It is not what we do for God that causes him to respond in love. He knows you and knew you from before you were born, even before the foundation of the world was made. He knows you so well that even the hairs of your head are numbered. He loves you and is in the process of working out his eternal plan for your life at this very moment. Sometimes we may feel alone but in fact, we never are. He is always present and we need not do anything special to get his attention. As his eye is on the sparrow, so it is on you. He loves you more than you will ever know.
God does not look for those who will do things for him, but rather He looks constantly for those he can do great things through
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How to Start Over: Face the future after major loss
The Apostle Paul prayed (three times) for release from his physical illness but he was not healed. There was nothing deficient in Paul, God had another plan. Remember, his plan for you is for all of eternity, not just this period in time. Trust that he is working that eternal plan at this very moment.
God’s timing is perfect. Trust that he is answering and will answer.
Written by John Benza
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So, I stumbled across your page in a last minute search for some
sort of encouraging hope. I’m only 19, I’m a college student, things are meant to be stressful and complicated, I realize that, but recently I lost an aunt that I was close to, a best friend is a better way to say it, and things have been going wrong for the past two years I’ve been at my university, today I broke down, I realized that I needed more in my life, something more fulfilling that what I have, because obviously something’s not working for me, I started to wonder if God was sending me signs that maybe I wasn’t meant to be at the school I was at considering I kept making
irresponsible mistakes and losing my aunt and getting sick, things have been a mess, I grew up in the church, but I’ve never felt that personal relationship with God that everyone describes, I guess now in my time of need I was searching for that, for that close relationship that’s going to help me understand God, help me understand why the things in my life are happening me…
First of all – I want to assure you that turning to Jesus as your
source of hope was the best choice you could have made!
God loves you dearly! Brennan Manning tells the story of a man named Ed Farrell, who traveled from his home in Detroit to spend a two-week vacation in Ireland to celebrate his uncle’s eightieth birthday. When the great day dawned, Ed and his uncle rose early to greet the sun. They walked along the shores of Lake Killarney, loving the emerald green grass and crystal blue waters. For twenty minutes they watched the scene together in silence. Then the uncle began to do an unusual thing for an eighty-year-old man: He began to skip along the shore of the lake, smiling like a schoolboy in love. Ed was puffing hard as he tried to catch up with him.
“Uncle Seamus, you look very happy. Do you want to tell me
why?”
“Yes,” said the old man, tears streaming down his face. “You see, the Father is very fond of me. Ah my Father is so very fond of me.”
Max Lucado writes the following: “If God had a refrigerator, your
picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. And the Christmas gift he sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you.”
I hope you will take a moment and savour just how much God loves you:
* You are a princess daughter to the King of the Universe and He loves you more than words can express (1 Peter 2: 10)
* Psalm 42:8 “Day by day the Lord also pours out his steadfast love upon me (and you!)
* Jeremiah 29:11 ” I know the plans I have for you, declares the
Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
* Psalm 34: 18 ” The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
* Matt 11: 28 ” Come to me , all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
It is so important for you to know and recognize how deep and broad
God’s love for you is. Not only has God forgiven your sins but He has removed any guilt and shame from your life and given you the gift of heavan and the power of His Holy Spirit to live.
I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your aunt -and best friend.
Death is hard and it leaves us feeling alone and lonely. I lost my
mother about a year ago and I still miss her very much. Its important for you to know that you are grieving though – and that explains some of the confusion you are feeling. Again turning to Jesus in the midst of your questions is the best comfort I know of. God loves you so much that He aches with you over the loss of your aunt -and He is waiting with His arms of comfort to enfold you and love you.
God loves you and wants you to experience His peace and His presence – the comfort of the relationship that you spoke of. We are not by nature at peace with God – because our sin causes us to live as if God were not important. By ourselves we can’t find our way to God – but God loves us and makes a way for us to be right with HIm – He sent His son Jesus to live on earth and then to die so that our sins could be paid for – and to rise again to give us victory over confusion and death and life’s ugly circumstances. God invites you to be part of His
family. All you need to do is:
* admit that you need God
* confess your sin and be willing to let God show you betterways
* believe that Jesus died for you on the cross – and rose again to give you victory
* receive the gift of God’s love and forgiveness -receive Jesus as your saviour -and know that he will come and live in your heart if you ask him.
Here is a prayer for you to pray: Dear Lord Jesus: I know that I am a sinner. I believe you died and rose again for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and ask you to come into my heart and life. I recieve you as my personal Lord and Saviour. Thank you for saving me. Amen.
If you pray this prayer you can be assured that you are saved; you
have eternal life and you have God’s presence in your life to help you.
If you pray this prayer I want to encourage you to tell someone about your decision – someone who can help you in your spiritual life – I would love to hear back from you! I would also encourage you to read and study God’s word and to pray to God to seek wisdom and comfort.
Prayer is God’s invitation to talk to him about everything in our world – the happy; the sad; the big things; the small things. James 15: 16 says – When a believing person prays great things happen. I want to encourage you to pray -
When we pray – we should do these things:
* Identify the problem/concern/request we have. And in doing so we clarify in our own minds what is needed
* Present it to Jesus. We know He’s happy to help; and that He’s always listening.
* Do what he says – No matter how illogical it sounds .
* Trust in Him – Just trust. Not direct. Or question. Or yank the steering wheel out of his hands. Our job is to pray and wait. Nothing more is necessary. Nothing more is needed. “He is my defender; I will not be defeated” (Ps. 62:6).
* Know that God is true to us even when we forget him. God’s blessings are dispensed according to the riches of his grace, not according to the depth of our faith. “If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot be false to himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). This is why He continues to give good gifts even when we don’t pray – because He loves us and is gracious to us.
I would encourage you to continue to grow in your faith by doing some ot the following things:
* continue to pray even if you don’t fully understand it – The
bible tells us to “Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thes 5: 17-18)
God invites us to talk to Him about our needs; the needs of others; in praise and thanksgiving and in confession when we need to get our hearts right with God. Here are some prayers in the bible:
for blessings 1 Chronicles 4:10
to express thanks to God Psalm 52:9
for direction Psalm 143:8
in praise Psalm 145: 1-2
for daily needs Matthew 6:11
for everything Philippians 4: 6-7
for anything 1 John 5:14
* the bible is our source for life!! I would encourage you to start reading in the new testament – maybe with Luke or John – and stick with it. Start to act on the things that you understand – and feel free to write with any questions!
* build friendships with other committed Christians. You can do this online using the sites listed below and I would also encourage you to join a church community where you can celebrate the love and friendship of other christians. You might check the universtiy where you are studying for a chapter of InterVarsity – they would be able to help you and encourage you.
* here are some internet sources to help you:
* I would encourage you to work through the study Knowing Jesus
Personally, which is located on thelife.com:
http://thelife.com/study/knowjesuspersonally.html
If you would like to do this study with me – just write in answer to
question 1 that you want Lynn Gergens to be your study coach
* I would like to encourage you to connect with other believers.One way that you can do this online is to visit: http://www.thelife.com
http://www.christianwomentoday.com
There are many good articles, encouraging life stories as well as
opportunities to interact through a discussion board and a chat room.
* The Alpha course is an opportunity for anyone to learn moreabout the Christian faith in a relaxed small group setting. To locate a course close to you.
http://www.alpha.org/
I will continue to pray for you –
Dear Jesus – please help this young woman who is hurting and grieving the loss of her aunt. Come into her heart right now and give her peace – and help her to experience the joy of having a personal relationship with you. Guard her heart from despair and loneliness – send her Christian friends who will love her and help her. Give her the assurance of your salvation. In Jesus name, Amen.
I think he TOTALLY answers our prayers. Like once i was thinking of people to pray for and (i thought of Britney)i asked God to help out Britney and help her with her kids and with everything and i saw this magazine with Britney on the cover with her kids and it said that she was finally getting back on her feet. I think what u have 2 do is have faith and believe that God will answer u. Who knows? Maybe his answer was just no and u thought he was ignoring u!!!!!
Here is a tough one do you believe God will answer a prayer to change one’s sex, if they strongly believed they were born in the wrong body all their life. Thanks for all repies.
Does God answer to every prayer?…..ive been praying for my grandpa to be well or atleast better then he is and hes is becomeing worse…..see my grandpa has cancer and idk how to do anything else but pray but it doesnt seem to work……idk if God can hear it or not…..
jess,
God certainly hears every prayer, but ours is still a fallen world, and God has appointed a time certain times when we will suffer (“refined by fire” so to speak) and also a time when each of us will die. We know that everyone will eventually die; so eventually, if we are praying for physical healing, our prayer will not be answered in the way we’d like. Thankfully, our lives do not end upon death, and we will someday, at just the right time that God knows in advance, be reunited with those who have passed on before us.
I suggest praying for your grandpa’s soul, praying that God would be near to him in his illness, that God would encourage him and you and your family during this difficult time. Pray that God will comfort him, and that God will give him the confidence that whether he is physically healed or whether he goes to be with God, that God will never leave him.
jess, if you’d like to talk with someone privately and confidentially via email, please consider contacting an online mentor. They will reply to you personally via email. There is also an online interactive study here about prayer which you may want to explore:
http://mag.thelife.com/study/unansweredprayer.html?section=prayeranswers
Blessings to you jess, it was difficult for me when my grandfather passed away, but trusting in the knowledge that God is with us always in every circumstance helped.
wh ydoes lfie have to suck so much for me i feel that everyone in the world hates me i try to follow jesus is foot steps and be a deciple of his but when i do it seems its wrong liek thought of my mom one day my dada gave me money to get milk at the store and i egt milk and a magizinie and i told my dad that mom would like this magizine he scareams at me and i feel i did something worng and when i do soemthign worng i apolgized for all the bad stuf i do but everyone still hates me and everyone in my school hates me and calls me gay can i get some advice or something
also im bisexual i cant come out of the closet becaue everyone at school wiill shun me and everyone already calls me gay and a retart and a gay rod and stuf and i pray to got to help me out but he doesnt it seems he doesnt answer my prayer im loseing faith in god now and i get depressed easly and im emo i cut my self sometimes and i feel that i should kill my self no one understands me i have no friends at school i got a few that live in cincinatie but thats it and when i get home i get screamed at by my dad and then i go to bed and go to school and the same thing happeds agai what should i do?
plz reply me
Hi Michael,
My apologies for the huge delay in getting back to you. W don’t always “catch” the blog comments which are left.
Thank you or sharing so openly about the struggles you’re facing. This is a huge area where many, many people are struggling right now, and it’s important that you know that there are a lot of resources available to help guide you through this. From your blog postings, it’s clear to me that you have a really sensitive heart, but that can also certainly leave you open to abuse from others.
It can be really difficult to separate what others are saying to you from what God and your parents think about you.
If you haven’t already, I would also encourage you to get hooked in with an online mentor. This is totally anonymous and very easy to do. All you need to do is click on the “Talk to a mentor” link at the top, and briefly explain what you’re struggling with. You’ll be hooked in with a mentor who can then take the time to dialogue with you. You’re not alone, and I hope you take the time to write in and dialogue further. When you write, if you like, you can ask for Peter in the Teen Community, and I expect that you would reach me quickly that way.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Peter
Personally in my opinion NO, god doesn’t answer our prayers, and yes people I have prayed to “the almighty one” about prayers for my friends and family. Guess what God wants us to suffer, its payback for what we did to his “so called son”. Hope this changes your thoughts about God and the Catholic faith or any faith at
all.
God hates you for being you!!!!
Gabriel (and i dont care if im to be the messenger of God)
I’ve been praying to God to take me and my sister away from the house we live in and to a safe place. My sister’s mother (my step mother) is a horrible person and my sister isn’t safe with her. Right now, I’m raising her COMPLETELY. Her mother has nothing to do with her. My dad always takes her side, no matter what. She lies so much and is always trying to cause problems between me and my dad. I only care about my sisetr, which is why I don’t leave this house. She’s under 1 year old and I can’t leave her in this abuse and allow her to grow up the way I did.
I’ve asked God have mercy on her life and take us away from here and am still waiting for His answer.
Darren Hewer,
thx for the comment.
i just have a very hard time dealling with deaths.exspecailly ones that r as close to me as my grandpa is.im glad that he hasnt died yet.but i fear he will soon:( but as u said we all die eventually.