Need some advice

Comments

• jesusmystrength

  January 2010

  Crazy4Christ1,
  Don't worry you're not the only one! Many of us go through that. I understand how uncomfortable that feels.
  When i talked to my FOC about this he told me that sometimes we need to push ourselves to do it - push ourselves to wake up and pray, to read the Bible, to concentrate during mass and tasbeha, and so on. At the same time we should pray for God to strengthen us because we cannot do it on our own. If you keep doing that you'll get into the habit, but keep doing it and asking for God's help. Soon enough you'll see that you love to do these things and will want to do them and God will not leave you, He will help you to feel His presence. I've tried this and it works.
  The hard thing is keeping on going once you've started, because if you give in to the devil one day, you'll have to work harder the next day to bring yourself back up. But God will still always be there for you, He's merciful. And remember, no matter how far we get, there is always room for improvement.
  Hope that helps.
  Pray for me.
• PaulSamir

  January 2010

  That actually helps a lot. Thanks for the encouragement :)
• LondonCopt

  February 2010

  This is a common problem, and one that I've spent hours speaking to my Confession Father about. I totally agree with what jesusmystrength wrote, remember that a routine in itself can be cleansing. There's a nice story that illustrates how this is possible,
  
  There's a story of a young monk in a monastery who struggled to understand the words of the Bible, as he was not very educated. This upset him very much, so he went to an older monk to help him. This older monk told him to take a basket to a well far outside the monastery, fill it up with water and then bring it back. The trouble was that this basket was very old and dirty and it was completely full of holes, so it wouldn't even hold any water. So by the time the young monk returned to the older monk with the basket, it was completely empty because the water had leaked out. The older monk instructed him to do the same thing every day, knowing the same thing would happen...but the young monk did as he was told out of obedience. Eventually, the older monk told him "What do you now notice about this basket?"
  "When I first gave it to you, it was old, dirty and wouldn't hold any water. It still won't hold any water now - but it's much cleaner now than it was before."
  
  The basket in this story represents us, and the water is the cleansing power of God. Though we may not hold the water (or feel moved by the blessings we're receiving through reading the Bible, prayer, tasbeha) it still has the power to purify us. So don't be discouraged that you don't feel anything, because whether you realise it or not the Word of God is still working in you.
  
  In Hebrews 4:12 we read "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
  
  So keep steadfast in your spiritual life and speak regularly with your Father of Confession about this. Pray about this too, that God soften your heart and that you begin to appreciate the depth of His love for us. We'll never understand the depth of His love, but once we realise that it's beyond our understanding then that's pretty moving in itself! A good book I'd recommend is "What's So Amazing About Grace?" by Philip Yancey.
  
  Don't be discouraged, keep struggling and remember to pray for us all,
  Matthew
• PaulSamir

  February 2010

  Thank you God bless you guys