⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂfaith & fantasy⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂ discussion

nothing too horrible. I just had a study group last semester with a couple people. they were really nice and I was glad to have friends at school for once but they liked to swear a lot and make inappropriate jokes. and I know I should've been more careful about who I hung out with but I was desperate to not be alone at school...but now I know that it's better to be lonely than being with people that make you kind of uncomfortable

haha and the one time I got up the courage to ask them to stop swearing it got all awkward and quiet. and they didn't really stop

Oh wow. I remember in my stats class we had small groups. I was the only sophomore in there and the two people in the groups were seniors. The guy was all swearing and using God's name in vain, and I think the gal was his friend. But anyway, the gal knew that I was a Christian, and I was literally just sitting there and not even really talking lol and she told the guy to maybe stop? She didn't say it was because of me, but it obviously was, so that felt a bit awkward.

It's really hard to know what to do exactly in those types of situations!

I wish I had realized a long time ago that God never ever wastes your pain. In fact, the Bible tells us that trials make us stronger!

Ooo yes! I completely agree! One of my favorite verses (paraphrased) basically says that though you may stumble, God will never let you fall.
Another good one is that “God works everything for the good of those who love Him.” (Paraphrased; Romans 8:28)

Yesss!! And in James 1 he speaks all about endurance in trials.

Yes for sure!

For sure! And that'll make heaven all the more sweeter when we do get to Paradise!

Lilyyy wrote: "For sure! And that'll make heaven all the more sweeter when we do get to Paradise!"

Definitely!

"Beginning at this place on this day, I exhort you to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy-and literally to sweep the carth as with a flood."

Elder David A. Bednar

You don't need to be perfect. If you were perfect, then what would be the point in Christ dying for you? Every time you make a mistake, and stumble, or grow weary, is a crack through which Jesus can shine His light all the brighter. Lean on Him, and He will give you rest. He will give you things that are too hard for you to do, and set you on a path that you simply can't manage, because you need to have something impossible so you stop being so stubborn and let Him take care of you. The more you lean on Him, the easier things will be because then His full glory will shine forth. It took me a long time to learn that, and I'm still learning it every day. :)

Wow!!! That’s great!!! Thanks for sharing that!!!

That is beautiful! Thank you so much, Anne. It is so nice to have these reminders, because we can so easily forget. :)

Anne wrote: "You don't need to be perfect. If you were perfect, then what would be the point in Christ dying for you? Every time you make a mistake, and stumble, or grow weary, is a crack through which Jesus ca..."

Oh, this is beautiful, Anne!

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Last year, I made a point to start my day reading scripture and listening to praise music before I do anything. I picked my favorite activity (walking the dogs) and decided to dedicate that time to God. So after my reading, worshiping and coffee 🤭 I walked with God and my dogs. After this change, my life changed. I can’t explain how exactly… but it was all God!

That's inspiring! Just curious, but what were some of the changes that you began to notice? And how did you hold yourself to the commitment when you didn't feel like getting up early to read Scripture or something like that? Thanks! <33

The changes started from within. It was very subtle at first. If I had a problem and prayed about it, I would open up my Bible and the answer to my problem would be the first thing I read. The first couple times it happened, I thought it was just me, but then after it happened repeatedly… over and over and over again, I began to understand why they call the Bible “The Living Word”. Then other things started happening. I saw changes in things that were flawed about myself. For example, I struggle with a bad temper. I don’t struggle as much with that anymore as I did. After reading scripture, I had a better understanding of why God holds His children to a different type of standard. We were set apart for a reason. I started feeling better about myself that I was different because I have an understanding of why. And the things that weren’t different from the world, I wanted to make them different and acceptable in the Eyes of God.

When I woke up early and didn’t feel necessarily like reading right away, those were the mornings I would just put on music and drink my coffee/tea. I then made a way to be alone with God. Very often I would take my dogs for a run before I would read my Bible. Personally, I feel closest to God when I’m alone in nature. I love looking at all of the trees and vegetation that grew up to praise Him. The song of the birds are songs of praise. Everything is living the way it was created in nature… Or at least as close as possible.

Finally, when I didn’t feel inspired to read, I did it anyway. But I have found the secret to reading Scripture is very different than reading a book. Where in reading a book, we might have the “one more chapter” mentality, we can’t have that with the Bible. The Bible is our daily bread and “when it comes to daily bread, eat until you’re fed”….In other words, read until something really pokes at your heart. Read until something stands out to you. Sometimes for me, this was only half a chapter. Other times, it was two or three chapters. But if you try to “overeat“, you’re going to miss the whole point and often the importance of that message.

It’s also important to know what form of biblical literature you are reading. Is it poetry? Is it a narrative? Is it prose discourse? You cannot read the book of Psalms the same way you would read the book of Kings. And if you try, you’re going to shortly get, dare I say, uninterested.

Once I got a grasp on how to read the Bible, it really started to come alive to me. It was written better than any book ever recorded to mankind. And the reason is that the Author is literally Speaking to you still. I mean look at LOTR. The reason why the Tolkien books have stood the test of time isn’t because everybody has had the same interest in dragons and hobbits. Tolkien tells us why in the Forward. It’s because it wasn’t written as an allegory but applicability. This gives the freedom to the reader to “apply“ their own problems to the story. When you are reading it, what your correlating with the ring is going to be completely different than what my correlation with the ring is. Yet we can both enjoy the same story because we are both trying to destroy the ring for the common good. I believe JRRT was inspired by the Bible for a lot of his writings.

The Bible is that times 1 million and infinity and beyond. Your Goliath is not the same as my Goliath and your Goliath in 20 years is not gonna be the same as your Goliath now. Yet we both are David trying to slay Goliath. When keeping these things in mind, I have learned to stay inspired. I know that reading scripture is God talking straight to me in one way or another. And nothing is more encouraging than that.

Sorry for the long answer. I tried to keep it as short as possible but it’s just not going to happen that way lol.

Shannon wrote: "The changes started from within. It was very subtle at first. If I had a problem and prayed about it, I would open up my Bible and the answer to my problem would be the first thing I read. The firs..."

Love this, Shannon! Thanks so, so much for sharing!

Shannon wrote: "The changes started from within. It was very subtle at first. If I had a problem and prayed about it, I would open up my Bible and the answer to my problem would be the first thing I read. The firs..."

That is incredible, Shannon! It really is inspiring! ❤

Oh yeah! And I m extend an invitation out to do a Bible study or something if anyone is interested in that! Reading the Bible is something I try to do every day so if anyone wants a Bible buddy, I’m your girl!

I’d like to extend **

Haha, God called me up at 5 AM this morning! I followed your example, Shannon, and made sure to start my morning in Scripture. :)

Shannon wrote: "Oh yeah! And I m extend an invitation out to do a Bible study or something if anyone is interested in that! Reading the Bible is something I try to do every day so if anyone wants a Bible buddy, I’..."

That sounds like a great idea! What would you propose, exactly?

I saw you up early on the Bible app! Well at least I got notifications that seemed pretty early… Lol… And I would be OK with doing any type of Bible study! If somebody wanted to read a certain book out of the Bible, I’m good with doing the buddy system with that. I know on the Bible app they have “plans“ I would be good with doing some of those with you! I’m honestly very easy-going when it comes to that stuff and there isn’t a part of the Bible that doesn’t interest me!

It always feels so good in the morning praise God first thing! I’m so happy for you! Literally smiling cheek to cheek.

Shannon wrote: "I saw you up early on the Bible app! Well at least I got notifications that seemed pretty early… Lol… And I would be OK with doing any type of Bible study! If somebody wanted to read a certain book..."

Oh! Yes, I did go on for awhile after breakfast. :) I can't do the plans, tho, because of data usage. Maybe we could read the Psalms or Proverbs at the same time? Which would you prefer?

Shannon wrote: "It always feels so good in the morning praise God first thing! I’m so happy for you! Literally smiling cheek to cheek."

Yesss, it felt really good! Now I just gotta figure out how to make myself go to bed earlier! I always feel like I'm wasting time if I don't go to bed super late lol.

Fun activities to do with my three year old cousin when I visit him?

Walks
Reading book to him
Playing ofc
Coloring
Movies

That’s all I can think right now, but hope it helps!

Valery wrote: "Fun activities to do with my three year old cousin when I visit him?"

When are you visiting? I'll try and find more ideas other than the ones Ellie already listed.

Toys
Crafts
Board games
Hide-and-seek
Water balloons
Something else that's hands-on!

Ty! I don’t really know when I’ll get to visit him but hopefully sometime soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcvKS...

For any of you (including myself!) who are trying to discern what God wants you to do with your life, you might benefit from this video :) Some of the advice is specific for us Catholics, but much of it can be useful for other Christians as well.

That’s great!

All the advice and wisdom in here just made my day! It is so awesome to see so many people helping each other out through God’s love

hi guys! as I said before, i'm struggling w intrusive thoughts. i finally understand that God sees me and knows my heart but i'm wondering 'how long will this situation last?'

also for my Catholic brothers and sisters, I want to ask to you: when do you not take the Eucharist? in which situation? in a state of mortal sin, right?
and this is so heartbreaking for me because I can take the Eucharist only on Sundayz (because on Saturdays i go to Confession)

btw i'm so thankful for this group because even if I don't have a lot of people to speak of my faith and difficulties, there are you who are always ready to listen! ^^

elisa ੈ✩‧₊˚ wrote: "hi guys! as I said before, i'm struggling w intrusive thoughts. i finally understand that God sees me and knows my heart but i'm wondering 'how long will this situation last?'"

I am sorry, Elisa, for the struggle you are facing regarding intrusive thoughts. While I have no way of answering your question of how long it will last, since God is sovereign all the time and mysterious some of the time, I do want to encourage you with something a friend said to me the other day.

She also struggles with intrusive thoughts, and she said a counselor once advised her to not stress about them. Instead, she told my friend to not fight them. Instead, when they flit into her brain, she told her to let them flit right out again. In other words, don't do battle with them, but don't hold on to them either--just let them flow right out of your head.

I am not sure if this is what you needed to hear or not, but I thought it might be the Lord's design for my friend to have just said those words to me and then 2 days later I see your post. I hope the Lord Jesus uses it to bring you peace. May God bless you, Elisa.

elisa ੈ✩‧₊˚ wrote: "also for my Catholic brothers and sisters, I want to ask to you: when do you not take the Eucharist? in which situation? in a state of mortal sin, right?
and this is so heartbreaking for me becaus..."

Absolutely not, in the state of mortal sin, one must not receive the Eucharist or they commit the sin of sacrilege. Other than that though, it's always encouraged to receive it during Mass. I think what you meant to say was the state of grace, and that's true! If you go to Mass on Sundays, that's fine, and you fulfill your obligation since that's when we're supposed to go. It's even better if you prepare yourself with confession the day before. :)

If you're worried about intrusive thoughts, in case you don't know, it's not a sin unless you allow yourself to dwell on those thoughts and seek pleasure from them. Also, one more thing, you are allowed to receive Communion in venial sin. In fact, receiving the Eucharist will get rid of your venial sins. :) I hope that this helps!

When you struggle with intrusive thoughts, say a quick prayer! Even if it's just saying "Jesus" that will help. :) No one knows how long intrusive thoughts will last, but with God's help you can overcome them. I'll pray that you overcome this!

elisa ੈ✩‧₊˚ wrote: "also for my Catholic brothers and sisters, I want to ask to you: when do you not take the Eucharist? in which situation? in a state of mortal sin, right?
and this is so heartbreaking for me becaus..."

If you have intrusive thoughts, then you might also be suffering from scrupulosity as well. Many times people suffering from scrupulosity struggle to make a distinction between mortal and venial sins. It is true, in most circumstances, you can't receive the Eucharist when in the state of mortal sin, but you can when you've only committed venial sins.

If I may ask, when you say mortal sins, what do you mean by that? :)
Not all sins are mortal sins. Intrusive thoughts for example aren't sinful at all. The danger of scrupulosity is that often it makes us confuse consent with awareness. In order to commit a mortal sin, there's three criteria:

1) grave matter
2) full consent of the will
3)full knowledge of the act/thoughts sinfulness.

Helena "When you struggle with intrusive thoughts, say a quick prayer! Even if it's just saying "Jesus" that will help. :) No one knows how long intrusive thoughts will last, but with God's help you can overcome them. I'll pray that you overcome this!/i>

Normally this is praiseworthy, but not if the person has OCD. Such short prayers can easily turn into compulsions. When you treat OCD, the patient has to learn to 'sit' with the uncomfortable feelings they're suffering from. Of course, that doesn't mean dwelling on sinful thoughts.

my priest told me that committing a mortal sin means thinking insistently every day (in this case sin in thought) about a wrong act to do...
in my case i didn't know, i'm struggling and I feel really guilty and i'm in this stage of confusion
it seems that i CAN'T avoid having intrusive thoughts, last week it happened that I didn't give so much weight to these thoughts (also because school kept me busy) and it went better but now

sometimes I want to quit my relationship with God because I feel like i can't do ONE THING right
i'm tired to commit sins (even intrusive thoughts), to feel guilty all the time and to not receive the Eucharist even when I go to Mass on Monday too
and then I see people who go to confession once a month and they happily take the Eucharist and i'm start thinking 'why', 'why i'm not good enough', 'why I can't do just only one thing right'

If you don’t know, then in all likelihood you didn’t commit a mortal sin :) You need full knowledge of what you’re doing in order to commit a serious sin. If you're in a state of confusion, then it's unlikely you committed a grave sin. If you were intently thinking about a sin for the sake of deriving pleasure or enjoyment from the thought, that might be a venial or mortal sin, but it has to be prolonged and deliberate, which you would have absolute certainty about if it was.

No one is worthy of the Eucharist :) No one is 'good enough' for this most beautiful gift. All of us are unworthy, but our Lord wants us to receive Him anyways because He loves us in our brokenness, our sin, our shortcomings and weaknesses. "Our Lord sees our sins and calls us by our name, whereas the Evil One knows our name, but calls us by our sins. Sometimes we overlook one thing about mortal sins and that they have to be deliberate, which is to say, what one says is "I know this act will separate me from God, but I don't care. I'm doing it anyways."

Also, you're not your intrusive thoughts, Elisa :) These thoughts are not you, nor do they define you. You are a beloved daughter of God and He yearns for you to receive him often, to have that deep intimacy with Him that we experience when we receive the Eucharist.

I'll pray for you to find peace in God :)

thank you so much for your time and advices, maybe one day i'll be delivered
God bless y'all, I sincerely believe that He is very happy with the way you deal with your brothers and sisters in Christ <3

Stephen gave the best advice, but I'd like to add on one thing. As Stephen said, Jesus wants you to receive the Eucharist. I won't get into my personal life, but once I dealt with something similar. I knew that the Eucharist would give me the grace to overcome scrupulosity and the irrational fear of receiving it in mortal sin. If I followed my scruples, I would have not received it and my scruples would have dragged on forever. You must let Jesus in before He can do the work. You're doing the best thing right now, asking your confessor for advice, so continue! You got this, Elisa! I recommend praying the litany of trust, it really helps you be put at ease and to have faith in Jesus. <3

Stephen wrote: "Helena "When you struggle with intrusive thoughts, say a quick prayer! Even if it's just saying "Jesus" that will help. :) No one knows how long intrusive thoughts will last, but with God's help yo..."

That is true! I have friends with OCD, and I know that sometimes one can say the prayer over and over because it didn't "feel" right before.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iTEM1m3...

^ the litany is beautiful. Thanks for recommending it,Helena! The first petition is “ from the belief that I have to earn your love, deliver me Jesus.”

You're welcome! Yes, I love that one, that might be my favorite line. Each line touches you at one point or another. <3

What do you guys think of Henry IV's best friend telling him the phrase : 'Paris is well worth a mass.' Would you, if you lived in a monarchy, accept a Protestant who converted to Catholicism?

From Google :- On 25 July 1593, with the encouragement of his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Henry permanently renounced Protestantism and converted to Catholicism in order to secure his hold on the French crown, thereby earning the resentment of the Huguenots and his former ally Queen Elizabeth I of England.