If you've been a Christian a long time (supplement to the over 40 thread)

[anniemary]

The "over 40" thread hit a different chord for me.

 

I've been a Christian for about 25 years now. Scripture seems so dry to me right now. I feel as though I've heard every sermon, know every teaching. I can't seem to find a book or devotional that doesn't make me say "well, duh!" Women's Bible Studies aren't challenging anymore either. I crave more than "fill-in-the-blank." My life is overloaded with many things, one of which is a special needs child. So, a Precepts class is a little beyond my reach right now.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have a very strong faith and love the Lord so much it brings tears to my eyes sometimes. And, I know that God is so huge, there is no way we can ever learn everything about Him. But, I feel I'm in a rut!

 

Has anyone been here? How did you move forward? I've been praying about this for a couple years now. I don't have quiet time anymore because, well to be honest, I get bored. :-(. I don't like feeling this way about my walk.

 

Any thoughts?

[Tracy in Ky]

Have you ever listened to John Piper? He is a Baptist preacher in Minn. His sermon series on Romans is one of the most life-changing things I have ever heard. He took about 8 years to preach through the book, and it is all free to listen to online. I think that you will be stirred up and literally changed by listening to the series. Just start at the beginning and systematically listen to each one. The first several may seem a bit slow and tedious, but once you get into them, you will have trouble staying away.

 

Here is the link:

 

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/2/

 

Blessings,

Tracy

[anniemary]

Hi Tracy,

 

Actually, I go to his church! That's the only saving grace for me right now. If it weren't for Piper, I'd REALLY be in the wilderness! He does such an amazing job of helping me see things in Scripture I've never seen before. I just wish this would happen in my quiet time. Thanks for the suggestion! You are right, maybe I should listen to his past sermons.

 

Blessings,

 

Annie

[Julie in Austin]

You might think this is insane, but have you considered studying Biblical Hebrew or Biblical Greek? I've found that contact with scripture in the oldest languages makes it seem so amazingly fresh and new. There are all sorts of amazing, free online resources . . .

[Guest janainaz]

I've been in this place for a while. I do think it has to do with growing spiritually.

 

My dh and I attended a small group through a church for about 8 months. We needed to question things, to be able to be open about our thoughts, and we were perceived as rebels. We did not attend the church, just the group because the service was repetitive. Our motive was to connect with people because only there will you find Christ's heart.

 

My dh questioned something from Job and one of the leaders laughed and scoffed and told my dh if he had a problem with Scripture, it was his problem. It was not a matter of having a problem with Scripture, but a question as to the contrast in character of God. Needless to say, we left the group. My dh went to Bible college years back, he has studied theology for many years and it seems that searching for truth so deeply leaves you feeling alone. You have to question what you think you know. You can never go wrong searching for truth. It feels safe having something to cling to, yet the more you search for truth the bigger God seems to be. A love that widespread seems impossible to grasp hold of.

 

My dh did say something to the leader of the group that really hit me though. If you are a Christian and you find yourself in the same place year after year, doing the same things - you are not growing. I don't think I could sit through many Bible studies. It is to me like, "Been there, done that." It's not like I have arrived anywhere better than anyone else. I don't have a super-Christian cape or certificate that shows I have mastered anything. In fact it is quite the opposite. The more I see God's character - his true character - the more I'm amazed and the more I realize I have to learn about love in this life. But, I did hit a point where I could not sing the same Christian song that I once loved anymore. I could not sit through another service that was equivalent to learning my A, B, C's over and over again.

We are not meant to find God only in the Scriptures. It has to come from finding him in the hearts of others.

 

I wish I had that same feeling I used to have about reading and learning and new Christian books, Bible studies, ministries - everything related with what this generation has made God about. But, somehow I think that everything that has been created that says: "This is where you find God," is not really where you find God. I think the frustration comes from what we have been told about who he is, what he wants, what he "expects", and what this life is about. This life is not about where we are headed in the end. It's about what we do with our time here. I think that the misreprentation about the true heart of God has left 95% of Christians feeling the way you said you feel, but too scared to admit it. I think the very system that has been created to allow people to connect with God has actually done quite the opposite.

 

I don't have any answers as to the feel-better part. I just know where not to look. For me, I take it day-by-day and trust that God is near. I've summed it up to the simplicity that whereever there is an opportunity to show love or to feel love is where you find him. Nothing is to be taken for granted.

[lllll]

..

Edited March 23, 2013 by 3kt68

[momtoboys]

Personally speaking, I feel like this a lot.

 

I think, at times, our expectations are the problem. We aren't really always going to open the Bible every day and read some great new truth. There are days we will get something good out of our Bible reading, and there are days we won't. It's life.

 

There are Sundays we'll love going to church, and there are Sundays when we won't feel like going. We still go. . .And it's our hearts that God sees.

 

Real Spiritual life isn't in the highs of the campfire service or making a great decision for God. The most faithful people I know didn't have exciting lives, but lived out their faith in day-to-day seeming monotony.

 

I recently heard of a man who spent his entire life working in a factory (which would bore me to death!), and right before he died he said he felt his biggest joy was that his 12 children were walking with the Lord in their daily lives.

 

Another thing that helps me when I get "unexcited" in my spiritual life is trying to help someone else. It takes my mind off of ME.

[Sputterduck]

You might think this is insane, but have you considered studying Biblical Hebrew or Biblical Greek? I've found that contact with scripture in the oldest languages makes it seem so amazingly fresh and new. There are all sorts of amazing, free online resources . . .

 

 

That's not insane at all! I did that before becoming a Christian because I didn't know which Bible to trust.

 

Time to stop with the milk and start on the meat! You're not a baby Christian anymore. :001_smile:

[Greta]

Editing: I agonized over this post before I posted, but still wasn't happy with it. I think it is inappropriate for me to be attempting to give any advice when I am just a baby in the faith. I apologize.

Edited December 4, 2009 by GretaLynne

[iluvmy4blessings]

Maybe you could get involved in a group that does more than just study the Bible. For example, they might be more interactive and share things on a personal level. I have been involved in Bible studies where it is purely teaching. You just listen, take notes, and study. Although I enjoy that, I feel that a group setting is not really necessary as I can do that at home on my own with audio CD's or books. For group Bible study, I prefer it when people share about their life more and things they are going through and how their faith has been a part of that. When I am in groups where it is only "classroom" teaching and not a lot of personal sharing, I tend to feel "dry" afterwards myself.

[Sputterduck]

Here's a question. You have all the basics down. What are you doing about your faith? Maybe it's not time for more studies, more books, or more devotionals. Maybe it's time to take what you know out into the world. Put that knowledge to use, if you aren't already. It does very little good staying in your own head.

[Happy]

Yes. I feel this way. And I'm worried and frustrated by it. I, too, listen to sermons and sit in Bible studies and think I know all this...sometimes I seem to know more than the teacher or preacher.

 

No answers for you. I'm very disenchanted with church, church people, and church activities for the most part. I've poured myself out over and over again in ministry related activities over the past three or four years. I'm tired.

 

For me, it's time to pull back and be still with God for a while. Kind of like when life gets crazy in your family life. You and dh just need to spend some quality time together. That's the same feeling i'm getting about church, God, and the Bible right now. Time to get back to basics. Read the Word. Be still, be quiet, and let God be in my life.

[milovany]

 

Any thoughts?

 

Yes, you sound just like me from about 20 years ago to the last year. I think it's because my relationship with Jesus Christ had quite honestly been mostly a thing of the mind (understanding) and secondarily of the feelings (did I feel like I had a relationship with him). I was constantly learning/reading about Christ (whether in the Bible or other Christian books), but it wasn't making that big of a difference in ... I don't know, my relationship with him. How much more could I *know*? ETA - And we were actively involved in "living our faith" -- we had an outreach to international students where we met with them weekly. So that wasn't the issue, you know?

 

Everything, and I do mean everything, all started changing for our family a year ago when we started attending an Orthodox church. Oh my. I don't have time to write right now because I have to be at work in 20 minutes -- but here our faith is FULL. It's whole/holistic. Prayer and communion with God isn't just thinking thoughts and hoping, it involves ALL our whole being, all the senses, is what we are and what we do and everything we hope for if that makes sense. It's not trying to understand or build a relationship with God -- it's living that relationship with God. We're so thankful! I can post more later or if you want to PM me feel free. I have some books I can recommend and probably have other thought to share, but I need to get to work.

Edited December 4, 2009 by milovaný

[Dobela]

Personally I have found that many devotionals and the like are full of fluff and just a verse or 2 of the word. A friend of ours doesn't use devotionals or 'man made' books to guide his study any more. He thinks of a topic he wants to study and then goes to his large concordance or his equally large topical index and looks up every single verse about that topic or that includes a particular word (like Holy Spirit or baptism or money or love or son or etc). He has a notebook that he keeps notes in as he studies. A topic can last a short time or a very long time depending on how deep he gets with meanings and application. He also has a Vine's Greek Expository that he uses to look up the original meanings of the words and makes notes about those in his notebook and Bible. Since doing that his knowledge and understanding of the Bible has grown exponentially. I now have the Vines on my Christmas list and hope to begin study like this in January.

[Colleen in NS]

Scripture seems so dry to me right now. I feel as though I've heard every sermon, know every teaching. I can't seem to find a book or devotional that doesn't make me say "well, duh!" Women's Bible Studies aren't challenging anymore either. I crave more than "fill-in-the-blank."

 

How did you move forward?

 

How about starting a "reading through history/literature/science" program for yourself, moving forward chronologically? You could even keep a timeline and jot things on it that strike your interest. I do this sporadically, and the more I read, the more kid-books I browse through, the more of this world's "story" I see and the more connections I make - also the more "aha" moments I have. I tend to look for what I think is God's work in this world, both past and present. Also, just talking about these things with other people in my path helps. It's a big, interesting world that I believe He has made. Also, I get glimpses of how historical people have interpreted the events in the Bible and the principles in the Bible. It's just interesting to me.

[justamouse]

Been there and done that. My experience is kind of along Jana's.

 

But, when I go through times like you are walking through I remember that 1. this is a looooong lifetime journey. And God is a God of the organic. I mean, I know God does BIG things, but most of the time, at least for me, it's a slow day to day process of one step at a time. A book that really explains it well is

 

SO YOU DON'T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH ANYMORE by Jake Colsen, Wayne Jacobson and Dave Coleman. (I saw a copy in Walmart the other day. ) I'm not saying that YOU want to stop going to church, but the story was one of a discontent Christian who was questioning it all and it really pinpointed where I was in my journey.

 

It's hard to make a series of insights fit onto a pinhead-but that book helped me so much. About 8 years ago I started to feel like you. I gave it all up (church, the worship team, children's church, teaching---EVERYTHING) and trusted God to show me becuase I was so tired of the same old same olds and, frankly, the hypocrisy of it all started to chafe. If THIS was what it was about and this was what the next 80 years was going to be like-WHO wanted it? Not me. I didn't want more flash or theatrics (better light systems, a new program, a new movie projector), I wanted more reality. Deeper truth. MY FRIENDS and I were walking the same path with one another, but we realized we didn't fit within the frame of the institutional church anymore. I wanted Jesus in skin and I didn't know where to find him.

 

Well, I jumped. It was hard, but so very slowly one person here, another book there, a blog post, a song, but it was all leading me to a revelation of a Christ I had never met within the four walls of the churches I had been going to for over 30 years.

 

That may not be where you're at, but I'm just telling you to encourage you that if you are seeking for something you can't find, then trust Him to reveal it to you. He will never lead you astray. And, you may fall in love all over again.

[Chris in VA]

Psalm 85: 6-9

 

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

 

Hosea 10:12

 

Break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

 

Psalm 69:32b

 

You who seek God, let your hearts revive

 

You are in a good place, to be seeking revival! Longing for freshness in the Lord is more than longing for novelty and exciting feelings. It is longing for restored relationship with God himself, and just what he wants!

 

I highly recommend Nancy Leigh DeMoss' Seeking Him--Experiencing The Joy of Personal Revival. It is 12 weeks of focusing on God, your relationship to him, and hinderances in that relationship. It's a breath of, not only fresh air, but the Holy Spirit!

 

Until you get the study guide, might I also recommend two things--FIND the TIME to get with God every day. EVERY STINKIN' DAY, GIRL! :lol:

Just sit there, and ask him to be with you. Get quiet. Reeeaaal quiet.

 

Secondly, try Lectio Divina, an ancient form of seeking God's fresh word to you in the scriptures. Just google and go.

 

Sending tons of love,

Chris

(who often needs revival--God in his mercy usually send it in the form of hardship--hope you can find another way! lol)

[Kathleen in VA]

I feel like this from time to time. I feel like I could have written the Bible Study guide I'm reading and that has pushed me to just focus on scripture alone. I agree with Kathy (ksva) about concentrating on one small passage of scripture at a time and really digging deep with it. I have posted a few of my personal discoveries in scripture on my blog if you'd like to see how that has gone. I have just found that it is when I really pull a particular scripture apart that I begin to see things I hadn't seen before. Here is a recent example of how this sort of Bible study plays out for me:

 

I focused on Philippians 1:27-30 because those are the verses we went over in Sunday School a few weeks ago.

 

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

 

I looked up the word "conversation" which can mean conduct or citizenship and I read a couple of commentators on it (ESV Study Bible and Matthew Henry). I thought about my citizenship being in heaven and what my conduct would be there. Then I thought about the idea of "one mind" and I thought of Romans 12:2 about renewing the mind which led me to read all of Romans 12 and found that verses 9-20 speak directly and specifically to the way a Christian ought to behave - very convicting, btw. Romans 12:3 also talks about having a unity or oneness of mind and not to think too highly of oneself. That took me back to Philippians because in Chapter 2, Paul says to have the mind of Christ and to think of others more highly than oneself. He also says that Christ humbled himself to the point of death on the cross and that God has exalted Him above every other name. That made me think of I Peter 5:6 which says "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time." All of I Peter deals with how to deal with suffering. Philippians is about joy in suffering. They are both also about humility and putting others first.

 

Anyway, through all this reading and jumping around a bit I got to thinking about how we are called not just to salvation, but also to suffer for Christ's sake. We are called to find joy in that suffering knowing that it is making us more Christlike. We are called to humility of mind and it is this humility of mind, like the mind of Christ, that draws us together in unity and oneness. Hopefully, that study has worked some bit of humility into me - at least it has brought the whole concept of humility and oneness of mind to the forefront of my thinking. The problem with humility is the second you think you've acquired any, it vanishes.:D

 

My pastor often says that scripture is the best commentary on itself. If you just start with one passage it will surely bring other passages to mind and then you will start to make connections that you've perhaps never made before. I am always a bit startled when I "discover" something for the first time by using this method - it's actually fun in a way.

 

You are very blessed to go to John Piper's church. I found him on the internet about 8 years ago and love to listen to him preach. Do you know Soph the Vet? I think she goes to his church as well.

[LittleIzumi]

Could you check out other scripture to see the other faces of God, like the Quran or the Book of Mormon, or even other translations of the Bible? It might expand your understanding or bring you back to studying your usual works with new insight/perspective. (I'm LDS and we have a lot of scriptures so I'm sure I'll never feel like I know it all, and I always find things I'd forgotten, but I also love reading other works and seeing how other people edified God in their own way at that time.)

 

Here's a question. You have all the basics down. What are you doing about your faith? Maybe it's not time for more studies, more books, or more devotionals. Maybe it's time to take what you know out into the world. Put that knowledge to use, if you aren't already. It does very little good staying in your own head.

 

This too! Lots of service and stuff :001_smile:. And you can pray and ask God to guide you to what He wants you to learn/do next.

[HS in NZ]

But then God literally stirred up my heart. This happened when I was about a Christian for more than 20 years. I felt like my Christian walk was on cruise control and nothing "spiritually" exciting going on. I'm not saying our faith depends on feelings, but something was somehow missing. We were even planning an exciting move to another country. That excitement disappeared about 3 days after the move. Then it hit me! Everything familiar was now gone. I didn't like it one bit. My heart became increasingly sad to the point that I knew all I had was to rely on God. My world was shaken up and not on cruise control anymore! I'm not saying this may be you. But for me, I had to be given a chance to react the way Scripture teaches. I was living the Scriptures not just reading/believing it! It's been almost 8 years since then and we've even moved back to the states. But I'm still being put in unwanted situations where I am relying on Him and His Word! Even though I had a strong faith in God already, I become so much closer to God when I have nothing but to rely on Him. I hope this makes sense.

[Laurie4b]

The "over 40" thread hit a different chord for me.

 

I've been a Christian for about 25 years now. Scripture seems so dry to me right now. I feel as though I've heard every sermon, know every teaching. I can't seem to find a book or devotional that doesn't make me say "well, duh!" Women's Bible Studies aren't challenging anymore either. I crave more than "fill-in-the-blank." My life is overloaded with many things, one of which is a special needs child. So, a Precepts class is a little beyond my reach right now.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have a very strong faith and love the Lord so much it brings tears to my eyes sometimes. And, I know that God is so huge, there is no way we can ever learn everything about Him. But, I feel I'm in a rut!

 

Has anyone been here? How did you move forward? I've been praying about this for a couple years now. I don't have quiet time anymore because, well to be honest, I get bored. :-(. I don't like feeling this way about my walk.

 

Any thoughts?

 

That sounds to me like what happens to people in seminary: there is a subtle tipping of approach that one could say is "analyzing Scripture" instead of "letting Scripture analyze you." What God speaks to you is sometimes comforting, sometimes challenging, but never boring. It's a shift from "studying" where you are the subject and the Scripture is the object to "listening" where God is the subject speaking through his word to you, the object (grammar terms, here!) .

 

The word of God is living and active, sharper than a two edge sword; therefore, what it speaks to you today through a particular Scripture may well be different than what it spoke to you 3 years ago through the same Scripture. The meaning of the Scripture doesn't change; however, it's application for you changes because your life has changed. So I'd recommend that you ask God to speak to you as you read, and start in one of the gospels. Put yourself in a posture of sitting at Jesus' feet and hearing what he has to say to you today.

[Hedgehogs4]

I've been there...so much so that I've even questioned if I believed anymore. The thing that changed for me was prayer. I began to plead with the Lord to teach me how to pray, and got really honest with him about everything. Over the years I've learned that He really is big enough to handle everything I can give him, and He desires and LONGS to carry our burdens for us. When I began to seek him in desperate, thirsty prayer, the Word became alive again. It's not all that simple or formulaic as it sounds here--it's been a winding journey that has taken about three years, complete with a lot of emotional healing, but it all started with prayer. Saying the simplest things such as "Lord I want to hear from you today and know that I've heard from you when I lay my head down tonight," and then believing that he'll answer begins a journey of a lifetime. Mine began with this prayer:

 

"Lord, I don't know who I am. I want to know FROM YOU who I am--I need you to tell me." 3 years ago he began to answer that prayer dramatically, and today i am not the same person who prayed that prayer.

[milovany]

Had a busy day! Sorry I didn't get back like I said I would. I guess in thinking this through today I realized that I'm coming from the perspective now that I think the Christian life was meant to be sacramental. I had never before experienced or even understood what this meant before about a year ago (and I'd been a Christian for 23 years). And I'm SO just a baby learning; but the Eucharist, baptism, marriage, etc., these, I don't believe, were not meant to be symbolic things, but sacramental things. Even items such as incense, candles, altars, icons: God touches us through these material matters.

 

I read this on a board I frequent today: "Communion with God happens when we are united, both spiritually AND physically, to our Lord through his life-giving mysteries (e.g. eucharist, baptism, chrismation, confession, etc.). The goal of the Christian is to transform his very self, both mind AND body and become like Christ. Simple intellectual assent will not suffice." Simply, humbly I add an "Amen" to the end of this. For us, looking at the entire history of the church helped us choose which sacramental church to be a part of (although in reality the history look came before the understanding of sacraments).

 

I'm not arguing my case at all, please know that! I'm just trying to answer your question and have included my personal experience and how my relationship with God has changed forever. It's been such a relief.

 

May God be glorified in your journey!

Edited December 5, 2009 by milovaný

[lllll]

..

[Greta Lea]

I am SO jealous! I love to listen to and read Piper!

[lllll]

..

[Rosie_0801]

Editing: I agonized over this post before I posted, but still wasn't happy with it. I think it is inappropriate for me to be attempting to give any advice when I am just a baby in the faith. I apologize.

 

Then it's probably even more inappropriate for me to pop in, but it's important to me to try and help support people in their faith. If it's not, I'm easily ignored...

 

Others have said that perhaps you need to get out of your own head and into the world. Maybe you need a bit of kinesthetic learning, a "craft project," if you like. Maybe I'm just a food obsessed crazy, but surely if you get in there touching, tasting and really looking at God's creations, you will start to feel again. Nature study, gardening, exploring new to you ingredients through the kitchen, getting to know people on a deeper level. It's amazing how you can chat to people day in and day out, yet know so little about them. Until you ask, you won't know what obscure interests they indulge in and will be happy to share with you. Growing in faith is not always academic. Maybe you need to get your hands dirty with what you've got before you'll be ready for another bout of academia.

 

 

Rosie

[Suzanne in ABQ]

What you are describing is a normal part on the spiritual journey. I've been there for several years myself.

 

I second the book recommendation: So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore.

 

I'd also like to make another recommendation: The Critical Journey, Stages in the Life of Faith, Second Edition by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich

 

You can see/buy it here, at Amazon.com.

 

It outlines and describes the six stages in the spiritual journey, and the Wall that wells up between steps 4 and 5. The wall is looming, and dark, and you must go through it (with God, though you may not always sense His presence). You can't go over it, or under it. You can't cut holes through it, or otherwise create shortcuts. The Wall is a journey inward, to discover and work through all the "stuff" that is keeping you from a closer walk with your God. The reward for working through the wall is a closeness with your God that you had never even imagined. A oneness that makes it difficult to know where you stop and He begins.

 

This book is used as a textbook at Fuller Theological Seminary for their Spiritual Journey course.

 

Don't despair. You are in a good place because you are open to God and eager for more in your relationship with Him. He will provide what you need.

[teragram]

Ever heard the old saying about the best way to really learn more is to teach others. Sounds like you should step up to the plate and lead others around you. Surely you will grow and be motivated in a position of leadership. ~food for thought...

[Colleen in NS]

if you get in there touching, tasting and really looking at God's creations, you will start to feel again. Nature study, gardening, exploring new to you ingredients through the kitchen, getting to know people on a deeper level.

 

Rosie, I really like this bit. I had something like this in my mind when I posted, but forgot to get into it. At the time I was thinking about how exploring science through nature (looking at the sky, the trees, the fact that the seasons are the same year after year, the way that water flows through the veins of a leaf and through roots on a plant, etc.) has caused me to think a little more about God and caused me to become more sure that Someone had to have created all this (not trying to provoke a creation debate, just saying what science study has done for my faith). Living life through all its different avenues, I believe, contributes to different sides of my faith in God. Creating beautiful things out of materials, looking at nature, interacting with my children, with other people, occasionally trying to dream up new ways to cook the same food, etc..

[Kim in Appalachia]

:001_smile:

 

My first thought was, meditation. Meditating on scripture is not the same as Bible study. Meditating requires that you turn the thought/verse over and over again in your head and let it sink deep into your mind, and then into your heart. Meditating is pondering. It's letting the idea fill you, if that makes sense. I like reading the Daily Light on the Daily Path devotional. It has a theme for the morning and one for the evening. You let that theme stick with you all day. Keep rereading it over and over again, maybe write it out and keep it with you or post it somewhere in your house where you'll see it. This isn't an intellectual study, but a prayerful mindset, that seeks the Lord throughout the day by pondering on Him and His Word.

 

My second thought has to do with trying to implement God's grace in your own life throughout your day. I mean to be mindful of His mercy and truth and see how you can live that in your day. This can come in the form of responding with patience and kindness when your kids are driving you nuts. :001_smile: This can me asking your children for forgiveness when you do loose it. :D It means trying to remember to go to the Lord in prayer when something difficult happens. Seek Him first. This can be really hard. I know I tend to just plow through my day. This requires that you slow down and see how to live out your faith in the little moments.

 

These are 2 ideas that popped into my head when I saw your post. I've been in the place where I feel like I've heard all the teaching, everything thing feels like a rerun, so to speak. I know the verses/scripture from all of the intellectual angles. In our highly driven, educated society, I think we forget the simpler forms of our faith (though neither meditating or trying to live in the moment living out your faith is simple. :001_smile:)

[Tea Time]

Editing: I agonized over this post before I posted, but still wasn't happy with it. I think it is inappropriate for me to be attempting to give any advice when I am just a baby in the faith. I apologize.

 

Um ... I don't see anything wrong with new Christians attempting to give advice. Some of the most enthusiastic Christians I've ever met were those converted as adults. They really seem to have more of a sense of the urgency of the whole thing. I remember meeting Jeff Barth in NH at a hs conference once. Became a Christian in his 20's or 30's (?). I learned a whole, whole lot from him and his family.

 

FWIW

Kathy

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree: