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I appreciate this. It is interesting how easy it is to use the full armor of God against our brothers and sisters in Christ. Everyone wants to show what a shiny and powerful sword they have and how strong their shield is. Too few want to drop the armor, be a little more transparent, and discuss real struggles.
I chose to talk about cigarettes because it was the lesser of the sins I have struggled with and won victory over by NOT having my impulses taken away. I really learned the power of NO even though you feel like you are dying - and so I did. Everything I thought was satisfying me, I chose to sacrifice and die to because it was not God's will or best for me. . I chose to have nothing!
No, I do not share these very real struggles because they are personal and the important thing is the struggles are hard and they are real - and that God meets you in them and for everything you die to, he restores back to you in ways that would surprise you.
No, I do not share these very real struggles because they are personal and the important thing is the struggles are hard and they are real - and that God meets you in them and for everything you die to, he restores back to you in ways that would surprise you.
There is on the forum a climate of hostility which makes it difficult for many to reveal their inner selves.
I am not trying to point fingers or cast blame. I am just stating fact. Words have power to hurt as well as to encourage; and until the forum becomes a gentler place, it is understandable that members feel a need to protect themselves.
I am all for sharing about general issues, they do not have to be specific in detail, but it is often the sense of being alone, this is something not common, and I am the most feeble etc. rather than we all have x issue, but this is how I cope.
I will share one that I have learnt about. Anger. In a close relationship, with love, desire, planning etc you easily trip up over each other. The frustration can lead to anger and the anger to words you regret. It becomes a struggle to supress you feeling and always be nice, but it all gets too much sometimes.
So I found I could emotionally divorce myself, walk away, and be alone, really alone. I could let myself go to that place and give up the relationship, just let it go. Part of me would feel guilty and want to stop me. When I was truly there, the emotion had put me where I needed to be. I found there I could learn to love again, to come back, to see what I appreciated not because I was scared of loosing it, but because when alone, it did mean something to me.
It has taken many years to learn emotions are there for a reason and you need to listen. If you are not careful though, anger can go to hate, and hate to worse things.
Now I am not saying the emotions I feel are right, but they are real, and I need to let myself feel them or they do not go away or change.
So that is one of my struggles and my victory.
I will share one that I have learnt about. Anger. In a close relationship, with love, desire, planning etc you easily trip up over each other. The frustration can lead to anger and the anger to words you regret. It becomes a struggle to supress you feeling and always be nice, but it all gets too much sometimes.
So I found I could emotionally divorce myself, walk away, and be alone, really alone. I could let myself go to that place and give up the relationship, just let it go. Part of me would feel guilty and want to stop me. When I was truly there, the emotion had put me where I needed to be. I found there I could learn to love again, to come back, to see what I appreciated not because I was scared of loosing it, but because when alone, it did mean something to me.
It has taken many years to learn emotions are there for a reason and you need to listen. If you are not careful though, anger can go to hate, and hate to worse things.
Now I am not saying the emotions I feel are right, but they are real, and I need to let myself feel them or they do not go away or change.
So that is one of my struggles and my victory.
B
Perhaps this explains it better...
rom.7.18-23.niv For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
rom.7.18-23.niv For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.