Thank you for all the replies!
Funny thing is, I've been taking up a lot of Christian material the past 6 months. Radio shows, books, reading scripture. I'm learning a ton; an absolute ton, but I just get more angry on the inside.
Believe me, I have no delusions of bending anyone my way.
Plus, God seems to have a way of breaking people to make them see. "I can't walk any longer and drool all over myself now while other people feed me, but I'm happy!". Ya, no... The f-you's would only increase.
Hi ndsp,
Well it looks like some people here have given you some great pointers, including seeking out a Christian counselor, which I hope you will consider. I don't want to repeat the helpful things many have taken the time to write, but I did want to tell you that you're not alone in how you feel.
I was so angry at God after my divorce, and many people told me the same things that some are saying here. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying it didn't help me, and I do understand about how having more and more of what seems like "religion" thrown at you just makes you madder instead of wanting to go to God.
I was raised in church all my life and went to Christian schools, so I heard every good Christian cliche in the book, hundreds of thousands of times. Like you, people told me that God wouldn't listen to me because of my anger and that I needed to stop thinking about myself. And the more they talked, the angrier I became.
They told me God hated divorce--and so I asked if that was true, why didn't He change my husband's mind so that he'd leave his girlfriend and come back to me, as I'd prayed so many times. Then they told me God gives us free will and won't override it, but that I also couldn't remarry and would have to be alone for the rest of my life (and I was 25 at the time. So yes, I understand what it feels like to have your whole life end at 25 and seem to stand still, even though your chronological age keeps marching on. Also, my ex eventually remarried, but I never have.)
They told me God wouldn't listen to me because of my anger, and would physically back away from me as a way to say, "When He strikes you down with lightning, I don't want to be so close to you that I get hit by accident," and I would ask them, "If you believe God is all-powerful, why are you doubting His ability to aim accurately? At least I believe He's perfectly capable of hitting JUST ME if He intends to do so."
They told me I was just being rebellious and one time, one of the pastors of my church told the prayer group to not even bother "wasting the time to pray" for me because of my anger.
They told me to stop thinking of myself and get involved with helping others, which I did to the point of spending 5 nights a week at the church, and what they don't tell you is that when you shove your own pain aside and try to deal with it by serving everyone else, you never learn to deal with your own pain because you are only taking on everyone else's around you. All of their advice taught me just to feed my own pain with more pain, and I'm still having a problem with using that as a coping mechanism today.
I got to a point where all I was doing was seeking out other people's pain in order to try to forget my own, and I was a confused, miserable wreck who felt like God and any church I went to made everything worse, because a lot of their advice made me worse and not better.
But for some reason (only by the grace of God,) I still kept praying (even in all my anger, and my prayers sounded very much like yours), still kept going to church, and still kept serving, and I went on for years like that.
In the midst of all of this, I finally found some very wonderful people to help me, and who (through the heart of God) saw past my anger, or could relate to it, and kept encouraging me instead of cutting me down.
And so, I tell you all of this because I'm hoping it will give YOU some hope that God cares about, listens to, and loves even the angriest of people.
I know, because I was one of them.
Please don't be afraid to seek out help and keep seeking out Christian counselors, mentors, and friends. If the first person won't give you a chance... Go to the next 10... Or 20... And please don't give up. As you move along that journey, hold on to the hope that God will touch your heart and eventually change your outlook, and maybe even your life.
I know He did it for me, and I am positive He can do the same for you.
We serve a big God. Keep bringing Him your real feelings--He can handle them--but maybe, as a small token tonight, you could start by telling him just a small thank-you? Just for at least listening to how you feel?
I know this is what truly changed it for me--no matter how much, how strong, or how terribly I raged against God, He still kept showing me love, even though at the time, I didn't realize that He was showing His love by listening to me--and that's what eventually broke through to my heart. I got to a point where I knew, or could feel, that God was listening to me.
And I became amazed by the realization that God loves me no matter how terrible I am... until one day, I finally realized, I couldn't live without Him. And neither can you.
God bless you in your journey, and please don't stop trying.
