New to the community

I am married with a child and recently left my job to start my own venture. I felt God was calling me to do something more meaningful with my life instead of listening to the rules from corporate USA. I want to make a difference in my clients lives and be there for them when I was told in the past I was not suppose to go see someone if they do not have X amount.

I grew up Catholic, I was very distant from Jesus and never truly understood the Holy Spirit. My wife and I started going to a Nondenominational church and we grew more in our faith (this is all pre covid) and started to have more and more personal relationships with Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God. We had a great community, but once Covid hit we lost everything. The younger generation didn't want to come back, our community group stopped meeting, and a lot of our friends stayed online.

I do not have ANY Christian friends. I am wanting to make this my first step to change my life. I am overly depressed and feel I cannot let go of trying to control my own life and give it to God. I actually show my clients the true side of me because all of them know I am a Christ follower. My friends, I hide behind a curtain, I guess I feel I cannot express my true identity because I do not want to be left friendless. What I am getting at is, I cannot let go 100% and say "God, I TRUST YOU"! I do, but I always come back around to try and control everything myself. It has especially gotten worse since I started my own business.

Thank you all for being apart of this community. I greatly appreciate each and every one of you for being here.

It is no surprise you are depressed when trying to suppress your true identity as a child of God.

You must decide do you want to stay depressed or live in truth. A truth that is chain breaking and even if you at some point are left alone you will not feel alone just as Paul in a prison cell who also spoke of people who had abandoned him and tried to hurt him, he (Paul) was joyfully mission focused on sharing the gospel and the love of Christ. Paul was not alone as he had the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that kept the fire burning in his soul.

You got this brother. Live free.

Hello @Jaesbj1, welcome to CChat! We're glad that you found us and joined in the discussions with us (and thank you for telling us a little bit about yourself too)

I'm sorry to hear that COVID has had such an ill-effect on your fellowship with other, local believers but, hopefully, things will begin to get better soon for you and your family .. e.g. Isaiah 40:31.

Praying for you.

God bless you!! (Numbers 6:24-26)

~Deut
p.s. - as for beginning to talk to your friends about the Lord, you might want to consider what is taught in this book, Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions (as it has been proven to be not only a very effective aid in witnessing/learning to witness, but as a method that is a bit less confrontational/offensive, since it teaches you how to ask leading questions about God/His word/the faith so that those who you are witnessing to can arrive at a proper conclusion on their own .. I believe this is called the Socratic method of teaching, just FYI).

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@Roughsoul1991 Thank you for that reply, you ARE 100% correct. It's amazing when someone else puts it in a different perspective it clicks. I have a lot of chains that need to be broken, not only for me, but for my marriage. Thank you again, I appreciate you and this community.

Thank you for praying! That is the best and most we can do for one another. I have an issue that I need to work on and that is my identity.

I am married with a child and recently left my job to start my own venture. I felt God was calling me to do something more meaningful with my life instead of listening to the rules from corporate USA. I want to make a difference in my clients lives and be there for them when I was told in the past I was not suppose to go see someone if they do not have X amount.

I grew up Catholic, I was very distant from Jesus and never truly understood the Holy Spirit. My wife and I started going to a Nondenominational church and we grew more in our faith (this is all pre covid) and started to have more and more personal relationships with Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God. We had a great community, but once Covid hit we lost everything. The younger generation didn't want to come back, our community group stopped meeting, and a lot of our friends stayed online.

I do not have ANY Christian friends. I am wanting to make this my first step to change my life. I am overly depressed and feel I cannot let go of trying to control my own life and give it to God. I actually show my clients the true side of me because all of them know I am a Christ follower. My friends, I hide behind a curtain, I guess I feel I cannot express my true identity because I do not want to be left friendless. What I am getting at is, I cannot let go 100% and say "God, I TRUST YOU"! I do, but I always come back around to try and control everything myself. It has especially gotten worse since I started my own business.

Thank you all for being apart of this community. I greatly appreciate each and every one of you for being here.

Cont.....

If you speak up about your faith/who you now are in Christ to your friends, you will (no doubt) lose some of them (either temporarily or permanently). On the other hand, speaking up will also mean that you may be instrumental in seeing some of them come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus, something that will never happen as long as you continue to you remain silent about Him/about who you are in Him when you talk to them.


~Deut
p.s. - I know how tough what you want to do for your old friends is (as I all but shut down my witnessing once I realized how many friends and family members speaking up had cost me, and it was TOUGH getting the ball rolling again after that). Here is an encouraging thought that helped me back then (and still does) that I (of course) hope that you will find encouraging too

BTW, if you don't know who Joni Eareckson Tada is, she & her amazing story are worth looking up (IMHO).

Nice to have you joining the fellowship here at CC! You have made friends already 👏👏👏 seems like God led you to the right place for Christian fellowship. This Scripture came to mind for you '“Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the LORD And whose hope and confident expectation is the LORD''. God bless you and your family!

Thank you for those kind words, I greatly appreciate you and this community. I love the
recommended way to discuss this with new friends and current. Thank you for everything!

I was 49 years old when I finally laid down my opposition to Christ and "the Biblical God." Some of my long-time friends simply could not accept this, and treated me like I had just joined the enemy camp. I eventually left them behind, for two cannot walk together unless they are in agreement with each other. Making new friends in church was not difficult. Be yourself, and share your love of God with those who share the same love. It's amazing how encouraging and inspiring this simple act can be. I do not miss those friends of yore. I love my church! They have gone back to meeting in person, but due to my high risk rating and ongoing medical issues, I remain physically isolated while still attending Sunday service and multiple Bible study groups through zoom and google something-or-other. Hangouts? Meet? Haha it is not so easy to keep up with all the new-fangled this and that. But my church does both concurrently. Some of our attendees our not in the same city or even province! I hope you are able to find a lovely church home. Accept no substitutes