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Georgia-Peach -> Struggling (3/16/2008 7:41:38 AM)

I have struggled with this fear every since I was a little girl and I know I even discussed it once already on here when I was pregnant. It really upsets me that I struggle with this because I feel like it makes me a bad Christian or that I disappoint God. Sometimes the thought of the rapture never bothers me and then other times I become panicked at the thought which is where I am at right now. I struggle with how does God want us as Christians to live our lives daily. Are we suppose to be sitting and waiting for his return or are we suppose to be following his commands, but also living each day to the fullest. I am also being tormented with the thoughts of what kind of world my son is growing up in and my future children are going to grow up in. It seems like it just keeps getting worse and worse, but is it really that much different from when I was a little girl. Does the fact that we have internet, every news channel imaginable make it seem worse. As you can tell I am really struggling with all of this. I don't want to live each day of my life in fear and I don't want to pass that on to my son or future children. I really need some strong, spiritual women to encourage me, give me scripture, and just share with me.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 7:59:46 AM)

Chelle, I think women in every era have struggled with this. Imagine how the Israelites must have felt while they were enslaved in Egypt, looking at their babies and knowing they would live a life of slavery too. Or early Christian women, knowing that a brutal death for themselves or their husbands was more than just a slight possibility. Our kids are going to grow up in a world that is and will be sinful and messy until Jesus returns. It wasn't better 1000 years ago, and it won't be better 1000 years from now (unless He does return before then!) because sin remains a constant.

quote:

or are we suppose to be following his commands, but also living each day to the fullest.


I think it's this one. We are to throw ourselves into the work He has given us, whatever that may be.

As moms, I think we actually have a great opportunity to impact the world, awful as it may be. We are raising the next generation, and we are possibly the biggest influence on our children that they will have in our life. The boys we are raising now are going to be men one day and we can impact what kind of men they will be. Rather than focusing on how violent and messed up the world is, we can focus on raising our children to be "peculiar people" (different from the world), and if we are doing that, we will be a light in the darkness even in the present.



BlessedMamaofmany -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 8:07:25 AM)

I agree with Maggie. Your fear is normal, but you can't let it rule your life...you have to take that fear captive, leave it at foot of the cross, and use it.
Sandy



29redballoons -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 8:44:02 AM)

This is not a random fear. It is one I too struggle with on a regular basis.

I know that I am saved, but I am having a bad day...hmmmm, does that mean if the rapture occurs today God isn't gonna be happy with me? WHat if I am left? What happens if my dd is not with me when He comes? I want us all to be together. How can I look forward to Him coming and be so afraid at the same time......


Do any of these sound familiar? I just remind myself that Jesus loves me, He died for me, and He says not to worry...He has it all under the blood and I will be fine.
I will be fine.'
I will be fine.
I will be fine.
[;)]



peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 10:15:45 AM)

quote:

Sometimes the thought of the rapture never bothers me and then other times I become panicked at the thought which is where I am at right now.

that is why I have found that I can not read books about it or watch too much tv/movies about it...or listen to sermon's about it....I start to get freaked out too. I am not saying I don't believe in the rapture....or that I don't know what the Bible says....but I tend to ignore it when it is being talked about. I can't even stand to see movies with horses that are freaky looking because of a "special" I watched a few years ago that I regretted from the beginning (it talked about the four horsemen of the apocalypse...and the horse they showed had a freaky face and glint in his eye......and ever since then I can't stand horses...it's weird)

quote:

or are we suppose to be following his commands, but also living each day to the fullest.

YUP.....prepare for tomorrow...live like it will be here...and rejoice when it isn't.



Georgia-Peach -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 1:17:28 PM)

Its nice to know that I am not alone in this fear and that other women experience it too. Just within the last few days it has become a bigger struggle than normal. Thanks for sharing ladies!



HisCovenant -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 3:19:38 PM)

I wonder, too. Sometimes it really bothers me that I don't care at all about end times when every other Christian seems obsessed by it. It seems to me that most of it is opinions and interpretations, anyhow. I look at how far off predictions of the Messiah were in Christ's time and wonder how we can have the confidence to toute our interpretation... and then some Christian comes along and says that if you're not focused on the end you're probably not saved. [&:]

Fear of bringing a child into this world one of the reasons I have chosen not to have children. Also, fear that I am not mature enough to lead a child and teach him to lean on God as he goes through life. I'm just now getting to understand things myself. If God called me to raise a family, I would feel differently and work to overcome thoughts like that that seem so logical to me. If I was a mother, I would be overwhelmed with it.

You aren't the only one that struggles.



BrowneyedAL -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 4:12:35 PM)

I think Maggie put it really well, and I doubt I'll do as adequate of a job...but I think that every generation has had it's evils...and I dont know that you can truly quantify it to say this time has more (or less) evil than a past time. I'm sorry that you feel so much fear Chelle...I will pray that God takes that fear from you.



clag4christ -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 5:17:47 PM)

I don't believe in the "rapture" in the way that you're meaning. [;)] I believe that Christ's second coming and our resurrections occur simultaneously!

As far as the world getting worse...it's no where near as bad as it must have been during the times of Noah! Can you imagine how bad it must have been for God to actually regret making humans in the first place? When *everyone* but Noah and his family were unbelievers doing wickedness for the Enemy? I'm grateful that we live here today and have the ability to worship in the way we please and have the ability to teach our sweet wee ones about Him who was the propitiation for our sins! [:D][:)]



peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 7:34:09 PM)

quote:

I think Maggie put it really well, and I doubt I'll do as adequate of a job...

LOL....You have finally arrived around here!!!! I think every poster that sticks around long enough says that same thing about Maggie at least once!!!!LOL



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 8:40:22 PM)

[&o] Y'all are embarassing me. [&o]



BrowneyedAL -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 8:44:41 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2

quote:

I think Maggie put it really well, and I doubt I'll do as adequate of a job...

LOL....You have finally arrived around here!!!! I think every poster that sticks around long enough says that same thing about Maggie at least once!!!!LOL


LOL...glad I've arrived!!!



Mrs.X -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 9:16:46 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: clag4christ

I don't believe in the "rapture" in the way that you're meaning. [;)] I believe that Christ's second coming and our resurrections occur simultaneously!

I'm still walking on the fence with this particular interperetation and the rapture.

I think a lot of the world being so bad has to do with our access to media. I think the world has always been bad too, but we just know about it all now.

But, I agree with Sarah....Turn off John Hagee because he will freak you out!



peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Struggling (3/16/2008 11:33:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: BrowneyedAL

quote:

ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2

quote:

I think Maggie put it really well, and I doubt I'll do as adequate of a job...

LOL....You have finally arrived around here!!!! I think every poster that sticks around long enough says that same thing about Maggie at least once!!!!LOL


LOL...glad I've arrived!!!

LOL...I'm glad you stuck around long enough to arrive!!!!



clag4christ -> RE: Struggling (3/17/2008 1:23:00 PM)

quote:


But, I agree with Sarah....Turn off John Hagee because he will freak you out!


I agree! Plus he's not good at letting Scripture interpret scripture and instead uses the newspapers to try and interpret scripture. [&:] Not good harmenutics, imo.



isaacsmom -> RE: Struggling (3/17/2008 1:33:05 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: clag4christ

I don't believe in the "rapture" in the way that you're meaning. [;)] I believe that Christ's second coming and our resurrections occur simultaneously!

As far as the world getting worse...it's no where near as bad as it must have been during the times of Noah! Can you imagine how bad it must have been for God to actually regret making humans in the first place? When *everyone* but Noah and his family were unbelievers doing wickedness for the Enemy? I'm grateful that we live here today and have the ability to worship in the way we please and have the ability to teach our sweet wee ones about Him who was the propitiation for our sins! [:D][:)]


Same here as far as eschatology. So many people are afraid of things getting worse and worse, but I read and research history, and learn about all the terrible times this world had in the past. I can't imagine living during the reign of Nero. I can't imagine living during the civil war. I can't imagine living through the terrible civil rights injustices that occured all the way up through the 1960s. That would be so scary!!

So things have ALWAYS been terrible in this world. People have always been terrible, sinful people. Awful things have always happened. But God has always been God and has never changed.

Chelle, I struggle as well with just fear of the "unknown", for lack of a better term. Sometimes if I dwell on the thought of eternity too long, it scares me! I just can't fathom it! But then I remember that here on earth, I have a very finite mind and I WON'T be able to fathom what's in store! When I feel afraid, I just pray and ask God to help me to rest in his promises. His wonderful, comforting promises.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Struggling (3/17/2008 2:20:23 PM)

quote:

So things have ALWAYS been terrible in this world. People have always been terrible, sinful people. Awful things have always happened. But God has always been God and has never changed.


Yup. I have Anabaptist ancestors, and I am so glad I am not raising my children at a time when I could have been burned at the stake or drowned for being baptised as an adult. [&:] The French Revolution ended up being pretty nasty too. Even the Polynesians who settled the paradise-like Easter island managed to somehow decimate their own population with clan fighting and strip the landscape bare. [&:]

I don't really see much use in the various eschatological obsessions that some teachers have. [&:]Jesus is coming again. I am saved and trusting Him. That is all I really need to know.



clag4christ -> RE: Struggling (3/17/2008 4:47:20 PM)

quote:

Jesus is coming again. I am saved and trusting Him. That is all I really need to know.


AMEN and AMEN!! [:D]



BrowneyedAL -> RE: Struggling (3/18/2008 1:56:52 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2

quote:

ORIGINAL: BrowneyedAL

quote:

ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2

quote:

I think Maggie put it really well, and I doubt I'll do as adequate of a job...

LOL....You have finally arrived around here!!!! I think every poster that sticks around long enough says that same thing about Maggie at least once!!!!LOL


LOL...glad I've arrived!!!

LOL...I'm glad you stuck around long enough to arrive!!!!

Of course I stuck around...I love it here!!!



Room2Grow -> RE: Struggling (3/18/2008 2:25:14 PM)

Chelle, I really don't have anything to add, just wanted to give you a nice cyber hug ((Chelle)) Are you on the verge of something? (Getting more involved at church, committing to working with Hunter more, joining a Bible study?) Sometimes Satan knows that he can play with your fears to paralyze you and stall you from growing more deeply. In any case, fear is certainly not from God, and as long as you are saved, you don't need to worry about it- we'll see Him when we see Him and worrying about it won't change a thing. (Now will you remind me of that next time I'm worried about something[;)]



Georgia-Peach -> RE: Struggling (3/18/2008 7:43:38 PM)

I am struggling in my walk with the Lord currently as well as fear in general. I am fixing to start a bible study called "The Excellent Wife" too. I just feel like fear has gripped me and I am having a hard time overcoming it. I know its not of God and I need to get into the Word to help me in this area.



sen10tious -> RE: Struggling (4/4/2008 2:08:48 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Georgia-Peach

. . . I don't want to live each day of my life in fear and I don't want to pass that on to my son or future children. [. . . ] give me scripture, and just share with me.


I was hoping to find other scriptures on this thread, but I haven't seen much, so here are two of my favorite scriptures for this kind of stuff ~

Chapter 26 of the Book of Isaiah is a Song of Trust in God's Protection
The last two verses (20 & 21) end with:

Come, my people, enter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little while
Until indignation runs its course.
For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity...

When read in context, this surely sounds like it is one of those "double layer" texts and the future-time layer would be that God's people are hidden in a safe place during the Tribulation. Maybe I am weird, but I find it quite comforting to know that the rampant sin of rejecting Jesus will be punished. Meanwhile, I plan on entering into a room God prepared and closing the door behind me.


And this one from 2 Samuel 24:3b-5 is just a beautiful picture of promise. ~

3 The Rock of Israel spoke to me, `He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God,
4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.'
5 "Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow?



ThursdaysChild -> RE: Struggling (4/4/2008 11:10:32 AM)

As a very insightful woman once told me the two women who working side by side are two women with two ways of approaching Christ. One woman is counting on her work to save her so she's left behind. The other woman is going about the work Christ would have her be doing, which is roughly the same as the woman next to her, but she's counting on Christ to save her so she's taken. It's not about being snatched out of thin air in any rapture (that word isn't in the Bible, by the way), but about keeping your eyes on Christ and making sure your works are the result of your faith, not in place of your faith. KWIM? As long as you're placing your trust in Christ and not on something else, you don't have to be worried about having a bad day. That's placing your faith in works. His salvation is a gift, not something you have to earn by having more good days than bad. [;)]

I hoped this helped. If not, blame my friend. LOL (No, just kidding. Please don't!)



laughinggirl -> RE: Struggling (4/4/2008 11:12:30 AM)

Chelle, I struggle with this sometimes, too. When I hear about awful things happening to people in other countries, or about how Christians are persecuted even today, I have to fight back fear. I think of how easily those bad things could have happened (and still could) to me or my loved ones, and I know I certainly wasn't spared because I "deserve" it. I don't know why God extends grace and protection to me, because those being persecuted for their faiths are most certainly more devout and stronger in their spiritual walk than I am.

I don't understand it, and it bothers me a lot... why God allows bad things to happen to some and not others. Sometimes I feel like I'm waiting for my "turn" for the bad stuff, like the other shoe is always waiting to fall. I know that's not right, and I try hard to not dwell on those thoughts and feelings.



ThursdaysChild -> RE: Struggling (4/7/2008 6:25:50 AM)

It doesn't matter how strong you are or think you are in your spiritual walk. He protects you for the same reason He protects anyone else. Everything He does for you is a gift. Appreciate it and praise Him for it. Everything He's done for you is a gift and it's done for a reason. If you want to know why, just ask Him when you see Him. LOL



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