Ask a Question - or - Return to the Spiritual Warfare Forum Index

Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Thank You	LIsara	Saturday, June 13, 2009
Question: I know I am thanking God--but I want to write you and thank God through you, because I also thank you for your accessability. Your ministry may be very busy but it is NECESSARY and God saw fit to put you there. As my {almost} three yr old daughter would say (she says to me often as I am sweeping or cooking) "Wow, Good Job--Excellent Work!!"(it startles me out of my drudgery which I find funny) I must witness against atheism. It is a GIFT to believe in God. I have learned I can intellectualize about the existence of God(yes housewives do that at times) only to a certain point, and then approach the edge of reason and not KNOW what to do: fall?? or Fly?? For a while I fell and was so unhappy. Deciding to go go back to church and give my heart to the "darkness of belief" was an emotionally challenging step. Praying through disbelief was painful and felt meaningless...until, one day, I sensed a "conviction". I immediately assessed that I didn't "arrive" at this "answer": it was a gift. It was exciting--I told my husband! He was releived for me. I prayed the rosary as I ran my miles daily. I would pray some words of formula prayers, and though they sounded hollow coming from my mouth, I also secretly prayed (beneath those words) that I wished to believe those words. I also prayed the spiritual warfare prayers for our family...It was a sad feeling... I want to LIVE up to those words at some point. This may sound like it does not belong in spiritual warfare as some of the posts here are about extraordinary phenomena, i.e., demonic activity. I think these were only horrible temptations, and evil almost had its way with me with ordinary and minor activity in my life. It was all my fault by the way. I imagine that evil laughs at how easy I am. All of my children (16, 14, and 2 and a half) will benefit from this in a special way. Thank you for your prayers: I owe you a shoe-shine in Heaven--I will be the last one on the left!
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear LIsara: Thank you for your kind words. I praise God that we were able to help you and for the gifts that God has given you. Your words about what you feel that God wants you to do reminds me of a quote from Venerable John Henry Newman: "Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random...God see every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose, He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labour in them for Him. As Christ has his work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also." May you be blessed in your life, family, and apostolate. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary P.S. Nevermind about the shoeshine. I wear sandals For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Thank You

LIsara

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Question:

I know I am thanking God--but I want to write you and thank God through you, because I also thank you for your accessability. Your ministry may be very busy but it is NECESSARY and God saw fit to put you there. As my {almost} three yr old daughter would say (she says to me often as I am sweeping or cooking) "Wow, Good Job--Excellent Work!!"(it startles me out of my drudgery which I find funny)

I must witness against atheism. It is a GIFT to believe in God. I have learned I can intellectualize about the existence of God(yes housewives do that at times) only to a certain point, and then approach the edge of reason and not KNOW what to do: fall?? or Fly?? For a while I fell and was so unhappy.

Deciding to go go back to church and give my heart to the "darkness of belief" was an emotionally challenging step. Praying through disbelief was painful and felt meaningless...until, one day, I sensed a "conviction". I immediately assessed that I didn't "arrive" at this "answer": it was a gift. It was exciting--I told my husband! He was releived for me.

I prayed the rosary as I ran my miles daily. I would pray some words of formula prayers, and though they sounded hollow coming from my mouth, I also secretly prayed (beneath those words) that I wished to believe those words. I also prayed the spiritual warfare prayers for our family...It was a sad feeling... I want to LIVE up to those words at some point.

This may sound like it does not belong in spiritual warfare as some of the posts here are about extraordinary phenomena, i.e., demonic activity. I think these were only horrible temptations, and evil almost had its way with me with ordinary and minor activity in my life. It was all my fault by the way. I imagine that evil laughs at how easy I am.

All of my children (16, 14, and 2 and a half) will benefit from this in a special way. Thank you for your prayers: I owe you a shoe-shine in Heaven--I will be the last one on the left!

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear LIsara:

Thank you for your kind words. I praise God that we were able to help you and for the gifts that God has given you.

Your words about what you feel that God wants you to do reminds me of a quote from Venerable John Henry Newman:

"Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random...God see every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose, He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labour in them for Him. As Christ has his work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also."

May you be blessed in your life, family, and apostolate.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

P.S. Nevermind about the shoeshine. I wear sandals

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.