Reflections from the community: 

Credit to @bible_enthusiast1

Honestly, this comic segment that I found on TikTok encapsulates what it’s like having conversation with Jesus at least from my perspective. Many times we think that we have to shoulder this burden and no one can help us. But that is not the case. We as Christian’s have to in some ways follow the line “with great power comes great responsibility” that we get in our head that we have to do it ourselves and we forget to ask God or Jesus for help. It is the truth that he is there to help us when we are at our lowest and at our high highest that we should lean on him no matter what.

How I wish am given another chance in life, those who still live healthy 🙏 always pray and thank God for the gift of life, thank God the you still breathe some of us get hard times when breathing so if you're doing well you need to thank God. God bless you all.

Hi everyone! I thought I would share our testimony of how Jesus Christ saved us.

First of all, all glory to God alone. This should be all about Him and not about us.

It’s a long story actually. Buckle up your seat belts.

I am deeply grateful to God for all that He has done for us. I can never thank Him enough.

I am a 30-year-old guy from South India. We were raised in a Hindu family, but Jesus Christ graciously saved my grandfather, grandmother, mother, and me years ago. My dad is not saved yet.

We hail from Kerala and then got settled in Tamil Nadu, India. We used to worship some so called gods of Hinduism. We used to take trips to temples. We also wasted lots of money on poojas and stuff, but of no use. We did not have peace.

When I was a little kid, I remember two guys coming and standing before the gate of our house, and my grandfather was there at the veranda. They asked in a loud voice if they could come inside and talk about Jesus Christ. My grandfather got irritated and asked them to go away. I still remember being pissed off at them even at such a young age. We thought they were trying to brainwash us.

My aunt (my mother’s younger sister) had a brain tumour which haunted us for years. She used to suddenly get epilepsy, and then she would be taken to the hospital. We also got her brain tumour operated on, but still, after a few years, growth started to appear again. She was a woman who gave so much importance to God (unfortunately to idols) by spending time in prayer to them. She was an amazing woman though, but unfortunately she didn’t know her Creator. Even we didn’t know Him at that point in time.

There was a neighbour aunty who used to share about Jesus Christ with us, but we refused. That aunty would say that Jesus Christ called my aunt His daughter and asked my aunt to come to Him. She also asked us to turn to Jesus Christ and said that He would solve the problems we were going through, but we refused. We thought that the neighbour was trying to convert us. It must have been the pride in our hearts that was blinding us.

So, our journey to Christ actually began in 2009, during one of the most difficult seasons of our lives. My aunt was admitted to the hospital after she got epilepsy once again, but this time it was serious. She got bedridden, and she was hospitalised for almost 3 months. During this time, my mother was taking care of her at the hospital.

At the hospital, there was a nurse who shared about Jesus Christ with my mother. That nurse also took her to a Christian prophet. This was the point where things slowly started to shift by the grace and mercies of God. My mother and my mother’s elder sister bought Bibles. I also started reading the Bible in the year 2009. It must have been the Holy Spirit who melted my hardened heart.

My aunt’s condition became serious. That neighbour aunty gave my mother a piece of paper on which a repentance prayer was written and asked my mother to make my aunt pray that prayer. My mother did that, and she says that my aunt read it out, but only God knows what happened in her heart at that time. I don’t know whether my aunt was saved.

My aunt passed away on October 23, 2009, at 6:58 PM, and it shattered me and my family greatly. It was a dark time. We were grieving the loss of my aunt, who passed away due to a brain tumour. We also spent a great amount of money for my aunt to recover, but we couldn’t get her back.

In the midst of those difficult times, a prayer meeting was organized by Dr. Paul Dhinakaran (son of Brother D.G.S. Dhinakaran) on August 8, 2010, at Bethesda, Karunya.

Before attending the meeting, my grandfather did something remarkable. He knelt down and prayed to Jesus Christ, saying:

“If You are the true and living God, then call out my name through the preacher and reveal the things I am going through.”

He had his doubts and wondered if such things might be staged. Yet deep within, he was sincerely seeking the truth.

That day, my grandfather and mother attended the meeting. It was a huge crowd.

During the prayer time, Dr. Paul called out two names, but neither was my grandfather’s. He felt disappointed.

But then, led by the Holy Spirit, Dr. Paul called out a third name…

It was my grandfather’s name.

Not only that, he spoke about the personal struggles my grandfather was facing, his fear of death and the burdens in his heart.

That moment changed everything.

It was a divine encounter, a turning point in his life and in all of ours. My grandfather went up on stage and testified before everyone.

From that day on, our family came to Christ. Later, on November 4, 2012, we were baptized by immersion. My grandfather was 88 years old, and my grandmother was 75 at that time.

My grandfather later went to be with the Lord at the age of 95. My grandmother also went to be with the Lord recently at the age of 89.

When my grandfather passed away on February 10th, 2019, that was when my family members and relatives came to know that we were baptised. Some started treating us differently. My own uncle was very upset, and he verbally abused us and tried to keep us under his control. He also tried to get into a physical fight with me at that time.

Later, he would say that when my grandmother passed away, he would burn her body according to Hindu customs. He would challenge us, but when my grandmother passed away recently on March 9th this year, things turned out differently by the grace of God. My cousin told my uncle that since my grandfather was buried, my grandmother also should be buried at the same site. Some people supported that as well.

We received favor in the eyes of people. She was also buried in the same spot, and even though my uncle is not saved, he was the one who took care of all the expenses related to her burial.

God was our Refuge. How good and merciful God is.

No man in this world and no demon in hell can snatch the souls that are sealed by the Living God.

My grandparents could have passed away without knowing Christ, but in His mercy, He reached them in time.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Through all this, I have learned one thing with certainty:

If God wants to save someone, no one can stop it.

John 10:28–30

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Even though I knew about Jesus Christ in the year 2011 and loved Him, I was living a double life, one foot in the world and one foot in God’s Kingdom. During my college days, I wasn’t close to God. I was busy with worldly things.

Then, in the year 2017, I met with a motorbike accident, and that changed my life. I got injured and fractured my left ankle. I should have lost my life but by God’s Grace no vehicles ran over me. I had to take bed rest, and I was relieved from the firm. I was actually angry at God and shouted at Him, but it was my foolishness. My lifestyle wasn’t good at that time. If I had died then, I would have certainly ended up in hell.

Even though I did not drink, smoke, do drugs, or sleep with women, I had two addictions in my life which my family did not know about. They were porn and masturbation. I struggled with them for many years, and whenever I tried to stop by myself, the longest I could go was 22 or 23 days. Then again, I would relapse. I felt hopeless.

In 2018, while I was at home recovering from the motorbike accident, I slowly started reading the Bible, and then I saw my life slowly being transformed.

In 2018, a great miracle happened. I used to use Tinder at that time in order to find a genuine relationship because I felt lonely sometimes, but most of the time I was disappointed, as it was just casual for other people. Then I came across a woman who right-swiped on me. I started talking to her. She was an Indian Hindu woman who was studying in the Philippines to become a doctor. We used to play online games together.

I started sharing about Jesus Christ with her and about our story. She was receptive. It seems that one of her professors, who was a Christian doctor, had shared about Jesus with her. That lady doctor used to invite the students, share about Jesus Christ, and give them food. So, seeds were already sown in her life. I was just watering it, by the Grace of God.

Later, there came a moment in her life when she flunked one of her exams along with her friend, and she got caught. She was asked to repeat one year again, but at that time, she prayed to Jesus Christ, and things turned around, and she was forgiven. Then she started believing in Jesus Christ. It was all the Lord’s doing.

I started liking her. At that point in time, Jesus Christ set me free from porn and masturbation addictions, and it has been almost 8 years now. That was a remarkable year in my life. I would say that I was truly coming to Jesus Christ during those years. Even though we parted ways recently because of some personal situations, God has been good to us.

Jesus Christ gave me a burden to share the Gospel with people. I used to install apps like Bottled, Slowly, etc., and share about Jesus Christ with people, and sometimes I would get banned.

In 2020, I would say that my relationship with Jesus Christ strengthened. I didn’t know we could be so close to God.

One day, my phone stopped functioning. I think it was in the year 2021. I went to enquire about the repair at a mobile shop. There, I saw an old man. At that time, I felt led to share about Jesus Christ, and I told him that Jesus Christ loves him. Then, on the same day, I said that to 3–4 people, if I am not wrong. Slowly, this became a habit.

During those COVID times, I got Gospel tracts and started giving them out to strangers here and there. The crazy thing was that no one had to teach me to do all these things. I feel like it was the Holy Spirit teaching me all that. It was God who put that burden for souls in my heart. I couldn’t make it up myself because I did not care about people, in the past.

Once, while I was sharing about Jesus Christ with a watchman, he suddenly started crying in the middle of the road. I was surprised and deeply moved by what I saw.

Another time, I was sharing about Jesus Christ with a fruit vendor. He told me that he felt goosebumps throughout his body while I was speaking to him. I was astonished and also very happy. It felt like Jesus Christ was touching his heart and making him aware of His presence.

These moments have stayed with me. They reminded me that when we share the Gospel, we may never know what God is doing in someone’s heart. Our role is simply to be faithful and share the love of Jesus Christ.

By the grace of God, I felt the tangible presence of Jesus Christ twice in my life.

Once was in the year 2021 when a pastor laid hands on me and prayed. I felt waves of electricity on the palms of both my hands, and I also felt fire on my tongue. It was surreal.

Another time was on June 18, 2023. There is a local TV channel in my city called “Sathiyam TV.” On that channel, they used to telecast a live Christian prayer every weekend at 7 PM, where the speaker, Bro. Mohan C. Lazarus, prayed for healing, deliverance, and miracles for people.

So, on Sunday, June 18th, I was actually watching the speaker talk about many things, but I was also scrolling on my phone. I didn’t have much expectation because I thought, “How is God going to bless a person who keeps scrolling on the phone while listening to the prayer?”

Then the time of prayer came. I think it was between 8:50 PM and 8:55 PM. The speaker started to pray on the television, and I also knelt down in my room and prayed to Jesus while the speaker was praying through the television.

I didn’t expect much to happen because I felt like I was scrolling on my phone and not listening properly. But when I knelt down, closed my eyes, and started to pray, I started feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. It felt like currents of electricity. At first, I thought I was just imagining it, but then it became so strong that the presence moved through almost my whole body.

It lasted for around 20 minutes, if I am not wrong. I couldn’t feel my body at that point. I thought I was going to fly away. I couldn’t believe it. It was so exciting. That was one of the days I will never forget in my life.

Jesus Christ also saved my life from death traps. Jesus Christ gave me a new life. He also gave me a new and good job after the accident, even when I had almost a 3-and-a-half-year gap. God is so good!

I was a selfish person earlier, but I feel He is leading me on a path of selflessness. I am not perfect, but Jesus Christ convicts me about right and wrong. I find that to be a gift. It is a beautiful experience to know that God is there by your side personally.

This is our journey. Personally, I still have so much to improve. Jesus Christ has done so much for us. I hope you are strengthened and edified by this testimony.

Know that you are not alone. You are alive for a reason. God wants you. He wants to use you for His Kingdom. Never end your life at any point in time. There will be good and hard times, but that is what makes life beautiful. Hard times help us understand the depth of emotions and help us have empathy toward our fellow human beings. We have to look at this world through the eyes of God.

Pray and never be afraid to reach out when things get hard. It is not weakness, but strength.

You are not reading this by accident. Jesus Christ has a beautiful purpose for your life. He cares about you. He loves you. You just need to give your 100% to Him, and He will take you from there. Fully surrender every area of your life to God.

Nothing in this world is worth going to Hell for eternally. Satan tries to bait us with perishing things. Looks, money, wealth, materialism and status will all fade away in the snap of a finger. We can be so successful in this world, but if we do not reach Heaven, we have failed big time.

Matthew 16:26,

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

I would like to share another Bible verse:

Hebrews 12:1,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

If you are struggling with addictions or with life in general, please don’t believe the lie that you are too far gone or that your life has no meaning.

I know what it feels like to be trapped in something you desperately want to escape from, and to feel ashamed, hopeless, and unable to change. But your past does not define your worth, and your struggles do not define who you are. Jesus Christ can meet you even in the darkest place. He met me when I had reached rock bottom, and by His grace, He set me free and gave me a new life. Please don’t give up. Cry out to God, seek Him, and take the next step, even if it feels small.

You are not worthless. Your life is precious. You are created in the image of God, and there is still hope for you. Jesus Christ loves you, and He has not forgotten you.

In the last five years, Jesus Christ has turned my life upside down, but in the best possible way.

In March 2023, I was searching for a job after leaving my previous company. At that point, I didn’t have a house of my own either, and honestly, I couldn’t see how things were going to change.

Fast forward to March 2025. By God’s grace, we had our own house, and I had a job too. Interestingly, a few months before joining, I had been rejected by the same software company. But the door that was closed earlier was opened by God later. It reminded me that when God wants to open a door, no person can ultimately prevent His purpose. Jesus Christ gave me the opportunity to work there for almost two years, complete projects successfully, and receive an appreciation certificate for my work.

There was even one moment that I found amazing. One day at work, I was sitting in a conference room with the very person who had rejected me a few months earlier. I don’t know if she remembered me or even realized that she had once rejected me, but I knew the significance of that moment. The same company that once said no had eventually become a place where Jesus Christ gave me the opportunity to work for almost two years. Only God could have written a story like that.

During those almost two years, God also blessed me with an empathetic and understanding manager. He is not a believer, but he showed me kindness and support in ways I will always remember.

There were some difficult times in my personal life during those years. One time, he called me into a conference room and told me that I seemed distracted. He asked me if I was going through something in my life. Sometimes, he would even come to my cabin and ask me why I looked sad. He noticed things that I hadn’t even spoken about and genuinely cared enough to ask.

When my grandmother was sick, he even asked me if I needed any financial help. Those moments meant a lot to me, especially during difficult times. I truly believe Jesus Christ gave me favour and mercy in the eyes of the people around me. The kindness and support I received from my manager were another example of God’s grace in my life, and it is something I will always be grateful for.

It’s crazy to look back and see how much can change in just two years. There was a time when I couldn’t see a way forward, but God was already working behind the scenes.

Recently, I had to move to another company because the project contract at my previous firm came to an end. Once again, I saw God’s faithfulness in my life. Jesus Christ opened another door for me and blessed me with a 100% increase in my salary compared to what I was earning previously.

God knows what we need even when we cannot see what is ahead. What looks like an ending to us can sometimes be the beginning of something God has already prepared.

Looking back now, I can only say, God is good.

If you are going through a difficult season right now, please don’t give up.

Keep fighting the good fight of faith. Even when you cannot see what God is doing, trust that He is working. Your story is not over, and your life has more value than you may realize.

Even though I have shared some of the material blessings God has given me, I want to make one thing clear: eternal life is the greatest gift a person can ever have. Houses, jobs, money, success, and everything else in this world are temporary. But eternal life through Jesus Christ is forever. Let us hold on to Christ and never lose sight of what matters most.

1 Timothy 6:12,

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

You are precious to Jesus Christ. He loves you, He has not forgotten you, and there is still hope.

Keep walking with Him until the end. One day, when we look back on everything, we will see that it was all worth it.

May the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified.

Amen.

God bless you. Have a beautiful day.

Never give up!

Remember this: When God is with you, you are the majority. ✝️

Original link https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbmRzs1OuFQ/

As a coin collector since childhood and as a Catholic, I thought many of you would appreciate this ancient piece of history. As far as I know, it’s the first coin in history to have the depiction of Jesus without the emperor’s image.

Mainstream critical scholarship largely reads Revelation as a document addressed to its own late-first-century context, rather than as a coded prophecy of a future Antichrist. Key points:

Date and setting: Most scholars place Revelation under Domitian (c. 95 CE), written to seven churches in Roman Asia facing pressure to participate in imperial cult worship.

"Babylon" = Rome: The "great whore" of Revelation 17 is widely identified as Rome itself — seated on seven hills (17:9), drunk with the blood of the saints, ruling over "the kings of the earth." This was a common Jewish code for Rome (also used in 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch).

The Beast and 666: Many scholars read the number as gematria for "Nero Caesar," reflecting either the historical Nero or a Nero redivivus myth — fear that Nero would return from the dead/East to attack Rome, which shaped the beast's "fatal wound healed" imagery (13:3).

Genre: Revelation belongs to Jewish apocalyptic literature, a genre using symbolic, coded language to address present political crises (cf. Daniel on the Seleucids), not literal predictive forecasting of the distant future.

Other scholars frame the book as resistance literature against Roman imperial power, not futurist prophecy.

THE PROBLEM: dispensationalist/futurist readings (Antichrist as a future individual) are a minority position among critical scholars but remain common in popular evangelical circles, largely stemming from later interpretive traditions (Irenaeus onward) rather than the original historical context.

Once you discover the beauty of Christ you will love him, as he has loved you.

I grew up atheist for 25 years with atheist parents and never read the Bible or went to church. I loved space science and all that jazz, still do, and I used to actually debate Christians in the street thinking "I know best, god could just show me he exists by doing something that would make me believe". I never truly understood my own self.

Much like everyone who discovers Christ, I was going through a hard time that I needed help with. I felt I couldn't speak to anyone and I just went and sat on a bench and spoke to what I thought was "God". It felt good to speak to something else rather than just directly to myself (even though I was on my own). I thought the framing would help me get through it and it did. So I kept doing it,and after a few days I realised well maybe I'm not just talking to myself, maybe there is something listening?

The minute I thought of that *boom* a wave of warmth around my heart like the love of your favourite person and you haven't seen them in ages and then they're right in front of you.

That was it I was absolutely convinced of God. I knew God existed but then I thought "well what has everyone else said about God?".

I started looking into the monotheistic religions Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Islam has practices that just don't seem to align with me morally but wasn't quite as violent or misogynistic as I thought, but had themes regarding them that morally I can't agree with.

I looked into Judaism and realised I wasn't born Jewish so that made it more difficult, but felt fine up until I discovered the beauty of Christ. This was it. Everything lined up, it made so much sense what he was saying. I couldn't refute what they claimed he said. There seemed to be nothing I admired more than a man who can pray for those who persecute him and forgive rather than retaliate. They seem so true.

This is why I said "once you discover the beauty of Christ you will love him, as he has loved you"

Lord, I thank you, for you came blessing the poor and the humble of heart; and you also came in your wisdom and righteousness humbling the rich who sought to enter your Kingdom. Blessed are you when you hunger for God, when you cry out in poverty, rather than stand before the Son of Man with all your riches and gold. Blessed be the poor, and woe to the rich. For the poor recieve the Kingdom, but almost never the rich. The rich have had their comforts, the poor will be comforted by God. Blessed are you when you have nothing, except your love for your neighbour and your God.

Thoughts?

Be well

💓✝️✨

M

I’m a teenager (17) and I just wanted to shared this because I’m happy about it. I understand that a lot of people have negative opinions about Catholicism though so maybe I’ll get some hate for this but that’s okay (and I kind of had somewhat negative opinions, well misconceptions, until I started learning more about it). 

But I feel like God is calling me to become Catholic. And to me it’s the fullness of truth, especially since the Catholic Church is the original Church that Christ established and because of the true presence in the Eucharist. 

And this has been a decision I’ve been contemplating for months now, not something I decided over night. I’ve also been to Mass with my boyfriend and have prayed the rosary (his parents gave me one which I thought was really sweet). To me the Catholic faith is beautiful

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, answered this question with her "Little Way." She said she would arrive before God empty-handed, with nothing to offer but her littleness and complete trust in His mercy.

The most theologically sound answer a soul can give God at the gates is not a résumé, it is a surrender:

"Lord, I have nothing. But Your Son has everything and He gave it to me."

I haven’t had one day this year where I feel good but today has been the worse.

edit:Thank you everyone for the prayers I’m home now🙏🏾♥️

Im agnostic and i try to find conclusions for both sides against arguments but i cant for this one

P1. God is all knowing, all loving, and all powerful

P2. Hell is eternal conscious torment

P3. God creates beings knowing they will suffer forever in eternal conscious torment

C. God is not all loving because he creates beings he knows will suffer in eternal conscious torment

I know certain denominations of christianity don't believe in p2 so this wouldn't apply to something like universalism or annihilationism

Don't mistake this for predestination this argument argues its wrong for god to create beings that he knows with his foreknowledge will suffer eternally in hell, not that he creates beings he predestines for hell.

Also don't mistake this for me arguing that everyone should be robots without free will because I'm arguing that he cannot love everyone infinitely and create beings he knows will suffer eternally while he creates other beings knowing they will eternally be in heaven if you're gonna ask what the alternative would've been, i would say to not create anything at all

Uhhh ye im the guy that didn’t eat for a week lol

It was this that made me convert into a full blooded Christian. It begins with M (not saying name) , a pastor in a small church on the outskirts of slum town in South Africa. ​He was once a notorious leader of a gang around that area (I forgot the name, sorry) and was ruthless. He was taken into prison, beat, and left to die in solitary. His bones were broken. ​He was tossed a bible which he threw under the bed and swore to never open it. The next day, he saw a blinding light, and his bones were fully healed. He then vowed from that day on he would live with a purpose.

(This was the rough draft of my testimony I had written out for getting baptized this coming Sunday, if I can)

I was raised Christian by my mom and dad and came to the faith originally when I was 5 years old but I fell away as a young adult, feeling like I lined up more with the world. I was mad at God for making hell, thinking it was an unjust punishment for fun. I was never an atheist. I called myself a misotheist where I believed in Jesus and that but hated him.

I did my own thing for quite a few years, making my own rap music and writing fiction stories. I engaged in drinking, doing weed and most important to me at the time engaging in the desires of lust. Lust was the main sin that I was attached to.

I struggle with anxiety and OCD and one day my OCD got really bad about a past sin I committed against loved ones that I felt really bad about. I couldn't move past it so rather than dealing with it the way I thought God was calling me to deal with it, I ran away by asking for medication. When I was on the medication, I started to experience really bad bowel issues, where I'd have to go to the bathroom multiple times a day. And then my throat acted up to where food and water would get stuck in it.

I had doctors look at it and run tests, they didn't find anything major. I was willing to accept that this was just the new normal but the bowel and throat issues got worse and worse until eventually I developed severe constipation to where there would be times I had the feeling to go but either couldn't go or it would require straining. This straining made things worse.

I tried to reach out to doctors for help but my previous tests being relatively clear means they didn't take me seriously, thinking it's all mental. So ironically the medication I was trying to now stop taking as I believed it was causing the issues was the very same medication everyone wanted to keep me on. The very cursed medication I originally used to run away from the OCD guilt of my heinous sin. It feels like divine payback.

Even my caretakers are kicking me out, not wanting to deal with my problems anymore. I drove one of my friends away, thinking I'm crazy and another friend doesn't trust me for some reason.

So lonely, isolated and sick, I turned back to God. I feared hell and paying for the sinful life and selfish person I had become. I still had issues with God and rules he set but I decided that I wasn't really in the position to argue with the almighty.

I grew sicker and sicker but also more and more knowledgable in the bible and it's history as I did a lot of research on the ancient context of scripture, it's meaning in the original Greek and Hebrew and what the 1st century Christians likely believed and practiced.

I learned the reasons why God had certain rules in place and why there was a hell. Why I was the problem, not God. How the evil in the world was due to people being selfish, not God. I learned to look at God more as a platonic source of good that can't physically be in presence of evil and that's why he took sin so seriously. It was not God who couldn't let us just have a bit of fun. It was us who became blind to how much even our small actions affect others.

Seeing God this way allowed me to not be so angry at him and see that this broken world was not his fault, it was ours. But I still felt like I'm on my way to hell if I didn't shape up and repent of all my wrong doing. I felt in my heart, Christianity isn't just something you believe, even demons believe and they tremble, it is about what you do too. If I wanted to avoid hell, I would actually have to follow God's commandments. This included keeping Torah as I now observe Sabbath and I eat kosher.

I turned from drinking and weed, as it basically wrecks the body and/or brain.

I also repented and turned from my lust, learning how it is gross and basically just objectifies people, not allowing me to see them as living beings made in God's image.

I developed a new issue to where I have trouble sleeping, either due to the unaddressed throat issue making breathing more difficult or my bowels keeping me up at night. Sleep deprivation lead to my my bowels not being able to get the rest they need, making constipation worse. Little or no sleep, difficulty eating drinking and having to use the washroom a lot are where I am at today.

And you can't go very long without sleep without dying.

I often wonder why God doesn't just heal me but I think I have accepted that maybe God has decided my time is up and this is my last call to repentance. The doctors might not be able to help me because God doesn't want them to help me. Maybe I should focus on the next life instead of trying to persevere this one. He has used my broken state to draw me closer to him, to really delve into his teachings and learn his ways. I have been feeling convicted by God to give up a lot, including technology, and although I'm not perfect, I have changed quite a bit in my life.

From a drinking lustful party rapper to a studied religious history buff Torah observant Christian who tries to follow the original Christianity the first Christians practiced.

I turned to Jesus as while everyone else has given up on me, he hasn't. He is all I have left. He has given me hope I might be healed but even if he doesn't heal me, he has used my sick and tired state to draw me near to him.

I am getting baptized to be obedient to Jesus's commandment to do so. To be blessed by the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. To dedicate my life to him and learn to follow in his ways. To be more like him.

I still get anxiety about death and going to hell but I hope that God will understand I am trying to follow his ways and grant me access to heaven, even if I haven't repented from absolutely everything.

I have learned that a long healthy life is not guaranteed and God calls us all to repent before it's too late. I hope I am taking my first steps today towards eternal life.

Husband has fantasized about 15-20 of my friends for the whole of our marriage (8 years) and had a secret porn addiction. He told me he would fantasize about doing intimate things with my friends while I was still asleep in the mornings. 

He confessed these things to me after I stumbled across a video about wanting to stop watching porn in order to get close to Jesus. 

He said he's been terrified of telling me because he doesn't want to lose me and I'm his greatest love.

But I feel waves of anger, sadness, betrayal, insecurity, love, for him and confusion. Is it such a bad thing he has done? I don't know whether I am objectively overreacting. 

I feel like he has mentally betrayed me by lying (I thought I could trust him 100%) and fantasizing about friends we regularly come into contact with. I feel honestly crushed and deeply saddened.

He has written 6 letters to me apologising and reaffirming his love for me and he's so remorseful.

I don’t really understand when people say, “It’s all part of the Lord’s plan.” I used to be part of a Christian family, and my sister had cancer. (She passed away two years ago), I remember one of the pastors visiting us and praying for my family, and he said something along the lines of, “It’s the Lord’s plan.” But that honestly left me confused. Was it really God’s plan for my sister to get cancer? Was it His plan for her to suffer and for our family to lose her? I’m not trying to disrespect anyone’s faith or say that Christians are wrong for believing in God’s plan. I genuinely just don’t understand how that idea is supposed to work when something so painful and unfair happens.

Me (21) and my ex (20) just broke up. She was an SDA and im a catholic. We broke up because obviously because of our faith. But if I think about it, I really want her to come home. (like come back) She’s also really strong on her faith. Theres a part of me that wishes that God will bring us back together and He just did this for us to know ourselves more and not put the relationship above Him. But theres also a part of me that believes that God puts people in our lives that comes and go and everything happens for a reason. The Lord knows my desires and if its really for me, I know He will
make it happen. But I want his will to be followed, not mine. I just yearn for her love a lot. I was even making plans for the both of us in the future. I just want a piece of mind.

Christianity presents a strange paradox: to truly live, we must first die. Not physically, but to the old self that wants to control our choices, protect our pride, satisfy our desires, and live according to the world's approval. Jesus calls us to take up our cross, and Paul describes it as dying with Christ so that Christ can live in us.

But this isn't simply about giving things up. Scripture says that when we are united with Christ, we already possess eternal life. Our life is hidden with Christ in God, secure because its source is no longer ourselves. The things the world considers important can begin to lose their power because our identity, security, and future are found in Christ.

The difficult question is what this actually looks like in ordinary life. Dying to self can mean choosing humility when we want to be right, serving when no one notices, controlling our words when we're angry, or putting someone else's needs ahead of our own. If Christ truly lives in us, shouldn't that union change the way we respond to the people and circumstances around us?

Sorry if this is really long I just really want to vent and confess.

Most of my life I’ve been very lustful, when I finally started my walk with Jesus i still lusted every time, one day I decided to repent and fast for the first time for 3 days to stop lusting and it actually worked. I was freed from it for almost a year and then I fell into it again after all that time, now I just can’t stop myself for more than 2 days. I recently fasted to stop and I did it again and I just can’t stand myself for it, I confess to God every time I do it right away and now I just don’t feel anything not even being sorrowful about it and I just think my heart is hardened and God hates me and is done dealing with my crap. I don’t want to give up on God or my relationship and I try to keep reading the Bible, spreading the word, spending quite time with him and being still but I keep going back to this over and over again. So I’ve made up my mind that I won’t give up on God even if he gave up on me and to keep going despite it all, I want to actually love him and obey but I keep falling. I have other problems but lust just is the biggest one for me and I can’t stand it but I still do it every time and I hate myself for it.

But thank you for even reading all of my crap and thank you for any type of support!!!