Welcome new Members September 2023
Hello everyone!
How are you?
Welcome To Religion & Spirituality Community!
We love the idea to support everyone showing the same care, respecting every person and their religion. 😊
Wishing you to enjoy your journey on here, hoping this will be for you a safe space, where to share about your Faith/Spirituality 💙
If you want to tell a bit about yourself, we can get to know you 🌸
(If you want to be added to the community tag list, please check HERE)
tag list: @Adamw12 @amiablePeace77 @beck1 @blindCupcake8608 @Helgafy @Jenna @LoveMyMoonflowers @loyalApricot1375 @Mahad2804 @MeaningfulSilence @ovowoody @passionateSea1909 @rhodawoolf @soulsings @stallion3 @SunShineAlwaysGrateful @Swordpsalm @ThatChristLover @TheJenInBlack @tommy @trueconfidant123 @Tulipsmile @Tyedyedbutterfly65
Hey all!! I’m so glad this forum has been created! I go by Flora, I’m 13 years old and a strong Christian. If you have any questions at all about my faith I’d be happy to answer them the best I can! I hope to one day become a youth pastor at my nearby Assemblies of God church.
Besides my faith, I also love reading, writing, drawing, and comic-making. Also I love animated movies like Spider-Man: Into Spider Verse and Luca (because I’m a child at heart :3)
My favourite animals are cats (as you can tell from my pfp!) and am recovering from severe depression (yes, Christians get depressed too! The difference is, we have Someone always willing to help and guide us through the rough times ❤️)
Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful day, and thank you for reading :3
@ThatChristLover
Hello Flora, welcome to you 😊Sorry to hear that you have to deal with depression, hope you have a good support system when things get too heavy. It's positive that your Faith helps you also during those difficult moments.
Wow to become a youth Pastor sounds like a big goal! Do you have to study and meet your Church's pastor weekly/monthly to get ready for that role?
Thank you for sharing, wishing you a good weekend ahead !
@MeaningfulSilence
Thank you 😊
For now there is no specific pastoral training for my age, but I go to Youth Group on Wednesdays to learn more about the Bible, and read the Bible myself. Sometimes I’ll write thoughts down in notes that have the possibility to evolve into a message. I also hope to someday soon write a testimony based on my experiences with mental health and legalism (having to ‘earn’ your faith when really it is a gift)
Hope you have a wonderful weekend as well!!
@ThatChristLover
Hi there! Yes, that sounds like an engaging goal you have!
I understand how it is important to know the holy scriptures, it's good you have clear ideas on how to grow with it, wishing you to keep on going with your spiritual path and growth!
See you around the forum ThatChristLover! 🌸
@MeaningfulSilence
Thank you!! Hope to see you around as well ^^
@ThatChristLover
Young Christian friend, Flora.
I'm very glad you have decided to follow Jesus Christ. I was at your age when I started to read the Bible each day and now I am a 70 years old woman. I love Bibleverses and have often quoted them here at 7Cups. I also love to lift persons up to our Father in heaven's knee and put them there so he can take care of them.
@Helgafy
Hi! It’s wonderful to meet you, and great to learn you love sharing Bible verses!
I do not know anyone with healing powers unfortunately. I could certainly pray for you though, if that’s ok with you!
God bless ❤️
@ThatChristLover
Of course I would like it if you prayed for me. Thank you so much!
@ThatChristLover
You are so young so I don't want to bring you so much burdens. But what I really need is that you pray for the time between 12 and 14 p.m. Then I get really depressed. Thank you so much.
@Helgafy
I will make sure to pray for you then!! (And don’t worry it is not a burden at all!)
@ThatChristLover
That's so nice of you!
@ThatChristLover
Thank you so much. Last week was really hard for me with depression, but today I feel lighter. I want to live in the resurraction-power of Jesus Christ.
@Helgafy
Hello there Helgafy!
Thank you for participating in this community!
It's been created a thread that can exactly help you feeling people care and support from a religious view point, feel free to give it a look HERE
Take care 💙
@MeaningfulSilence
Thank you - also - what a fine site!
Hi everyone!
I'm Rhoda and I'm in my 20s. I've been working through and tracking my spiritual journey for a few years now.
As a child, I was raised Catholic, but my experience wasn't wholly positive and I ended up swearing off anything related to faith. With time, I became interested in the subject again and for a while now I've been reconciling myself with God (although at times I struggle to speak in such specific terms).
I work in academics and my path has led me to study and write about mysticism a lot, especially medieval Christian mysticism. This has deeply informed my spiritual journey.
For now, though, I am not part of a larger community or denomination, as I haven't rejoined my previous church. Sometimes this feels lonely, especially because most people outside such communities don't like to discuss spirituality
@rhodawoolf
What a nice painting at your pfp.
Thanks! It's The Garden Wall by John Singer Sargent. I like how the woman seems to melt into the background
@rhodawoolf
Hi rhoda.
I wrote a Bibleverse to @ThatChristLover - the word "peace" is mentioned in it, I saw from your bio you're looking for peace.
@rhodawoolf
Hi again.
Here is another verse of peace that I was thinking of: John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
From Helga.
@Helgafy
Thank you, Helga, that's beautiful to read.
The knowledge that peace is with us is comforting, although it doesn't always mean I can feel and see it. I try to attune myself to it as much as possible, but things around me create distraction an doubt.
"I do not give to you as the world gives" — it is an exercise for me to pay full attention to this idea, accepting that perhaps the way I expect peace to manifest is simplistic or too much "of the world"
@rhodawoolf
Hello there, nice to meet you!
I think everyone needs to make a personal spiritual path, it's important to feel in line with it, if you want to explore other paths it's good if it's what you sensed deep inside. I understand how it would be better to have people with whom feeling on the same page and with whom to discuss the same experience. Wish you to find your way and to feel good about what you will choose!
Sending you good vibes!
@MeaningfulSilence
Thank you! I think finding a space where people share their feelings and experiences around spirituality, without judging one another, is a great help. So thank you for this thread. This subcommunity seems wonderful
@rhodawoolf
Hi there rhodawoolf!
Yes, that's the idea, to offer a safe space where to talk about own personal experience, without judgment but equally valuing everyone's sharing!
Thank you for supporting that 💙
@MeaningfulSilence
Thank you so much for this site.
I'll try and make my story short. My parents and I were first introduced to Christianity in 2008, and my parents were baptized in 2011. I, on the other hand, although went to church with them, I had a lot of unanswered questions and confusion. I attended 3 different churches since then, and stopped altogether from 2019. In all 3 churches, I had a fellowship group, but no one made me felt welcome, and I did not feel I trusted anyone enough to share my questions and my confusions. The first 2 churches I attended back then, it was during my peak times of depression.
In the present time, I'm not sure if I'll ever attend church with my parents again, but I'd like to stay open to the idea. I've also recently read a couple of spiritual books, and the stories it mentioned from the Bible, I somehow still remember them.
@MeaningfulSilence
@Jaeteuk
Hi there Jaeteuk, how are you? How is the weekend going?
I understand how it feels frustrating to have questions and nobody to discuss with. Sorry you felt not welcomed.💙
Spirituality, within a great variety of cultural and religious conceptions, is often seen as a path, or spiritual journey, along which one grows to achieve a specific objective, such as for example a higher state of awareness. Maybe you can start asking yourself some questions like what you are looking for? If you sense something like a higher meaning beyond things and a different purpose to life events/situations? I hope it can help you see if you are ready to embrace a specific Faith/Religion or if you still need to clarify to yourself what spirituality means to you.
To feel others are on the same journey and can have same questions, doubts and willingness to grow is surely of great help. Wishing this community can help everyone's path!
Don't worry about having doubts, perfection isn't required to approach Faith/Spirituality. It's a growing path 🙂
The weekend is good, a long weekend for me here. Need to rest well over the weekend, as with the 4-day work week on Tuesday, I'll be working overtime hours, 11-hr shifts!
After my parents became Christians, I've seen the changes mostly in my mum. My dad has a stubborn personality, so he doesn't really admit to wrong and doesn't seem to want to change.
When I first attended church, I was very open to the idea of having someone greater than ourselves that existed. That thought is still in the back of my mind, but there are just some areas where I can't get past, and haven't found anyone over the years when I wanted to attend church to share with. Now, I'm just kind of stuck. I have been reading a lot books lately, some of which are spiritual, so ideas are flowing back in my mind.
MeaningfulSilence
@Jaeteuk
Hi Jaeteuk! 11-hr shifts sounds tiring, hope you will care for yourself in order to have the needed energy to face it 💙
I understand that feeling stuck isn't a nice sensation, if possible practice patience on that regard, to face moment of struggles happen also to people in ''advanced'' religious path!
Reading to learn more but also approaching Holy Scriptures, usually helps to reflect about things, it can put you in the path to seek for God. Some find it useful to pray in order to ask God's guidance, what is important is that you feel it's good for you to explore the many ways that can bring you there! Be kind with yourself, take your time to understand and feel how to nurture your need to grow with your Faith.
Take care!
@Jaeteuk
I deeply related to your story! Some community experiences can be disappointing. I was unlucky in that respect too. Slowly, I understood that it didn't mean I had to reject everything I'd been told. You can totally be interested in related practices or writings, without having to accept everything you experienced.
I'm also keeping an open mind about possibly returning to church, but at the moment I want to find a path on my own. I find reading scripture, doctrine and even religious poetry very interesting. I can embrace or reject the texts on my own terms, without feeling pressured.
In my past fellowship groups, I had hope to make so good friends, someone who could provide more guidance for me. But I realized that I had always been the outsider, as the people that are already in the group are devoted Christians and have been since birth. Although they kind of welcomed me when I first joined, they did not include me in discussions nor where they willing to teach me. I was very disappointed, at one point, I was hospitalized because of mental health issues, and no one visited me. My mum used to be in a group, where they visited patients and spent time preaching. Some patients ended up as Christians, while others were open to the belief. When I was hospitalized, none of that happened with the fellowship group I was in, there was even a couple of youth pastors in the group, none of which came to see me.
Maybe I'll start reading some spiritual books myself too. See where that takes me.
@rhodawoolf
@Jaeteuk
I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. It makes little sense to me that people who should be on a path of compassion and generosity would overlook your situation. You deserved to be cared for so much better by your community.
I've been in groups that don't offer guidance and instead close the door on you whenever you have doubts or even just questions. It did not help me at all and instead blocked my spiritual growth. I hope to find other communities with time and I pray you will also!
In the meantime, even though I'm alone on one level, I feel a lot more embraced on another, deeper level. I can finally look into my soul and pray without fear of being wrong or fear of doubt. At first I just read, meditated and kept myself open to any emotion or any question. It's been so enlightening, and now I pray too. Besides scripture, a turning point for me was reading Gravity and Grace (just in case you're ever interested!)
Hey all. I’m Jen, and I’m a Christian. I didn’t grow up with strong faith, and my family never went to church or read the Bible with me. I say that because both of my parents were raised Christian and grew up going to church. When I was growing up, they just didn’t have the time, working so much, and my mom didn’t feel comfortable at church. I thought I was atheist for a few of my teen years. But I didn’t really know about the world yet.
In college is when I really found my faith. I had spiritual experiences that could not be explained other than divine intervention or the work of God. I struggled with being Christian because society told me it isn’t possible to be both bisexual and Christian. My ancestors are also witches, and while I don’t know if I truly am one, I know that the women in my family (including myself) get psychic visions. Whether or not those things are related, I don’t know.
There is so much I still don’t know, and I realize that a lot of people might have hesitancy to call me a Christian. I’m very confident in what I believe in, and I believe in God and Jesus Christ. Let me just say that when I turned to the lgbtq “community” for support so many years ago, I did not find acceptance there. I found hate, ego, and insecurity. Then God showed me what acceptance really means.
The lgbtq groups in college were not kind to me, is what I am trying to say. I am bi and even if I wasn’t, I would not hate the community. I just wasn’t accepted for who I was, and it was surprising. However, I still have dedicated my life to helping people, particularly in the lgbtq community, because I know there are more out there like me.
Fast forward to now. It’s true, I do not go to church currently, and it’s because I, like my mother, do not feel extremely comfortable worshipping in front of others. I find peace when I am alone and praying. I don’t read the Bible as much as I should, but I do want to improve. I was never baptized, and I hope to find the courage to do so. I guess I’m just scared.
For those who have been baptized when older, what was your experience like? I would love to hear. I am grateful for this space to finally be able to talk about religion on 7cups.
Thank you for reading.
@TheJenInBlack
Hi there TheJenInBlack!
Thank you for having joined 💙
I am really sorry to hear the difficulty you had to face, it's surely harder when one feels alone and faces the sensation of rejection.
It's nice to read that you find peace when you are alone and praying, I really wish you to find your connection with God and to sense His guidance, if that's what you are looking for 🌸 I think that it could be important to do things in steps and if you are willing to learn and grow into Faith, no rush!
I also hope that reading about other people's personal experience, can help your personal path into Faith and that you'll come to realize that seeking a connection with God might be more important that people's approval (that's obviously into a perspective of Faith).
Take care!
@TheJenInBlack
Friend.
It's good you'll be christened. It's a natural act. I'm sure the church will give you some lessons before the babtism.
You mention witch. You (we) are all safe under the blood of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:11 "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;"
@Helgafy
Hi Helgafy! How are you today? How is your week starting? 😊
Glad you are happy about this community! 🎉
@MeaningfulSilence
Friend. Thank you for asking. My friend came to see me this day, she visits me once pr. month since I cannot go out of my flat. I have not been depressed today and I'm very thankful to God/Jesus Christ (who took both our sicknesses and our sins on the cross).
@Helgafy
Glad you had a nice visit today! 💙
Happy to know your Faith helps you during difficult moments! 😊👍
@MeaningfulSilence
And here is the beautiful Bibleverse about that: Isaiah 53:5-7 "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
@Helgafy
Thank you for sharing 😊
