Signs

[Karmaone]

I used to be a Christian and, due to certain life events, lost my faith. However I feel like it won't let me go and there have been some strange things happening. Example, driving along and seeing a sign in a window that was totally relevant to how I've been feeling. I think it was "believe in God and miracles will happen. Also on FB, someone put up a picture of a book that was called "empty vessels" . This was an expression that means something to me. It was a phrase that popped into my head during a service at church that I shared with everyone.

What do you lovely Christians think? Has anything like this happened to you and what did you do with it? I think I'm not sure what I'm looking for really. Just tussling with myself over it all and would like to hear about other's experiences.

Anyone?

There is always a fine line between seeing meaning because we want to and that is how our brains work (seeing castles in the air) and the sense that God might be nudging us. I have a number of people I go to both formally and informally to talk to about prayer as it is very easy to hear what I want to hear and ignore that which I don't want to hear if that makes sense.

If you have a mature Christian friend it might be worth talking to them or go to the local church and ask if there is anyone there who is a spiritual director who might help you through this.

Thanks. Yes there is a fine line and it's hard to read. I want to believe that's what it is but am aware that there is no proof. I do have a Christian friend whom I have talked to and she says it may be a nudge! I get so confused with it all.

Often when I have been worried about something, I have opened my Bible (without looking for anything specific) and the page contains advice. When I have prayed for help, things have worked out, although not always in the way I expected. Perhaps you need to make time to listen to God. There is often so much going on in our lives, we are in such a hurry, we don't hear Him.

This 'looking for signs' approach was how I was most of the time I was a Christian. I would read messages from god into everything which you would do if you thought a loving god was interested in you. Gradually though I started to be more cynical/logical, call it what you will, like if I saw a book in a shop window and though it was a message from god I'd think 'what sort of god would go to the trouble of prompting the shop assistant to put that book in a window when the same god was ignoring someone suffering/being killed/starving?' To be honest I still feel guilty and embarrassed for reading in to those things.

Now I feel like a bit of an idiot!

But like me you were being told about how super interested god was in you, and seeing other people reading into things so don't be too hard on yourself. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I view it now.

Our brains work very hard to interpret the world around us so sometimes when a slogan jumps out at you or a book title looks suddenly very important it can be a connection has been made with something that you have been mulling over for a while and now the connection has been made and it is at the forefront of your mine. One of the reasons why Christians often have a soul friend (anam cara) or spiritual director or wise friend to help them make sense of all the stuff that comes at them is that it is not always easy to work out what is of God (if you believe in God) or of selfish desire or a desire that will lead you to be the best person you can be (or the person that God is calling you to be if you believe in God.)

So it sounds as if there is something that the OP has been mulling over and there are connections being made. It might be that this is the time to reinvestigate faith; perhaps a more questioning faith of paradox and mystery and uncertainty, rather than the clear boundaries of a young faith or perhaps something else. That is likely to take time and searching and maybe prayer. There is nothing like voluntary work with those who are far less off than yourself for getting a bit of perspective. This may not be about faith at all but it might and you won't know unless you stop and listen.

Karmaone, It is not my intention to offend, however the fact that we are all divided as humans into religious partitions is truly a disempowerment of humanity. So, Christian or any other belief system aside:

You saw something that sparked an inner 'knowing' inside you. Great!

This has happened to me for my whole life, but it wasn't until later in life I realised it meant something. Not to anyone else - just to me.

You will never get to your inner core depths asking others their opinions. Did you ask someone if you could start to take deep loving breathes into your body today? No, so don't do it.

Allow yourself to see and feel and observe the 'signs' you are receiving, and see how your life goes. How do you feel about this?

Our soul energy speaks to us in visions and signs, and when guided by the true powerhouse of the heart - life shifts in many ways.

I wish you well on your journey, as their are many paths to feeling better about life in general and one you start to listen to your own inner radar, life truly looks different. We shift, We change and we start to feel more.

The next time something catches your eye, drops you a feather, sings you a song, or gives a phrase in your head: The only person this is intended for, is you. You will make sense of it when the time is right for you.

Listen up, if you feel like it. And if you don't then don't.