Posted by Basia on August 25, 2004, at 14:26:28
Hi, I've posted a few times on the psychobabble board and have been visiting the website for the past seven months. It's a great place and I'm glad it's here.
Anyway, I'll introduce myself: I'm female, called Lyn and have been dogged by mental illness for almost a decade now.
Throughout most of that time I have kept myself going and picked myself up from crises that have resulted in hospital detention, psychosis, deep depression and suicide attempts with my faith in a deeper meaning to pain, faith that God would eventually aid me in some sort of stabilisation or understanding/strength and that perhaps my suffering would lessen.
I don't know if this a symptom of a recent bout of depression but I once again find myself dogged by difficulties in maintaining faith in God. It's like a natural automatic agnosticism/atheism.
Whether it's the concept of God within that gives humans the capacity to survive things, the inner spiritual being, or God as a more impersonal creator/cosmic intelligence, I find it very hard to believe at the moment.
I even prayed for a sign the other day! :)
Does anyone have any tips on how to keep faith alive?
I find reading the Bible doesn't really work for this as I find too many contradictions amidst its undeniable occasional beauty.
It's an age old question, i know, but how to deal with such spiritual apathy? How to feel alive to faith again?thanks so much for any suggestions, shared experiences, tips or advice,
Lyn xx
poster:Basia
thread:382207
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20040729/msgs/382207.html