Originally Posted by
TheSuffererComplex
Salanna, congrats on your one year free!!! God has been really good to us having you as a role model for all of this time. We're all behind you, keep going ^_^
Role model?
I'll accept that, only because I know that whatever good you all may see in me is really Christ inside of me.
He's the role model.
Originally Posted by
dazedandconfused
soooo...i'm 5 weeks "free" today....but i don't feel good about it...i don't feel like that's an accomplishment at all because i want sooo bad to do it right now....i thought that since i became a christian this is all supposed to be so much easier...the thing is i'm not "free" of it even though that's what we say...i'm not free of it...i still think about it every day of my life. i know that i'm gonna screw up at some point and ruin it all. being free would mean that i don't have a problem with it anymore. being free would mean i'm free of all this guilt for doing it or wanting to do it. i'm sorry...its just that i'm really struggling right now...why can't God just take this from me?
Wow. You sound exactly like me.
Even being an entire year free, there are days when I am SO close to cutting again. So far the first 8 months were the hardest for me. Back in March I actually bought some more blades, and went so far as to hold one against my skin.
It's completely normal for you to feel this way. & If you ever need anything let me know.
Here are some verses that have helped me.
Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that you have been set free, therefore do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
Basically this means, you were set free so that you can BE FREE! Christ's freedom is so real and true. You were not set free so that you can go right back to the old lifestyle [that is, "submit again to a yoke of slavery"].
2 Corinthians 3:17 "The Lord is spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." His spirit is within you, and that means freedom!
and in reference to "why can't God just take this from me?"
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 "
7 So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations,
a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then,
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For
when I am weak, then I am strong."
Paul was struggling with something that he called "a thorn in his side". and he PLEADED with God 3 times to take it away. But God didn't.
He had to learn to be weak, so that he could fully rely on Christ.
[one of my very favorite passages]
So my advice, pray, read the Bible daily, surround yourself with good, Godly things and people.
Originally Posted by
dazedandconfused
oh and ghostface i used to be the same way...then i realized this summer that i had never really become a christian. its more than just trying and being emotional...one thing i've learned a lot recently is that its not about how you feel. its about what you know. if you've genuinely given your life to jesus then you are saved. you might not "feel" saved all the time but that doesn't mean you arent...
well said
