Introducing myself

by Micaela 20 Replies latest jw friends

  • Micaela
    Micaela

    Hi everyone.

    I just wanted to introduce myself since I am new to the forum. My name is Micaela, I also go by Mica. I have been studying with the witnesses for some time and I attend meetings. I am 22 years old, Latina, married with 3 kids ages 1, 2, and 6.

    I have lived a very rough life, and have struggled with an addiction to crystal meth for many years. I was involved in a gang at a very young age and as I got older I began my struggle with drugs. The first time I picked up the bible I was 13 years old, sitting in juvenile detention. I read the four gospels that night and that is what sparked my interest in learning the truth. My big problem was just living by the truth. I have known the truth for many years, but my problem has always been applying the truth to my life. I still struggle with that but I feel that I am progressing.

    My goals are to continue spiritually progressing, and eventually be baptized when I feel ready. I need a lot of encourgement right now because I feel like Satan is still trying to hang on to me and cause havoc in my life. But I am faithful and I know if I keep fighting him, he will eventually flee from me. I love Jehovah but I want to love him more. I want to build a deep relationship with him and also teach my husband and children to love jehovah too.

  • zoiks
    zoiks

    Hi Micaela, welcome to the forum!

    I'm very sorry to hear about your struggles with addiction. Hopefully you are receiving the help that you need.

  • wobble
    wobble

    Welcome to the board Michaela,

    You will find a huge variety of views here, but you will find support for whatever you wish to achieve too, from some who have avery similar experience in life as you, which is always helpful.

    I am sure that what you want is the very best for your dear children, so that they can have a good life without pain and disappointment, and again on here you can ask questions on any subject, parenting etc and things you do not understand about the JW religion etc. and be helped to find the answers, if answers exist.

    I wish you and your family wellbeing and peace, and welcome again.

  • designs
    designs

    Mica-

    Welcome. I wish you all the best on your recovery from drugs. Wanting to be a good mother and have a good family is great. Many here have struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and have many years of sobriety and being clean from drugs, we know what its like from the inside out. I am a recovering addict, my daughter was addicted to meth and heroin and she is doing really well and has a baby, my grandson. I hope you have a good support group.

    Just one word of caution about this site that you have found, most here have left the Watchtower organization and are no longer Jehovah's Witnessess. If you want to be on a group site that are active Witnessess you might want to look elsewhere. Things said here could be a little unsettling for you but its your choice and you are welcome to stay.

    Please know that all of us wish you the very best in life, for yourself, your marriage and children. You will get a lot of encouragement here from all of us who have and are recovering from addiction.

    Regards

    grandpa designs

  • DaCheech
    DaCheech

    my biggest advice to anyone is: no matter how down and trodden you are, you can always get up and start all over.

    anyway, there are many religious groups that help people with addiction, and gang violence.

    JW's on the other hand will only be your friend, as long as you keep on sudying for baptism.

    As soon as you stop studying, they forget about you.

    start invesigating all religions, and start reading about JW's from outside sources.

    buenos dia Amiga.

  • Adiva
    Adiva

    Hi Mica.

    I want to reiterate Designs' comment about this forum. Many, perhaps most of us are former witnesses or even transitioning witnesses.

    You talk about your children. I want you to consider them when making your decisions. I was raised a witness and I think I'd be one of many on this forum to tell you how miserable it is to be raised as one. No holidays, no birthday celebrations, no extra school activities, no friends aside from other witness children, no college and the list goes on. Many of us, once we left the witnesses experimented with things you've already dealt with, addictions and such. Many of us were suicidal because of the fear we felt from being told were going to die at Armageddon. Many of us are shunned by our families because the organization tells them they must since we no longer believe what the society says.

    Mica, there is life away from the witnesses, a spiritual life with a great relationship with God. Not the all punishing, angry, I'll kill you if you call me by the wrong name god, but a god of acceptance and unconditional love.

    Continue with your studies with the witnesses if you like but, make sure you know what life you're subjecting yourself, your husband and your children to.

    Be Blessed.

  • Doubtfully Yours
    Doubtfully Yours

    You must be kidding, right?!

    This a website where disgruntled ex-JWs, a bunch of misinformed people and quite a group of nut cases have come up with to discredit the JWs!

    Get out of here and never ever return!!!

    DY

  • diamondiiz
    diamondiiz

    Hello Mica,

    Sorry to hear you had a rough life and sorry that witnesses caught you when you were down. What you need is help with your addictions and try to clean up your life to make it work. Many cults prey on people like yourself and their strict guidelines do help vulnerable people in the short time until you ever come to realize that you've been mislead and your life goes down the tubes again. Jehovah's Witnesses as a group are very misled people who follow their leaders without understanding their past and why their teachings change other than putting their full faith in their leaders' words.

    Witnesses love to blame everything on Satan their boogieman. Your surroundings most likely pushed you in a wrong direction which makes it difficult for some to get out or realize the deep hole they dug for themselves. You recognized your problems which is the start of recovery and good for you in doing so. Please continue getting help and to strengthen your family ties and learn about watchtower society as much as you can so you don't become their victim down the road. Learn about their dates they teach, examine the history of Jerusalem's destruction and what the secular historians say as you will see 607BC is not the date for the destruction of Jerusalem and that 1914 is nothing more than a date in the history of mankind and not the invisible return of Jesus.

    Keep reading here and asking question because getting involved in a cult without knowing the facts will only hurt you down the road. Jehovah's Witnesses are the least informed and educated people out there and they won't help you in the long run.

  • wasblind
    wasblind

    Welcome Mica,

    do some research first, they will warn you against it, but remember, the real truth has nothing to hide and can stand up to anything

    Hey there Doubtfully, heres a little some thing for you from Anderson info

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/203783/1/Latest-research-findings-The-more-believers-doubt-their-own-beliefs-the-more-they-proselytize-in-favor-of-them

  • GrandmaJones
    GrandmaJones

    The help and love you are currently receiving from the Witnesses must be making such a difference in your life. Loving (worshiping) God does lead you to a more peaceful frame of mind.

    A word of caution, however, those who have told you that this site is for ex-witnesses are correct. For that reason alone, I hope you consider staying to read the stories of those lost in "the truth" for sometimes many decades. I have been in for six decades and I can personally sttest to the terrible destruction that my life as a Jehovah's witness has caused my children and grandchildren. I was raised in "the truth" and never considered anything else. One of the things that Jehovah's Witnesses do is to make you terribly afraid to look at other information. When I finally had the courage to look into this myself (and I am referring to looking in their own publications and seeing just what we say and have said, and the crazy things we have taught in the past (like the fact we taught about 607 and 1914 based on the measurements of the pyramid) and many more examples, I realized that this is not "the truth" at all.

    You owe it to your children to find out the truth about the truth. Read "The Best of Topics" section, and look at the personal experiences as well, and DON'T BE AFRAID AS I WAS to look at the information. My family has been ruined in many ways, and their youth lost. One of my children has never had the pleasure of having a child of their own. They gave it up because they wanted to postpone it until "the new system". No one has a real career or the education to obtain one. They will discourage higher education VERY STRONGLY. Don't underestimate the impact this will have on your kids. Please, please take the time to ponder over this and don't let anyone tell you it is wrong to examine what they teach carefully, and WITH SOURCES OUTSIDE THEIR OWN PUBLICATIONS.

    You have already probably been taught not to look at anything outside the Watchtower publications. That is one of the marks of a cult, only reading the information they provide, isolating yourself in some way from outside influences, teaching that those outside influences are dangerous and possibly controlled by Satan, as well as other things. I personally am deeply regretful that I never looked.

    Please stay with us. You will learn things. If, after a few days or weeks, you still want to continue, then do so, but don't get into this blindly.

    I have found most here to be wonderful people. There are a few who are somewhat hateful, (or appear to be) and it can be very off-putting to a new person. Ignore those posts at this point. Realize that there is a great deal of anger on their part. Some have lost family members to the blood policy. Some have lost family members to prison for the old doctrine regarding military service. Some have lost loved ones to death because of the policy of organ transplants being "cannibalistic" or they lost their sight. They died because of kidney failure for not being able to use dialysis, or blood fractions, which have recently been allowed. There are brothers and sisters who endured persecution including the rapes of thousands of women and daughters and the burning downof the houses of thousands in the country of Malawi. Check out what the policy of disfellowshipping is. If your children decide later that they don't want to accept this organization, you will be expected to completely turn against them, not even talking to them,possibly for the rest of both of your lives. They will have had no friendships outside of the organization, and will be alone in the world, shunned by all family and friends, and their lives ruined. You would not have good a good relationship with your grandchildren if this happens. Your children will be encouraged to be baptized young. This ensures that they will be in the position where this "disfellowshipping" can and does happen to them. Nearly two thirds of the young ones leave. I know many mothers who cry in the bathroom during meetings sometimes because they miss their kids. They don't tell you things like this now, do they?

    Yes, you will find anger here. Lots have very, very good reasons. I bid you welcome, and I hope you stay and learn.

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