by ozziepost 47 Replies latest jw friends
Fairchild... the answer to a prayer isn't always what you want.
If someone asks for faith, it is unlikely they will wake up in the morning and be more faithful! If one prays for faith, one often is given something to work through, and in the end, one has their faith built.
They prayed for the truth. What they were given was something to work through, and now we are out of the other side, we know even moreso what the truth is.
FMZ
We were pretty astounded at that set of coincidences. Or were they? Sometimes I think we send out energy into the universe and it comes back.Many times I've been thinking of someone, and the phone rings and it is that person. Often I haven't seen or heard from them for a very long time.
I had several coincidences like this that led me to believe that there may be some sort of universal energy of this nature. I don't know if it is magic or not; maybe it's just science that we don't understand yet.
For instance, I had this dream where I had a deep discussion with actor Carroll O'Connor. It was a really emotional dream and very comforting talking to him. When I turned on the news the the morning, they announced that he had died.
After dealing with other issues in my life and pushing back the Watchtower stuff for over eight years, I felt the deepest need to start searching on-line for the answers to these JW issues. I started scanning obituaries and other news sources on-line for any information regarding my family. I felt very strongly that there was some reason why I needed to. I also started to research apostate websites. My search led me here, where I discovered there would be an apostafest at Princess' house and that some people I knew from many years ago would be there. We made the drive up to Edmonds and attended that gathering where I learned a lot about my family that had been kept from me. I also met some very good new friends that have been so very supportive.
After the apostafest I wrote a long letter to my aunt knowing she would pass the message on to the rest of my family. It was less than a month after feeling this strong compulsion to find out more that I got a call from a family member telling me that my niece had died in a traffic accident. Because of my recent letter, some family members decided that this was appropriate reason to call and inform me of the news. Though I was tempted to tell them all I had learned of the UN, Silent Lambs, and other JW scandals I had learned of, out of respect for them I held my tongue. I focused on my niece and her short 18 year life, letting them know that I loved them, that I still cared deeply, and that I would always love them and be there for them if they wanted me back in their lives. Though I didn't attend the funeral (I will never again attend a JW infomercial funeral), I was able to send some flowers and start to find some closure in other ways. It was hard and I grieved a lot. I went into a deep depression. A counselor helped with this. But after her death, the obsessive nature of my search started to ease. I found focus and growth through that experience.
Now I watch the local obits for a friend who asked me to pass on news from Salem, but I only occasionally log onto the obits in the other cities where my family is. I don't feel the need to scan them daily. It was almost like I knew a crisis was coming and something was preparing me for it. I can't imagine how much greater my despair would have been if I had found out she had died and nobody told me.
I guess this is why I will always be more of an agnostic than an atheist.
Tammy
Fairchild... the answer to a prayer isn't always what you want.If someone asks for faith, it is unlikely they will wake up in the morning and be more faithful! If one prays for faith, one often is given something to work through, and in the end, one has their faith built.
They prayed for the truth. What they were given was something to work through, and now we are out of the other side, we know even moreso what the truth is.
Thank you FMZ.
Just my humble opinion and all, Fairchild... It does seem to make sense to me though.
FMZ
If one prays for faith, one often is given something to work through, and in the end, one has their faith built.
I've seen examples of this paradigm in my own life. I remember as a JW praying to have a better relationship with God, that I wanted to find a way to be of service, that I wanted more faith. Very shortly afterwards circumstances put me in a new town, and living with a room mate who was the very epitome of the model Jehovah's Witness brother. He had a lot of influence on me and I really made the Watchtower my own. I deeply embraced the JW way of life. And that's what saved me. I took it very seriously and wasn't just along for the ride. When you start trying to earnestly convert others, you're bound to run into the person who knows something of the sordid history of the Watchtower and will just as earnestly try and share it with you. Being the type of person who considered it cowardly to duck hard questions, I didn't run away like most JWs when I met my first serious opposition. I relished the opportunity for Jehovah-Watchtower to be proved right. I hadn't even the faintest concept that a prayer for faith this would lead to destroying every vestige of faith I had in any of the Watchtower doctrines and would begin my slow, inexorable journey out of it.
Fairchild... the answer to a prayer isn't always what you want.If someone asks for faith, it is unlikely they will wake up in the morning and be more faithful! If one prays for faith, one often is given something to work through, and in the end, one has their faith built.
They prayed for the truth. What they were given was something to work through, and now we are out of the other side, we know even moreso what the truth is.
FMZ - I couldn't have said it better. Thank you.
bttt
Well, ozzie, I suppose you could post your own greatest coincidence!
bebu
