I have a question hi my name is Lori and I’m 65 yrs old and I live in a nursing home that I truly love! I rededicated my life to God about 3 yrs ago but I’m in a spot of dryness. I know God is beside me and I know I have the Holy Spirit inside me but I just don’t feel or have any desire to go forward and I’m afraid if I don’t get out of this rut I’m in the devil is going to put his mark on me and I serve a living God who loves me and will never forsake me but my relationship and intimacy with him is gone and I’ve try to fast and pray but I couldn’t do that even. Please tell me what I need to do to get back where I once was. I want to be back there where I felt his presence and involvement in my life but I don’t know what to do. Thanks!! God Bless
Lori,
God bless you. At this second, I’m crying for your feelings of abandonment. I’m praying to The One and Only God, the Creator, the Maker of all things asking Him to heal your heart.
He IS with you. HE LOVES YOU. He sees you in your anguish and He heard your cry. I know that YOU know that what you’re feeling is Satan at work. You know this because you feel it, you’ve expressed that empty feeling quite well.
Luke 19:10 NKJV
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
You feel lost, that is clear, but you have not been abandoned. Your cry has been heard by Him and by me. Do you think I saw your message by mistake? Nay, I saw it because He showed it to me. You are not alone. "I AM is with you. "
I pray for your peace. I pray Satan’s bond will be loosed. That he be removed from your sphere of light in the Holy name of Jesus Christ. I’m praying nonstop for your peace. You are loved and you are His child. You are my sister.
Do you have a cell phone or computer with speakers? Or headphones? If so, I offer this suggestion: download a Bible app that will read the Bible to you, and turn it on at night when you are ready for bed. Let it read to you ALL night; the Word of God might offer that bubble of protection over you to keep Satan out while you sleep. Also, whether you feel like it or not, set aside 5 or 10 minutes during the day to read one page of the Bible. Pick a verse that speaks to you from that page, and then just read that 1 passage over and over again. THINK about it, meditate on it, let IT speak to you.
My other suggestion is that you reply to this message. I will recieve your messages and I will respond. I’m here for you, my sister. I’m praying for you, and will be here for you at any time you need to talk.
Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
Amen 
Oh, Lori, my sister. Your faith in Him IS strong enough. You see, because you believe in Him, He is faithful to you. He knows your heart is for Him, and He WILL answer your prayers. Most of the time, we don’t even get to see His answer until much, much later. AND, sometimes His answers aren’t what we expected - but His answers and timing are always the right answer at the exact time He desired. 
The only thing YOU need to do is believe in Him. That’s not always an easy thing to do, though. Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to maintain it, but I truly believe that He allows for those fluctuations. He makes up for our lack because He knows that we are “merely” human, after all, He made us this way! And that last fact is crucial for you to remember… He know and UNDERSTANDS your weaknesses because He made you the way you are. Therefore, if He can accept you even with your doubts, hearing problems, and your lack of complete understanding (and NONE of us understand completely!), then you must give yourself a break. YOU, my dear sister are “Fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
You are perfect, because you are exactly who He made you to be. You can’t hear well? That’s no accident! Because you have trouble hearing, you listen more closely to those around you. What a GIFT that is for those around you! How rare it is for people to listen, but you do! Use that! Use that to help others - because they come to you for prayer - they obviously trust you.
Prayer isn’t a bunch of big words… well, it’s not supposed to be anyway. Prayer is from your heart. You posted in this site initially and your heart was crying out for someone to see and understand. Did you use big words? In your heart, your words were probably more of a general “hope” than a prayer. I, along with others who will read your post, saw it and we connected. Neither do your prayers for other people need to be long and wordy - truly, they just need to come from your heart. If someone comes to you because they’re sad and ask you for prayer, just pray that their sadness be lifted or that their joy will be restored. Whatever the situation, just use your own words from YOUR heart. God will hear and He will answer.
Now, to the Bible reading… do you have a cross in your room? If so, maybe at night, before going to bed, you can focus on it while you meditate on whatever phrase you choose? Just to have something to focus your eyes on while you meditate on the phrase you chose… it’s not necessary that it be a cross, but just having that “something” to look at while you think about your biblical phrase is good enough. Heck, you can look at a popsicle stick if you’ve got one handy - but eat the ice cream first or you’ll have a sticky mess!
If you’re posting a verse of the day every day, then meditate on that verse. What does it mean? Why was it chosen that day? What does the verse before and the one after say? (Give the verse some context) does that make sense? As you meditate on His words, you’ll gain understanding. The Bible is God breathed, meaning that, in a way, it’s a “Living Word”. Every time you read it, it might take on a new meaning… God gives us what we need when we need it.
Lori, you aren’t alone. You need to know that. The blessing of this site is that we - none of us - will ever need to feel alone again. We’ve always got God, we know He doesn’t leave us, but sometimes we can’t sense Him, and that’s when we need our brothers and sisters in Christ to walk beside us. ALWAYS lean into Him, because He IS there, but you can also lean on us. You can lean on me.
With love,
Cathi
Cathi thank you so much!! I’m feeling a lot better and more confident. You have my email address so you can write anytime, or we can become like partners in Christ! I needed to hear all this. I praise the Lord Gd for your help in time of need. I have no one who I can confide in when I need someone to talk to when I’m feeling like this. I used to be manic depressed and I want to tell you that MY GOD HEALED ME! I’m no longer depressed. I’m always going around and giving hugs to everyone I see. And I hope that the Christian people can see the difference in me since I’ve been here. Some say I have and they have been blessed by me and that’s what I want, people to see My FATHER in me. My family, well my mom passed away last may and my youngest daughter who lives not far from here has disowned me because I’m against the way her oldest daughter is living with her girlfriend. She thinks I’m judging her and thinks that it’s just a phrase in her life and in a couple years from now she’ll change her ways and ask God to forgive her. But I told my daughter she may not have a couple of years before the Lord comes back and she’ll go to a place of torment for eternity. I’d be on my knees now to get her to change her ways without telling her daughter so she won’t feel like your judging her. But she and now my oldest daughter have both disowned me so I have no family left. It’s just me and I also think that this has happened because I wasn’t obeying the Lord and He took them out of my life so that I would commit myself to Him more and in a way I have but not fully. And I need to I know I do but I’ve had a very difficult childhood that left me closed up and even when I grew up I was out of control and I lost my kids because of it on and off. But they don’t want to see how much I’ve changed since I was basically had no choice but to come into this nursing home almost 6 yrs ago. And I miss them but it’s not Gods will for them to be in my life anymore so I gave them to God and asked Him to protect them. I know and believe with all my heart that things will get better but for now I have to release myself from my comfort zone and do His will. Please keep praying for me and I’ll pray for you my sister. I feel so much love for you and hope that we can keep in touch even outside of Uncommon Pursuit. God Bless you for your prayers and words of comfort and encouragement to me! It won’t be forgotten! Love always Lori!!
Lori,
I believe that we were placed into each other’s paths for a purpose. We may not even know the entirety of it yet; and isn’t THAT an incredible thought? That our God can breathe life into His plan and it will come to pass! How incredible to serve THAT God!
Mental disorders are something I’m very familiar with. I too have suffered with them for my entire life. A little more than 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with SEVERAL things that all struck at the same time - Lupus, Neuropathy, RA & OA, degenerative bone disease in my spine, along with osteoporosis and Macular Degeneration. I was in an incredible amount of pain, I was forced to quit working because nurses need to be able to move at a fast pace, and I just couldn’t do it any longer. My doctors also said that, due to the eye disease, I would be mostly (if not completely) blind within 10 years. I sank into the worst depression I’d ever gone through, and had nowhere to turn. I knew about God, but hadn’t found a “home church”, nobody in my family are Christians so I had nobody to talk to. I had a Bible and had read it through a few times, but I didn’t understand a lot of what I read and had nobody to ask about it. The ONLY thing I knew about God was that the Bible said He loves me. I didn’t even REALLY believe that, because I wasn’t what I considered a “good” person. I felt like I was extremely UN-loveable and getting those diagnoses seemed to be God agreeing with me.
I was taking a lot of pain meds at that time (my doctors were really over medicating me), and I did NOT want to live in this kind of pain, so I made a plan to end my miserable life. For months I had a plan but I waited… then, suddenly, I spiraled into a major depression. Couldn’t force myself to get out of bed for an entire week; I just lay there crying. Finally I’d had enough. I never wanted to be a burden to my husband, yet there I was, burdening him with having to take care of me so morning, I decided I was not going to burden him or anyone else again.
As I lay there in bed, finalizing my plan, I screamed out at the TOP of my voice “IF YOU WANT ME TO STAY IN THIS WORLD, THEN YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THIS FROM ME!” Would you believe I fell asleep? I woke up about 2 hours later realizing how bad I smelled, so got up and took a shower. Then I got dressed and went to the kitchen for some water, and realized the house was a mess. I was halfway through washing dishes before I realized I was actually SINGING!
That was over 10 years ago, and, though I’ve experienced sadness, there’s been no depression. I also stopped 90% of the drugs I was taking. Not because the pain was gone - it’s definitely NOT - but because I needed clarity.
I renewed my search for a church, and found it 7 years ago. I began reading the Bible in EARNEST immediately. When I didn’t understand what I was reading, I researched the heck out of it. I began attending Bible studies, and after the 3rd study, I was asked to lead one. Then I led another and another. THEN I wrote my own study, and am now writing a second one; it’s untitled so far, but it’s a study of the Book of Revelation.
God answered my prayer that day. He gave me a reason to live. He gave me HIMSELF, His love and His joy. He gave me peace.
So, I do understand… maybe not all of your situation, but enough. I’m not a parent, so I don’t know the pain of having my child “disown” me, but I can feel what kind of pain you must be going through. I’ve never had a family member (that I’m aware of) playing with LGBTQ ideation, but I DO understand the pain of knowing your family is in danger of suffering God’s wrath. It’s not something you’ll ever get used to, and those thoughts have kept me awake in prayer for many nights. I pray continually for my own family, and will do so for yours now, too.
You aren’t wrong; I believe we ARE on the cusp of the beginning of the end to this world - as we know it now. Fear not, though, because once it begins, those who remain will have a little more time to turn to God. Write down what you know to be true and how they can recieve His salvation and enter into the coming Kingdom. Write it down so they’ll find it. Give enough details so they understand what we KNOW will happen, and so they’ll know where to find out more in the Bible. Don’t give up, don’t quit talking to them in person, because God works through His servants. Don’t quit telling them, because when we love someone, we speak the truth to them, regardless of whether they accept it or not, because we love them. Their acceptance or not, that’s up to them, but until they simply refuse to take your calls, show them that you love them by telling them in the ONLY way that matters.
And, yes, we will keep in touch, through the U.P. site, and through email. We are connected by His holy Spirit. We are sisters in the BEST way possible, in Christ.
May the peace of our Lord surround you. Know that you are loved, my sister.
Cathi
Cathi thank you so much for replying back to me. I was so close to tears as I read your response. I could really feel your pain. I tried 5 times to end my life but the Lord always found a way to bring me around but not out of the situations. I’m not proud of what I was doing and felt so unloved but thank God I feel more love now in my life that it’s made up for all the loss in my life. I really want to praise the Lord God for what he did for you. God is the most loving God there is. He’s so good to his children. I wish I could get my family to see that. My daughters have blocked me on their phones so I can’t ever call them and I’m not going to try anymore to get thru to them. It’s their choice to live the way they want to live and I keep praying that their eyes will be opened before it’s too late. But it’s their choice and I have to except that. I feel like we have a lot in common and have so much to share. There were something’s that hit me between the eyes in your response that makes me believe that we’re meant to be friends, not friends but sisters in Christ. I had a younger sister who died in 2006 from breast cancer and I so look forward to seeing her when I get home. We were talking in Sunday school about Revelation chapter 8 about the trumpet sounding and I’m so ready to be called home to be with my God. But you said that you were doing a study of the book of Revelation and I did one and now we’re doing it every Sunday. We’ll be doing chapter 9 next Sunday. I’m excited to study that book because we’re seeing the signs of his coming now. I’m trying to depend totally on the Lord for everything I need from him. It will be hard to do in some areas but I have to trust him for everything and I’ll make it thanks to people here. I’m so happy that God put me here. Everyone is good to me and are such a blessing to me. I hope that when you get done with the study on Revelation that if you do it thru here on UP I will go and do the study with you. It would be good to see anything that I might have missed. Ok I’m going to close now. God Bless you Cathi love always Lori
Lori,
If you’d like, I can send you what I just wrote for Revelation chapter 9.
I don’t know if U.P. would want my study or not; honestly, I hadn’t even thought about it, but maybe when I’m finished writing the entire study I’ll ask… regardless of that, if you’d like to see what I’m writing, give yourself a prelude to your own study, I’d be happy to send it. I don’t know whether attachments would go through the U.P site or not, so contact me at my personal email if you’d wish.
Lori, I’m very glad the Lord put your message in my path. I know the hopeless feelings this life can have; Satan is constantly trying to pull us away from Christ.
Think about this question: why would Satan attack nonbelievers? He has no need to try pulling them away from God. He does, however, want to get to US, and will use any means necessary to do it. He will attack our emotions, our minds, he’ll whisper in our ears to make us question our beliefs and to doubt God’s love, he’ll use our friends and he’ll use our families. When we question, when we fear, doubt, get overwhelmed, angry, sad, etc, those are the times Satan is on the attack. Those are the times we need to lean in to the Lord; pray, give every negative emotion and fear to Him. Tell Him about your confusions. Give the doubts a voice. God already knows about them anyway, so really, when we put a voice to it, we’re verbalizing the problems for ourselves, which most of the time, takes the fear away. If that fails, though, I’m always here, ready to talk it through with you. Lean in to God, and lean on your friends.
Good bless,
Cathi
Thank you! I love the writing about the Greatest Man Whoever Lived!! He’s so awesome!!! Yes I agree about Satan. I think I deal with him on a daily basis. And you’re so right. You know so much more than I do about it seems like a lot! I wish I had stronger faith and more wisdom like you. Maybe it will rub off on me.(lol) I have to go to dinner talk later love you:heart:
I’ve done a LOT of studying… still, though, there’s so much more to learn.
Enjoy your dinner. We’ll chat more later.
Cathi
I find that when I surrender, I am delivered from myself. I recently surrendered during a prayer time wth God that I felt I was delivered. …I felt free & believing. So to me it’s the sin of xyz that brings “unbelief”. Hope this is helpful. Rbn