The Bible NETWork ~ Impacting the World for Christ one post at a time!

Welcome Denise!

I'm not a moderator and not extremely knowledgeable about the bible so I probably can't help you with specific questions but I'm glad your here! My name is Kristen and I'm 30 years old. I hope we can become friends and grow in Christ

Thank you for the welcome Kristen:) I'm sure you have lots to offer in these forums:) God bless you sister, denise

Welcome Denise. There are a few of us that meet your description . I am sure we will all benefit as we share together.

I'm just a little older than you, and I think that we are unprepared for the havoc that our hormones can do to our mental health, and sense of well being in our 50s, let alone the changes and increasing health issues that ageing bodies become prone to. It is the time after children have left home but adult children and grandchildren bring their own worries for us, parents pass away and maybe partners and friend too, finances get stretched with no time left to take out mortgages or new loans, jobs end and retirement looms - and as you say, sins raise their heads, even old ones we thought had been dealt with years ago ... no wonder we feel tested. But has God changed? Of course not, we'd all agree ... but it is indeed no easy, rosy path once the realities of this world and this life really make themselves known.

It is hard to hold on there when the head and the emotions are out of kilter. And it would be easier - or so we think - if God just made what he says and wants more clear, more obvious, or kept us happy all the time, and never let us doubt anything. But then, where would faith be? How would we learn anything? The hard bits, I think, are part and parcel of being human ... and to mature in our faith, we have to go through the hard times, face the hard questions, come to some hard decisions, make mistakes and hopefully learn from them ... and hang on to our faith - or rather, trust that the Lord is hanging on to us - even when the way is dark and unclear. I think that is how we become wise in the ways of the Lord.

On another note, it is worth going over some of the threads already here in the Garden or in the wider Forum - pick a likely topic and have a read. There may already be some you could add to ... or start a new one more specific to what you are interested in. Of course, as you have already picked up, here in the Garden is the place for more personal type sharing.

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Avid Reader

“Lord, in my zeal for love of truth, let me not forget the truth about love.” - Thomas Aquinas
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Denise

welcome

Ditto everything Avid said !!!!

Reading your post a story came to mind about Billy Graham, who I am sure you will remember. When he was a young man and starting on his ministry one of his ministry partners, who was also a friend, lost his faith ... and started talking to Billy about how could he possibly believe anything that is in the Bible etc etc .... it really threw Billy Graham, and his mind was in a turmoil. So he went away by himself to pray and to think .... at the end of this time he made a choice - he knelt down and told God that he believed Him, and that he would stake his life on the God revealed in the pages of the Bible. .... and he did !!!!

For all of us there comes a time when God says to us (audibly or otherwise), what Jesus said to Martha after her brother died, and Jesus told her Lazarus would rise again .... Jesus said bluntly :
"Do you believe this?" (John 11 NIV)

and that is the question, sometimes we have to choose by a sheer act of the will, that the God who reveals Himself in the pages of the Bible, (and in the lives of His people) is who He says He is. ... it is only then that peace usually comes, even though sometimes nothing else changes.

I can just tell you my experience that God is always faithful, even when we walk though "the valley of the shadow"

I look forward to getting to know you

blessings

Dinah

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thank you Dinah and Avid,

I don't know why I didn't get a "notification" that I had replies but I will check and make sure it is set right.

I am still on the fence but I enjoyed hearing what you gals had to say. Please feel free to pray for me because if God is real, I sure need Him.

Denise

Hi Denise

I'm also in my early 60's -- going through some stuff in extended family. Have been looking for a mature Christian woman to share with. I've been a believer since my mid-teens. Fellowship would be great.