Stress Center Peer Support

I am Christian, and have no doubt that God exists and wants me to be a Christian. But how do I use this to keep from worrying about things? I know all of the bible verses about not worrying, and God not giving us more than we can handle. But this still doesn't help me. God never promises that we won't have to go through trials - in fact he says that we will have to endure trials. Praying doesn't help give me comfort - I have had some really bad things that I have prayed and prayed about that I still had to endure, and years later I cannot see any good that came out of those trials (I know - God has his reasons that we don't always see). I still pray, but I know that regardless of how hard I pray, alot of those prayers will not be answered, so that does not give me comfort either.

On top of that, I have OCD, and my mind looks for patterns of "I did this and bad things happened, so it must be related." I've had a number of occasions where I tried to regularly read the bible and some bad things happened the day I did bible reading, so now I am afraid of reading the bible if I have something that I am worried about.

I think it might be important for you to just be real in your prayers to God. Just pour out EXACTLY how you're feeling to Him. Say exactly what you mean! Also, check out this link: http://www.bicweb.org/allegheny/chamber ... I%20AM.pdf God says in His word that we are to be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of our minds. The way to be renewed in God's truth is to continually fill our minds with His Word. I KNOW it's hard to grasp, and I KNOW it seems foreign, but the most important thing is for you to PUSH THROUGH, to read God's word and pray in SPITE of the anxiety.

Maybe you could try setting a timer while you read the Bible. I don't know if you can relate, but for me, I over-analyze, and it's important for me not to hyper-focus on what God says in His word, or else I twist it and put things on me that God doesn't intend to be there - it ends up just being a great place for my brain to SPIN.

I can also relate with the OCD - I have some OCD tendencies myself that have GREATLY improved with the program.

Listen to the Obsessive Scary thoughts tape as well - on my tape, they have a lot of people who come on and talk about how their obsessive thoughts revolved around God. It's NOT uncommon! But it's important for us to realize that God does NOT want to punish us! He loves us and only wants what's best for us, even when we can't see the end result. This WILL become clearer for you as you learn to CONTROL your thoughts, to answer them back with the TRUTH of God's Word!!!

God WILL help you through this!!! And who knows, He may even give you answers!! I know that the alternative, of closing God out because He seems silent, is NOT the answer. Keep pressing through!!! Do the hard, hard work of answering back the thoughts with His word. Do the hard work of working through the program. You WILL see results.