Comments on: Fixing things with mo’ prayer or mo’ bible.

By: Angela

Angela — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 23:35:19 +0000

I always get the "maybe you should read this or that Christian book". Also, I agree with the last paragraph of Other Kim. My friend Karin and I refer to answers like this as "pat answers". So easy for other people to judge when they themselves may not be experiencing a situation like ours…it's always assumed that we haven't prayed or we haven't drawn close to God.

By: Other Kim

Other Kim — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:16:07 +0000

My boyfriend went missing for a couple of weeks last year. He was found, but we broke up less than two weeks after he returned. One of my friends told me maybe I needed "to use this time to get closer to God".
I don't think she had any idea just how frequently my friends, family, and I had prayed to God for his safe return. I think even strangers who were friends of friends were praying. And the prayers did get answered.
I already go to church and read my Bible and pray. There was plenty of extra closeness and prayer during that time he was missing. That said, it hurt hearing somebody telling me I needed to get closer. I know she meant well, but I feel like my relationship with God is something very personal. Now I find it difficult to talk with her at all, because of this. I've begun to notice that she only wants to listen so she can get preachy. It weighs me down more than it lifts me up. When I'm hurting, I just need to vent, and not be judged. Chances are, I've already prayed about it.

By: @birdseyeblue

@birdseyeblue — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:47:44 +0000

This is why I love the verse, "Laugh with those who are laughing, weep with those who are weeping." A Francisican friar told me one time that even though we can't always identify with what someone is going through precisely, we can identify with the feelings they are experiencing, for example, he said he's never struggled with homosexuality, but he knows what it's like to feel ostracized and lonely. So calling your own experiences to mind helps. And also lots of patience.

By: thoughtriver

thoughtriver — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:42:15 +0000

Yes this is so absolutely true. And I have identified with the job analogy in the past too. Everything cannot be ASAP. I think this gets back to us being real with each other and bearing each others burdens. We want to hear whats going on in a fellow Christians life but if its hard, many of us usually don't even consider what we could do to help our brother or sister in Christ. We just give them the mo' prayer blow off.

By: Rebeccamh

Rebeccamh — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:51:38 +0000

Love this too!! Love the brutal honesty. Its awesome.

By: September bride

September bride — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:56:00 +0000

I don’t know about the glass of warm water..the first thing my school nurse always did was take your temperature. You could have gone to her because you twisted your ankle, and she took your temperature before anything else. Then she told you to lie down for 20 minutes and then go back to class.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Yes, Ethan. Boys tend to always want to solve a problem when really we just need a guy to be there with us while we cry about it. Sometimes we want a solution though. But only sometimes.

Telling me I need to be doing things makes me feel guilty.

And I had a nurse in college that it was the running joke that she would always tell you it was a “virus”. I could come in there with a headache and she’d say “it’s a virus.”

By: Ethan

Ethan — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:06:00 +0000

Guilty again.

I think I have read that women like you to just listen while guys want to provide an answer. Can't tell you how many times I have had to stop myself in conversation with my wife and say "You're not looking for a solution are you."

What a lonely world we live in. i know i do it out of selfishness.

"Do to others as you would have them do to you"Luke 6:33(NIV)

I should follow the Bible more.

By: Joel Brown

Joel Brown — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:27:00 +0000

I don’t like you tone… have you been reading your Bible?

My preferred response is usually: “Wow… that sucks..sorry… lemme buy you a beer…”

By: robyn collins

robyn collins — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:25:00 +0000

Probably, you should just punch them instead! Oh, wait, no… that would’nt be helpful.

Acutally, I find that listening to the point of them having nothing left to say is more effective than 90% of what i want to spout out immediately… and people usually can come to what they know was right all along… and of course… actually praying with them, yes, that is good too.