kezkez said:
Hi all!!! Im 27, F, and from Belfast, Northern Ireland. i have been a backslider for years but feel that I have tried what the world has to offer and its not great. I need help to sort myself out and get right with the Lord as I believe that the end is coming soon. I am really looking for friendship (or a :icon_confused: relationship) in Belfast as I have no Christian friends and feel very alone. I just need some friends to guide me and help me when Im down. I've had a lot of problems this year due to deaths etc and just dont know how much more I can take. Sorry to be sooooo boring and depressing but Im really stuck in a rut. SO - if you're from near BELFAST and looking for a female friend - Im your woman!!! If you're from a different part of the world, I would appreciate some help and advice from you too.
thanks!!!!
Hi KezKez,
I'm not from Northern Ireland and I'm not female, but I've been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit for many years and I may be able to offer some encouiragement to you. Let me say for starters that you have not lost your salvation. It is still intact. If you had lost it, you would never have posted the message you posted.
I remember what a pastor from my part of the world preached about salvation. He said that when Jesus told the disciples that they would be fishers of men, it was because of the salvation process that we go through being so much like the sport of fishing.
That pastor said that when we receive Christ, it is like a fish taking the bait that the fisherman dangles before it. When the fish takes the bait, it attempts to run with it and get away. But the fisherman is patient. He lets the fish run until it tires. Then, at just the right moment, the fisherman pulls back on the pole, sets the hook firmly in the fish's mouth and begins to reel it in.
So it is with us. We "take the bait" when we receive Christ, but then we are drawn back in the direction of the fleshly stuff and we race off back in the direction that we came from, forgetting all about the "hook" of Jesus Christ that we had taken. And we run and run and run until eventually we tire out and recognize the futility of what we have been doing for so long. At that point, our Fisherman pulls back on the pole, sets the hook of His Salvation firmly in our mouth and begins to draw us to Himself. And on the way back to Him, we find ourselves on the bottom of the lake, being dragged over stones of guilt and shame. And sometimes a bigger fish (Satan) tries to swallow us, but our Fisherman's skills bring us through those battles and we are His for all eternity.
That's my story, you know, and I'm sure its quite similar to yours as well. When I was about eleven or twelve years old, I gave my life to the Lord in a moment of quiet prayer. But, I soon forgot the incident. The teen age years came on and I was introduced to alcohol, which began a thrity year drinking career. But, God had not let loose of the line. At the age of fourty-six I found myself accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior all over again. But this time His "hook" was set and I was ready; needing to experience His healing love and ready to grow in my relationship with Him.
And grow I have. These last twenty-two years have not been easy years (real spiritual growth is never easy), but they have been good years because of His incredible love and grace.
God is reeling you in, just like He did me. The "hook" is set. You cannot shake it off. You are His for all eternity.
SLE
I'm from NI - in fact 10 miles from Belfast. You will find lots of help here. Please have a look around the site. There are lots of lovely Christians here, and if you just post whatever you need help with there will be someone who will come along with an answer if you give them time. As we're from all over the world different people are on at different times. I will send you a private message in the meantime. :icon_biggrin:
