Hello everyone,
My name is Bill and obviously I'm new hear. I would like to share a little background information about my life because I think it might be necessary to know in order to understand what I'm saying.
I'm 26, I'm a single guy and have never been married. I also don't have any children. I was baptised and recieved communion, but I do not attend church regularly.
I've had a very hard life up until recently, that is mostly because I had a very toxic and hurtful childhood which seemed to follow me into adulthood and influence who I became as a person. I've sinned a lot. I haven't done anything monumental, but I have lied, cheated, etc. During my childhood I was neglected and abused, I was also put in very negative situations that I became accusotmed to as "normal" because I simply didn't know any better. So as I got older I continued sinning because I just never realized anything was wrong.
Aside from the 'out of my hands' situations such as my childhood, I also suffered several tragedies in my life involving the death of loved ones. It was after I lost the most recent that I began exploring the possibility of accepting God in my life. All of my life I had no choice but to be a reallist and that often got in the way of me finding God. I question everything and sometimes I am too real for my own good. After the death of a very close friend I found myself desperate, just toughing out problems on my own wasn't working anymore and I was being overwhelmed. I eventually realized that I had nothing left to lose and made an attempt to climb out of severe depression by talking to God and pursuing my faith that I had given up on because of the consistent pain and suffering I'd endured.
Since then my life has made a complete change for the better. I have had AMAZING new people put into my life, I've had great success in other areas of my life and I've even had some medical miracles occur to people I am very close with that I have prayed for.
I was raised basically by myself, I had no type of structure or guidance even as a very young child, so I was never taught why I should pursue my faith or even HOW to do that if I wanted to.
I have been trying to right a lot of my wrongs and change my ways and I have seen nothing but amazing, positive changes in my life. I don't know if that is a coincidence or God's way of showing me that I am on the right path. Recently I've bought my first bible, which I read every night before bed and I also say a short prayer before bed every night. I've asked God to forgive me for my sins and assured him that I know what I've done was wrong and I am trying my best to change.
My question is basically what do I have to do to make this official. Do I need to say any certain prayers or do anything different for God to forgive me and accept me? To be quite honest I've never read a bible or been taught much about Christianity at all so my knowledge is very basic, but as I get further and further into my reading with the bible I try to change my life accordingly so that I can live God's way in hopes that he will accept me. I just want to know what I have to do to get back on track, I am desperate and I feel very guilty that it's taken me this long to seek out my faith. I am embarassed by how little I know about something so important to my life so it is hard for me to ask these questions on here, but I would really appreciate any feedback that anyone could give me whether it be advice, suggestions or even just your opinion. Thanks so much, I look forward to participating in the forums
Bless you all!
"... I once was lost, but now I'm found."
My name is Bill and obviously I'm new hear. I would like to share a little background information about my life because I think it might be necessary to know in order to understand what I'm saying.
I'm 26, I'm a single guy and have never been married. I also don't have any children. I was baptised and recieved communion, but I do not attend church regularly.
I've had a very hard life up until recently, that is mostly because I had a very toxic and hurtful childhood which seemed to follow me into adulthood and influence who I became as a person. I've sinned a lot. I haven't done anything monumental, but I have lied, cheated, etc. During my childhood I was neglected and abused, I was also put in very negative situations that I became accusotmed to as "normal" because I simply didn't know any better. So as I got older I continued sinning because I just never realized anything was wrong.
Aside from the 'out of my hands' situations such as my childhood, I also suffered several tragedies in my life involving the death of loved ones. It was after I lost the most recent that I began exploring the possibility of accepting God in my life. All of my life I had no choice but to be a reallist and that often got in the way of me finding God. I question everything and sometimes I am too real for my own good. After the death of a very close friend I found myself desperate, just toughing out problems on my own wasn't working anymore and I was being overwhelmed. I eventually realized that I had nothing left to lose and made an attempt to climb out of severe depression by talking to God and pursuing my faith that I had given up on because of the consistent pain and suffering I'd endured.
Since then my life has made a complete change for the better. I have had AMAZING new people put into my life, I've had great success in other areas of my life and I've even had some medical miracles occur to people I am very close with that I have prayed for.
I was raised basically by myself, I had no type of structure or guidance even as a very young child, so I was never taught why I should pursue my faith or even HOW to do that if I wanted to.
I have been trying to right a lot of my wrongs and change my ways and I have seen nothing but amazing, positive changes in my life. I don't know if that is a coincidence or God's way of showing me that I am on the right path. Recently I've bought my first bible, which I read every night before bed and I also say a short prayer before bed every night. I've asked God to forgive me for my sins and assured him that I know what I've done was wrong and I am trying my best to change.
My question is basically what do I have to do to make this official. Do I need to say any certain prayers or do anything different for God to forgive me and accept me? To be quite honest I've never read a bible or been taught much about Christianity at all so my knowledge is very basic, but as I get further and further into my reading with the bible I try to change my life accordingly so that I can live God's way in hopes that he will accept me. I just want to know what I have to do to get back on track, I am desperate and I feel very guilty that it's taken me this long to seek out my faith. I am embarassed by how little I know about something so important to my life so it is hard for me to ask these questions on here, but I would really appreciate any feedback that anyone could give me whether it be advice, suggestions or even just your opinion. Thanks so much, I look forward to participating in the forums
Bless you all!
"... I once was lost, but now I'm found."
