Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
We join you in these prayers. We still have family members who have lost their ways and are living in defiant sin, with aching hearts we pray they will come back.
I cry for these friends of mine on a daily basis, especially for the girl I could have married but did not. I am told that this means that I am not leaving it in God's hands. I do not know what that entails. Christ said "Blessed are those who mourn." If I just pray once and forget about them, is that leaving it in God's hands, or being lazy? Because that is how I used to be, until last November when I decided to get closer to God.
I have some folks in my life who are like that, leave it in God's hands, and it just feels wrong. I believe the parable of the talents is much more important than they're realizing. Leaving anything in God's hands cannot mean relinquishing all responsibility, especially for those who have the intellect, means, ability etc to do more than passively hunker down.
Now, when it comes to others, we do what we can, and most of that is prayer. Catholics are used to long-haul prayers, novenas, rosaries, etc., so just so you know my idea of leaving it in His hands is still a lot of prayer. Like daily. And as always, recognizing His will be done.
You might not be into saints, but they can be great friends and inspirations, and they are allowed to come help us out. Unless you see one, you're gonna just have to choose whether to trust me on that. I can say I've been incredibly fortunate enough to witness this kind of help and wow. Hope this helps lift you a little
I don’t believe God rewards laziness. I believe he expects us to come to the throne daily with our requests. We are to draw close to him at these times. Seek his face, meditate, read the Word and fast. I believe he has the ultimate choice but when people say just leave it to God, I think that throws all responsibility on him, and it makes us lazy. Just my opinion.
I think so too. I pray for my old friends, and I cry. I try to be careful about tears as my daughter doesn't understand this yet and it could depress her. Also, my wife doesn't like it when I cry. I also don't want her to feel uncomfortable because the one I weep for the most was the girl I had dated a bit before I met my wife, and this girl liked me. Her family wanted me to marry her. But she was wasting away with anorexia, etc. Once I had my long-distance girlfriend, she tried to get closer to me, even while she had attended school in Berkeley. It was that summer when her dad dropped big hints that he'd like me to marry his daughter. But I had to decline. I was the last decent, Christian boy she dated and after I had a fiancee, her life went spiraling into darkness and she's since rejected Christ. I've been in contact with her dad for a half year now and he's told me not to beat myself up over this, and to stop blaming myself for his daughter's bad decisions. Although I did not marry her, I still love her and it breaks my heart. I occasionally send her postcards and sometimes text messages, reminding her of God's love, but she never responds. She's married to a militant atheist and he's killed what faith she had in God a long time ago.