What is one of our enemies' most desirable tactics against us? Isolation. From each other and from our strongest reinforcement. What does everyone say when something unexpectedly good happens?
Thank God. < It was even in auto suggestions.
You don't have to go to church, you don't have to do anything that reminds you of unpleasant memories of organized religion at all.
Just look around and see what you like about life. What you love. Are you thankful for beauty, for love? For your dog who would do anything for you. For the breeze going by and handlebars in your grasp. For anything that makes you happy.
Just say thank you. It makes you stronger. It makes us all stronger.
My favorite aspect of prayer: Gratitude and Giving Glory.
Very difficult for the more skeptical, agnostic leaning amongst us. I was there forever - it's a bummer of a "lack of" feeling, and doesn't seem movable by one's known approaches to problem solving. Personally, I very sincerely asked Jesus to reveal himself to me as someone who had THE most difficult time accepting this fairy tale character as a Lord and Savior. He was kind enough to do so in a way that was enough to get me going, but not so overwhelming that I was immediately "all in".
Then I "faked it until I made it". I committed myself to praising Him every opportunity I could. I even went so far as doing a small exercise where I said His name "Jesus Christ" aloud, repeatedly to normalize what had once been nothing more than a curse phrase from my lips.
Full belief didn't come overnight by a long shot. It's taken years, but every day my faith is strengthened and deepened as a result. I'm finally in a strong place of joyous Faith, and it continues to increase. It's beautiful, and as a former agnostic it really cuts through all the chaf of life in a wildly satisfying, almost empirical manner.
I'm blessed and wish the same for all of my Brothers and Sisters. Hope my data helps someone find themselves. 👍♥️🙏
What a great testimony.
Wow that's inspiring. I'm about halfway through what you describe. My wake up was a big boost of help from the big white hat after I asked for prayers, right here a few weeks ago.
I don't necessarily know that it's difficult per se, at least not... in the expected since of difficulty.
For a lot of people, they get pushed away from the people who are clearly using religion as a weapon against everything that is deemed "bad", no matter what that thing is, or by people who overcompensate for their own problems by using their religion as a weapon AND a shield for their opinions, and do so in the most obnoxious ways.
That'll lead the skeptical to shut down, as there is rarely any logic to those arguments and it just sounds oppressive in nature which is not what religion is supposed to be about.
The agnostic are less of an issue, as most agnostics still live by fairly good values with a comfort that if God is truly omnipotent, you cannot prove nor comprehend it due to the nature of omnipotence. Agnostics rarely denigrate the religious (even if they tend to denigrate so-called "holy works") and are overall generally good people.
It's the full on, Reddit-grade atheists that are the biggest issue, as their atheism has led them to a hardcore theology based in rejection of Christianity and (sometimes, not always) Catholicism. These people are the ones who denigrate, destroy and justify their actions no matter how bad they are.