Prayers for employment not being answered

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I don't personally find solace in prayer. But if it is helpful to OP during what must be an extremely stressful time, why are you being a scold?

This is like my elderly neighbor who would come toward my toddler and remove his fingers from his mouth every time she saw him and scold "No sucking!" He was bothering no-one and we did not care about his habit. She just felt it wasn't right.

Why be critical? Because OP isn't "finding solace in prayer." She is using prayer to request a job from God and then becoming deeply frustrated because God didn't find her a job. That is a recipe for misery. God doesn't work that way.

God as comforter, great.

God as head hunter/Amazon/short order cook ... not gonna happen.

So your view is it's okay to pray so long as she's doing it right? It's not like brushing your teeth, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I don't personally find solace in prayer. But if it is helpful to OP during what must be an extremely stressful time, why are you being a scold?

This is like my elderly neighbor who would come toward my toddler and remove his fingers from his mouth every time she saw him and scold "No sucking!" He was bothering no-one and we did not care about his habit. She just felt it wasn't right.

Why be critical? Because OP isn't "finding solace in prayer." She is using prayer to request a job from God and then becoming deeply frustrated because God didn't find her a job. That is a recipe for misery. God doesn't work that way.

God as comforter, great.

God as head hunter/Amazon/short order cook ... not gonna happen.

I hope you will open your mind a really listen for a moment. The fact that you are so intent on attacking another person's faith - a person already struggling - tells me that you are struggling with your own spirituality. If not, then you wouldn't care enough to continually argue.

God will probably not magically make a job appear. Most of the time it just doesn't work that way. And would you want it to? There would be no satisfaction at all if a magical genie in the sky granted every wish. We grow through trial. Do you help your child tie his shoe every time he struggles? Do you immediately run to the monkey bars when your kid needs help, or do you encourage him to try? Do you plan to support your kids for the rest of their lives or are you helping them develop life skills?

Prayer and meditation can clear our mind. The answers to many of our problems come to us when we sit quietly and listen to what our Source (God) is telling us. We live in a responsive universe. When we genuinely seek answers and start making plans towards a goal, everything around us begins to work to help us achieve. I've seen it happen over and over again. We manifest what we focus on. If the OP focuses on how horrible it is not to have a job, she will remain scared, concerned, and discouraged. Instead, she can choose to pray, meditate, and open her mind to possibilities. She can affirm over and over again that everything is in Divine Order and that the perfect employment exists for her.

Nothing about the OP's post suggested that she was sitting on her ass waiting for God to poof a job into existence. My impression is that she is feeling discouraged. My prayer for her yesterday and again today is that God grant her the strength to get through this difficult time. And peace while she seeks her perfect job.

I said it before and I'll say it again ~ You sound angry. I'm praying for you as well.....weather you like it or not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I don't personally find solace in prayer. But if it is helpful to OP during what must be an extremely stressful time, why are you being a scold?

This is like my elderly neighbor who would come toward my toddler and remove his fingers from his mouth every time she saw him and scold "No sucking!" He was bothering no-one and we did not care about his habit. She just felt it wasn't right.

Why be critical? Because OP isn't "finding solace in prayer." She is using prayer to request a job from God and then becoming deeply frustrated because God didn't find her a job. That is a recipe for misery. God doesn't work that way.

God as comforter, great.

God as head hunter/Amazon/short order cook ... not gonna happen.

I hope you will open your mind a really listen for a moment. The fact that you are so intent on attacking another person's faith - a person already struggling - tells me that you are struggling with your own spirituality. If not, then you wouldn't care enough to continually argue.

God will probably not magically make a job appear. Most of the time it just doesn't work that way. And would you want it to? There would be no satisfaction at all if a magical genie in the sky granted every wish. We grow through trial. Do you help your child tie his shoe every time he struggles? Do you immediately run to the monkey bars when your kid needs help, or do you encourage him to try? Do you plan to support your kids for the rest of their lives or are you helping them develop life skills?

Prayer and meditation can clear our mind. The answers to many of our problems come to us when we sit quietly and listen to what our Source (God) is telling us. We live in a responsive universe. When we genuinely seek answers and start making plans towards a goal, everything around us begins to work to help us achieve. I've seen it happen over and over again. We manifest what we focus on. If the OP focuses on how horrible it is not to have a job, she will remain scared, concerned, and discouraged. Instead, she can choose to pray, meditate, and open her mind to possibilities. She can affirm over and over again that everything is in Divine Order and that the perfect employment exists for her.

Nothing about the OP's post suggested that she was sitting on her ass waiting for God to poof a job into existence. My impression is that she is feeling discouraged. My prayer for her yesterday and again today is that God grant her the strength to get through this difficult time. And peace while she seeks her perfect job.

I said it before and I'll say it again ~ You sound angry. I'm praying for you as well.....weather you like it or not!

FYI -- there is more than one "angry" (in your opinion) poster. So what does it say about you that you continue to defend prayer, assure a perfect stranger that their prayers will be answered, and call other strangers "angry"?

Open your mind for a moment and consider that you're really struggling with your own spirituality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I don't personally find solace in prayer. But if it is helpful to OP during what must be an extremely stressful time, why are you being a scold?

This is like my elderly neighbor who would come toward my toddler and remove his fingers from his mouth every time she saw him and scold "No sucking!" He was bothering no-one and we did not care about his habit. She just felt it wasn't right.

So you're comparing OP to a toddler? Seems like the thing she needs to grow out of is expecting prayers to find her a job.

[Anonymous]

I think if there was a god who did answer prayers, he'd be answering the prayers of the Christians who are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa, Christians starving to death, and being imprisoned and killed in countries like Iran and Pakistan. Coming up with a job for you would probably be lower down on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I don't personally find solace in prayer. But if it is helpful to OP during what must be an extremely stressful time, why are you being a scold?

This is like my elderly neighbor who would come toward my toddler and remove his fingers from his mouth every time she saw him and scold "No sucking!" He was bothering no-one and we did not care about his habit. She just felt it wasn't right.

Why be critical? Because OP isn't "finding solace in prayer." She is using prayer to request a job from God and then becoming deeply frustrated because God didn't find her a job. That is a recipe for misery. God doesn't work that way.

God as comforter, great.

God as head hunter/Amazon/short order cook ... not gonna happen.

Sorry OP, but I feel the same. God isn't going to slide a W-2 under your door. Have you really exhausted every employment option during the last year? Can you get seasonal work, even something that you may consider beneath your abilities, to bring in some money, and keep employment on your resume?

[Anonymous]

FYI -- there is more than one "angry" (in your opinion) poster. So what does it say about you that you continue to defend prayer, assure a perfect stranger that their prayers will be answered, and call other strangers "angry"?

Open your mind for a moment and consider that you're really struggling with your own spirituality.

I'm not defending prayer in general. I'm defending the fact that a person - a human being, obviously a person of faith - is struggling. Several people jumped in to offer prayers of support and encouragement. And like piranha, an (or several) angry atheists jumped in and used hurtful language.

I know this may surprise you, but this thread wasn't about you. It was about another person who is hurting and is looking for support. If you can't help, at least do not harm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FYI -- there is more than one "angry" (in your opinion) poster. So what does it say about you that you continue to defend prayer, assure a perfect stranger that their prayers will be answered, and call other strangers "angry"?

Open your mind for a moment and consider that you're really struggling with your own spirituality.

I'm not defending prayer in general. I'm defending the fact that a person - a human being, obviously a person of faith - is struggling. Several people jumped in to offer prayers of support and encouragement. And like piranha, an (or several) angry atheists jumped in and used hurtful language.

I know this may surprise you, but this thread wasn't about you. It was about another person who is hurting and is looking for support. If you can't help, at least do not harm.

harm -- or help-- is in the eye of the beholder. Please don't assume it's only angry atheists who disagree with your or OPs attitude about prayer, or that people with different attitudes are not trying to help.

[Anonymous]

God isn't involved in your job search. Call on God to give you courage to put yourself out there, to give you motivation, to give you hope, whatever... but don't call on God to find you a job. Think of all the people in the world who need help with something big or small -- do you really want to believe in a God who picks and chooses (either randomly or based on your "goodness") to solve some problems and not others? If there is a god working on solving people's problems directly, then I sure hope he/she is helping those who are going to be beheaded soon or those infants whose parents have Ebola or whatever is the most egregious catastrophy happening today... tomorrow... the next day.

I'm sure it is very stressful to not have a job -- in fact, I myself have wanted a job that isn't happening... but I am not looking to God to wave his magic wand to provide one for me.

Think about the logic (or non-logic) that is required to believe that you can pray for X and God will deliver. Think about the people who prayed for something even more vital in a more desperate situation than you --- and they didn't get what they wanted. Can you live with a God that "gives" you a job but doesn't save the person next to you from having cancer and then learning her mother has X, etc., etc. etc.

Pray for courage, motivation, knowledge. Don't pray for God to fix things.

[Anonymous]

Let me say - I am an atheist, have been for 40 years. However, I do think that prayer is a good way to help you meditate and prioritize your life. So, if OP is praying, and others are praying for her, why not?

However, as I have stated elsewhere, last year 6.5 million children under the age of 5 died globally. That is about 700 children an hour. It is not about the fiction of free will (as you have none - you are the result of thousands of years of social/survival engineering), nor is it about God just deciding "what the hell - this will teach their parents a valuable lesson."

It is about RESPONSIBILITY. If you don't have a job - get a job. Realize that you are responsible for what happens in your life, and you are responsible for how you deal with it. There is no supernatural being that is orchestrating your life, you are. And as a unique, incredible achievement of the cosmos, you should be able to accept responsibility and embrace your potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I don't personally find solace in prayer. But if it is helpful to OP during what must be an extremely stressful time, why are you being a scold?

This is like my elderly neighbor who would come toward my toddler and remove his fingers from his mouth every time she saw him and scold "No sucking!" He was bothering no-one and we did not care about his habit. She just felt it wasn't right.

So you're comparing OP to a toddler? Seems like the thing she needs to grow out of is expecting prayers to find her a job.

No, I was not comparing OP to a toddler. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FYI -- there is more than one "angry" (in your opinion) poster. So what does it say about you that you continue to defend prayer, assure a perfect stranger that their prayers will be answered, and call other strangers "angry"?

Open your mind for a moment and consider that you're really struggling with your own spirituality.

I'm not defending prayer in general. I'm defending the fact that a person - a human being, obviously a person of faith - is struggling. Several people jumped in to offer prayers of support and encouragement. And like piranha, an (or several) angry atheists jumped in and used hurtful language.

I know this may surprise you, but this thread wasn't about you. It was about another person who is hurting and is looking for support. If you can't help, at least do not harm.

Not everyone who criticizes either the prosperity gospel or the "visualize to manifest prosperity" techniques that Mary Baker Eddy promulgated is an atheist. There's plenty to criticize from a Christian perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FYI -- there is more than one "angry" (in your opinion) poster. So what does it say about you that you continue to defend prayer, assure a perfect stranger that their prayers will be answered, and call other strangers "angry"?

Open your mind for a moment and consider that you're really struggling with your own spirituality.

I'm not defending prayer in general. I'm defending the fact that a person - a human being, obviously a person of faith - is struggling. Several people jumped in to offer prayers of support and encouragement. And like piranha, an (or several) angry atheists jumped in and used hurtful language.

I know this may surprise you, but this thread wasn't about you. It was about another person who is hurting and is looking for support. If you can't help, at least do not harm.

Not everyone who criticizes either the prosperity gospel or the "visualize to manifest prosperity" techniques that Mary Baker Eddy promulgated is an atheist. There's plenty to criticize from a Christian perspective.

+1

[Anonymous]

Many Christians are taught to pray for things --for themselves and others. People who have the experience of getting what they pray for may think they deserve it and assume God will always answer their prayers. It does not occur to them that it may have been a matter of luck or that God does not choose to answer all prayers from all people, or that sometimes the answer is "no."

Then later, they pray for something important (like a job) and it doesn't happen - or doesn't happen in the preferred timeframe. They are confused and wonder why God is denying them.

Other people routinely pray, but don't see it as a means of getting what they want. That would be nice, of course, but prayer is viewed more as a way of getting closer to God or simply getting calm during a troubling time. Those less demanding people won't feel let down as much because their expectations are not so high.

[Anonymous]

NP. It saddens me that the OP was serious and not trolling. The ignorance is astonishing.