A request for prayers

[Denis]

I understand very well your present condition. Keep praying as we all are also doing.

[Mary Kissel]

Steve(Ole Rocker): Thankyou for letting us know your names. I'm also really sorry that you're having such a hard time of explaining Orthodoxy to your wife. Please don't give up on account of her though. You must be patient with her and pray for her as well, and possibly sooner or later she'll be converting as well. I really don't know what else to say, only that you and she, are in our prayers, I can assure you of that.

Seraphim: you're also in our prayers as well.

Nicholas: Thankyou for praying for Justin and I as well

In Christ,
MaryCecilia

[Justin Kissel]

This post is to suggest that we all do something tomorrow night (Friday the 24th); I would ask that people please not respond on this thread to what I'm about to say though (it's said that it's not good to talk about your prayers in public as it can lead to pride, among other sins).

I suggest that we all devote a few hours tomorrow to praying for Tricia and Steve's (Ole Rocker's) situation. Things like the Akathist of St. Juliana of Lazarevo (a married saint) comes to mind, but whatever you wish. May God save us!

Justin

[Steve]

I really appreciate your prayers and concerns. I am trying to find a place for Tricia to attend on Sunday and so visited with her to a mega-Baptist church. I think she may go there, it's peaceful and huge and non-committal for her. Our only cause of tension of late has been the discussions about where she is to attend on Sundays; I can't force her to go with me yet I am firmly but gently showing her that I am committed to converting to Orthodoxy. Other than that, things are almost back to normal. I think she sees that I am not going to leave her or become a monk and that this is not a cult (well, in the sense we define the word these days).

Thanks again and please keep praying!

Stephen

[Liudmilla]

Dear Steve:

May God watch over you and give you the strenghth to endure what will come. You have chosen to embark on the road to Orthodoxy and for that the the evil in the world will not forgive you. It will place all manner of obstacles, anguish, heartache and despair in your path. The question becomes how strong are you to place your wholeself in Christ's hands? I know from personal experience that what you will go through is some of the worst times that you will ever encounter, but I also know that in the end you will be rewarded for your steadfastness.

I can understand your wife's position...when first viewed by the unknowing Orthodoxy does seem somewhat strange and "cultish". But in time you will find that the strangeness will wear off. My suggestion to you is not to push the faith onto your family....take care of your faith first and that will bring your family around. But it will NOT be easy...nothing good ever is. Understand that when something like this happens, it seems to make those around you become more of what they are...more Protestant ... more Catholic...etc. They can't help themselves.

Pray, unceasingly, that Christ wil show your family the light of His love, that he will enlighten them as he has enlighten you. Understand that without him, you will never achieve peace.

I had a friend who was Catholic...found Othodox and embrassed it wholeheartedly...but the evil one wore him down with despair, turmoil and anguish....and in the end he did not have the strenghth to hold on. He returned to his Catholic roots, although he went with the SSXP... convincing himself that it was the closest thing he could find to Orthodoxy within the Catholic world. I pray for him and his family always and as an Orthodox person I chose to remain his friend, even though many abandoned him for his lack of faith. Mayhap because of our friendship he will one day return to the fold...God works in mysterious ways.

I will pray for you and pray that God will be with you at every onslaught from the evil one.

[Steve]

and thanks for the encouraging note. I know I'm in for it. I've been reading Pilgrim's Progress and as Christian said as he covered his ears when his family implored him to not go, "Life, life, Eternal Life." May we ever remember that's what it is all about.