Dealing With Anxiety And Going Out With A Muslim Options

[Stefanie]

Hello,

I am new to this site and came across it as I have been searching for answers and meaning. I don't really know where to start as I'm not used to telling people my story. So I'll just describe my situation.

I grew up in church in Holland, my family is still very active in the church, it is a small and friendly (most of the time) community. I moved away from home to the UK when I was 18 and since then I haven't really attended church anymore. Starting university meant that I had to work weekends and everything was new, so there was always 'an excuse'. I am now 25 years old and doing my postgraduate course in London.

For the past 6 months I have been seeing a therapist and been 'diagnosed' with anxiety (a combination of taking on too much and therefore failing in certain areas, stress and being a perfectionist, to name a few factors). This is something I that must have been building up over the years but I was never aware of it, I didn't even know what it was. In the beginning, when I found out, in a way it got worse. Because I started to find out from books and the internet what the remedies were, what the treatments were, on top of the therapy that I was given. I was of the opinion that now that I found a cause, I should be able to solve the problem quickly. How disappointed and frustrated was I to find that, even when you know what you should do and should change, there seems to be this invisible resistance in your body that doesn't let you change things, that makes you procrastinate, that almost made me feel sorry for myself. I had to use all my will power to face a new day. I'm writing in the past tense, but the situation is still very much the same.

Whilst I was looking for answers to cure my anxiety I starting thinking about God again, and my purpose on this earth. I had been given a book by a pastor in India a while back, called The Purpose Driven Life. I had put it aside for a long time but started reading it again. I didn't know this was an international bestseller! But I did see the reason why it was. I even bought another book by the same author, God's Answers to Life's Difficult Questions. However, though it gave me very good pointers and thoughts and enthusiasm, I found it hard to push myself over that threshold and put all my faith in just believing that God would help me, since for so long I had been scared of making steps and failing (I should say that I am now repeating part of my university course). It often sounds so easy, but doing it requires that big push that needs to come from deep inside me and I'm worried I don't have the courage. It is also very hard as I do not have a Christian support system around me. My parents are in another country, I am not a member of a church in the UK, and although I have very good friends, they are all non-believers. On top of that, and this is my other issue, I have a boyfriend who is a muslim. He is very open-minded and respectful and I do not have a problem with him being a muslim, and thank goodness neither do my parents. I know that many people do have negative feelings towards islam so if somebody responds that feels that way, please be polite, I do respect everyone's views.

When I started going out with him I didn't know much about Islam. I have never had a negative view towards the religion despite the propaganda and recent events relating to extremism. I have always believed that this is restricted to a small group of aggressive people and should not reflect on the 2 billion (or however many there are) muslims in the world. I still do not know much about Islam but am interested to find out more. We have very open discussions about religion, though again this is restricted as he is currently also in another country. We are both of the opinion that we are praying to the same God, just as the Jews are praying to the same God. However there are very obvious differences between the religions, to start with one of the biggest: that Jesus was a prophet and not the Son of God according to the Muslims. They hold Jesus in very high regard and even believe that he did not die a human death but went up into the heavens, but according to them he is not the Son of God.

I know that both issues are completely unrelated but they have both been in the forefront of my mind and if anyone can give me any insights, comments or references I would be very grateful. I sometimes feel that I'm alone in this and although I know in theory that God is always with me even if people aren't, I have yet to experience that feeling of not being alone.

Thanks
Stefanie

[semi]

Stefanie -

Being Germanic, perfectionism seems almost to be genetic. I also am/was a perfectionist - having such sayings as "Any job worth doing is worth doing well" and "If you can't do it right, leave it alone”. What happens is that you expect more of yourself than it is humanly possible to achieve or maintain. Over time this drags you down emotionally, mentally - until you feel like a failure and become depressed. Anxiety sets in because not only do you have to do things perfectly, you also have to do them punctually.

But...Only God is Perfect and all the rest of us fall way short of that. So accept that and let God handle your imperfections. Scripture says that He Who began a good work in us is faithful to complete it.

Since you have no Christian fellowship, I suggest you find a Bible and read it yourself. Ask God to guide you by His Holy Spirit - because Jesus has also said that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all Truth.

As you do this you will realize that Islam has little in common with Judeo-Christianity. "Allah" is NOT the God of our Bible but Mohammed drawing on the Bible tailored his writings in the Koran/Quran to fit the Arab mentality which has traditionally been one of belief in all sorts of spirits.

In the Koran, Allah does not speak for himself but the plural "we" is used. Who is "we"? Well, basically there is a sense of there being a sort of hierarchy of gods with Allah at the top.

The Bible tells us NOT to have "familiar spirits" - yet the Koran teaches to preach to "men an jinn". "Jinn" are discarnate spirits as in the Genie in the Lamp (jinni being singular of jinn).

The Bible says that there is no way to Heaven except through Jesus. If Jesus was merely a prophet, then there can be no Salvation. The Bible also says there is ONE Mediator between God and man and that is Jesus. Jesus is our Advocate before God so that our sins are covered. And when we ask for forgiveness, Go is Faithful to forgive us. No such Salvation exists in Islam.

We worship God by exercising our faith in Him but Moslems HOPE to go to Paradise by performing "works" including kneeling toward Mecca 5 times a day, making a pilgrimage to Mecca during one‘s lifetime, etc. Even so, Mohammed said that only 1 out every 100 Moslems will go to Paradise.

Mohammed did not believe that women had souls but were created merely to have babies and serve the men. Therefore; Mohamed's concept of Paradise is one in which men recline on couches while souless perpetual virgins (called houri - source of our word “whore” I believe) tend their every desire. This despite the Bible's stand against adultery and fornication.

In Sharia law, descendence is exclusively through the male. If you were to have children with this man, they would be HIS children, not yours. Since he is a Moslem, so too will the children be deemed Moslems. He can at any time take the children back to his country and there is NOTHING you can do about it. This is an all too real situation for many women in the U.S. who have lost their children in exactly that manner.

Shalom.

[daughterofzion20...]

Dear Stefanie, Welcome to our fellowship and prayer forums! You are not here by accident..
Well, what can I say that Semi hasn't said already... I am just going to add a little to what he has shared with you.

Regarding dealing with anxiety, Anxiety is a very common condition that unfortunately many never get cured from it because they seek healing or solution in the wrong places. The only solution to this problem is God. In his word, he says Be anxious for nothing! Trust in God for everything, for today, for tomorrow, for your entire life because he is a perfect God, he is the all powerful, all knowing and ever present God.

The Purpose Driven Life is a very good book and I was blessed by it also. However, all the answers you seek comes from the Book of life ( The Bible). Study and Meditate on the word of God and the Holy Spirit will guide you and also lead you to finding a good christian assembly.

Now regarding Islam, . I grew up with Moslems friends, have also lived in an Islamic State in Africa, I have seen the evil they have done in the name of Allah. When I was younger, I used to believe that we worshipped the same God but it wasn't until i became a christian that I now received the revelation that Allah is not the One True God that Christians and Jews serve. Allah is a demi god and unfortunately, the Islamic faith has deceived many to believe that we serve one God.
The God we worship and serve sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins in order for all humanity be saved and it is only through the Lord Jesus can we come to the Father. Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and Man and without the shedding of his blood, there will be no forgivenss of sin ( Salvation).
My prayer for you is that the Lord will reveal his truth to you when you study his word and the truth shall make you free and enable you to make the right decision concerning your life.

Take care sister, it is well with you.

Much love,
Taykems