This is something that I have been mulling over for quite a few months... A lady I know confided in me that even though she has been involved in prayer and prayer ministry for a long number of years, feels very little or no joy for the last number of years. She said when she first started, she went through the honeymoon period we all experience and was joyful for some years after also. But then it disappeared and she can't seem to get it back. I spent some time praying into this and what came to me was a deep hurt in her life that was never dealt with. The Holy Spirit gave me an image of a very deep dark well where I was at the bottom looking upwards, the water was littered on top with floating pieces of straw, this was I felt all the prayers for healing that were said for her but they only touched the surface, and the deep wound remained untouched. It also came to me that the only prayer that could touch this pain was fasting and the prayer of tongues in which the Spirit comes as a double edged sword (Heb. 4:12). She had often attended prayer sessions but never was prayed with for a long period of time for this hurt. She doesn't know what the hurt is and the Lord didn't show me, only that there was one or perhaps many. What do you guys think of this, does it sound credible? I have not said anything to her on it yet. I would appreciate your thoughts, thanks. BC
This "hurt" could be so many number of things but I don't think knowing exactly what it is is the important part (I could be wrong about this of course, especially if it is a buried experience of abuse from childhood). The reason I say that is because the salve and remedy are going to be the same for all "hurts". Many great saints have gone through the dessert (dryness) of prayer, some for years at a time. The important things to do during this dryness is to continue doing that which you did when you were "on fire". It's hard, sometimes you have to FORCE yourself to pray, attend mass, adoration and confession but you still go through those motions because you have FAITH. Consolations from Our Lord are great (like, crazy great) but how we behave without them is a true test of our faith and our souls disposition. I will pray for your friend. If she's a reader I recommend "The Fulfillment of all Desire" by Ralph Martin. She will find solace in the experiences of the great saints contained in this book. Best book I've ever read. P.s. She may feel that she is back-sliding during this dry period when in fact she is advancing (according to the saints). She is past the "infant stage" of needing constant consolations!
How many years did Mother Theresa go thru a dark nite ? was it something in her past? It became and was her Great power with the Lord...Praise be to thee Lord Jesus!!!
Knowing what "the hurt" is would only matter if it were demonic in origin, which this does not sound like it is. Has she tried fasting? (Oh, and yes, your insight sounds very credible.)
Thank you little me, I will recommend your book to her. I don't think this is a dry period of prayer for her though because she has some emotional issues that would back up this "hurt". I can also see her advancing in her prayer life and coming to an ever deeper relationship with the Lord.
This is a very good question IJoP, who knows what another person goes through? I have often noticed people who are gifted do carry a heavy often invisible cross, and it's only those really close to them that might ever get a glimpse of it.
I'm not sure if it is demonic or not, but I think she would need to know what the hurt was if it was a case of her needing to forgive somebody. Yes she does fast.
I'm looking forward to reading the book you recommended! It also gets rave reviews from other sources online.
I think there is a natural stage to growth in the Spirit as there is to the Body itself. 1 Corinthians 13:11 Love …10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.… The older I get the more I mistrust fiery enthusiams. Mt Spiritual Director used to remind me that we are not in a sprint but in for the long hall, in for a marathon. It is fine for the fire to burn fierce and broght when the soul first catches fire. But when the fire burns deep it can hardly be seen , unless by the fierce heat of its love. This is where I feel sorry for many of our, 'Born again' Evangelical brethren. When the fiery enthusiasm weakens they can feel they have lost Spriitual Strength , were rather it may well burn even greater but at a deeper level. For the same reason I mistrust a showy piety.
I think, in the Spiritual Life I prefer steady candles to fiery furnaces. Fiery furnaces tend to burn out too quick, whilst steady candles can burn on...
I heard a speech from one of Mother Teresa's spiritual directors and he discussed this darkness that she talked about. He told us that it was one of the most misunderstood things about Mother Teresa. He says that they discerned that the "darkness" was simply because she was doing what God wanted her to do, and that's why He didn't talk to her anymore. That really struck me a few years ago when I heard it and I remember it now. Think about it, if you're off the path, you're going to be hearing from Him--in my thick headed case, sometimes with a 2x4
One also may be on the path and hear from Him in order to come more into the centre of it, but it does make sense what Mother Teresa's director was saying.
You're right, 99% of us need that help to get on the path, but I believe the fact that she's a Saint now shows she was smack dab in the middle of that path and thus the darkness in terms of hearing from God in prayer
Thank you guys for praying for the lady I mentioned. I checked in with her in the last couple of days and she told me she has been feeling an awful pain coming from somewhere deep inside of her, she said it was not a physical pain but would make her sigh constantly, she said it was like she was grieving. She used to have this pain way back from her early adult years but it disappeared and she thought it had been healed. I would guess it is surfacing again because of our prayers for her.
