Does anyone else deal with unsettling thoughts like “What if Gods wants to me to go to another country as a missionary?” “If I don’t do x,y,z, then God won’t accept me?” When I get these thoughts I get very anxious, pain in my stomach, sometimes panic attacks.
I have scrupolosiry ocd, and I fear going to Hell. Alot of it I believe comes from things I've heard other people say, but if I didn't have OCD, the fear of me going to Hell would not be with me 24/7. I have prayed and tried to reassure myself I'm saved and forgiven by God. It might work for a while, but the what ifs creep back in my mind. I have the compulsion to repent over and over at night before I go to sleep. And while I dont mind asking God to forgive me, Repenting has started feeling like a onging, neverending task instead of just a simple prayer where I tell God Im sorry and I ask Him to forgive me. I wish I could tell you what helps. I am just now about to start ERP therapy at NOCD at the end if the month. The thing I thought helped, which was me trying to convince myself, I am saved and forgiven, I now realize may have just been another compulssion of self assurance. I realized that after listening to a Dr. from NOCD speak on youtube last night. So if arguing with OCD won't help, what does? Well I haven't started ERP, so I don't know exactly how to deal with OCD. But what I am trying to do is just say ok OCD, I know your trying to bug me, but I'm not going to think about what you are trying to make mw think about now. I don't say those words, but thats what I'm doing. The OCD thoughts comes in my mind, but I am just trying to not argue with them anymore. Trying not to figure out if I'm a good enough person, or if I'm a bad person in some ways, or if I will go to Heaven or if I will go to Hell (I believe I will go to Heaven, but OCD makes me doubt my own beliefs) - so I just shrug my shoulders, and I'm like, I don't have all the answers I want, but I'm trying to not allow myself to figure out all the answers anymore. And it's hard, really hard, but arguing with the OCD was hard too. So I am just trying to accept that I have the OCD thoughts and just not interact with the OCD about what it's making me think. I'm not just ignoring the OCD and getting my mind on something else. That only works temporarly. I acknowledge I had the thought, and I may respond to OCD one time in my mind, but then I stop. I don't let myself keep talking with the OCD, trying to figure everything out and make sense of my OCD, because OCD doesnt make sense. Like at night now, I only ask God to forgive me once. And when my OCD tries to make me ask a few more times, I am just not doing the compulssions, to repent again, and think about where I will go when I die, to Heaven or Hell. I hope this helps, and I encourage you to get ERP therapy for OCD. But until then you may want to Google Search Ways to deal with OCD. Go to youtube, type NOCD, and you will find the NOCD channel. They have alot of videos with information that might help. This is how I'm dealing with OCD now at this time. I'm not telling you to do what I do, I'm just sharing what I'm doing, trying to help myself. I haven't learned enough about ERP and OCD, to know that I am doing all the right things concerning my OCD, but I think I'm dealing with it better than I used to.
@SunJade Thanks so much! This was very helpful!
someone left this link in a comment on one of my posts. it compares ocd to a man shouting in a park at you. it helped me, i hope it helps you too... https://www.shalanicely.com/aha-moments/shoulders-back-the-man-in-the-park/
Hi! I have been struggling with ocd for many years of my life, however, I have recently been struggling with religious ocd. Currently my ocd has been putting thought into my mind like, “you shouldn’t go to that party, because “God” doesn’t what you to” or “don’t do this or else it’s going to make “God” mad.” These thoughts have been overall causing me so much anxiety, and truly I don’t know what to do. I’ve been struggling to identify it’s actually Gods voice or not. Also, my ocd has been also making my prayer a very stressful part of my day, which is not how it should feel at all. Now finding peace in prayer feels more like a chore, than a conversation. Does anybody else have ocd like this? If so, any tips?
Please help anyone else here with Religious ocd and is a Christian? My brain is going hay-wire and want to know I'm not alone... what do your thoughts say and how do you overcome compulsions? Im going through a rough moment and feel sick with anxiety and stiff. I want to obey God but my thoughts won't stop. I surrender to the Lord and then I have peace with the compulsions and they go away but the thoughts are the scary part please - is this spiritual or is it mental? Or is it both? Would love to hear a Christians opinion on this... because my thoughts latch on and won't dissappear but I know that the Bible commands us to take control of our thoughts and to renew our minds...yet God has grace for this and mercy for our every need... I know God is in control (completely) and my mind creates a lot of the issues for me without any spiritual stuff (it's a very powerful thing) but it's still scary. Lord help me, I surrender myself to you Jesus, counsel my soul and help me.
I have religious OCD and the thoughts have been becoming really bad. I’ve been hitting myself punching myself screaming quietly if that makes sense pulling my hair out talking to myself nonstop. I can’t even hang out with my family without doing these things or going to another room to do these things, these thoughts of overtaking my life I will always be Christian God is most important to me and I’m so scared because these thoughts are terrible. They’re disgusting they never ending. There’s always something going on in my mind. I don’t understand. I’m scared. I’m turning into a bad person. I don’t wanna dishonor the Lord God, I don’t know if this is just OCD or something else.
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