Last question of the night. I was shopping and watching this you tuber and he made like a little prayer about his god and stuff . Whenever other people of other religions worship or praise their god i feel like i need to make sure to say or think something confirming my belief to God and my religion. Now i feel like despite doing that I can’t buy anything from the site because everything is tainted? In a way. It’s like mental contamination? Ocd? Or no? And if it is ocd how do i combat this? (I don’t mean to offend anyone of other religions through this post. That isn’t my intention)

Hello everyone. I was just wanting to post on here regarding a situation that I have been dealing with for a few months now. I have been taking my walk with Christ seriously for about a year now and ever since I started I’ve noticed a bunch of intrusive thoughts and it’s caused me much distress. It all started back in June of 2024. I missed a church service because my wife and I were taking care of our daughter and I went to a Best But store and upgraded my old Apple Watch to a new one. I felt like doing so I committed idolatry because I went and bought that instead of going to church. I felt immense guilt for doing so and the next day I cancelled my order. I thought that maybe I was over thinking the entire thing so I went ahead and placed a new order and got the watch. For two weeks after getting the watch, I ruminated about whether I should keep it or not. It didn’t feel right with me and was overwhelmed with guilt for having it and it was debilitated with anxiety and stress. Eventually I decided I would just give it back so I went to go return it on the last day I could do so only to find out I could not. I thought that was a sign from God that I could keep it. I felt the most relief after that that I had experienced in quite awhile but then the next day after I started have thoughts again thinking that I didn’t try hard enough to return it and that I’m some how putting it before God. Well eventually I came to terms that there was nothing I could do about it and I was able to stop worrying about it being an idol. Well my mind jumped from that to another thing in my life and this one has been harder to get over. I have been on hair loss medication for 7 years and I had a thought one day telling me that “if I’m a true follower of Christ, then I shouldn’t take the medicine because I’m placing too much importance on my looks” I again felt immense anxiety and dread and tried fighting these thoughts away but could not help but think” what if it is and this is conviction of the Holy spirit”? I would constantly look up online any answers I could find to help relieve my anxiety but I can’t. I pray to God all the time for his will to be done in this situation and sometimes I feel better but then it all comes back. It’s hard for me to read the Bible because there’s so much about idolatry I always feel like it’s God talking to me like it’s a sign or if I’m just taking it that way? I asked God to show give me an answer about this situation and a day later a YouTuber I follow posted a video about removing idols from our lives. I felt that was God speaking to me or wasn’t sure maybe it was a coincidence? I just feel so cornered and out under so much pressure on what to do. Of course I would like to keep taking my medicine because it has helped me but then I have thoughts that tell me it is an idol because I am not able to give it up. I cut back taking the medicine a lot more often over the last months but I don’t know if this is God telling me to do so or my own mind. Like if I want to keep my hair I believe God allows healing through medication and it’s a gift. But these thoughts are telling me that I rely on taking it and it’s an idol and that unless I give it up completely I’m not following God’s will and it’s an idol. It’s caused immense doubt because then I read Romans 14 and it says anything you do with doubt is sin because it’s not of faith. I feel like I’m being attacked and cornered because I’m forced to stop taking something that has helped me. Now I have thoughts telling me to stop wearing my retainers every night because I got Invisalign a few years back to fix my teeth and that unless I stop taking my medication and wearing my retainers I’m not authentically following God. I don’t know what to do at this point. I don’t want to go against God and I don’t want to commit idolatry. I know God is all loving so I doubt this is all coming from him. I have to take/wear these things daily for them to work and the ocd will twist that in saying they are idols because of that and I just feel so cornered and defeated. I try to find things constantly online to see if anyone else has similar issues but I can’t. I know this is a long post but just trying to get some clarity on the matter. What should I do to help my situation?

If any Muslims with OCD come across this, i would like advice. Other people are also fine to give advice too. Anyway i am not a Muslim but most of my friend group is Muslim. I never grew up religious my dad was an ex catholic but still had religious views ingrained into his brain and when i would go to say good night to him he would say things like “God Bless you have good dreams” plus he was always drunk so it would be way more emotional and in depth. Anyway that transcended into me as a child praying to god everytime i was in the bath even though i didn’t believe in him it was “just in case”, which i know now was my OCD. Ok back to the point sorry it is long but I told my best friend who is a Muslim that i’ve been thinking about converting which was true, and i’ve been thinking about it for about two years. Today is the first day of Ramadan and i told two of my friends that i would be fasting for the month because most of my friends are and also the fact i’m interested in Islam. I woke up at 4am today, ate enough food to be full by the sunrise, then i fasted until 2:12pm when i did a horrible thing and broke my fast. I was so tempted and i know it was wrong and i have to do something good to fix it. But i started feeling like all of this, everything i think about Islam, it’s all just my OCD, and i have a strong feeling about this. I pray to Allah in my head, learned some arabic, read part of the Quran, and i tried to fast but i know i wont be able to resist my temptation even though that is the whole point of Ramadan. I know in my heart i don’t have real religious beliefs and that all of my thoughts about Islam are intrusive. How do i stop my thoughts and how do i tell my friend that i am probably not going to convert because it is not right for me? She will be understanding but i will feel like i mislead her and also i will feel a little more uncomfortable around my friends because i know i have decided that i don’t believe in Allah or want to convert. Please don’t tell me to convert because it will influence me immediately and although i love the religion i know it is not what i believe in or want with my life. Please help i am sorry this is so long

Last question for the day lol. Does anyone have religious ocd like you think everything is a “sign”?