Being Loved By Heavenly Father/jesus Christ

[walterkellar]

I am a 47 years old male. During the course of my life I have yet felt the love of out Father in Heaven and/or Jesus Christ. I should also add that I don't feel loved by anyone for that matter. I have learned that having an emotionally unattached mother can lead to this general feeling of not being loved however I thought that if there was a source of Divine Love that would break through what has transpired in mortal life. Looking for any thoughts on this. Thank you.

[a-train]

I'm certain you've heard the same old thing time and time again: Read, Ponder, Pray. I don't know what you are missing here, but I can say that as I put forth a valiant effort to extricate sin from my life and read the scriptures, ponder over them, and pray; I was immediately rewarded with love and revelation by the power of the Holy Ghost. I don't intend to ask you these questions, but you should be asking yourself what it is that you may be doing or not doing that will keep you from feeling the love you seek.

Do you know who you are? Do you know what you are doing? Do you know what God thinks about you and what you are doing? These are some of the questions in which I find the love of God in the answers.

God Bless

-a-train

[antispatula]

Hey friend,

There is quite a simple answer to this.

Draw closer to Him,

and He will draw closer to you.

This means constant endurance, repentance of past sins that may keep you feeling spiritually isolated, keeping your mind in the right places and planes of thought, studying the scriptures and teachings of Christ, being kind to others, forgiving others, etc etc. Basically you need to really work at Life to have a happy one. And I'm not saying you aren't or anything. Just my 2 cents.

But I defenitely recognize that when I don't work hard at keeping communication open between myself and our Father, life is dull and sad.

[Gaia]

I am a 47 years old male. During the course of my life I have yet felt the love of out Father in Heaven and/or Jesus Christ. I should also add that I don't feel loved by anyone for that matter. I have learned that having an emotionally unattached mother can lead to this general feeling of not being loved however I thought that if there was a source of Divine Love that would break through what has transpired in mortal life. Looking for any thoughts on this. Thank you.

GAIA:

Hi there, Hoosierbear --

The problem is not that God isn't "sending", the problem is with your "receiver" -- Evidently, it's damaged, y'see. God can try to "break through" as much as possible, but if you don't allow it to GET through, there's not much God can do about that.

YOU have to learn how to "repair" your damaged "receiver", and heal from your Mother's -- and any other --negative influences that have made it difficult for you to trust and accept love.

That's not easy, but it is possible.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to learn to accept love, is to GIVE love. Think of a muscle -- when it's been bruised, you need to rest and heal it, but then eventually you need to begin exercising it, to get back the loss of muscle tone and strength. Same thing with emotions, esp love. Also, you need to be sure you're not shutting down your emotions -- a lot of people do so, becaues they've been hurt.

Emotions come as a "packaged deal" -- you get one, you get 'em all. You can't say, "I want the 'nice' ones -- love, happiness, joy, etc, but i don't want the 'bad' ones, like anger, jealousy, etc." They come alltogether. If you try to shut down your experience of one, you begin to loose the ability to experience them ALL. Emotions exist to give us helpful information about how our lives are, from minute to minute. If you're feeling unhappy, that's a MESSAGE to you to take a look at what's going on in your life and what you need to do to change the circumstances that are making you unhappy.

Seewhutimean?

So don't look at emotions as a negative; look at them as helpful resources in creating a happy, fulfilling life. Pay attention to them, use them appropriately -- without letting them "use" YOU -- and youll find that they become helpful aids.

Find some way to contribute -- volunteer at your local hospital, with a youth group, at church, etc -- anywhere you can offer from your heart, to those who need it and who will appreciate it. You wll begin to feel your heart opening, and learning how to care and trust and even love again -- I promise.

Good luck --

~Gaia

[Annabelli]

I am a 47 years old male. During the course of my life I have yet felt the love of out Father in Heaven and/or Jesus Christ. I should also add that I don't feel loved by anyone for that matter. I have learned that having an emotionally unattached mother can lead to this general feeling of not being loved however I thought that if there was a source of Divine Love that would break through what has transpired in mortal life. Looking for any thoughts on this. Thank you.

We will not all come to this life and receive the ideal family. I have received many family blessings through my service to others. You never know when and where you may offer a service but you will be inspired and you can either act on it or simply let it pass.

If you have the opportunity to lit a pilot light for a woman (who may or may not have a husband, or whose husband is too elderly), you will feel a kinship blessing.

If you have the opportunity to volunteer as a baseball coach for the Boy's Club, you will share their struggles and help them to over come things. And you will feel the blessings.

If you have the opportunity to open the door for someone and they refuse it, know that the door was opened for you as well. And you will know the blessings of the Lord.

[walterkellar]

<div class='quotemain'>

I am a 47 years old male. During the course of my life I have yet felt the love of out Father in Heaven and/or Jesus Christ. I should also add that I don't feel loved by anyone for that matter. I have learned that having an emotionally unattached mother can lead to this general feeling of not being loved however I thought that if there was a source of Divine Love that would break through what has transpired in mortal life. Looking for any thoughts on this. Thank you.

We will not all come to this life and receive the ideal family. I have received many family blessings through my service to others. You never know when and where you may offer a service but you will be inspired and you can either act on it or simply let it pass.

If you have the opportunity to lit a pilot light for a woman (who may or may not have a husband, or whose husband is too elderly), you will feel a kinship blessing.

If you have the opportunity to volunteer as a baseball coach for the Boy's Club, you will share their struggles and help them to over come things. And you will feel the blessings.

If you have the opportunity to open the door for someone and they refuse it, know that the door was opened for you as well. And you will know the blessings of the Lord.

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions. I posted my age to allude to the experience that the lack of feeling of God's love has been a lifelong deprivation. Never felt it. I like the response that someone said that my receptor has been damaged. It then dawn on me that I also have no sense of smell! In the last ten years I lost the ability to detect smells. So, I know that fragrances exist and accept it.....so must so that God loves.....but I once had the experience of smelling.....not however feeling loved. Any, thanks again for your posts...

[Gaia]

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions. I posted my age to allude to the experience that the lack of feeling of God's love has been a lifelong deprivation. Never felt it. I like the response that someone said that my receptor has been damaged. It then dawn on me that I also have no sense of smell! In the last ten years I lost the ability to detect smells. So, I know that fragrances exist and accept it.....so must so that God loves.....but I once had the experience of smelling.....not however feeling loved. Any, thanks again for your posts...

GAIA:

I think that point about your having lost your sense of smell i a very good metaphor and way to understand my point about your "receptor" (of God's love) being "damaged" --

And fortunately, i think it CAN be healed, but will take time and effort.

May i share with you an experience from my youth: I have always been a bit strange *g*, i seem to have come out of the womb having absolute faith in the existence of God and his love, despite having been born into a completely irreligious family -- who, for example, ridiculed me for intently studying the Bible.

When i was about 10 years old or so, i happened to have a discussion with some friends, which forced me to realize that not everyone has that same sureness of the existence and love of God -- and i was horrified. I could hardly imagine how painful, frightening, and alien this life must be, without that sureness.

I have occasionally met others like you, who have never felt it either, and i grieve for you. I do hope you will realize that it is possible to develop, and work toward that.

Blessings --

~Gaia

[alaskanray]

Life sometimes gives us all a whack in our love receptors. I struggled for many years with mine and had to finally find someone who could exemplify it for me, outside my family. In my search, I've found myself in many different places with different people and as a result have had quite the nomadic lifestyle. The last time I returned to my hometown I had hopes that my traveling days were over but now it seems that I must once again hit the road in search of a ward that will give me the nurture that my heart and soul craves. Sometimes you just gotta look in more than one place for what you're looking for.

I think many of us are a little like my daughter. I'll ask her to find something and she'll ask me where it is. I'll say look for it and she'll scan the room and say "I can't find it" and then I'll walk into the room and there it is. I'll say, "It would have bit you if it had teeth." and we laugh about it. But a lot of us expect to find love without the effort of earnestly looking.

I hate pat answers. "Search, Ponder and Pray" doesn't cut it for me. I found myself in the darkest part of my life when I was faithfully reading and praying and writing in my journal and doing all the things that pat answers tell us to do. Sometimes we have to sidestep or walk backwards up the hill in order to reach the top. Sometimes we have to look in a different part of our lives...even if it means another church...to find what the Lord wants us to find. I'm not saying the gospel of the LDS church isn't true but oftentimes the members are just too busy to show us the love we so desperately need. I found my way to Christ through another church and then gained my testimony of the LDS gospel through a wonderful ward in California who showed me the true love of the Savior in many ways. You can search ponder and pray all you want but until someone makes it real for you, it won't sink in.

Hoosierbear, I can tell you right now that the search is well worth it. We are all broken shards of clay that only the Savior can make whole...even if some of us don't look like we are.

[gabelpa]

I am a 47 years old male. During the course of my life I have yet felt the love of out Father in Heaven and/or Jesus Christ. I should also add that I don't feel loved by anyone for that matter. I have learned that having an emotionally unattached mother can lead to this general feeling of not being loved however I thought that if there was a source of Divine Love that would break through what has transpired in mortal life. Looking for any thoughts on this. Thank you.

I know how you feel - I have just been through 16 bad years in my life and have an illness that can block my receptors too of all the things that the prophets have asked us to do I have found keeping a journal, looking at my life, writing down blessings and ensuring I am permenantly on the Temple Prayer Roll - these are what help me - the journal allows me to see my Heavenly Fathers answers to prayers, guidance and his hand in my life even when I can't feel it. I also find meditating before I pray helps as it stops my mind from wandering. Even if you can't feel the love you can learn to recognise it in your life.

There are many church members like yourself who have been damaged by life and have trouble feeling anything let alone Heavenly Father,

-Charley

[pam]

<div class='quotemain'>

I am a 47 years old male. During the course of my life I have yet felt the love of out Father in Heaven and/or Jesus Christ. I should also add that I don't feel loved by anyone for that matter. I have learned that having an emotionally unattached mother can lead to this general feeling of not being loved however I thought that if there was a source of Divine Love that would break through what has transpired in mortal life. Looking for any thoughts on this. Thank you.

GAIA:

Hi there, Hoosierbear --

The problem is not that God isn't "sending", the problem is with your "receiver" -- Evidently, it's damaged, y'see. God can try to "break through" as much as possible, but if you don't allow it to GET through, there's not much God can do about that.

YOU have to learn how to "repair" your damaged "receiver", and heal from your Mother's -- and any other --negative influences that have made it difficult for you to trust and accept love.

That's not easy, but it is possible.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to learn to accept love, is to GIVE love. Think of a muscle -- when it's been bruised, you need to rest and heal it, but then eventually you need to begin exercising it, to get back the loss of muscle tone and strength. Same thing with emotions, esp love. Also, you need to be sure you're not shutting down your emotions -- a lot of people do so, becaues they've been hurt.

Emotions come as a "packaged deal" -- you get one, you get 'em all. You can't say, "I want the 'nice' ones -- love, happiness, joy, etc, but i don't want the 'bad' ones, like anger, jealousy, etc." They come alltogether. If you try to shut down your experience of one, you begin to loose the ability to experience them ALL. Emotions exist to give us helpful information about how our lives are, from minute to minute. If you're feeling unhappy, that's a MESSAGE to you to take a look at what's going on in your life and what you need to do to change the circumstances that are making you unhappy.

Seewhutimean?

So don't look at emotions as a negative; look at them as helpful resources in creating a happy, fulfilling life. Pay attention to them, use them appropriately -- without letting them "use" YOU -- and youll find that they become helpful aids.

Find some way to contribute -- volunteer at your local hospital, with a youth group, at church, etc -- anywhere you can offer from your heart, to those who need it and who will appreciate it. You wll begin to feel your heart opening, and learning how to care and trust and even love again -- I promise.

Good luck --

~Gaia

Good advise Gaia.