If you are religious please please help me.

[Adena]

OrangeJuice, I am a Christian too. Our Scriptures teach us that God loves us unconditionally. There is nothing you can do to make God not love you. He came to this world to save the downtrodden and to give hope to the hopeless. God is here and when you or I don't feel His presence it doesn't change the fact of God's presence. God did not, however, promise that life here on earth will be easy or fair or just all the time or even most of the time. Christians that are successfully following the example of Jesus will accept you and love you as you are, regardless of whether they wholeheartedly endorse expressing your true gender identity (I don't think our Lord prohibits this as some do, but it doesn't matter what our views are on trans expression, we should still love and accept each other as we are.) Hang in there! Love, Denali

[clairetg]

Orangejuice, I too am a Christian and hold my faith and my relationship to God very dear to me.  I have struggled with this issue for over forty years as well and still struggle with it today.  I understand the emotional roller-coaster you feel like you're on because I'm still on it too.  However, of all issues and pain and struggles, and yes depression, that I'm going through right now, the one thing I can tell you that I don't struggle with is my relationship with God.  He has listened to me though out all of my life.  I've begged him to take this pain away for forty years of my life and he did not, but he has held my hand, figuratively, and still quite often, including now, picks me up and carries me, when I feel I can't go on any further and I thank him everyday for that.  I could not have made it this far in life without him and I never want to know what it's like to be without him.  I can also tell you that the condition we all share, contrary to many Christian cultural beliefs, is not a sin, it is not a mental issue, it's a medical one, and there is enough scientific evidence to back that up even today.  God has shown me that.  He has also opened my eyes to great many more things and continues to do so everyday.  It has just taken me over forty years to be able to get to a place where he could show me and that I could understand it.

The battles I battle now stem from me having the strength and courage that I need to be able to move forward.  I have asked God for help in this area right now because I need it so much and I think this is why I found your page today and why I have felt so compelled to answer you.  I need the help and comfort from this group. 

Don't lose faith, or trust in him and also don't always put your faith in religious leaders either.  Remember, they are just as human as you and I are and they are also prone to their ideological stumbling blocks as well.

Take care and hugs,

Claire

[Lebedinaja]

whatever you believe in, may it be one single God called 'God', Allah, Svarga or whatever, may it be yourself, may it be .... Buddha or may you worship cows, there are many many religions to 'choose from' with all being very different.
Maybe Christianity, the christian society and behaviour is not for you. 'Believing' in itself is something that has to do deeply with yourself, completely with your inner souls and the one you are believing in.
In some religions like Islam, there is a saying from the God itself:
When you are seeking for me, I will give you signs, I will show you the way, you have to go it for yourself.
What could be: you are just praying and praying, and strictly -trying to- believe in a god, trying to act like you would do, but I think this wont ever lead to your goal.
Maybe you should get away from this thinking of -going to church and -trying to believe attitude, since god is found in other ways than that.

Just about myself, maybe it can give you a hint somehow...
I always have been non-religious, since non of my family is, so I didnt ever took religions seriously or tried to find something greater to believe in.
One day I started talking to a wise guy who spent years and years of searching, of reading, of thinking and so on, thinking about religions and about 'god'. At the End he choosed the religion [DOESNT MATTER].
After a long talk about it, after really hearing and knowing about this particular religion/kind of religion/way of believing in god, I felt strange and at the following days, strange things happened, which one could thinke of as ... signs. I started thinking more and more and felt like what I written above just happened : "If you seek me, I will give you signs, I will guide you"
And this particular religion also says: the ones who hear about the religion, start knowing about it, they will be guided.

So this just was what happened to me. I dont know if it helps you, but I think that if you search, but in another way than you do till now, signs may be given to you. I could tell you more about above, just if you are interested.