Hello all and I hope everyone is having a great week. I felt guided to post on several subs today so here I am.

Some background info, my story is long but I'll try to summarize. I'm Unitarian Universalist, but I do identify as a Christian under that umbrella.

I've always been a very spiritual person and it has been a decades long journey to better understand God, the cosmos and my role in it all.

There have been a lot of changes in my life recently (I moved halfway across the world for one thing) and because I've had to make so many decisions, I've been

turning more and more to prayer. I find the practice of Ignatian discernment to be useful - what I do is that I surrender completely in prayer and if I experience

peace, essentially God approves and if I experience desolation (unease, worry, my body will shake in distress) I know that that is the wrong way to go.

A wise aunt of mine once told me that we also need our human wisdom, so I don't expect God to tell me what to wear, nor do I ask every little question. I tend to

trust my instincts and what guidance I have received in the past. I won't deny that it's been a long journey and it's been difficult to sort through all the

information I've read (hundreds of books, blogs, websites etc) to discern what is truth and what works. The short version is that yes I do believe and have

experienced matters of the spirit, but I'm also a scientist, so I seek to verify everything that I encounter and find.

Which explains why I am writing this post :) I've been using the method described above for a while now, and it seems to work, but some answers seem incongruent.

God works in mysterious ways, but yet He also works within the framework of creation - in that we still operate in a casual and physical world, and that free will

must be respected.

I would be the first to admit I don't know everything, so I am throwing this out here for discussion. How does one know you are guided? How do I ask questions that

will lead me in the right direction, to make the world a better place and live in harmony with spirit?

(My prayers are generally in this vein "Is it in the highest good to do such and such.")

I do actually believe in God but not the traditional viewpoint. In the last few years I had a business and two relationships fail, other business problems, health problems, family problems...you name it, I have encountered it. It's been getting steadily worse.

None of my friends are able to help, and despite praying, God seems distant. I've spoken to my minister, she has said she has felt the same on occasion. My therapist references the story of Job (she is Christian) but it's cold comfort when I am suffering now. Unless she knows specifically when the suffering will end, it's not helpful.

I still pray and have not lost my faith, since I have had God appear in my life before in remarkably dramatic ways. But still the torrent of bad news is unrelenting, so I am on the edge of despair sometimes.

Posting here instead of Christian subs because Christians always say "God's perfect timing" which is NOT helping (like the last three therapists I saw)