ephraimanesti

Came across the following about an hour after writing the foregoing entry. Perhaps an answer to same?

"One of the keys to real religious experience is the shattering realization that not matter how hateful we are to ourselves, we are not hateful to God. This realization helps us to understand the difference between our love and God's. Our love is a need. His a gift."

ephraimanesti

i recently came across the following Prayer which i very much relate to in ideal and substance, and use frequently:

DEAR LORD, in the midst of much inner turmoil and restlessness, there is a consoling thought: maybe you are working in me in a way I cannot yet feel, experience, or understand. My mind is not able to concentrate on you, my heart is not able to remain centered, and it seems as if you are absent and have left me alone. But in faith I cling to you. I believe that your Spirit...

ephraimanesti

i came across the following and felt really blest at the insight it provided me:

Permit YOUR pain to become THE pain

"Your pain, deep as it is, is connected with specific circumstances. You do not suffer in the abstract. You suffer because someone hurts you at a specific time and in a specific place. Your feelings of rejection, abandonment, and uselessness are rooted in the most concrete events. In this way all suffering is unique. This is eminently true of the...

ephraimanesti

i came across a wonderful definition of God's Love by Henri J. M. Nouwen:

"What can we say about God's love? We can say that God's love is unconditional. God does not say, 'I love you,
if. . . .' There are no 'ifs' in God's heart. God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God's love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died. God's love is from eternity to eternity and...

ephraimanesti

Read today in II Corinthians 3:18: "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

Unfortunately, for me at least, "reflecting the Lord's glory" isn't one of my strong points and, in reality, seldom happens with any predictability or frequency. In fact, normally, the opposite is generally the case.

The result of this...

ephraimanesti