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- Author ephraimanesti
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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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
What a blessing teaching Sunday School has turned out to be! What sharp minds and deep spiritual understanding the kids evidence if the right questions are asked.
I've been learning more from teaching than the kids have from learning, i am sure. Just preparing the lessons is an education in...
i was wondering just how much meaning the Lenten Fast has lost, especially here in the West, with the desperate drive of many--myself included--to replace, with alternatives, what the Church teaches we should give up in the way of dairy, meat, etc. during Lent. The Church Book Stores are full of...
The question, "Why to you desire the Holy Spirit?" gave me great pause. The idea behind the question, obviously, is to discern whether the Holy Spirit is desired for MY benefit or for the benefit of the Church.
Researching Scriptures on the subject, it quickly becomes evident that...
i received the following as an Email and was blessed by it and challenged by its ideals and focus:
7 Commandments for Great Lent
by Fr. Andrey Dudchenko
Translated by Svetlana Tibbs; Edited by Cody Burkett and Isaac (Gerald) Herrin
"The Season of Great Lent has begun. It is time of...
I finished reading through the Gospels and, towards the end, began noticing how little attention i was giving to what i was reading. i experienced very little focus and it was kind of like reading on "auto pilot". i am sure that the Lord was not glorified by my casual skimming over His written...
i came across the following stop-and-thinker in FORGOTTEN GOD by Francis Chan:
"Did God lead you to where you are? A lot of people in my church and in my travels tell me, 'I believe that God has called me to Simi Valley.' Or Wichita. Or New York. Or Greenville. Or wherever. That very well may...
Reading today in a little book entitled THE ESSENTIAL WISDOM OF THE SAINTS. i have read it before, but was not particularly impressed by the contents--i mean there was no DEEP spirituality manifested by the quotes, and i was rather blasé about the whole experience.
However, i grabbed it...
Somewhat better than yesterday as the rhythm of Lent is settled into. i tend to think of work as a distraction from the "spiritual business" which Lent entails, but upon further thought it becomes obvious that my work, in God's eyes, IS my "spiritual business" and thus an extremely important...
Well, Lent didn't get off to a very lentenish start: Spent the morning watching my granddaughter's volleyball tournament--but i excused the lapse because i only get to see her and my son/wife about 2 times a year, so i'm sure God won't mind.
In the afternoon we went to see "My Name Is Khan"...
"Every moment comes to us pregnant with a command from God, only to pass on and plunge into eternity, there to remain forever what we have made it."
--St. Frances de Sales
Lord God, help me to keep this truth foremost in my mind as i walk through my day today. Help me, Lord, to hear your...
In reading MY SISTER SAINT THERESE, i came across the following which struck me as a wonderous new way to pray according to God's will in all things:
"Whenever she [St. Therese] did ask for relief or some other temporal favour, it was only to please others. Even then, she would make sure to...
i find myself currently in a strange--or at least unfamiliar--place as far as Christian beliefs and practices are concerned.
Christianity, to me, often appears to be a lot like politics--with a "left wing" and a "right wing", with "red" and "blue" states of belief and practice--fragmented...
It struck me quite forcefully this morning in my Scripture time that the whole Bible--from Genesis to Revelations inclusive--can be condensed down into ONE COMMANDMENT:
"THOU SHALT LOVE!"
And, secondly, that there is only one true evidence of our "lovingness"--our orientation towards our...
i came across the following quote in my reading last night--
"WE MUST FEAR GOD OUT OF LOVE, NOT LOVE HIM OUT OF FEAR."
St. Francis de Sales
It got me thinking about the wrongfulness of trying to scare non-believers into a relationship with God by threats regarding judgment, eternal...
It occurred to me today that the primary reason i continue to carry about with me the burden of my sins, even though i know that Jesus has taken them upon His loving shoulders and God the Father has forgiven them, is that i am continually looking backwards instead of forwards--backwards at my...