Category Archives: Religion and Spirituality

Unshakeable Confidence…

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image via from the heart of j

“Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders…Take me deeper than my feet will ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.” Hillsong United

What if you led your life with a trust without borders…a trust in a God whose unwearied, extravagant love for you personally is so beyond what your mind and heart could ever fathom? What would your life look like? How would it change?

With unshakeable confidence let us set forth this week knowing with our eyes on God, we can walk on water.

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Beauty in the Becoming…

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image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

It seems particularly fitting that my last post was the first week of Lent and I am resuming the first week of Advent. This journey of the heart, as of late, has taken me through an intensive internship and onward to a second, mid-life career as a licensed counselor. My blog and all my loyal readers have been in my thoughts and in my prayers in my absence, and I anticipated the time when I could return to regular posts.   I pondered changing the name of the blog to “The Beauty in the Becoming” for that is the profound discovery I am making as I meet with my clients. But “Through Him With Him In Him” will always be home, for it is only through Him with Him and in Him that we discover the beauty in the becoming. I will resume posting and am extending anew an invitation to join me in our combined journeys of the heart through Him with Him and in Him as we each discover the beauty of our becoming.

From the Heart of J

PS Please join me today on my professional site  where I post each Wednesday.

http://www.lifelinesmobile.org/blog/

I think you might enjoy my recent post “Fog…Loneliness…and the Man in the Moon”. And if it moves you, please join the Christmas Challenge!

Lighting a Holy Lamp…

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image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

In the morning…When I begin to wake…it happened again…

That feeling that you, beloved, had stood over me …all night long…keeping watch…

that feeling…

that as soon as I began to wake….

you put your lips to my forehead and lit a holy lamp…

inside my heart.     – Hafiz

House of Prayer…

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image via sefamilia.com

image via sefamilia.com

Practice prayer from the beginning.  Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility.  Make it radiant with the light of justice.  Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds.  Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity.  Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer.  In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord.  You will be able to receive Him as in a splendid palace, and through His grace you will already possess Him, His image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.

St. John Chrysostom

May your new week be blessed with a prayerful beginning.

Shutters of the Heart…

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Annecy, France image via fromtheheartofj

Annecy, France
image via fromtheheartofj

There is something sacred about the early morn…

the just waking up of the world as the sky stretches into the hello of the sun…

easing into colors of praise pinks, blues, and yellows.

The birds begin their hymns… their song joining in the symphony.

How often Lord have I insulated myself from the joy of arrival…

with curtains drawn and a hit to the snooze button?

The song of the new day knocks

May I be awake to answer this glory…

May my life be a part of this orchestra of grace each day anew.

Let the shutters of my heart be opened.

Sand Storm of Purification…

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The desert…

The place of encounter…

Inner wrestling with Truth resplendent…

Stripped of the color of everyday…

The starkness…the silence…the heat…

The sand storm of purification in the rending of the heart…

Brings an oasis of grace…peace unshakeable…spirit renewed.

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.” Joel 2:12-13

Blessings on your Lent. May your journey in the desert bring you ever deeper into the Heart of Jesus.

Companions of Your Pilgrimage…

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In loving your neighbor and caring for him…

You are on a journey.

Where are you traveling if not to the Lord God, to Him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind?

We have not yet reached His presence…

But we have our neighbor at our side.

Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain forever.  + St. Augustine

An Epic Poem to be Savored….

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Official permission to slow down one’s life…

is like being given an epic poem yet to be savored.

Give thanks for those things in life that sloooooow down one’s steps….

for truly the mind and the heart soon follow. (I promise)

“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ” James 1:2-3.

Surprise Disciple…

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“Being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others, and this can happen unexpectedly and in any place: on the street, in a city square, during work, on a journey.” Pope Francis in Evangelii  Gaudium