Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

Wrestling…

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Have you ever noticed the greatest blessings come after the darkness of faith?…

The darkness of a night wrestling with God?

image via wrestling-with-god.blogspot.com

Prideful, false self grapples with God…

as He forms us into our real identity…

Rescuing and reclaiming us as His child.

The night…the wrestling…and with the new dawn of light…

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The Blessing.

In the wrestling…is the Becoming.

In the becoming…is the blessing.

Blessing given to then go forth and bless.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.” Jer 17:7

Divine Appointment…

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“Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place where he prayed.”

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Where is your deserted place to pray? That place where you usher in the day? Wrapped in the holy hush of the new day?

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 Is it a prayer chair? …a nook in the garden?…on a threadbare carpet beside the bed?

Where is that place you greet the day?

That place that you bow your head and heart in humility in the truth…

image via thehourofrescue.wordpress.com

You are God…I am creature.

Where is that deserted place you pray that affirms you in love and purpose as you offer the gift of the new day to the Father?

May we know who we truly are in God in the gift of each morning and may we experience the deep abiding peace that comes from finding that deserted place ….

Which becomes our sacred place of divine appointment.

 

 

The Word…

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Lord, who can grasp all the wealth of just one of your Words?

What we understand is much less than what we leave behind…

image via en.wikipedia.org

Like thirsty people who drink from a fountain.

Your Word, Lord, has so many shades of meaning, just as those who study it have many points of view.

The Lord has colored His Word with many hues, so that each person who studies it can see in it what he loves.

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He has hidden many treasures in His Word, so that each of us is enriched as we meditate on it.

image via burlesonisd.net

The Word of God is a tree of life that from all its parts offers you fruit that is blessed.

image via colonialchurch.org

It is like that rock that is open in the dessert, which from all its parts give forth a spiritual drink.

(Ephraim the Syriac, Deacon from the 4th century)

“Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.” Ps 119: 105

Have a blessed Sunday.

Just a Grain of Sand?!….

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Professor Gary Greenberg who holds a PHD in Biomedical Research from the University College in London recently spent 5 years searching the globe for sand grains to photo. Using tiny accupuncture needles he sought to to find and arrange the most perfect specimens. Once found, he magnified them 250x real life.

What did he find?….The photos will amaze you!

Each grain of sand….a tiny treasure…

Each grain of sand….a true work of art.

Each grain of sand…an infusion of God’s creative genius.

Each grain of sand….unique and original.

“For you make me jubilant, Lord, by your deeds; at the works of your hands I shout for joy.  How great are your works, Lord! How profound your purpose!” Ps 92: 5-6

Heavenly Father, how great and wonderful are your works. If just one grain of sand bespeaks your artistry in ways unsurpassed, how much greater the beauty of the human person. Each a tiny treasure; Each a true work of art; Each an infusion of Your creative genius; Each unique and original. Give me eyes to see beyond the flesh to the magnificent work of art in each person that crosses my path. Magnify my vision to detect the glorious reflection of You in those I  meet. Through Christ, Our Lord Amen.

Cast into the Deep…

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The deeper we worship…the deeper we live our lives.

image via truloveworship.com

And…

The deeper we live our lives the deeper we worship.

Why? The two are one and the same.

Our lives, one with God, are worship.

image via fhcworship.wordpress.com

 Our lives  lived in Him are His praise and Glory.

And our worship of Him is our lives.

Is your life restless?

Look at your worship.

Is your worship dry and distracted?

Look at your life.

When we pray for a greater desire to more deeply worship, we too are asking for the grace to more deeply live in His Life, in His Love.

Through Him, With Him, and In Him.

image via catholicyouthministry.com

Let us all cast our nets into deep waters…

and Live His praise and Glory.

“so that we might exist for the praise of His glory, we who first hoped in Christ.” Eph 1: 12

I Can’t?…

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Ever said I can’t to God?…

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Fist clenched, foot stomping, I can’t, I won’t to God?

Your ways are not my ways, my ways are better, I can’t God.

image via biblepicturedictionary.com

Camel squeezing through the eye of a needle too rich in rebellion, selfishness, pride, I can’t God?

Struggle continues…Chaos reigns.

Ever said I can’t to God?

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Little girl, little boy, weak whimper from within, I can’t God?

I’m lost, alone, drowning, tear-filled, I can’t God?

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I am weak, you are strong, hide me in your heart, I can’t God?

Mighty arms bend down into the lowliness…

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Drawn into the embrace of God…

Wrapped in His love…Consumed in grace.

Together, united, as one…

I CAN GOD!

“Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.  all things are possible for God.”

Mark 10: 27

Beyond the Dot to Dots…

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Man between the lines…

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We are mind, body, soul and spirit…not just the sum of what is seen exteriorly.

But when sin entered the world man was fractured into parts no longer whole.

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The world continues to promote the broken man…

“Live for yorself”…”discover the fountain of youth so you can always look young”…”if it feels good do it”.

And in our relationships we often relate to others in this broken way.

But Jesus came to put all the pieces back together.

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Sparks fly when we relate to to others as the whole person they are before us.

image via gamedev.net

 

We are seeing them as God sees them and speaking to them in their wholeness even in their brokenness.

The transfiguration is a reality to us.

We are men and women beyond the lines….beyond the dot to dots.

image via choosemylife.com

Lord may I be given the grace to see the dignity of the whole person in myself and before me.  Let my eyes not remain fixed on the broken pieces but on the Glory of the Divine Image before me.”

All Natural…No Preservative Self…

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“Everyone who has this hope based on Him makes himself pure, as He is pure.”1 John3:3

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To HOPE is to keep one’s eyes on the top of the cross….

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while keeping vigil at the foot.

How good, gracious, and merciful is our God that by merely hoping…

Our eyes set on Him who is our HOPE…

We are made PURE.

To be PURE is to be all we are called to be…

no fakes, no masks, no pretense, no artificial flavors…

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100% pure, all natural, no additives, no preservatives.

By being in Your Presence Lord in prayer…

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which in itself is an act of HOPE…

We become more purely who we are…who we are meant to be.

Litmus Test…

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What is the Litmus Test for Love?

“Love is Patient”…

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Am I?

“Love is kind”…

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Am I?

“It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated”…

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Am I?

“It is not rude, it does not seek its own interests”…

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Do I?

“It is not quick tempered, it does not brood over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.”

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Do I?

“It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” …

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Do I?

“Love never fails.”

Have I?

“But when the  kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” Titus 3: 4-7

We have much to be thankful for!