WOW! or MOM if I stand on my head, This is beauty in action, as I see ALL is in process, there is no certainty, words can nail the concepts for the moment but then 'POOF' but wait there's more, so much more. Thank you for sharing the process, a process that YOU have chosen to grow with as a person and lay out with words of your experience.
The first thing I want to tell you, and if it is the only meaning you extract from my words, is that I have some terrific news; you need never doubt your faith again, ever. To be sure, I do not refer to my relationship with God as 'faith,' but fact. I know because I have seen glimpses of beyond. I will say it until my last breath, God simply 'is' and I can say this with such rectitude because after several close encounters with death, there is more. There have been others close and unknown to me who have gone to the next phase, and I have been in their presence with more certainty than at any waking moment. To experience this is very much a life changing event.
So, I understand your words correctly, you have had your belief shaken due to an insoluble problem; "Why the suffering?" Fair enough. Thankfully you are open to the possibility that you may never know why. And I would agree with that sentiment, but just for a moment, consider that nobody really has any idea as to why you are even here at all. What if, for instance, all we amount to is the influence we will have in the lives of others? Family, friends, and the unknown numbers of people we encounter every day may be the ones who are destine to take part in some grand undertaking, all of which is part of an even larger cosmic dance, our task is to be an energy for good in this universe by reflecting God's graces unto others. The question as to 'why' has been one for the ages, if you figure that one out, there will be a prize named after you.
I know, wild, yes? A little outside church doctrine? But if any of this makes sense, consider that I live with relentless, all-consuming, and intractable pain with several life-shortening conditions that will send me to an early grave. I do not curse God, I rejoice because I have another day to create, to hear the lovely voice of my wife, to pet my cats, to drive my old run-down truck another mile, and to write to you, my friend, and say life is good no matter what your circumstance. The suffering is real enough and I wish it were not so brutal, but those are the cards in my hand and I will always be thankful for the chance just to be in the game. The hardest part is the suffering of those we love, but perhaps this is the reason for your being. Imagine if your bride were living with another, in conditions of pure evil? She has you, think about that, you are an angel and an1 answer to her prayers.
Be of good cheer, eat, drink, enjoy the fruits of this life while you have it, and cease with the doubt. You are hear for a reason that may never be revealed to you, but I can say this much with certainty, that you have been a force for good and vibrating in harmony with the universe, which is you, which is God, all of which are inseparable. We are living in one eternal and infinite church and I worship in it all day long. We are one with every atom, every galaxy, and beyond, it is all God and it breathes. So take a deep breath, put your mind at ease, and hold your loving wife close because she has obviously brought you much joy, and I'm sure you her. Make the most of your time, keep creating, and know that just loving one another is enough. You are doing the Lord's work.
Thanks for this, Dave. I think we are ultimately in agreement here, though I can't see myself having the kind of certainty you do (I'm not criticizing it!), but I do hope that my probably too personal essay conveyed that I think when it's all said and done what matters here, on this earth, most, is love in the best sense of that word. The rest is secondary.
Yeah, I can't even comment on this properly without writing a thesis on my own experiences. God doesn't fit in the Catholic Box or the Jewish Box, the Baptist Box, the Methodist Box, the Hindu Box, the Muslim Box. He didn't fit in the Sanhedrin Box, or the Jesuit Box or the Agnostic or Atheist Box or even the stoic Box! We have to strive to fit into His Box which I am unfamiliar with and always have been, and this is why I don't pray that God stays with me, I pray that He keeps bringing me back to Him because I've been the one wanting Him to fit into Jenni's Box and when He doesn't, I'm left looking for Him again but I do hope to be able to fly wherever He wants me to be when my soul leaves my body.
WOW! or MOM if I stand on my head, This is beauty in action, as I see ALL is in process, there is no certainty, words can nail the concepts for the moment but then 'POOF' but wait there's more, so much more. Thank you for sharing the process, a process that YOU have chosen to grow with as a person and lay out with words of your experience.
Peace be with you <3
The first thing I want to tell you, and if it is the only meaning you extract from my words, is that I have some terrific news; you need never doubt your faith again, ever. To be sure, I do not refer to my relationship with God as 'faith,' but fact. I know because I have seen glimpses of beyond. I will say it until my last breath, God simply 'is' and I can say this with such rectitude because after several close encounters with death, there is more. There have been others close and unknown to me who have gone to the next phase, and I have been in their presence with more certainty than at any waking moment. To experience this is very much a life changing event.
So, I understand your words correctly, you have had your belief shaken due to an insoluble problem; "Why the suffering?" Fair enough. Thankfully you are open to the possibility that you may never know why. And I would agree with that sentiment, but just for a moment, consider that nobody really has any idea as to why you are even here at all. What if, for instance, all we amount to is the influence we will have in the lives of others? Family, friends, and the unknown numbers of people we encounter every day may be the ones who are destine to take part in some grand undertaking, all of which is part of an even larger cosmic dance, our task is to be an energy for good in this universe by reflecting God's graces unto others. The question as to 'why' has been one for the ages, if you figure that one out, there will be a prize named after you.
I know, wild, yes? A little outside church doctrine? But if any of this makes sense, consider that I live with relentless, all-consuming, and intractable pain with several life-shortening conditions that will send me to an early grave. I do not curse God, I rejoice because I have another day to create, to hear the lovely voice of my wife, to pet my cats, to drive my old run-down truck another mile, and to write to you, my friend, and say life is good no matter what your circumstance. The suffering is real enough and I wish it were not so brutal, but those are the cards in my hand and I will always be thankful for the chance just to be in the game. The hardest part is the suffering of those we love, but perhaps this is the reason for your being. Imagine if your bride were living with another, in conditions of pure evil? She has you, think about that, you are an angel and an1 answer to her prayers.
Be of good cheer, eat, drink, enjoy the fruits of this life while you have it, and cease with the doubt. You are hear for a reason that may never be revealed to you, but I can say this much with certainty, that you have been a force for good and vibrating in harmony with the universe, which is you, which is God, all of which are inseparable. We are living in one eternal and infinite church and I worship in it all day long. We are one with every atom, every galaxy, and beyond, it is all God and it breathes. So take a deep breath, put your mind at ease, and hold your loving wife close because she has obviously brought you much joy, and I'm sure you her. Make the most of your time, keep creating, and know that just loving one another is enough. You are doing the Lord's work.
))Hugs to you both((
Thanks for this, Dave. I think we are ultimately in agreement here, though I can't see myself having the kind of certainty you do (I'm not criticizing it!), but I do hope that my probably too personal essay conveyed that I think when it's all said and done what matters here, on this earth, most, is love in the best sense of that word. The rest is secondary.
Yeah, I can't even comment on this properly without writing a thesis on my own experiences. God doesn't fit in the Catholic Box or the Jewish Box, the Baptist Box, the Methodist Box, the Hindu Box, the Muslim Box. He didn't fit in the Sanhedrin Box, or the Jesuit Box or the Agnostic or Atheist Box or even the stoic Box! We have to strive to fit into His Box which I am unfamiliar with and always have been, and this is why I don't pray that God stays with me, I pray that He keeps bringing me back to Him because I've been the one wanting Him to fit into Jenni's Box and when He doesn't, I'm left looking for Him again but I do hope to be able to fly wherever He wants me to be when my soul leaves my body.