Category: Collection of Quotes

Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Illness and Health, Just do it, medical treatment, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

How Many Days?

Is November 23, 2023 the only day this year you will be giving thanks? Day 327 of the year.

Traditionally it is a time to give thanks for all the sacrifice and hard work done for the harvest. In modern times people take time off work (4 day weekend starting Thursday) and spend time with family and friends over a large feast held on Thanksgiving Day.

https://www.calendardate.com/thanksgiving_2023.htm

Few if any of us have participated in bringing in the harvest of food! Feasting, football and family we have a better understanding about.

I am asking though about giving thanks to the Lord of the Harvest. To God, “from whom all blessing flow.” Being grateful, giving thanks as a way of life can change us from the inside out. Forming the habit of thanksgiving we can change how our eyes see, how our brains interpret.

So how many days this year have you given thanks? There is rarely an easy way to answer that. Perhaps you have set aside a day per month to list things you are grateful about? Likely, more than one thing made that list?

This could be a good time to decide to change and make it a daily habit to give thanks. Not just a rote prayer at meal time, but an actual listing of things.

In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways. They can apply it to the past (retrieving positive memories and being thankful for elements of childhood or past blessings), the present (not taking good fortune for granted as it comes), and the future (maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude). Regardless of the inherent or current level of someone’s gratitude, it’s a quality that individuals can successfully cultivate further.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier

Then this comment from New York Presbyterian Hospital staffer

The holidays are about more than presents and being together with family and friends — they’re also about being thankful. Turns out, being thankful can have many positive health effects. Studies show practicing gratitude can lead to more intimate and connected relationships, less depression, more motivation and engagement, and better overall mental well-being.

https://healthmatters.nyp.org/is-gratitude-good-for-your-health/

I like the clarification above about past, present and future. This truly is a quality we can cultivate. Here in Ohio, this is not the time of year to cultivate the land, The soil of your heart, however, is waiting for you to sow the seeds of gratitude and gratefulness. Imagine the harvest you will reap in body, mind and spirit from this minimal conscious effort!

The research shows that 3 a day – three moments or events that you are grateful for – every day – every single day – can have a huge impact on your health and well-being. What do you have to lose? Why not begin now if you are not already doing this?

We can set our watches to remind us to stand or get a certain number of steps daily. Why not set your watch to remind you to pause and write out 3? Not so difficult when you think about it.

We do not have a record of how often Jesus was grateful and gave thanks, but there is this quote:

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 11:25 NIV
Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Illness and Health, Journal, medical treatment, Music, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Writing Life

Grace in Our Helplessness

Haven Ministries publishes a monthly booklet of devotions entitled “Anchor Devotional.” The month of September, 2023 featured the writings of John Newton, compiled by writer Miller Ferrie, “to celebrate the 250th anniversary of when the hymn “Amazing Grace” was first sung.”

The entry for September 16 reads:

The grace of Jesus Christ humbles us. Hymn-writer John Newton knew this well and wrote the following:

Self-righteousness has had a considerable hand in dictating many of my desires for an increase of comfort and spiritual strength. I have wanted some stock of my own, I have been wearied of being so perpetually beholden to {God}, needing to come to Him always … as a poor miserable sinner, I should have liked to have done something for myself in ordinary circumstances, and to have depended upon Him chiefly on extraordinary occasion.

I have found indeed, that I could do nothing without His assistance, nor anything even with it. I am now learning to glory only in my infirmities, … to be content to be nothing that He may be All in All. But I find this a hard lesson, …Humbled I ought to be, to find I am totally depraved – but not discouraged, since Jesus is appointed to me by God to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and since I find that … He keeps alive the principle of grace which He has implanted in my heart.

John Newton

What a challenge I have had. In so many ways I feel like Newton. August I was exhausted by life and likely too many activities. September I had a decayed tooth cut out by oral surgeon, with anesthesia, antibiotic, gauze, ice packs and pain pills afterwards. My face was bruised and I was in a lot of pain. I kept hearing the Cory Asbury song lyric “You take good care of me.” And it is true.

A few days later I slammed the car door on two fingers of my left hand. So grateful they were not broken. As the saying goes, I “Could not win for losing!” Scalp psoriasis exploded and I began itching, not just on the scalp. Within a few days I was itching all over and hives developed on one side of my neck. Read about something called opioid itch. Wondered if it was the pain pills? Heard the song below. I love Einaudi’s compositions.

Entitled Monday. Sounds to me like the LORD giving living water into my writing.

Out of my mind with itching I began Benadryl on my own along with my usual dose of Allegra. Kept hearing Brandon Lake lyric, “Praise, give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest; I’ll praise You anywhere.” Rough going, and truly a sacrifice of praise.(Hebrews 13:15) For several days a line I wrote in April, 2013 had been on my mind, “And so misery invited agony who brought along distraction and insomnia.” With all those medications I did not have insomnia though I did wake myself several times while scratching in my sleep. Eventually insatiable itching centered on palms of hands and soles of feet with NO rash, NO blisters, NO nothing, just usual skin. Wondered if I would actually scratch my skin open? Even at times itching the skin web between pointer and middle finger. What is this??

I saw the internist. He put me on steroid tablets with Allegra and Benadryl to continue. My appointment with Dermatologist October 5 was much awaited. I just wanted some answers to why is this happening? Assuming we can get it under control, how can I avoid this in the future? Itching stopped for two days and then returned.

October 5 I wrote:

Here am I naked before You
Clearly bothered by itching and pain
Ankles, shoulders and head all ache
Steroids have surely about gone
Driven to distraction I try to contain my hands
nerve endings igniting continuously
I bring my broken self to You
Naked before Your eyes You see
within, about, and through me
Lord be my comfort I pray
Show me how to cope with this
Lead me in paths where I can write
bring You glory and honor and praise
Here am I naked before You.

Dermatologist too was stumped, concerned but uncertain what caused all of this. Did full body check up while asking questions and pondering my dilemma. She took a biopsy of my right upper arm which mimicked something on my chest.

She put me on Zyrtec in evening and Allegra in morning. New Clobetasol shampoo. Wondered if there might be liver or kidney problems. Even mentioned possibility of lymphoma. Ordered a slew of tests (at least eleven) from both blood and urine.

Eventually itching has tapered off. Certainly not gone, but live-able. The test results have been rolling in through My Chart. They are all normal. Occasional palm itch. Maybe once a day bout of sole itch.

I cannot say with Newton and Paul ‘I glory in my infirmities’. Guess that sounds like a hypochondriac to my ears. (Guess I need to study the commentators to gain a better understanding of the concept.) This is a very long post, but was uncertain how to shorten it. I have been enabled to write and post the blog. I went on a weekend retreat at the Convent where I have been an associate for many years. Life continues, but my body, which loves to play ‘Stump the Doctor” continues to baffle me and the professionals. John Newton was right, the grace of Christ does humble me. John 5:30a is such a powerful truth. “I can do nothing on my own.” By His grace I live and write.

During the retreat I was blessed with this portion of Celtic Compline

Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm

Still me O Lord, keep me from harm

Let all the tumult within me cease

Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.

The Felgild Compline

To read the entire Compline go to https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/wednesday-the-felgild-compline/

Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Humor, Listen, Music, Yield

I Think He Already Did This?!

A friend told us about this song.

And I was amused, but also saddened. I think God already did this and yet, “we would not” listen.

The figure was used in the Scriptures to express the stubborn, untractable spirit of a people not responsive to the guiding of their God (Exodus 32:9; 33:3; Deuteronomy 9:6; 2 Chronicles 36:13; Jeremiah 17:23, etc.). 

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/stiff-necked/
Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Verb?

Multiple times I have run across this idea that God is not a noun. God is a verb. Of course, I did not note the places where I first began to hear this. Trying to resource it on-line led to several authors. These are by no means exhaustive!

Perhaps the most commented upon is a book by Rabbi David A. Cooper entitled “God is a Verb.” He bases his book upon studies of the Kabbalah, a branch of mystical Judaism. He writes about God as a verb and our ‘co-partnering in God-ing.’

And as Jason Derr at Huffington Post writes,

God is not a force who acts on the world through coercion, violence or the suspension of physics and free will. God is a verb, an action we bring to the world to make love, justice, mercy, joy and goodness known.

Jason Derr, contributor at Huffington Post

This quote challenges the conventional understanding of God as a fixed entity or concept, suggesting that God should be perceived as an active and dynamic force or presence in the world.

https://www.rarequote.com/god-is-a-verb-not-a-noun-r-buckminster-fuller

When I was re-reading my notes from The Shack I was only mildly surprised to find this one from Page 204!

My very essence is a verb. I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless ‘I am,’ there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive.”

The Shack by William P. Young

Certainly this gives us each food for thought. I will likely never be able to not personalize my relationship with God. Call it anthropomorphism if you want. Just how I was raised and at 72 years old likely too late to undo the thinking. But all of this does make me think hard about the idea. How about you?

There was a statement not long ago saying, “Your God is too small.” Yes! What if our concept of God is not BIG enough? A creation that continues to expand, unfold? I am not certain about any of the arguments for or against this. I do know that the LORD shows me things I never knew before. I want to interact with the participating presence of the Holy One in whatever way I am asked to interact. Will you yield to that?

Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

The Passion of the Christ

Jesus promises the Spirit in John 14 and 16. How did we get stuck on Friday? How do we move beyond it?

The movie was supposed to be true to how things likely happened when Jesus was crucified. It was gory and grotesque and certainly showed man’s inhumanity to the Son of God and Son of Man. And to think this was done frequently throughout the ages. Worse yet, it is still done today.

ISIS militants have been known to crucify those who attempt to resist them.

However, there is also another place where crucifixion is known to occur. Yep, you guessed it, Saudi Arabia. Under the Saudi penal code, crucifixion is a legal form of punishment and execution. In one case that has drawn international attention, the Saudi government sentenced a 17-year-old boy named Ali al-Nimr to crucifixion for his participation in anti-government protests. In Saudi Arabia, crucifixion takes place after death with the dead body being crucified in a public place to serve as a warning to others. Amnesty International has condemned the act as “the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”

10 Barbaric Forms Of Punishment Still Practiced Today – Listverse

So why would God the Father allow this to happen to His Son? Hebrews says of Jesus

… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 NIV

What joy? The prophecy in Isaiah 53: 10-12 might help our understanding.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
    he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
11     Out of his anguish he shall see;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
    The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out himself to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors,
yet he bore the sin of many
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10-12 NRSVUE

Jesus loves you that much. All He is asking is that you surrender to Him. Let Him live through you by the power of His Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do with chocolate or bunnies, eggs or candy.

Read that quote from Isaiah again. I think if you read it slowly and ponder the meaning you will have a glorious Easter Season!

If you remain at the cross and the blood, ask yourself if that is what Jesus would want? Yes, He is holy and righteous and to be adored. What about the promises He gave us? Did He die so that we could sit at His grave forever? Are you willing to move beyond the blood, brutality and death?

I think the Father had more in mind than that, much more. His ways are truly higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. Father help us to move into the truth You desire for us.

Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Listen, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother and Jesus

The LORD has come to earth to build His Kingdom in and through us. It is almost impossible to comprehend the power and the glory He has put forth on our behalf and within us. How can this be?

Even Mary asked in Luke 1:34 “How can this be?”as she pondered God moving in her through the Holy Spirit.

In Cinderella the lyrics between the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella are a back and forth of things sensible people would never believe. Pumpkin becomes a carriage and four white mice are four white horses, etc. They go from Impossible to Possible.

But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don’t believe in sensible rules
And won’t believe what sensible people say,
And because these daft and dewy- eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes,
Impossible things are happ’ning every day!
Such fol-de-rol and fiddledy dee of course is
Quite possible!

For the world is full of zanies and fools—
Who don’t believe in sensible rules
And won’t believe what sensible people say.
And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes,
Impossible things are happ’ning every day!
It’s possible! It’s possible!
Impossible  by Rogers and Hammerstein II

Our seemingly impossible hope of redemption through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit are often scoffed at by 'sensible' people, especially 'worldly' people. But God knows better than they do!

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.

Matthew 11:25-26 CSB

John Piper wrote about this. Here is a link to a short list from his book The Stupendous Reality of Being in Christ Jesus. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/six-things-it-means-to-be-in-christ-jesus

The world says Impossible. God says Perfect! I pray this Lent you have drawn closer to the Father through the power of His Holy Spirit. The changes He can bring to you are more stupendous than a pumpkin becoming a carriage!

Waterford creation

I pray you are willing to be yielded to His power at work in and through you. May you let Him have His way in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to rise up within you and do the works of Jesus through you. May 2023 be your best Easter Season ever!

It is almost impossible to comprehend the power and the glory He has put forth on our behalf and within us. And yet our Father says this is His plan. Unlike the Fairy Godmother, His transformations are eternal. Yield to being remade in the likeness of His dear Son.

Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Did I Post These Already?

Do you know these sayings and prayers?

At a retreat I was taught this wisdom regarding our Father:

Even now, He is with me. Even now.

Years ago Bishop or Priest leading CT Retreat

I went so far as to cross-stitch this and give it to those who might be struggling with their faith or difficult situations. It is a good thing to remember. No matter what befalls us or what we are going through, even NOW, Christ is with us!

About 2013 I wrote this prayer- mantra. When I am thinking ouch, pain, pain! If I will turn my brain instead to Him Who loves me best, praise will come forth. Just as Muslims have the 5 times a day call to prayer broadcast in the area of the mosque, I am called to remember my Lord even when I hurt. David turned to prayer multiple times a day as did Daniel. Jesus often went away by himself to be with the Father. He also addressed the Father as in Matthew 25 with a familiarity that showed he spoke with Him throughout each day. Since I have not used my 2013 prayer in a while I have had to retrain my memory to call it forth readily. It is amazing if I use each pain situation to lead me to praise, how those pain situations begin to decrease in occurrence and intensity. Even if they do not decrease, my attention is turned to Someone greater than my pain.

I have determined that this day, each time I am drawn up short by pain, I will praise You, for I love You better than life – even better than quality of life.

Molly L. Dutina

Are these at all helpful to you? Will you take them into your spiritual practice? Perhaps copy out onto 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 cards? Carry the quote. Read it while waiting in line or at an appointment. Ask for wisdom to apply it to your life.

The important thing is not to think much,

but to love much; and so,

do that which best stirs you to love.

St. Theresa of Avila

I have a friend who repeatedly gets herself in spiritual turmoil by thinking too much. Are you guilty of that? At times, I am. When I find I cannot shake something or someone out of my mind, it is usually because I have been thinking too much about the situation or person. If I can move simply to loving and stop so much thinking, my way is simpler.

“Held by God like a feather which has no weight in its own strength and lets itself be carried by the wind.”

Hildegard of Bingen

The Holy Spirit is often compared to wind. When I remember I have no weight in my own strength, I can let the wind of God carry me wherever He wishes.

Self care involves self respect.

Self care is not selfish.

My mother often harped on the theme of her children being selfish. Need I say I was not taught self care or even self respect? Now into my 70s I have learned that self care is wonderful and God insists that I do it. No one is going to do my self care. It is up to me to honor Him even in caring for myself.

Sometimes I am not so hearty.

Mld

I was a revelation to realize that I can admit the above. “Not so hearty” is okay. At times we are all like that.

PERSEVERANCE is a l  o  n  g obedience in the same direction.

I think Charles Swindoll said or wrote the above

My friend who lost over 100 pounds loved this quote. I like it because of chronic pain issues.

s f g t d – Something For God To Do

There are things we are aware of that need changing, but we must remember that most of those things are something for God to do – not us!

If a prayer here or quotation spoke to you I hope you will explore it more deeply with the Holy One. All wisdom resides there, not with me.

Christ himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Colossians 2:2c-3 NRSV
Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Prepare Him Room Using Mark 7

Paul wrote many lists of sins, but here is one from Jesus.

And He said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things comes from within, and they defile a man.”

Mark 7:21-23 RSV

So what is coming out of us as we prepare for the Christmas celebration? Is our first response to honor the birth of Christ? The second coming of Christ? or the weight of expectations as we gather with family for another Christmas meal? Are we burdened by gift giving? Rampant greed? Unobtainable expectations of others? Ourselves? Coveting, envy, deceit, slander, pride, foolishness?

None of the lists of sin in the New Testament are told to us as the worst then the second worst, etc. We tend to assign those judgements, but they are all called sin. Sin is “falling short of the mark.”

As we once again prepare room for Christ I pray you will consider asking the Lord to help cleanse and purify your heart and mind. Let the Holy Spirit shine the Light within you and show the areas where you fall short. Then do what we are told in 1 John 1:9

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

Prepare Him Room – an article by Jon Bloom

Suddenly, we find ourselves standing where Luke had found us. There are the Christmas lists, the half-trimmed tree, the holiday movie paused, and pans in the sink. The familiar stress of the bustling and bursting schedule of Advent activities reawakens.

But seared in our minds is the pathetic picture of the holy, homeless mother and child. Bustling and bursting Bethlehem had no room for the advent of Jesus. And echoing in our ears are our own words, “Surely we can find some room somewhere!”

Can we?

The real Christmas was nothing like the Christmas we’ve come to know, with its traditions, memories, and legends. It was a desperate moment that occurred for a desperate reason.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/prepare-him-room
Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Memories, Poetry, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Advent Began November 27 This Year

Christianity.com offers these quotes:

“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-advent.html

“God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you.” ~ Matthew Kelly

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-advent.html

If you go to the website mentioned above you will read that this church season is a time to prepare our hearts for Christ but also a time to prepare our hearts for the RETURN of Christ. The author speaks of both looking back and looking forward, “balancing the two elements of remembrance and anticipation.”

I made the sketch below showing myself in the form of a manger. Each year at this time I return to my Advent poem from 1993. HERE AM I ©Molly Lin Dutina

Here am I, stuff of earth
But by the Spirit's power rebirth
has brought me receptivity.
Fill me with Yourself.
 
Molded by Your Holy Hand
I wait before You
Cupped and ready,
cleansed, atoned
eager for Your radiant touch
Virtue compelled to enfold Your own
the vessel of Your making.
 
Here am I, stuff of earth
yielded for Messiah's birth
be it unto me, O Lord,
as in Your word and will.
 
The Great I AM
dwells in my heart
there to impart the power
courage and propulsion for
His dream to be fulfilled.

My prayer for you is that this season you will wait for the Lord to fill you with His power, courage and propulsion that His dream will be fulfilled in your heart. We can gift ourselves to Jesus this year. Have at it!

May the words of Matthew Kelly keep your heart on track: “I will keep alert and awake, listening for Your word and keeping to Your precepts.” Amen!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Family, Just do it, Listen, Music, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Known and Unknown

I believe one reason we fear silence and stillness is we do not want to know ourselves and what God has to say about us. If we could only trust Him in a small way we would learn that He loves us more than we love ourselves. In fact, He treasures and adores us.

The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing

Zephaniah 3:17 NRSV
Stefan Kunze Upsplash

The writings of Oswald Chambers contained in the book noted below were excerpted from articles published by God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. The articles were taken from his classroom lectures and Bible studies and published in the school’s periodical God’s Revivalist.

What does the Bible mean when it says to be an example to the flock of God? You must be a walking example of what you believe, in every moment of your life, known and unknown. You must bear the scrutiny of God until you prove that you are indeed a specimen of what He can do. Then He will send you out to disciple all nations.

Oswald Chambers, September 18 selection from “Devotions for a Deeper Life”

Every moment known and unknown. Things done in secret. I do not think this refers just to shameful things. Our deepest wounds are often kept private. The healing the Lord may give from those wounds is also usually given in private. The deep formation of a disciple usually takes place in private.

But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6 NIV

Your Father who sees in secret. He hears every whisper or shout of a prayer. Your Father knows you inside and out. He will not require that you share with others what He does in your secret place of prayer. There may however, come a time when you want to shout His work from the rooftops.

Matt Hanns Upsplash

Dietrich Bonhoeffer captured my attention writing in The Cost of Discipleship when he emphasized that we each walk alone with God.

Every man is called separately and must follow alone. 

Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, Discipleship and the Individual

Many of us admire other Christians but we know little or nothing about what it takes for them to be public Christians. We have no clue what happens between them and the Trinity in private. No idea the depth of their wounds or the strength of the healing times the Lord has sent to them. All most often occur in private.

You interact with your Father in a private place, even if you are kneeling in a sanctuary packed with other people. We can share our experiences with others but we are essentially alone with Christ in our walk. Yes, He encourages fellowship with those who are like minded, but in the final analysis we are each alone with Him. He reads our heart. He corrects our course. He convicts us when we go astray. He gives us His righteousness. He suffered and died for our salvation and for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NRSV)

Public, private, the deepest things occur in a private place with your Holy Trinity God.

Steffany Gretzinger in her song “Forever Amen” sums it up for me. “I was made to love You. Let me hear the sound of Your voice…”

I would strongly encourage you that when you hear the sound of His voice, go running to a quiet place. Listen up! For unlike human parents, the Father does not waste His breath. He speaks to us with power, love, meaning and transformative powers.