When Gods Presence "Seems" Absent

"And of course the presence of God is not the same as the sense of the presence of God. The latter may be due to imagination; the former may be attended with no “sensible consolation.” The Father was not really absent from the Son when He said “Why hast thou forsaken me?” You see God Himself, as man, submitted to man’s sense of being abandoned. The real parallel on the natural level is one which seems odd for a bachelor to write to a lady, but too illuminating not to be used. The act which engenders a child ought to be, and usually is attended by pleasure. But it is not the pleasure that produces the child. Where there is pleasure there may be sterility: where there is no pleasure the act may be fertile. And in the spiritual marriage of God and the soul it is the same. It is the actual presence, not the sensation of the presence, of the Holy Ghost which begets Christ in us. The sense of the presence is a super-added gift for which we give thanks when it comes, and that’s all about it."

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III
Compiled in Words to Live By

Happy to be reminded that my sense of pleasure in God's presence (while regularly but not always experienced) is not the ultimate indicator of whether his presence is truly near.  Holy Spirit, beget Christ in me today!

Give Yourself Permission to Grow in 2013!

Want to grow into the better you in 2013?  You must give yourself permission to engage the process! 

"What we are after here is the healing of old wounds--not the creation of new ones.  No high jumping please!  Mistakes are necessary!  Stumbles are normal.  These are baby steps.  Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves.

Too far, too fast, and we can undo ourselves.  Creative recovery is like marathon training.  We want to go ten slow miles for every one fast mile.  This can go against the ego's grain.  We want to be great--immediately great--but that is not how recovery works.  It is an awkward, tentative, even embarrassing process.  There will be many times when we won't look good--to ourselves or to anyone else.  We need to stop demanding that we do.  It is impossible to get better and look better at the same time."  --Julia Cameron

Proclamation of Grace, Invitation to Hope!

“… consistently throughout the New Testament Epistles the ‘gospel’ refers to the oral proclamation about Jesus the Christ (meaning the anointed Davidic King) – who he was; what he accomplished through his life, death, and resurrection; the promise of his future return to establish God’s reign; and the concomitant call to repent and have faith. This is not a message of moralism or a call to greater religious obedience but rather is a proclamation of God’s grace and the invitation to hope. This is why it is rightly called ‘good news.’”

“The New Testament authors, building especially on the Isaianic vision, define the ‘gospel’ as Jesus’ effecting the long-awaited return of God himself as King, in the power of the Spirit bringing his people back from exile and into the true promised land of a new creation, forgiving their sins, and fulfilling all the promises of God and the hopes of his people. This Isaianic vision is itself based on God’s work at the exodus, which the prophets take up and reappropriate to describe God’s future work. Because of this vision, described as the proclamation of good news, the apostles call their kerygma ‘gospel,’ and it is why the evangelists likewise describe the work of Jesus and the narratives about him as euangelion.In this there is univocality; Paul and the Gospel writers all understand their message to be one of God’s reign coming in the person of Jesus through the power of the Spirit. The ‘gospel,’ whether in oral or written form, is the message of God’s comprehensively restorative kingdom.”
- Jonathan Pennington, Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction, 5, 16-17.

For more: http://goo.gl/hocsT

Blogging Again

Firing up the blog again after many years.  This time with perhaps more modest expectations.  I hope to be helpful.  To disciples of Jesus, to leaders, and to people who care about God's Kingdom coming on our very messy earth as it is in heaven!  Committed to enjoying the journey and to keeping in step with the one who truly is Lord of all! 

Prayer

I am remembering today how much my whole understanding of everything is changed when I spend a considerable amount of time in prayer and experiencing the Presence of the Lord. I am so thankful that He awakens my understanding and encourages my heart as I seek him consistently in prayer!