Friday, November 13, 2009

Day 42: 323 days left…88 books to go!

Simple Abundance  The Gaps
  •  Interesting study on faith & doubt..."Faith breaks a heart in order to make it Whole."  I agree with this assessment..."learn the hard-way", "You have to walk through the valley in order to reach the mountain-top"...these are all saying I believe to be true...God brings joy in the morning, through the heart-ache..."This too shall pass"..."It is well with my soul"...only that first quote is from this book....the rest we just all know....but I would say believeing the last one is the surest way to have a whole heart after it is broken...knowing that God has a purpose to come out of whatever you're dealing with and being able to say that your soul is well with His outcome...now, THAT'S faith...
    • "Perhaps the doubts must be acknowledged, accepted, embraced, and pushed past before our faith is strong enough, not just to talk about, but to sustain."  That's an interesting point at the end there...that being strong enough to talk about our pain is important...but being truly sustained in faith beyond that is where the real fortitude shines through....some people get up the strength to talk about it but can't take the next step to live their lives & see what more there is to engage their souls that is out there waiting for them....
    • "Faith is not making religious-sounding noises in the daytime. It is asking your inmost self questions at night- and then getting up and going to work."  And see, I would say that faith is asking your inmost self or God rather, questions at night & throughout the day and living-out the answers....because you WILL get answers....and it's acting on those answers that's important...not just wrestling with the issues in the comfort of your home at night....that won't save the world, or your neighbor next door....
Amazing Grace
  • "Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes the void."  Simone Weil  "We access grace like every other spiritual tool, by asking for it specifically and regularly."  "Now that you're awake, gratefully and expectantly ask for one day's portion of grace."
    • Totally agreed!  You have to ASK for grace & you have to make room for it in your heart and then grace WILL be given to you & you'll be amazed at what you're capable of when abiding in His grace...when we're full of ourselves, our pride, our belief that we deserve to be treated better....there's no room for grace....
Celestine Moments
  • "Strike up conversations with strangers who sit next to you or someone interesting-looking who makes eye contact.  Be receptive and alert.  See how many celestine moments you can accumulate in the course of a day.  The more open you are to synchronicity's role in your life, the more magnetic you become to Divine assistance."
    • I believe I let this be me this evening...two members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came to my door while my roommate & I were in the middle of viewing a chick-flick...and instead of rudely telling them, "I'm not interested!"  as I normally would have, I indulged them, I let them ask me questions, I took the time to answer them and crazily (possibly), agreed to them coming back to my house tomorrow at a set time, to discuss their faith!  I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle that or what God could want me to learn from the experience....but I was receptive & alert to a conversation with strangers, I made myself open to a potential celestine moment and I actually do feel more magnetic to God's intervention in my life after doing so...I will provide an update on the outcome tomorrow!
Answered Prayers
  •  "We pray to meet our soul mate, instead of praying for the grace to become the woman our soul mate would be attracted to; we pray for wordly success when what we really long for is a sense of authentic accomplishment; we pray for more money, when what we need is a change in our relationship to money.  We pray for a certain outcome in any given situation, when what we should be praying for is peace of mind, no matter what outcome occurs."
    • Absolutely agree!!!  Wow, Sarah & I are on a roll together with the past 4 days' readings!  Great advice!

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