Today I attended an event called “Peace Grows” Nurturing a Culture of Peace: Transforming to End War, Poverty and the Climate Crises.
Another day of the Lord settling deeper into my soul. Another day of healing, of listening to the hopes of the speakers, musicians and actors. Listening to stories of people who have struggled in life and who have found peace and healing.
Words and phrases that I remember from the day are
– Nonviolent Revolutions
…..
Last evening I attended a local International Day of Peace event at the public library. I wasn’t exactly sure what the facilitators were going to lead us through and was surprised and pleased and I am still a little bit in awe of how the Holy Spirit worked personally in my life during those brief two hours. I’m only going to share from a portion of the evening as I am still allowing the full work of the Holy Spirit…..
Last evening my husband and I went to church. The Parish Priest asked, “Does anyone feel called to read the Scriptures?” Inside I smiled – I have always felt called to read the Scriptures, from the time I was in Sunday School I can remember waiting until I was ‘old’ enough to be able to read them during our class. Finally, when I was old enough to read them in class my teacher told me that if I wanted to…..
I’m asking this question because I believe it’s a very important part in balancing our lives and in the healing process.
I believe that spiritual trauma is very real and I’m going to pull out a few examples from Scripture in the Old (Hebrew) Testament, the New (Christian) Testament and the Psalms.
The first verse that I think begs us to consider the effects of spiritual trauma is this one:
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,…..
Sometimes we remember Traumatic Experiences from a healing point of view and other times we experience remembrances from a traumatic point of view. We cannot control flashbacks, but we can control – with help – how we respond to them when we realize we are having one or that someone else is having one.
Today I’ve heard rumblings about remembering the traumatic event of 911 – it was surreal for so many people around the world. I myself thought…..
It seems sometimes that we are so fixated on endings, rather than beginnings.
When you pick up a book to look at and decide if you want to read it – do you open it to the end or the beginning? When the seasons change – do you call them the end summer or the beginning of fall? Most people say it’s the end of a season and yet our calenders mark the seasonal changes as the first day…..
These three words spoken by Jesus have the power to transform lives, yet we rarely use them today. Instead we are telling people to take any number of things . . .
a chill pill another shot anti depressants a drink a smoke or a hit
It’s so easy for us to rely on taking things that change the physical chemistry in our bodies. But doing the hard work of soul and mind work requires the heart. Spiritual transformation…..
So much of our life is about making choices. One way to make choices is to observe the way in which other people make choices. Another way is to have someone tell you what to choose. And yet another is to think things through and make your own decision.
Parenting is an interesting task in regards to teaching children how to make their own choices. Some children relish making their own choices while others resist and seem to be…..
“I’m convinced that when Jesus prayed for unity among those who love him he was praying for a willingness to struggle together for understanding out of mutual respect for him.”
I wrote the above statement in a previous post titled “Engage Yourself in a Struggle to Understand.”
What person, place, thing or event are you trying to understand at this moment in time? Why is it important for you right now?
Have you ever felt misunderstood? When you feel…..
Someone asked me once if it was possible for a person to ‘lose their salvation.’ Not understanding what they meant I had to ask them and they replied: Well, do you believe in the saying “Once saved, always saved.” or do you think we can lose our salvation?
I had to think about this for a moment because I hadn’t heard that saying before they quoted it to me and it sounded rather odd to me. Finally I answered ……