Soulful Thanks - Revisited
Praise God and thank you to those who support me in prayer! I was blessed this weekend by a sense of peace and healing.
Reading this post tonight I realized I needed to do some re-writing...
My soul reminds me to be grateful for those souls who have taken their precious time on earth and loved, supported, guided and just walked along with me during joyful and challenging times. Today, I celebrate sharing my life with these dear friends and family...whether near or far, remaining close or never to be seen again...their laughter, compassion and energy are etched forever in my memory, rising to greet me in reflective moments; in light shimmering across river waters, 4th of July fireworks, Nakai's Native flute, a wildflower's sweet complexity, thoughtful poetry, cookie parties, Yosemite at sunset, listening to Prairie Home Companion, the grace of a beautiful horse, riding a fast bicycle, watching Aussies run, sharing a lovingly prepared meal, on Mondays, buying produce at the Farmer's Market, making music with friends, listening to a brilliant guitar or the silver shiver of sitars, carrot soup and blueberry scones, strong voices raised in songs of praise, tender eyes and gentle, easy laughter.
I also celebrate God's mysterious ways of teaching us lessons and helping us process our woundedness. I'm comfortable with mystery. Being an artist, I naturally tend to feel more comfortable living on the fringe of conventional thought and behavior. Maybe that's why I have an interest in the more mystical aspects of Christianity. I've always been open to exploring the "unknown" and have made some pretty far out mental journeys. I laughingly told my close friends once in college that I didn't need to take drugs because my imagination was pretty colorful. Reading and spending a lot of time alone helped create well-worn mental landscapes... Celtic genes filled in the gaps. I've always been quite comfortable "living in my head" so, for a rather long time, I've felt I had developed a clearer sense of the difference between my imagination and the Spirit at work.
In my youth, when I was a devout believer in Christ, and even later when I rejected Christianity, I've always trusted my intuitive/spiritual senses. This last year, I placed my trust in following God's will and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit and have opened my heart to following Christ's lead. Yes, I realize making decisions based on intuition and spiritual guidance is a sticky subject. One could rationalize acting out a selfish or willful desire by saying it was the Holy Spirit's directive. The challenge, I'm finding, is how to differentiate between God's will and my human will. That's a challenge I'm still struggling with in certain areas of my emotional self. When I'm feeling needy in some area, I become very hesitant to follow what I feel is God's guidance in case my need and not God is what is motivating me and, subsequently, causing interference and misdirection. Doubts and insecurity creep in and cause me to question what I sense intuitively. Yes, sometimes God makes his will known clearly by unequivocally closing and opening doors. At such times, I am learning to acknowledge that He knows what's best for me. I try to keep my heart open and respond in love and trust. Other times, the signs are more subtle and challenging to decipher or something I feel God is asking me to do seems so illogical, so amazing or so emotionally difficult it's hard for me to believe it could ever come true or be what God intends. Then I must simply surrender in trust and act with as much honesty and love as I am able to muster while waiting patiently for further understanding and staying open to possibility. Pretty challenging!
Our pastor talked about spiritual discernment and the Holy Spirit last Sunday. What does it mean to be guided by the Holy Spirit? A major point was the importance of accountability. As he mentioned, the Spirit would not ask you to do anything that wasn't biblically sound.
"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except the man's spirit within him.? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words."
1 Corinthians 2:11 -13
So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:16, 17, 22,23
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6
Reading this post tonight I realized I needed to do some re-writing...
My soul reminds me to be grateful for those souls who have taken their precious time on earth and loved, supported, guided and just walked along with me during joyful and challenging times. Today, I celebrate sharing my life with these dear friends and family...whether near or far, remaining close or never to be seen again...their laughter, compassion and energy are etched forever in my memory, rising to greet me in reflective moments; in light shimmering across river waters, 4th of July fireworks, Nakai's Native flute, a wildflower's sweet complexity, thoughtful poetry, cookie parties, Yosemite at sunset, listening to Prairie Home Companion, the grace of a beautiful horse, riding a fast bicycle, watching Aussies run, sharing a lovingly prepared meal, on Mondays, buying produce at the Farmer's Market, making music with friends, listening to a brilliant guitar or the silver shiver of sitars, carrot soup and blueberry scones, strong voices raised in songs of praise, tender eyes and gentle, easy laughter.
I also celebrate God's mysterious ways of teaching us lessons and helping us process our woundedness. I'm comfortable with mystery. Being an artist, I naturally tend to feel more comfortable living on the fringe of conventional thought and behavior. Maybe that's why I have an interest in the more mystical aspects of Christianity. I've always been open to exploring the "unknown" and have made some pretty far out mental journeys. I laughingly told my close friends once in college that I didn't need to take drugs because my imagination was pretty colorful. Reading and spending a lot of time alone helped create well-worn mental landscapes... Celtic genes filled in the gaps. I've always been quite comfortable "living in my head" so, for a rather long time, I've felt I had developed a clearer sense of the difference between my imagination and the Spirit at work.
In my youth, when I was a devout believer in Christ, and even later when I rejected Christianity, I've always trusted my intuitive/spiritual senses. This last year, I placed my trust in following God's will and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit and have opened my heart to following Christ's lead. Yes, I realize making decisions based on intuition and spiritual guidance is a sticky subject. One could rationalize acting out a selfish or willful desire by saying it was the Holy Spirit's directive. The challenge, I'm finding, is how to differentiate between God's will and my human will. That's a challenge I'm still struggling with in certain areas of my emotional self. When I'm feeling needy in some area, I become very hesitant to follow what I feel is God's guidance in case my need and not God is what is motivating me and, subsequently, causing interference and misdirection. Doubts and insecurity creep in and cause me to question what I sense intuitively. Yes, sometimes God makes his will known clearly by unequivocally closing and opening doors. At such times, I am learning to acknowledge that He knows what's best for me. I try to keep my heart open and respond in love and trust. Other times, the signs are more subtle and challenging to decipher or something I feel God is asking me to do seems so illogical, so amazing or so emotionally difficult it's hard for me to believe it could ever come true or be what God intends. Then I must simply surrender in trust and act with as much honesty and love as I am able to muster while waiting patiently for further understanding and staying open to possibility. Pretty challenging!
Our pastor talked about spiritual discernment and the Holy Spirit last Sunday. What does it mean to be guided by the Holy Spirit? A major point was the importance of accountability. As he mentioned, the Spirit would not ask you to do anything that wasn't biblically sound.
"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except the man's spirit within him.? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words."
1 Corinthians 2:11 -13
So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:16, 17, 22,23
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6
Labels: Contemplation, Ruminations
posted by Michelle Coder | 11:11 PM
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