#WhyChrist
What I am called to is to enter into that joy .
God #rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, not because thousands of people have accepted him and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because #ONE of His children who was lost has been found. What I am called to is to enter into that #joy . It is God’s joy, not the joy that world offers. It’s is the joy that comes from seeing a child walk .
God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, not because thousands of people have accepted him and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because ONE of His children who was lost has been found. What I am called to is to enter into that joy . It is God’s joy, not the joy that world offers. It’s is the joy that comes from seeing a child walk .
For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God.
Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me.
The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?”
The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God?”
And, finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?”
God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.
Christ gave us this image and said, “Now I want you to carry your cross.” What is our cross? I will explain it simply and briefly. Our cross is to suffer pain, and to sacrifice our lies, and to deny ourselves-for the sake of others. It is not for any advantage to yourself. All the advantages that accrue to you are derived from Christ’s Cross. It’s by Christ’s Cross that you die to the world and the world to you. All your lusts and desires, along with the flesh of the old man, are crucified, not on your cross, but on the Cross of Christ. #MattaElMeskeen
Although claiming my true identity as a child of God, I still live as though the God to whom I am returning demands an explanation. I still think about his love as conditional and about home as a place I am not yet fully sure of. While walking home, I keep entertaining doubts about whether I will be truly welcome when I get there. As I look at my spiritual journey, my long and fatiguing trip home, I see how full it is of guilt about the past and worries about the future. I realize my failures and know that I have lost the dignity of my sonship, but I am not yet able to fully believe that where my failings are great, ‘grace is always greater.’
Which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
Unlike a fairy tale, the parable of lost son provides no happy ending. Instead, it leaves us face to face with one of life’s hardest spiritual choices: to trust or not to trust in God’s all-forgiving love………… Without trust, I cannot let myself be found. Trust is that deep inner conviction that the Father wants me home. As long as I doubt that I am worth finding and put myself down as less loved than my brothers and sisters, I cannot be found. I have to keep saying to myself, “God is looking for you. He will go anywhere to find you. He loves you, he wants you home, he cannot rest unless he has you with him.
While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds.
A sketch inspired by a picture of Syrian man kissing his daughter as he walks through the storm towards Greece border (Thomson Reuters September 10, 2015)
“Only when I remember that I am the beloved Child I can welcome those who want to return with same compassion as that with which the Father welcomes and holds me……. There is nothing the Father keeps for himself. He pours himself out for his kids”
Henri Nouwen
Similarly I see Christ also , carrying us through storms pouring out the unconditional Love.
Thank you Joe I got that original pic from ur profile picture.
#WhyChrist#HisVoice#Brokenness
I wondered always how to hear His voice, His call. But over the years I realized that , God spoke and he is speaking to me through broken people through their brokenness I hear His voice.
The question is not whether he is calling me or not , the question is whether I am listening to Him or not.
Graphē 