Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bible verse directly answered her dead friend's question


During August, I had resolved to read a chapter of John’s gospel a day. On the day I was due to read Chapter 16, a call came telling me one of my most cherished friends had died that afternoon.  As I hung up the phone, I repeated to my husband the question my friend had raised in the course of our last conversation.  “I wonder if all our questions will be answered when we get to heaven,” she had said, “or if we will have no more questions…”

With her words echoing through my thoughts, I went off alone.  I took my bible with me since there was still a chapter of John to read that day.  I spoke to my friend in prayer and wept for the conversations we would never have again.  I wondered if all her questions were answered, now that she was in heaven.  Finally, I opened John’s gospel to where I’d left off the day before and there I read the following verse:

“You are sad for a time, but I will see you again.  Then your hearts will rejoice with a joy no one can take from you. On that day you will have no questions to ask me.”  ...



(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Brigid Geroux

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Lord's sense of humor, a mute man, and the sports section

This blog posting was submitted by the same man who wrote the Jan. 24, 2012 posting, “Feed My Sheep”.
I'm offering this experience because it has given me a personal insight into the Lord's sense of humor.

The Lord and I have had a love affair since I was a child because I have always felt the Lord's touch in my life. I have been blessed to have very holy parents but I have also known many truly spiritual people who entered my life briefly and positively influenced many of my life choices. I have always asked questions. Homilies, class lessons and reading assignments answered my questions while I was a student.

In the early 1970's I had just resolved a crisis of faith which led me to accept a role I had previously relegated to ordained people. Although I was certain that I loved God, I had lots of insecurities concerning my worthiness to become an active Catholic Christian lay person. (This was a time when we were losing lots of religious people and suddenly, there were much fewer ordained individuals to teach religion, visit the sick, and distribute the Eucharist.) Although I had theology and religion classes in high school and college I was very uncomfortable abandoning the passive lay person role I had accepted before I began sharing my religious beliefs as a CCD instructor (Christian Doctrine for school aged kids), bringing the Eucharist to the sick and volunteering to visit the sick. I was one conflicted, uptight person when I started.

"Friendly Visitor" was the title given at St Mark's parish in Catonsville, MD to volunteers who ministered to the aged and sick patients at local nursing homes. My first patient was a very ill paralyzed gentleman who was in obvious pain and who was attached to monitoring, IV tubes and breathing devices. He was dying, suffering, and unable to communicate besides. Fortunately, we were taught how to engage patients in discussion and to elicit responses from patients who were unable to speak by using eye blinks: one for no and two for yes...



(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Felt forgiven after having an abortion



I had an abortion because I was so ashamed of the [promiscuous] life I had been living and couldn't face the judgment I believed would come from my friends and family [when they discovered I was pregnant]. I grew up in church and had been living away from God and my faith. I was so lost.
During my abortion, I felt only the physical pain. I was really good at pushing the emotion pain away. I lived that way for thirteen years. I thought I had done a good job of moving past my abortion until one day when I knew that God was working on my heart to open up to someone about my story.

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Deb
Indiana, United States


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Heard the Lord tell him "Feed My Sheep"


Photo of Professor Roy M. Mersky
Not the real professor who wrote this blog entry
In my lifetime, despite the fact that I have always identified with "doubting Thomas", I have had some personal Epiphanies. Not because of any merit, holiness or special faith on my part but because I have asked questions of the Lord and received answers.
I had an experience I've never shared before. It’s of a prayer I offered on my 50th birthday and the answer I received...
(Read the rest at Wtness.org)


Saturday, January 14, 2012

She felt God 'smiled' upon her college photo entry

Several years ago my mother won a Minolta camera at a convention and gave it to me as a gift.  I didn’t know a thing about how it worked, so I decided to start at the beginning with a basic black and white photography class at Oakland Community College. 
As the semester progressed, the weekly commitment of time in class and in lab as well as away from my daughter became a burden and I wondered if the whole thing was worth it. 
"Cross in the Woods" at Indian River, Michigan
Our final project was to shoot, develop and mat a series of four photos related by style, content or other means. I chose the theme, “Where does the cross appear in our daily lives”, avoiding obvious places like church.  My four pictures would move from crosses that were highly visible to those that were easily missed.  Would my classmates reject the spiritual subject matter displayed in a secular setting? Would the pictures turn out?
With time at a premium, I raced up north to photograph the largest outdoor cross in the nation at Indian River, Michigan. Puffy clouds cooperated to provide the perfect textured background.  Next I took several shots of my mother’s hands, workers’ hands, lovingly cradling the rosary.  I enlisted my brother’s help, photographing the tattoo on his ankle of a cross within a heart, his own creation... 


(Read the rest at Wtness.org

Terry Murray

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

How does Jesus Talk to Us? (#2)

I went to Planet Fitness today to work out my back, since it was sore.  The place was massively crowded with the folks who made New Year resolutions.  A few of them were young ladies in tight outfits.  I say a few because at least half were people out of shape or old like me. Can you guess which exercisers caught my eye the most? 
This is an embarrassing thing to discuss.  Even to a piece of paper.   
There are two camps here.
1.  Men are like that; it's natural.
2.  The Lord does not like even a hint of lust.
I know the truth. It’s been a message He’s been trying to get thru to me since I was in my mid 20’s. I know the truth.  It’s been the one area where I’ve only progressed to a certain point and still hold out from the Lord.
After looking, then refusing to look, looking, then refusing to look, I closed my eyes. Wanted to resist.  I filled my mental space with prayer for friends, relatives, co-workers who have hard situations.  Prayed for one person quickly then another.  Started to relax. 
I wondered to myself, “Lord, I don’t question your way, but I am curious.  Since you can do anything you want with or without human intervention, why ask us to pray for others?”
Once again, the grace of understanding seemed to come. I wish I could remember the exact words, since it’s always so simple and efficient and loving.  But it was something like this: “God is Love. To be a part of the Kingdom of God, you must Love. Prayer is a form of love. You are making a contribution to building the Kingdom when you pray for others. You are displacing selfishness with selflessness. If you catch sight of a woman doing jumping jacks and see her clothed breasts moving, don’t have a selfish thought that pleases only yourself.  Replace it with a loving thought with no lust.


(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Experienced a living Jesus while living a sinful life


After turning back to Christ in the 80's, for the second time, I was really trying to understand God and was still wondering if this whole concept was real, or if it was just something to keep people in line, like "Love Thy Neighbor" and "Treat others as you would have them treat you". I was not married to the woman that I was living with and still married to my second wife at that time. But, the more I sought God, the more He moved us apart. She soon moved out and lived with a friend that I use to do a lot of drugs with. I had my two oldest kids with me at the time, whom they had come to know her as "Mom". After church one Sunday, the kids wanted to visit her.

We walked over and when we entered the house, she was sitting at the table playing monopoly with my friend and his wife. He was tripping, and she and his wife were drinking. My kids went to play in the other room with his kids. I felt a really strong urge to get away from there. I went into the bathroom before I left and prayed. As I started to pray, in the spirit, I was brought up to what I believe was Heaven.

Then, Jesus appeared, sitting on the throne. He spoke three words, "I AM ALIVE", more plainly then if someone right beside me said them...


(Read the rest at Wtness.org

Alan from Lebanon, New Hampshire