...or, describing the indescribable...
I don't know why I set myself impossible tasks. Perhaps I am not alone in this. If you're with me, please feel free to raise your hand. I won't be able to see you doing it, anyway! HA!
There are some things in this world that simply cannot be expressed. Some things are at once too sacred, too pure, too personal, for anyone else to understand. On the other hand, we've all had those same kinds of experiences. So while the experience is unique, the fact that we've shared similar experiences is a unifying and uplifting thought.
In that vein, I'd like to share some of my own experience. While I acknowledge that my experience is unique to me, my hope is that my experience will resonate with your own, reaching your soul and caressing your heart the way that the Holy Spirit does mine.
We are often caught up in the experiences of the flesh, giving credence only to what can be empirically measured. If one cannot touch, taste, smell, hear, or see it, it cannot be known and is therefore not real. This is simply not the case.
How does one quantify the feeling of love for another? How does one encapsulate the joy of a new day? How can one measure the expanse of the mind, the thrill of discovery, the peace of a walk through the woods, the happiness at hearing a child's laugh? One cannot. One dare not try, for any attempt to do so would be foolish and demeaning to the experience.
Yet these things are real.
Perhaps more real than that which can be measured, because of it's purity, it's ability to be perceived. You cannot fake a brush with the Infinite. It either happened, and you know it, or it didn't.
This past little while has been tough for me. Without boring you with the details, I've been struggling with things that are serious and of importance to me and to my family. Through it all I've had support from loving family and incredible friends. And the support I've received, above and surpassing all, has come from my best Friend, my loving Savior and Redeemer.
When I pause to think about my foolishness, my weakness and frailty, and my overall unworthiness, I am overcome with regret and remorse. These are not negative feelings unless I allow them to overcome me. Alma says to his wayward son (paraphrasing) - look, don't let your sins get to you, but repent of them and learn from them and move on. I understand this very well. I am who I am - not as a sum of my experiences, good or bad, but as a son of God, one with a divine potential that I cannot now see.
When I think of Christ in the Garden, or on the cross, I am sorry that His suffering was compounded because of my errors. Yet, the price has been paid. He has atoned for my sins, and through His blood I am cleansed. This witness is brought to my heart and my soul through the Holy Spirit, that unspeakable gift which is given to those who JUST ASK FOR IT. Even asking requires faith, patience, hope... Yet it is there. I know it. I know it now in ways I've never known before. I have felt the cleansing fire, the purifying sweetness that comes only in and through the love of Jesus Christ. I cannot describe it to you, nor could I ever quantify it. Yet it is as real to me as anything I've ever known. My heart and soul are filled with light and life and joy and peace. Literally filled.
Please do not suppose that I am guilty of any major crime or transgression. Those of you who know me will know better than that (hopefully).
My only point in this post is to let you know that God is good. He loves each of us with a love that transcends all. He knows each of us and our issues and loves us because of them. He even sent us His Son to die for us, and then to live for us. Christ is the way, my friends. I am so very grateful. So indescribably happy.
Life is good.
I don't know why I set myself impossible tasks. Perhaps I am not alone in this. If you're with me, please feel free to raise your hand. I won't be able to see you doing it, anyway! HA!
There are some things in this world that simply cannot be expressed. Some things are at once too sacred, too pure, too personal, for anyone else to understand. On the other hand, we've all had those same kinds of experiences. So while the experience is unique, the fact that we've shared similar experiences is a unifying and uplifting thought.
In that vein, I'd like to share some of my own experience. While I acknowledge that my experience is unique to me, my hope is that my experience will resonate with your own, reaching your soul and caressing your heart the way that the Holy Spirit does mine.
We are often caught up in the experiences of the flesh, giving credence only to what can be empirically measured. If one cannot touch, taste, smell, hear, or see it, it cannot be known and is therefore not real. This is simply not the case.
How does one quantify the feeling of love for another? How does one encapsulate the joy of a new day? How can one measure the expanse of the mind, the thrill of discovery, the peace of a walk through the woods, the happiness at hearing a child's laugh? One cannot. One dare not try, for any attempt to do so would be foolish and demeaning to the experience.
Yet these things are real.
Perhaps more real than that which can be measured, because of it's purity, it's ability to be perceived. You cannot fake a brush with the Infinite. It either happened, and you know it, or it didn't.
This past little while has been tough for me. Without boring you with the details, I've been struggling with things that are serious and of importance to me and to my family. Through it all I've had support from loving family and incredible friends. And the support I've received, above and surpassing all, has come from my best Friend, my loving Savior and Redeemer.
When I pause to think about my foolishness, my weakness and frailty, and my overall unworthiness, I am overcome with regret and remorse. These are not negative feelings unless I allow them to overcome me. Alma says to his wayward son (paraphrasing) - look, don't let your sins get to you, but repent of them and learn from them and move on. I understand this very well. I am who I am - not as a sum of my experiences, good or bad, but as a son of God, one with a divine potential that I cannot now see.
When I think of Christ in the Garden, or on the cross, I am sorry that His suffering was compounded because of my errors. Yet, the price has been paid. He has atoned for my sins, and through His blood I am cleansed. This witness is brought to my heart and my soul through the Holy Spirit, that unspeakable gift which is given to those who JUST ASK FOR IT. Even asking requires faith, patience, hope... Yet it is there. I know it. I know it now in ways I've never known before. I have felt the cleansing fire, the purifying sweetness that comes only in and through the love of Jesus Christ. I cannot describe it to you, nor could I ever quantify it. Yet it is as real to me as anything I've ever known. My heart and soul are filled with light and life and joy and peace. Literally filled.
Please do not suppose that I am guilty of any major crime or transgression. Those of you who know me will know better than that (hopefully).
My only point in this post is to let you know that God is good. He loves each of us with a love that transcends all. He knows each of us and our issues and loves us because of them. He even sent us His Son to die for us, and then to live for us. Christ is the way, my friends. I am so very grateful. So indescribably happy.
Life is good.
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