For Hornblower et al..."Where Can We Find Comfort?..."

[Theodora]

....is the title of one of many on-line "teaching"/"counseling" booklets which are on-line as a service of the Radio Bible Class. I've not looked at this particular one in depth, but scanned it as a beginning way to try to address at least something of your question in your previous thread. You said:

05-09-2006, 11:59 AM
hornblower

Re: Old Abuse New Question?
http://www.christianrecovery.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4251

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thankyou so much for your feedback. Its still for some reason hard for me to accept that it was abuse.
main thing happening here I wish and I know this is unreasonable that someone could just flat out tell me if God is mad at me about this?
If He isnt why are the gifts gone?

I know I should ask God. Why dont I anyway?
Well ok I have asked Him and either Im not wanting to hear Him reply or Hes not talking to me about it.
am I like just silly crazy?

am I imagining this that Jesus is here talking to me at times?
Hey its got to be real what happend to me, the saving part and other things too.
Its so hard now I question everything that happens when I used to have faith.
Ive been crying quite a bit yesterday and this morning. Just all sad stuff but Ill make it. I know ill get better. In fact Im wanting...........dont tell my husband............. to go get a job! But not just any old job either this time I want a good job or nothing! I deserve something good in my life for once!
__________________
and the greatest of these is LOVE:

===

I'm not sure whether this pamphlet would help you to deal with these very difficult questions, but it might be a beginning to your search. As I said, I've not looked at this particular pamphlet in depth, but I've used some of the series before and found it helpful. If interested, see




Where Can We Find Comfort? Insights from 2 Corinthians
http://rbc.gospelcom.net/ds/q0303/

Where Can We Find Comfort? INR-Q0303

(Description in their section of pamphlets on the working of the Holy Spirit...)

Where can we go when we are too unsettled to think clearly—when the emptiness within seems to overcome us and our fears are like a restless, churning sea that will not be stilled? Where can damaged souls find a resting place, a hiding place, a place to renew faith, hope, and love in the midst of their pain? This booklet explores the apostle Paul’s most personal letter, 2 Corinthians, and reveals insights into the mind and heart of a man who was a living testimony to the comfort of God. Paul’s timeless words give us a radical new way of thinking and coping with our problems.

This is on-line in a PDF file. Chapters include:

Introduction
Troubled Beyond Measure
The Comforter
How Does The Spirit Of God Comfort Us?
Where Can We Find Comfort?
In The God Who Comforts
In The Weakness That Helps
In The Conscience That Reassures
In The Sorrow That Changes
In The Spirit Who Empowers
In The Faith That Sees
In The Person Who Cares
In The Strength That Sustains
A Place To Begin

The booklet may be ordered (for free) in print form at http://rbc.gospelcom.net/order/ds/q0303.html

--

A related pamphlet in the same section might be---

How Can I Be Filled With The Holy Spirit? INR-Q0301

http://rbc.gospelcom.net/ds/q0301/

(Their description of this pamphlet...)

In recent years there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What exactly is the filling of the Spirit? Is it the same as the baptism of the Spirit? How can Christians experience those blessings? This study offers sound, practical answers to these and other questions about the ministry of the Spirit in our lives.

Again..to order the print version of this pamphlet, there is a link to this site: http://rbc.gospelcom.net/order/ds/q0301.html

(I didn't stop to look at this one at all, but the overview questions led me to believe that it MIGHT be helpful. As always, "take what works and leave the rest.")

For other titles in the series, you can go to this site:

Topical Listing of Discovery Series booklets--main page:
http://rbc.gospelcom.net/ds/topics.html

Categories:

God] [Christ] [Holy Spirit]
[The Bible] [Salvation]
[Christian Living] [Marriage & Family] [Church]
[Spirit World] [Contemporary Issues] [Future]
[Knowing God] [10 Reasons To Believe] [Counseling Booklets]

((((Hornblower))))--

Hang in there--"remember to breathe" and do remember that you are loved and you are held in prayer.

Love,

Theodora

[Theodora]

for articles which move us toward considering whether something is of our own devising or is "of God." I just did a brief "google.com" search and found this article which looked helpful--if interested....

From the article Practicing our Faith
http://www.practicingourfaith.com/prct_discernment_ways_ideas.html

Here are suggested criteria to discern whether or not a spiritual prompting is authentic:
• Is it faithful to scripture and to the larger tradition?
• Does it manifest the fruit of the Spirit within the individual and community?
• Is it characterized by a genuine sense of inner authority and peace?
• Does it promote reconciliation rather than divisiveness?
• Does it enhance rather than diminish life?
• Has the discernment process been engaged with integrity?

Of course, this assumes that you are, in fact, HAVING a "spiritual prompting" at the moment, when your pain is that you don't feel that you DO have that now, whereas you've had that previously--though the problem was that what you THOUGHT had begun so well and under God's guidance, then turned out so badly.

??? BIG dilemma here---!!! All I can tell you is that, from what I've read (and experienced too)..MANY people find that there is a "dark night of the soul" in which they are led to QUESTION, and question......or feel "nothing"...and conclude that it's all in vain. One of the famous quotes from the 18th-century philosopher (and scientist) is the following:

"The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me."
Blaise Pascal

If interested, other quotes from this inspirational individual---(who ALSO had had a radical "conversion" experience of God....as found after his death in his documentation of the existential "fire" he had known, which he had written on a slip of paper and sewn into the hem of his robe. In that, he professed faith in the "God of Abraham....." not the "God of the Philosophers")---may be found at
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/blaisepasc125541.html

Pascal ALSO said "The heart has its reasons, which 'reason' cannot know"--one of many thoughts in the fragmentary collection of "Thoughts" (i.e. "Pensees") which were intended to convert an overly "sophisticated" world, too much prone to staying "in the head." When "push comes to shove" and questions of "religious epistemology" bog down, I've come back to that thought. As you quote in your signature..."And the greatest of these is Love..."

Know that you have touched a "chord" in me and that I'll be doing MUCH more thinking about this.

Grace and peace--

Theodora

(snip)--

A related pamphlet in the same section might be---

How Can I Be Filled With The Holy Spirit?

INR-Q0301

http://rbc.gospelcom.net/ds/q0301/

(Their description of this pamphlet...)

In recent years there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What exactly is the filling of the Spirit? Is it the same as the baptism of the Spirit? How can Christians experience those blessings? This study offers sound, practical answers to these and other questions about the ministry of the Spirit in our lives.

Again..to order the print version of this pamphlet, there is a link to this site: http://rbc.gospelcom.net/order/ds/q0301.html

(I didn't stop to look at this one at all, but the overview questions led me to believe that it MIGHT be helpful. As always, "take what works and leave the rest.")

For other titles in the series, you can go to this site:

Topical Listing of Discovery Series booklets--main page:
http://rbc.gospelcom.net/ds/topics.html

Categories:

God] [Christ] [Holy Spirit]
[The Bible] [Salvation]
[Christian Living] [Marriage & Family] [Church]
[Spirit World] [Contemporary Issues] [Future]
[Knowing God] [10 Reasons To Believe] [Counseling Booklets]

((((Hornblower))))--

Hang in there--"remember to breathe" and do remember that you are loved and you are held in prayer.

Love,

Theodora