Soul Sister Time

This is a special Tea Time Where I share two writings from my children that demonstrate God’s grace, strength and love for us through our suffering. Author: Ben Newman Here’s something I wrote today for all of you, friends and family. Then I felt it again Something not felt since the death of a close friend. A feeling no words could emote. A sudden loss of hope without a way to cope, A sinking feeling of emptiness inside your chest, That comes with the death of a beloved, parent, lover, child, friend. Hell even just the loss of the above is unbearable, painfully horrific and life changing An empty vacant space that no other name could take the place felt inside your heart, the feeling when all is gone and that relationship that you held so tightly is lost forever. And you’re left in a blinding light of pain or abandoned in a crippling darkness. Often when I lay my head to rest at night, I fight demons hidden in plain sight and try to find an a

            When I warn you Be careful what you want , I am really warning myself.   When you progress spiritually, you want others to make the progress you think you have made.   You can become so enthusiastic that you actually do the devil’s work rather than God’s.                 This is a common marker of a soul that is newly converted to Christ.   As a soul is rescued from the chasm that once separated it from its deepest desire to enjoy intimacy and belonging to the God of the universe, it can become overly enthusiastic to the point of being arrogant and dogmatic.   This is an understandable experience, and with slight direction from a spiritually mature person can be channeled.   It’s the mature soul who wants truth to transform lives that can become a nuisance.   Teresa of Avila explains it this way: At the beginning of the spiritual life a common temptation is for us to want everyone else to be extremely spiritual.   It is not wrong to want this, but it may not be ri

            Turning the other cheek has become a Christian cliché.   These beautiful and penetrating words of Jesus are minimized when we humans try to apply them without God.   The best we can do to achieve Jesus’ description in our power is repress our anger about the way someone sins against us.   This only serves to make us look stupid to the world, creates ulcers, or causes an unplanned, embarrassing, public explosion of anger.   Jesus spoke these words and many others like them to invoke the spiritual understanding that it is impossible to live out His directions for our lives without Him.   He has no intention of our trying to take His work on in our flesh.             It happens all the time in marriages and other relationships where one person who thinks they need to be a certain way to please God centers his or her relationships around keeping peace.   I don’t believe that kind of turning the other cheek is very pleasing to God.               No, God is inviting us

                Since my birthday is at the end of the year, I get a jumpstart about reflecting on the past year and preparing for the year ahead.   After all that I have been through in the past year, I have a renewed sense of living this life for what it is really all about.   As my mind, soul and spirit connects more deeply than ever to heaven, I see my life on earth in a totally different light. The writer of Hebrews gives us much insight into this kind of purposeful living in Hebrews 9:27-28: Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him .   Real living is receiving each day waiting for Jesus’ appearing. We need to be ever mindful that we are destined to die.   When our life ends here it is just the beginning of what God longs to give to us.   He loves us so much and wants to re