Embracing the Cross

#Fenelon #100DaysintheSecretPlace #GeneEdwards #OolaFaith

Fenelon was a French Archbishop in the late 1600's. He was highly regarded by all who sought a true life of faith. His writings, mostly letters, have survived the sandbox of time. I find them as relevant today as they were 400 years ago.

Some insights from his pen: 1. self-love (the unhelpful kind) - produces unnecessary and restless thoughts

2. spiritual afflictions - trouble sent to you which you cannot control

3. anguish (anxiety) - increased by overactivity and stubbornness

4. Stop bargaining with God.

5. See God's hand in the circumstances of your life.

The last one can have two affects:

I blame God for everything bad that happens and see Him as cruel, unfair, mean-spirited etc

OR

I give God the glory for everything good that happens and praise Him for love, grace, mercy, goodness etc

Daily, I'm on the path to choose that God is only good. I declare over my pain, tragedy, suffering, confusion and heartbreak that He cannot give me something He does not possess.

It says in Revelations 21:4 NLT "He will remove all their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."

Not one of those states is found with God therefore God cannot give them to me. However, I'm not in Heaven yet. I still face spiritual afflictions: troubles sent to me which I cannot control.

My question is:

"If God doesn't send them, who does?"

The answer is in the verse, "...the...world and its evils..."

I live in a fallen world. I am fallen. I struggle between flesh and spirit, between what I know is right and what I want, between the gravity of mass belief and the transcendence of an intimate relationship with my Creator.

I must choose.

Today.

This minute.

This breath.

I choose to embrace the cross.

I choose to stop bargaining with God.

I choose to see His Goodness in all the circumstances of my life.

In the middle of the

straight and narrow,

silence wraps my soul.

My mind,

freed from the

cacophony of

unnecessary thought,

is de-cluttered of

self-love. Stillness replaces

active anguish. Child eyes behold

Papa God. He smiles goodness.