Sublimation of anger, difficulty, stress, and threat is really the goal. When Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, love our enemies, not repay evil for evil, and then shows us how on the cross, he is really saying that we need to sublimate anger and the impulse to retaliate. To sublimate it does not mean that you ignore the threat, but instead it means that you take it in or absorb it, and transform it into something else. And in that way, you take all its power away. On the cross, Jesus took ...  Keep reading

None of us is the purveyor of love, healing, forgiveness. I cannot hold myself out as the one who procures those things and then passes them on to you. As I am loved, healed, forgiven, you are too. Those things happen at once. 

The most difficult thing is to be present to and satisfied in the moment. We always tend to be working toward something else. But if you can stand still and be here and now, you will be blessed. That’s where the healing is. 

We often approach God as if there is some magic spell or potion that is going to get Him to come to us – like He is a genie that will appear if you just say the right words, confess your sins enough, have enough faith, do all the right things. But this is yet another wonder of Him – He is a Person who will come to you out of His own volition. He will not be bought and He is not the result of stringing the right formulas together and finally finding the right combination to open the ...  Keep reading

Faith is just waiting for God to show up. And he will.

I am amazed at times at how secret the Presence is. For me, it was not something I had to go halfway around the world to find. You can find it in your basement. And nobody really taught me about it. They told me to pray and that I would find God in solitude, but they did not really tell me how to do it or just how powerful it was. That I found out myself. Through practice. 

And I like to say I got lucky. Lucky, or God was leading me to it all the time. But he gave his Presence to me. I did ...  Keep reading

I am thankful for the stress. The stress has taught me that the only thing that will sustain me is God himself. If I did not continually have stress, I most likely would not have kept seeking God. I would have let him go.

I have sought, for a large part of my life, comfort. In fact, I have lusted for comfort, and I have presupposed that there are certain things or circumstances which, at last, will make me feel good. There is nothing that will satisfy like God, not even his blessing. But many times ...  Keep reading