God's Mystery ~ Contemplation and Conversation, 2015

“Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights.” 

Proverbs 18:15 The Message

[No human being, no matter how wise or how spiritual, can interpret the ways of God, explain why one miracle and not another, why an apparent intervention here and not there...we can only wait and trust.]

Philip Yancey, from Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference?

“Good words satisfy like a fine meal; yes, good conversations are sure to satisfy.” 

Proverbs 18:20 The Voice

Share your thoughts, questions, experiences, and/or conversations:

*right here; see below "COMMENTS"

*Mangrove Ministries Facebook Page

*on Twitter @SoulChat

Jesus Knows

Nathanael said to [Jesus], "How do You know me?" Jesus said, "...I saw you." 
John 1:47-51 NKJV

Currently, I am studying a book, Discernment by Henri Nouwen, to better understand God's will and purpose for this time in my life. This Scripture from John reveals that Jesus knows us, intimately hears our hearts and hopes, completely understands our intentions and frustrations, actually sees our willingness and weakness. Just like with Nathanael, Jesus demonstrates His supernatural knowledge to us whenever we are open to God's presence. Jesus knows!

Discernment becomes a new way of seeing that results in divine revelation and direction. ~ Henri Nouwen  

The discernment process consists of listening more deeply for the voice of God, and its global purpose for each of us is to know God's will. This new way to see God affords the individual new opportunities. In the process of discovery, the acknowledgement that God does see and know me evolves, and my alertness to God's presence heightens. This openness to God reveals a deeper awareness of spiritual truth, and the awakening of purpose begins to unfold. I find new affirmation of who I am in Christ. I know Jesus knows! ~ dho  

"Jesus demonstrates His supernatural knowledge to us whenever we are open to God's presence. Jesus knows!" ~ Donna Oswalt

God's Love ~ Contemplation and Conversation, 2015

Breathing Room For My Soul

“Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights.” 

Proverbs 18:15 The Message

Contemplation...

[God has created you and me with a heart that only God's love can satisfy. And every other love will be partial, will be real, but limited, will be painful. And if we are willing to let the pain prune us, to give us a deeper sense of our belovedness, then we can be as free as Jesus and walk on this world and proclaim God's first love, wherever we go.] - Henri Nouwen

then Conversation... 

“Good words satisfy like a fine meal; yes, good conversations are sure to satisfy.” 

Proverbs 18:20 The Voice

Share your thoughts, questions, experiences, and/or conversations:

*right here; see below "COMMENTS"

*Mangrove Ministries Facebook Page

*on Twitter @SoulChat

WORDS for a New Year ~ 2015!

Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights. 
Proverbs 18:15 The Message

Words, words, words, AND more words! With the internet, social media, and electronic devices - we scan, read, and process an enormous amount of words daily. Overflowing words saturate us with general information through our work, from the news, about our connections while others pour into us from books, movies, lyrics, signs, and directions. How many of these words are useful to our souls, improve our personal spiritual journey, or increase our knowledge of who God is, of who God calls us to be within our community?

Proverbial wisdom reminds us, "Words satisfy the mind as much as fruit does the stomach; good talk is as satisfying as a good harvest." (Proverbs 18:20 MSG) While studies show the average woman speaks 20,000 words per day and men, 7,000 words, the studies do not evaluate the usefulness of these many words. Maybe the more important question is not how many words we speak, but how do we use our words? Words can destroy or encourage, blame or explain, be loving or deceitful, be filled with compassion or empty and useless. Words connect us to each other! Words have great power! 

Thinking about the new year, I want to add something to my blog I am calling "Contemplation and Conversation"! From time to time, a short quotation will be given for your reflection and then, hopefully, you will share your thoughts with someone else. So often these days, we simple read words, maybe ponder them, and sometimes even incorporate new ideas into our personal experiences, but sharing words - in conversation, with discussion - happens less and less. Oh, we speak to each other - obviously 1,000's of words a day, but deep and honest exchanges have become fewer and fewer. Words have the potential to grow our minds and hearts. From the beginning before time, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) Jesus, this Word, can transform each of us into more!

So, here's the challenge! Read the "Contemplation and Conversation" posts, ponder them then talk to someone or several someones. Share your thoughts and ask them what they think! It will be posted to Mangrove Ministries' Facebook page (click link here) as well. Comments welcome!  Begin today by sharing your thoughts about today's Scriptures and this idea. Get involved! Share your experiences! Let's start feeding our inner voices, increasing our Spiritual journeys, always learning, always listening for fresh insights. ~dho

***By the way, my regular blog will continue as usual, posting typically will be Thursday! AND while we are talking about the blog, share and invite your friends to follow - SIGN UP for EMAIL! (top right corner)

Let's start feeding our inner voices, increasing our Spiritual journeys, always learning, always listening for fresh insights. ~ Donna Oswalt

4th Sunday of Advent ~ Holy Light, Perfect Love

Merry Christmas!  ~ 2014

the 4th Sunday of Advent leads us into Christmas...

“…and they hall call his name

Immanuel,” which means

GOD WITH US!  Matthew 1:23

FrederickBuechner, American writer and theologian writes, “…Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning…” The Season of Light captures our attention with its hurried and increased activities. Choirs and candles, decorations and details capture us. Words and wonder fill us to nearly overflowing. The Virgin Mary with Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, angels singing to shepherds, a star and Magi, all coming to celebrate this newborn baby called Immanuel. Advent candles retell the familiar story with hope and peace and joy and love. Buechner continues, “The birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it.”

Christmas reminds us of new beginnings. We sing Christ the Savior is born but must remember that Christ is also the Redeemer, bringing salvation to a dying world, establishing a new relationship with us. Immanuel, GOD WITH US, is still with us and holds us with grace and goodness. Jesus came that we might be His Light to others, to help the lost and have compassion on the broken, to feed the hungry and hold the hurting, to tell the Good News of His Grace, to forgive, to listen, to love. We must continue to live a new way after the Christmas celebrations end and the decorations are put away, long after we forget about sheep and shepherds. As we find our old routines, let the greatest Christmas Gift, Jesus, renew our journeys. Let’s find the new beginning and new ways of living for Christ in the coming year! ~ dho / 2014         

3rd Week of Advent ~ Shepherds See the Glory of God!

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night... and the glory of The Lord shone around them... For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ The Lord... You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger..." Luke 2:8-20

The shekinah Glory of God fills the house of The Lord (1Kings 8:11) when the Ark of the Covenant is placed into the Holy of Holies in the temple Solomon built. Centuries later high above a Bethlehem field the Glory of The Lord again appears breaking the silence of the night, revealing to shepherds where to find Christ The Lord! This stands in stark contrast between appearing to the priests in the Temple in the Most Holy Place and common shepherds in an open field. Considered the least in society, shepherds, believed to be unclean, could not even worship in the Temple; yet, God chooses these with simple faith to go and find the baby Jesus. The least, the simple, the willing shepherds.

Some scholars suggest that sheep to be used for sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem were frequently kept in the fields around Bethlehem, and that perhaps the very shepherds the angel appeared to were keeping watch over these sheep. While the shepherds could not even be witnesses in legal situations, perhaps it is irony that they become the first people to bear witness and testify to the birth of Jesus. The New Testament uses the Greek word poimen for 'shepherd' meaning a person who tends to a flock. According to Mounce's Expository Dictionary, the most frequent use of poimen refers to Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. These shepherds who society deems some of its most unworthy receive the first invitation to see the Lamb of God. The unclean, the unworthy, the invited shepherds.

This Advent season reconsider these God-chosen ones. In the Christmas Story, shepherds of simple faith and willing to respond are key figures, but society calls them unworthy and unreliable. The shepherds came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when [the shepherds] had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Do we see others through God's eyes or accept society's view? Are we willing to recognize Jesus in the least, the simple, the broken? Aren't we ALL unclean, sinners who are unworthy? Yet, God chooses each of us ~ rich or poor, scholar or laborer, old or young, thriving or hopeless, struggling or defeated! God invites each of us to come and meet Christ The Lord ~Perfect Love, Lamb of God, Amazing Grace!  ~dho