Listening With Our Wounds

LISTENING with OUR WOUNDS

          To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not
           mean that we have to talk to that person about our own
           suffering. Speaking about our own wounds is seldom help-
           ful to someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is some-
           one who can listen to a person with pain without having to
           speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived
           through a painful depression, we can listen with great at -
           tentiveness and love to a depressed friend without men -
           tioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a
           suffering person's attention to ourselves. We have to trust
           that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to
           others with our whole being. That is healing.

    From: BREAD for the JOURNEY
               A DAYBOOK
           of WISDOM and FAITH

   By: HENRI J. M. NOUWEN

Tending Our Own Wounds First

TENDING OUR OWN WOUNDS FIRST

 

Our own experience with loneliness, depression, and fear can become a gift for others, especially when we have received good care. As long as our wounds are open and bleeding, we scare others away. But after someone has carefully tended to our wounds, they no longer frighten us or others.

When we experience the healing presence of another person, we can discover our own gifts of healing. Then our wounds allow us to enter into a deep solidarity with our wounded brothers and sisters.

From: BREAD for the JOURNEY A DAYBOOK

         of WISDOM and FAITH

By: HENRI J. M. NOUWEN

Set Aside Time with God

Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 1:16pm

HE MOMENTS YOU SPEND
WITH NO ONE ELSE BUT GOD
BUILD THE BEST FOUNDATION
TO A CHRISTIAN'S DAY.
From: ONE MINUTE BIBLE
( A 90 - Day Journey for Starters & a Reminder for all Christians.)


SPENDING SET- ASIDE TIME WITH  GOD

Sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King
 and my God, for to you I pray.
         
IN THE MORNING, O LORD YOU HEAR MY VOICE; IN THE
MORNING I LAY MY REQUESTS BEFORE YOU AND WAIT IN
EXPECTATION.
           
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
         
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors. But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.          
        
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies ---- make straight your way before me.
          
Not a word from their mouth could be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit....
           
But for all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread protection over them that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
           
For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

SCRIPTURE:
PSALM 5: 1-9, 11-12

How Time Heals

HOW TIME HEALS

" Time heals, " people often say. This is not true when it means that we will eventually forget the wounds inflicted on us and be able to live on as if nothing happened. That is not really healing; it is simply ignoring reality. But when the expression " time heals " means that faithfulness in a
difficult relationship can lead us to a deeper understanding of the way we have hurt each other, then there is much truth in it. " Time heals " implies not passively waiting but actively working with our pain and trusting in the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation.

From:  BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY, A DAYBOOK of WISDOM and FAITH
By: Henri J. M. Nouwen

Wounded Healers

WOUNDED HEALERS

Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or  spiritually. The main question is not " How can we hide our wounds? so we don't have to be embarrassed but " How can we put our woundedness in the service of others? " When
our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a  source of healing, we have become wounded healers.

Jesus is God's wounded healer. Through his wounds we are healed. Jesus' suffering and death brought joy and life. His humiliation brought glory; his rejection brought a community of love. As followers of Jesus we can also allow
our wounds to bring healing to others.                                           

From: BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY
        A DAYBOOK of  WISDOM and FAITH

by: Henri J. M. Nouwen

Suffering

Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 2:12am

From: Life's Challenges and Your Opportunities

By: John Hagee

 Some of the greatest men and woman have encountered disabilities and adversities, yet they have overcome these obstacles and used them as a stepping stone to their divine destiny.

         
Cripple a woman and you have Joni Erickson Tada.

Lock a man in prison, and you have a Joseph, a Daniel or the apostle Paul.

Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have George Washington.

Deafen a genius composer, and you have Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Have them born black in a society filled with racial discrimination and you have Booker T. Washington,

George Washington Carver, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Have him born of parents who survived a Nazi concentration camp, paralyze him from the waist down when he was four, and you have Yitzhak Perlman, the incomparable concert violinist.

Call him a slow learner and write him off as mentally disabled and you have Albert Einstein.

Christ did not come to do away with suffering:
Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.  -  Hebrews 5: 8- 9
        
Tagalog Version: ( Magandang Balita Biblia )
Bagamat siya'y Anak ng Diyos, natutunan niya ang tunay na kahulugan ng pagsunod sa pamamagitna ng pagtitiis. At nang maganap na ito, siya'y naging walang hanggang Tagapagligtas ng lahat ng sumusunod sa kaniya. - Hebreo 5: 8 - 9

   

Could Dead Men Talk?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 1:45am

YES!!!!!! They can still " talk !" - A very good example is Dwight Moody, Founder and President of - " OUR DAILY BREAD... ( Born February 5, 1837 , East Northfield, Mass. Died December 22, 1899, Northfield, Mass. USA.)

Quote: Someday you will read in the papers that Moody is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I was born of the flesh in 1837, I was born of the Spirit in 1855. That which is born of the flesh may die.That which is born of the Spirit shall live forever.

From... Autobiography of Dwight Lyman Moody...