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Faith411.com - Spirituality |
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Vital information and articles related to Spirituality.Praying in Secret
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." --Matthew 6:6 There was a time when I thought I could not turn to God. I became pregnant after a weekend with a friend, I thought this disqualified me from God's love and help. But my fear got the better of me, and I had nowhere else to turn. I've written about other aspects of this time in my life before, but what I want to focus on today is how God responded when I confessed my situation to Him and asked for help. One of the things I was most concerned with in my initial fear was how this pregnancy would be received by those who knew me, and by those who didn't. Would I be judged? Would the baby be judged, perhaps be considered less of a person because of my marital status? So when in answer to my prayers for help I only felt God's great love, I gained the courage to bring up this question. What could I do to protect my baby from being hurt by my mistake? And God's response was, "You made a mistake then, but you're not making one now." I had decided to keep the baby, you see. In my heart of hearts, I felt this was the only option. I wanted my child from the moment I knew about the pregnancy. And the passage above from Matthew came to mind. I think this was the first time I really had prayed to God in secret. I had told no one about the pregnancy yet, not even the father. I had thrown myself into God's care first, and He was strengthening me. From this prayer, I got this clear comforting message that God could see into my heart. He knew how I really felt about this baby, and He knew my deep desire to do right. He knew the sincerity of my internal promise to stop the self-destructive behavior that had gotten me into this situation, and He accepted that as enough. I felt the truth of the words, "Thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." To me, this meant that everything would be okay. I'd be able to support us, I'd be able to handle whatever came my way from friends and family, and I'd be able to make the changes I needed to give my child a stable, happy home. There would be open acknowledgement of my secret connection to God. This is over 14 years ago now, and it's all come true. The self-destructive behavior dropped away, I don't even miss it. I couldn't now ask for a better life; each day brings new occasions for gratitude. All because of that simple spiritual law that Jesus shared with us so long ago. Laura Matthews is a spiritual healer in the US Northeast. Visit her Website at: http://www.lbmatthews.com
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It is not surprising that a small survey b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-0fd=Rurl=http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp%3Fcode%3D179750cid=1256321814ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNHQp2R7Ss8G6hn4-gZH8ss-6O1DtwHafez poetry is imbued with bspirituality/b of Quran: Khorramshahi/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTehran Times,nbsp;Irannbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1TEHRAN -- Hafez poetry is imbued with bspirituality/b that emanates from the Quran, Hafez expert Baha’eddin Khorramshahi told MNA on the occasion of Hafez b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700265287,00.htmlcid=0ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNF5haRikMa3YsWaOR6qnhSNZPwqFgRice puts vampires behind her, focuses on bspirituality/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fDeseret News,nbsp;UTnbsp;-/font nobrOct 11, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Ten years ago, after awakening from a diabetic coma, Rice returned to bspirituality/b and once again became a Catholic. This week, her memoir, quot;Called Out of b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/10/09/f-vp-dueck.htmlcid=1253858356ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNFvDyfJu2QRAIt1cAYP_mQmolOg0QbSpirituality/b and Credit/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCBC.ca,nbsp;Canadanbsp;-/font nobrOct 9, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1If ever we wondered if the physical stuff we can touch is affected by bspiritual/b realities in our heart, the economic storm that Wall Street launched on the b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html%3Fid%3D20090212-95d3-47ec-84e6-6d25eee3bbaecid=1257155500ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNHe0xvNa6d3xEzhAdqTNcWCWYpTFQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=v5-kNdl9gJwJimgurl=a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20081013/141843-51846.jpg%3Fsize%3Dl width=80 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Vancouver Sun/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html%3Fid%3D20090212-95d3-47ec-84e6-6d25eee3bbaecid=1257155500ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNHe0xvNa6d3xEzhAdqTNcWCWYpTFQbSpirituality/b at the Games/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fVancouver Sun,nbsp; Canadanbsp;-/font nobr1 hour ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1There won#39;t be a permanent interspiritual centre built at the Athletes Village, but the bspiritual/b needs of the Olympic athletes will be attended to. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf%3F/base/news-16/122388252910830.xml%26coll%3D1cid=1257176207ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNHyscg9rnhjZM-ezv0U0gUEqpZwEwNew age expo set/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Republican - MassLive.com,nbsp;MAnbsp;-/font nobr21 minutes ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The expo offers booths promoting a variety of ideas, products, and services pertaining to health, personal growth, bspirituality/b, and global change. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20081011/COMMUNITIES/810110305cid=0ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNHrWd0EITcIRxuxIckc0_axVVoGaQNorris Burkes#39; bSpirituality/b: Honoring memory of those who have b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBaxter Bulletin,nbsp;ARnbsp;-/font nobrOct 11, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1quot;Chaplain, I need you to talk to a patient,quot; the social worker began, hesitantly. quot;Her husband died.quot; quot;Oh, I#39;m sorry,quot; I said as I searched the hallway for b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2008/10/temple_sinai_speakers_consider.htmlcid=0ei=zf_ySOqcE5nK8ATM5oy5Bwusg=AFQjCNEgXdsvUeXODwrcOoWFfNL0NNIdVwTemple Sinai speakers consider meaning of life/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fIndependent Press,nbsp;NJnbsp;-/font nobr16 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin will present quot;How to Find the Hidden Link between bSpirituality/b and Your Workquot; on Oct. 24 at 7:30 pm Rabbi Salkin will consider whether b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table Spirituality - Google News |
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