Recently I finished reading the book 'Strong Winds & Crashing Waves' by Terry Wardle. He had a lot of valuable things to say and it was definitely thought provoking. There were times when reading that I thought "Wow, finally, someone who understands what I am going through and gets it." I appreciate knowing that I'm not entirely crazy but that my experience is normative in some sense and resonates with other people. So it's good to find those that are like-minded in that way.
He discusses his move towards being more honest, open and vulnerable about his life and his journey. He says "I am consciously stepping away from the "know but not be known" paradigm of professional objectivity. I am instead embracing a "be known so that others might know and experience Jesus" approach to writing." How true. My life can be far more effective and inspirational to others in sharing it and letting myself be known. Scary territory because a lot of things can be done with information. But I am going to be faithful to share my experience and hope and pray that much fruit will come from it.
He discusses the need to invite Christ into the pain and darkness of our lives. To allow Him to come in and bring healing. He suggests that "transformation does not come by striving, performing, or working hard at self-improvement. It comes to wounded people who ask the Lord not to simply help them out of storms, but to change them int he very midst of them. And it comes to the wounded by the grace of God." How often we try to run from the storms, to sweep them under a carpet, or to busy ourselves in order to forget about them. Yet, it seems far better to enter into the storm with open arms. To embrace it for what it is and allow it to change us as we walk through it.
In the last few years, there are random events that trigger an overwhelming, uncontrollable emotional flood within me. I look at the trigger and wonder why in the world it evoked so much emotion, only to realize it is a flood of all the other emotions I have stuffed and not worked through. Terry mentions that "being capsized is about living constantly in such deep emotional waters that even the most non-threatening life-splash can turn a calm day into a life-altering storm." This makes sense to me. The awareness and understanding of it seems to bring a clearer perspective for when those times do come. I guess to know that I can expect it and when it comes, work with the emotions that come with it.
I love this: "God is not simply to be learned about in life. He is to be experienced. He waits in every moment to be encountered by those who seek him. He longs to fill people's hearts with indescribable love, overwhelm them with incomparable peace, and flood their minds with unspeakable joy. Yes, he desire to meet people in the memories of the painful past. But before that can happen, wounded people must discover God in the sacrament of the present moment. He is there, ready to be experienced by the people he unconditionally loves."
I could go on for a long time with many more thoughts and quotes and things I have learned through reading this book. I look forward to reading more of his books and to putting some of the activities into practice that he suggests. And to experience God in the fullness of every situation and moment.
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