Fear, Love, and Trust

I am so tired of reading about “If people had faith in the Alpha and Omega they would not be afraid of the Delta.” People are afraid of all kinds of things related to death. They are afraid of losing parents, children, siblings, cousins. It is not always about fearing your own judgment. Maybe it [...]

The Hard Way

There is this thing in Orthodoxy that is annoying and yet, good for me (would that be EVERYTHING.... hmmmm?) In general, if you ask a question, it is almost impossible to get a straight answer (firm yes, firm no). If you say, “Am I doing this correctly?” The response tends to be more, “Try it [...]

Struggling to Float

It has taken 5 years, a pandemic, and our own building to understand something that was instinctively understood previously, and I’m still struggling to put it into words, but The Liturgy must be Served. And yet, practically, it cannot ALWAYS BE served. It is both served for the laity and NOT served ‘for us’ (the [...]

Why does God allow Suffering?

Was reading in my newsfeed (on a friend’s page) about someone talking about their struggle with believing God loves us. He mentioned that a parent who allowed their children to rape and kill one another (for example) would be considered negligent. We think God is not just. It’s been rattling in my head ever since [...]

Christian Hate

https://christianfight.com/dogma-or-progress/?fbclid=IwAR0Ziv5RlGXHKl5GfSv0pg2auumNIIVU3GiOsN0ZB-EVg0umD56J0uvzAjc From the article… “I’m not going to pretend that there aren’t some hateful, angry, and vengeful people out there that do some terrible things. However, most Americans that don’t agree with the above behavior try not to force their own beliefs on those that do. I, myself have relatives and acquaintances that have participated [...]

Fasting

This morning is a fasting gift. The hotel is not serving breakfast because of COVID-19. If we had called downstairs last night, they would have prepared a fasting type of breakfast (bread, fruit, coffee) we could have picked up in a bag. We didn’t call down, so no breakfast. Nothing is open until much later [...]

Death and Hell

Was reading tonight on Facebook about a person who was explaining his fear of death making him so anxious that it was causing him to go in the hospital repeatedly and, in fact, almost died from an anxiety related heart condition. I thought, “Hmm. I am so grateful that I am not AFRAID to die. [...]

Becoming

Obedience to true agape. Freedom from the world. Perfect love. Not only repenting of how I am not who God created me to be, but letting go of all my attachments to the passions of life: The dire to possess and the desire for others to want me (in the current world that phrase might [...]

Fear No Evil

I’m developing an appreciation for ‘fearing no evil’. As a Protestant, fearing no evil was sort of like whistling in the dark. I was going to fake it until I make it. Act brave and walk in confidence and everything will end up the way I want...maybe...I hope. Then, I think as I started to [...]

Freedom

Hubby and I have been reading Everyday Saints and Other Stories and it has taught me something about the believer’s freedom. https://orthochristian.com/56598.html In the beginning, the author is talking about a situation he faced in college in the Soviet Union where he and his friends were dabbling in the occult. As time goes on he [...]