Spirituality Information

Dark Cages


Acknowledgement of our need of God and reliance upon Him will not always rid us of life's pressures, will not always remove from us the difficult situations, the dark cage within which we sometimes find ourselves trapped. We shall not always escape the pressures of life and the dark situations which they bring. But we can, with God, withstand them and find resources for enduring them even when they, for the time being, do not let up.

If we, who are caged within some darkness and are frantic with fear that our situation is hopeless, would only believe, we would know that our heavenly Father is close by to still our fears and to strengthen us for the ordeal through which we are passing. We would know that He is constantly saying to us: "Don't be afraid; just believe."

But how workable is this formula for confident and victorious living in our daily existence? As we journey along the way of the Cross, we cannot avoid the central fact of faith and trust and its confirmation in Christian experience. The central fact is Christ Jesus our Lord. His event in history showed man his highest possibilities. It pointed us to life's deepest and inexhaustible resources for living through and independent of any set of circumstances. It provided us with a firm basis for the Christian belief that our sufferings, temptations, and perplexities, even the hard and oftentimes sudden demands of life, are fully understood and shared by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Christ, we have access to an open door of grace and comfort and victory over life's greatest, sometimes unyielding pressures. Freedom from the dark cage of hard times may not happen as a result of our serious thinking or maneuvering, our hardest effort or our best skill, but the key of divine grace and help remains within our reach. All we need to do is pick it up, unlock the cage door, and walk out in the freedom of God's amazing grace.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. http://www.clergyservices4u.org. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, will be available soon.


MORE RESOURCES:

Obama taps into our yearning for meaning, spirituality
Detroit Free Press, United States - Nov 19, 2008
A survey out this month revealed that 52% of Americans age 12 to 25 say that they don't trust organized religion, but that they are increasingly spiritual. ...


Video: Youth Around the World See Spirituality as Important, Want ...
International Business Times, NY - 3 hours ago
20 /PRNewswire/ -- A two-year global research project reveals that today's youth view spirituality as an important part of their lives, though most rarely ...


Nature inspires a spiritual streak in us that usually doesn’t ...
Cascadia Weekly, washington - 15 hours ago
Raised in a non-religious household, he didn’t realize he was developing a unique brand of spirituality that typifies our part of the world, ...


Oneindia

Spirituality Is An Intimate Experience
Oneindia, India - Nov 19, 2008
Everything about spirituality is personal, intimate, and quiet. This is the exact opposite of how the outer world functions. My spiritual experience is more ...


Film festival on secularism, spirituality
Galatta.com, India - 10 hours ago
A package of films and documentaries that centre on secularism, family, relationships and spiritual quest will be screened. Half Moon, an award-winning ...


New book calls for "spirituality of place" in Pacific Northwest
Vancouver Sun,  Canada - Nov 18, 2008
They maintain that while the residents of Cascadia are often not traditionally religious, many experience a spirituality based on the stunning natural ...


Survey: Most Youth Worldwide Spiritual, Say Religion is Good
Christian Post - Nov 17, 2008
By Michelle A. Vu The majority of youths in the world say they are spiritual and think religion and spirituality are both positive, according to an ...


WNCT

Ignoring Prop. 8 backers' spirituality
Mormon Times, UT - Nov 14, 2008
By Joel Campbell What's missing from most of the news reporting about the Proposition 8 backlash is equal time and space to the value of a spiritual ...
Today in the Bloggernacle Mormon Times
all 773 news articles


Addiction treatment specialist
Chicago Tribune, United States - Nov 17, 2008
"What I think is so important is that Marty was a very spiritual person and that he always incorporated the concept of spirituality in not only the recovery ...


Spirituality: Military spouses also have to ‘volunteer'
Ithaca Journal, NY - Nov 15, 2008
By Norris Burkes • Gannett News Service • November 15, 2008 This year, I couldn't help but think of the documentary I brought home a few months ago. ...

Spirituality - Google News

home | site map
© 2006