I have been reading the books and documents on deliverance and spiritual warfare and praying about what we are talking about in regards to the parish moving forward. I have to say that I have been given some rather uncomfortable moments, in which I have felt some of the feelings of emptiness and isolation that I know are so common in those who don't have Christ in their lives. These have been odd, in that they are strange feelings to me. I don't feel that way, but I have experienced. So maybe that doesn't make sense.
Anyway, they are NOT good feelings.
So today as I was praying after Communion, I was sitting in the arms of God, and like dad's will sometimes do He took me to the edge of a place and leaned me over it. It was a dark, cold, and empty abyss, it was just for a minute, but I knew that it was something that He wants me to remember. I pulled back because it was just so inhospitable and dark, and when I turned to Him I was welcomed to a warm, light and joyful gathering. I was embraced and felt so grateful to be a part of it. I was given to them from His arms.
I think the cold, dark, empty place is in the hearts of so many of the people that we want to reach. They live in it. God wants His family to pull them from it and welcome them to the warmth and light that we live in.
