[Magdalen] Crucible

[Judy Fleener]

Jim, I am so grateful for your sharing.  It helps me prepare for what is
ahead of us.  There will be a time when Bill and I will be looking at
illness and separation.  It may not be as immediate and fully in our faces
as you are experiencing, but the specter is there.  At 83 and 77 we are
especially aware of what a blessing we have.  You and Marcie are in our
prayers each day.
Judy

On Sun, Dec 7, 2014 at 6:05 PM, Capers Limehouse <
capers.limehouse at comcast.net> wrote:

> Lovely. Holding you in light. Capers
> On Dec 7, 2014, at 3:09 PM, James Handsfield <jhandsfield at icloud.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I had a bit of an epiphany today at church.  I’ve been seeing Lindsay
> Buehler for spiritual direction - actually both Marcy and I have been
> seeing her, sometimes together.  During this time with Marcy’s illness,
> I’ve felt sometimes abandoned, sometimes reassured, but most of the time
> abandoned.  According to Lindsay, it’s not desolation, which I was afraid
> it was, but it’s finding I’m in a different room of God’s house, and I need
> to find God there, not where I used to find God.
> >
> > My epiphany this morning is that this room is a crucible, and I’m being
> refined.  Out of necessity caring for Marcy, I’m gradually being rid of a
> great deal of selfishness, and at the same time finding myself more and
> more open to the love of those around me, including at St. Bede’s, in my
> neighborhood, here in the pub, and many other places.  It’s not an easy
> process, and it often hurts - a lot - both in the pain of change, and
> perhaps even more seeing what I’d been holding on to and how it made me
> sometimes distant from those I love.
> >
> > I’m grateful that this is a safe place to share such things.
> >
> > -----------------
> > Thinking one can behave their way into heaven is an insult to the very
> foundation of salvation.
> >
> > Jim Handsfield
> > jhandsfield at att.net
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>


-- 
Judy Fleener, ObJN
Western Michigan