Spiritual relationship help &
Building self esteem
Chicken Soup for the Soul cocreators Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen with Chris Karcher
ABC's Dr. Timothy Johnson,
Finding God in the Questions, and Chris
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Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator, and Chris Karcher
Spiritual relationship help &
Building self esteem
Spiritual relationship help &
Building self esteem
Head to Heart
On my own faith journey, I went through a period of intellectual inquiry, asking questions theologians have debated endlessly. Why do people suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people? Where was God during the Holocaust? Whose side is God on in war? Why does evil exist?
It was easy for me to see the hand of God when a terminally ill child was healed, but I was at a loss to explain the child who was not.
I am not much closer to being able to answer the tough questions today. Free will is part of the answer. We would not have free will if God controlled all of our actions. I also realize I am not capable of understanding the Master’s plan. But I can rest in the assurance of God’s plan if I can learn to trust in it.
Faith, by definition, involves trust without proof. Mystery and paradox are an integral part of faith. God is the ultimate mystery—perhaps by design, because it keeps us seeking Him.
In my journey into faith, I had been trying to solve the mystery and comprehend the unfathomable.
I now take comfort in knowing I don’t have to solve the puzzle anymore than I have to understand how electricity works to know the lightbulb will light when I flip the switch. I can’t explain the magnificence of creation either. But I marvel at the miracle of birth knowing it can only be an act of grace.
The mystery is not to be solved, but entered into.
Ultimately I have learned the path to faith is not through our heads, but through our hearts. This is not to suggest we no longer need to use our brain to ask questions. But we come to know God by experiencing God’s presence.
I am humbled by the profound love of a deeply caring God whose infinite love is too vast to be understood by the limitations of my human mind.
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Copyright © 2003 by Christine N. Karcher. Chris Karcher is the author of Relationships of Grace, Amazing Things I Know About You, and Relationships of Grace Workbook. To order books and tapes, schedule Chris for speaking engagements, or subscribe to Chris’ newsletter, visit www.relationshipsofgrace.com, email order@relationshipsofgrace.com, or call 1-877-GET-GRACE (1-877-438-4722).