To date, I haven't met any Moho bloggers face-to-face (not knowingly, anyway) but I sense that we're not just connected in the blogosphere but in other more subtle ways as well. For example, I don't know this guy, but he flashed through my mind the other day. I didn't know why at the time, but perhaps it is because we can sometimes sense a disturbance when someone with whom we share a bond is in pain. I wrote this reply to his entry:"...I'm so sorry that you and your loved ones are in anguish...thank you for your admonition, 'Brothers, don't take your families and children for granted. Don't lose sight of your blessings.' It's a timely message for me. I say that I love them, but do I show it in all my thoughts and actions? Not always, not as much as I should.
So I thank you for sharing your hard-won perspective here and I selfishly hope you will continue to do so. I will pray for you and I hope that our little online community here can be one of your sources of support.
Something that helped me when I was depressed, despondent and suicidal a few years ago was this great truth: We can not change the past, but we can change how we look at it. And because of the atonement we don't have to do it alone. The words of Isaiah and transcendent music of Handel's Messiah bear witness to me that:
'Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed.' May you and your loved ones find the hope and healing He offers to us all."
After I wrote that, I continued to hear Messiah in my mind, particularly the chorus "And he shall purify" and when I looked up the scriptural basis of it, I found this reference to gold and silver:
"But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap; And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and there shall be they that shall offer unto the Lord offerings in righteousness." Malachi 3:1-3
