Illumine My Being is a collection of prayers and meditations from Baha'i scripture that are intended to provide spiritual healing for the individual during times of crisis. Many of these prayers ask God for the healing of the individual as well as the community, the nation, and the world. These extracts from the sacred writings explain how individual healing can be achieved through one's relationship with God, and they also elaborate on the nature of spiritual healing and how the healing of the entire human race can be achieved. Healing has always been an essential component of religion, and these prayers and meditations are meant to provide comfort, hope, and reassurance to anyone during these troubled times.
A heart-warming collection of prayers and mediations designed for women of all faiths to meet the challenges of everyday life. Illumine My Spirit: Bahai Prayers and Meditations for Women speaks specifically to the qualities and concerns of women in a way seldom seen in books of prayers. Among the topics covered are the qualities of women, motherhood, the education of children, the loss of loved ones, steadfastness, courage, and many more. This beautifully arranged compilation draws from a wide selection of the Bahai sacred texts. For more then 100 years these prayers have offered millions inspiration and guidance in time of need. Illumine My Spirit: Bahai Prayers and Meditations for Women will surely serve as a treasury of comforting and reassuring words for women navigating the ups and downs of life. This is the first time these prayers have been assembled together and published for all spiritual seekers.
Discover the BahC!'C- approach to prayer with this collection of beautiful, soul-stirring prayers and meditations from BahC!'C- scripture. Pamela Brode's introduction explains basic BahC!'C- teachings on the subject of prayer and spiritual sustenance and considers questions such as What is prayer? Why pray? Are our prayers answered? Does prayer Benefit the world? The selections that follow include more than 120 prayers and extracts from BahC!'C- scripture on themes such as assistance from God, comfort, contentment, difficult times, death, faith, healing, marriage and family life, protection, strength, and many others. These powerful selections are sure to sustain, freshen, and gladden your spirit.
An invitation to a more participatory relationship with God through the power of prayer. Nothing is more remarkable—or more beautiful—than an ordinary life, quietly transformed by prayer. This is the life that Deborah Smith Douglas chronicles—and invites readers into—in her lovely collection of essays and poems. Drawing from events as simple as breakfast with her five-year-old daughter or waiting in line at the post office, Douglas shows how a loving relationship with God can be nurtured in small ways every day. “Without my ever really intending it,” she writes, “my own life—as a wife and mother, daughter and friend—has taught me to see God hidden in the ordinary, to watch for God under the surface of things as a fisherman watches for fish.” Woven into each of these pieces, along with reflections on the author’s experiences, are guidelines for readers watching for God in their own unique—and ordinary—lives. Divided into four sections—Ways of Praying, Healing, Spiritual Companionship, and Fruitfulness—The Praying Life will help Christians move from awareness of God’s presence in their lives to a deep participation in God’s love.
Does your life feel cluttered? Maybe an overcrowded calendar isn't your only problem! In this updated classic, learn how our technology-focused generation can deal with stress and find balance in life by submitting to God in five areas: motivation, priorities, intellect, spiritual growth, and rest. We have schedule planners, computerized calendars, smart phones, and sticky notes to help us organize our business and social lives every day. But what about organizing the other side of our lives? The spiritual side? In Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald equips you to live life from the inside out, cultivating the inner victory necessary for effectiveness. Simplifying your external life begins with seeking internal order. In addition to focusing on spiritual and mental disciplines, you’ll discover: The difference between being driven and being called The lifelong pursuit of the growth of the mind The importance of being a listener and reader How to exercise your soul to keep it in good shape Our culture encourages us to believe that the busy, publicly active person is also the most spiritual. Our massive responsibilities at home, work, and church have resulted in many of us on the verge of collapse. Learn to take a step back from the outer world and deal with the stress of life by developing your inner world: your soul.
Marianne Williamson's bestselling A Return to Love ended with a prayer in which she asked God to help us "find our way home, from the pain to peace, from fear to love, from hell to Heaven." Now, in this stunning new collection of thoughts, prayers, and rites of passage, Marianne Williamson returns to prayer. Prayer is practical, Williamson tells us. "To look to God is to look to the realm of consciousness that can deliver us from the pain of living." Illuminata brings prayer into our daily lives, with prayers on topics from releasing anger to finding forgiveness, from finding great love to achieving intimacy. There are prayers for couples, for parents, and for children; prayers to mend broken relationships and prayers to overcome obsessive and compulsive love. There are prayers to heal the soul, prayers to heal the body, and prayers for work and creativity. Williamson also gives us prayers for the healing of America, including two prayers that have had powerful effects on audiences at her lectures: a prayer of amends on behalf of European Americans to African-Americans and one to Native Americans. How, Williamson asks, can we expect anyone to forgive when we have made no formal apology? Another section includes rites of passage, ceremonies of light for the signal events in our lives: blessing of the newborn, coming of age, marriage, and death. There is also a ceremony of the elder, for moving into midlife, and a ceremony of divorce, in which a gentle transition is provided for both the couple and their children. "Read my prayers or someone else's," Williamson says. "By all means, create your own." Illuminata is a way to bring prayer into practical use, creating a sweeter, more abundant life for yourself and the people you care for. "No conventional therapy," she says, "can release us from a deep and abiding psychic pain. Through prayer we find what we cannot find elsewhere: a peace that is not of this world."
Places the Douglases describe include: - Whithorn, the cradle of Scottish Christianity - Iona, the place of Saint Columba - Canterbury Cathedral, site of Thomas a Becket's martyrdom - Norwich, the site of Julian's spiritual insights - Bemerton, where George Herbert ministered - Aldersgate Street, where John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed - Olney, where John Newton wrote Amazing Grace - Oxford, the legacy of C.S. Lewis - Coventry Cathedral, bombed during World War 2 and now offering hope to all Each chapter describes the place and illumines the lives of the men and women associated with the place. Black and white photographs by Joan Myers illustrate each of the sites.
