Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!125!7!Reed.Hopkins
From: Reed.Hopkins@f7.n125.z1.fidonet.org (Reed Hopkins)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: EMOTIONS:
Message-ID: <12971@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jul 90 20:18:46 GMT
Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP
Reply-To: Reed.Hopkins@f7.n125.z1.fidonet.org
Distribution: misc
Organization: FidoNet node 1:125/7 - Sonoma Online, Santa Rosa CA
Lines: 49
Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP

Index Number: 9361

MA>> "Don't quit five minutes before the miracle." is a good
saying.  MA>> That's assuming, of course, that there is a miracle.
How do MA>> you know or is that just a matter of faith for you?  In
my MA>> times of deepest depression and darkest despair, I begin to
wonder.

Marda, I've discovered over the last few years that my life is
filled with all sorts of miracles, but that until I had my eyes
opened to them I could never see them.  "Don't quit five minutes
before the miracle" is a great saying. As I look back on my life I
see clearly that every trial or tribulation that I ever went
through, and believe me, there have been many, always led to a
greater good of some sort.

One of the things that helped me see the miracles, big and small,
was the restructuring of my world view to recognize that there is
really no luck, nor are there coincidences.  Or, as one wise person
put it - "A coincidence is a miricle in which God chooses to remain
anonymous."

I have my own understanding of God, I'm not interested in getting
into any theological discussions or anything like that - all I know
is that including a "universal force" in my world view altered it
in a way that a totally non-functional person became highly
functional. At first I operated totally on faith. People that I
trusted, that lived the sort of life that I wanted to live, told me
that trusting this universal power (which I choose to call God, or
on occasion Murphy) would work, and after trying it out I had
enough "miracles" happen in my life that I came to believe through
experience.

It DOES boil down to faith for me. Trust doesn't come easy to me,
but when I began trusting (having faith in) this
not-quite-invisible God, things started to work out for me beyond
my wildest dreams. Of course, I feel that I have my end of the deal
to keep up too. I try to live my life as tolerantly, kindly,
unselfishly, and honestly as I possibly can, and in return God
"grants" me serenity and peace. (A grant being a conditional gift.
Go to school & get money for instance.)

Hang in there and let yourself change....

Reed

--
Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!125!7!Reed.Hopkins
Internet: Reed.Hopkins@f7.n125.z1.fidonet.org