My journey... still in progress

[NewlyAwakened]

I tried to keep this short... don't think I quite succeeded...

This concept of Universal Reconciliation is one of the most powerful things that has happened to me.  I can't explain it, but I think of it all the time.  Less than one year ago, the idea of UR seemed so dangerous to me, even though somewhere deep in my heart I was having a difficult time believing in the full ramifications of eternal hell.  Then I read some of the "Harmony" series by Philip Gulley.  I read them because of their humor and their "Mayberry" feel-good themes.  At some point I started noticing that Gulley made no qualms about believing in this thing called "universalism."  At first I was taken aback and almost quit reading his books (even though I truly enjoyed most other aspects about them).  But this idea of UR that I'd never allowed myself to think about somehow found its way into my heart little by little, until I couldn't go back to believing the "old" way.

Just a very short time later, on May 29th, 2007, to be exact, my faith seemed to completely collapse.  I have always been a very conservative, Bible believing, daily praying, but certainly imperfect believer in Christ.  All of a sudden my faith (in everything I had believed about God and Christ and the Bible) started turning on and off as if it were a light switch.  (I was actually reading from my Bible that morning the moment it happened!)  I was about as scared and miserable as I've ever been, spiritually speaking.  There's much more I could share about how specific beliefs transformed over the months to follow, but I'll not bore you all with every detail now.

Thankfully, when I didn't know what to do with my faith (or lack of it) and I just relaxed a bit (basically resting in one idea:  That God is good and He knows where to take me in this journey!) and before I knew it, my faith -- actually a brand new kind of faith began growing in my heart.  I was so thankful that the simple, core elements of my faith in Christ had survived.  I was also thankful that some of my former ideas were gone (such as ET).

There is so much I don't know.  In a way, I believe that not having everything figured out and knowing that such is the case (but ultimately just trusting in Him) may be what God is truly looking for.  I sure hope that that is the case, for if perfect understanding is a requirement, I'm in the biggest trouble of my spiritual life.  How I do wish that God would just speak directly to me... but maybe some things must wait until we are on the other side.

Thank you all for being there!

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: Thank you for sharing your experience with us, and welcome to the Tent! We are all different, but we are all friendly........ :icon_flower: :icon_queen: :gangel: :thumbsup:

[pneuma]

Hi NA, welcome to the board.

I think most of us have experiance the shaking of the heavens and the earth that you experanced as God was drawing you into the knowledge of the restitution of all things.

Everyones shaking of course may be a little different but we can all relate to each others testimonies.

God bless

[jabcat]

Be thankful God is tearing down the walls so you can hear His voice.  God is good.  Welcome, God's blessing, James.

[eirinikos]

Yep that sounds very familiar. I'm just coming out of my second great "shaking"

I just listened to a teaching by Elaine Cook. She mentioned how God brought Babylon against Jerusalem because they had refused to honor his sabbath and refused to let go of their bondservants on the seventh year as they were commanded. God gave them the chance to repent when they saw the Babylonians coming, which they did, but only for a few days or so. So God sent the Babylonians right on in the door.

She was teaching on entering into God's rest, which is ceasing from your own works and resting in the work of God in your life. Your own works include building up your own personal doctrines, or trying to have your own kind of faith, or works or whatever you are basing your salvation on other than the work of God.

When Israel broke the shadow form of the sabbath, Babylon came in. When we break the spiritual sabbath rest, Babylon comes into us, which is confusion and fear and all kinds of turmoil and torment.

It happened to me one day, it came rushing in like a flood. Tormenting confusion and fear. But its been a three month process to enter back into a new kind of faith, resting in him. Which I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to do. I guess there is a lot of ground left to take back from the enemy.

[Cardinal]

 :thumbsup: Good post......

[jabcat]

Quote: "I guess there is a lot of ground left to take back from the enemy."

God will take back that ground, as you say, as we look to Him as our strength and Him completing His work in us.  I'm still learning that too...I mess it up a lot and forget to trust Him...sometimes I just don't find the right balance...maybe there is no balance...maybe it's just letting it all go into Him somehow, making it all about His righteousness, strength, mercy, and grace...I guess it's a long process and we get it in pieces...God's blessing.

[Pierac]

Hi NewlyAwakened,   :hihat:

:welcome: to the Tent!

Paul

[NewlyAwakened]

Thanks folks for the supportive comments, and for the precious fellowship that your words provided long before I posted a single word on this forum myself.

Steve