The Blessing Is The Journey

The Blessing is The Journey is a Christian inspiration book that gives testimony that when the hand of God is positioned on your life, there is no plan that can override his plan. It discusses the issue of fulfilling the destiny that God has planned for your life. I share overcoming obstacles and facing fears on the journey to purpose. The Bible tells us that the steps of a righteous man are ordered. It is in my journey and in my spiritual development to see these words become life lessons in the flesh. In it, I share my journey to building a relationship with God, as well as some of the trials in which God used to teach me his purpose for my life. It discusses those unique and precious gifts he gives us to help us along our journey and, most of all, his love for us and his desire to have us live fulfilled lives. I have not only learned to hear the voice of God, but I also have learned that a relationship with him will teach you to hear his voice along this journey. My proof is that over the course of twelve years, God did some of the most amazing things, as it is his will that my life be in alignment with his will. I am in no way saying that I am the perfect Christian, and in fact, there is no such thing as a perfect person. All I can say is that trusting and obeying God will eventually lead you to his promises for your life. If I am there yet is the question you might ask. It is only a question that I can answer with transparency and humility. No, I am not there yet, but I am closer than I have ever been. I believe that our lives are the evolution of who we were created to be. When you have a relationship with God and he reveals himself to you, you are moving to your higher self, the person he created you to be. This has been my journey, and this is just the beginning of my spiritual growth in him. I am his work in progress, and I am evolving toward the real me. I share my testimony as evidence that God does truly use the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. I can give witness that it is truly a humbling experience to hear the voice of God and even more so when he reveals himself to you. It is a thirst that nothing in this world can satisfy. I share with you my story of how I had to grow to an understanding of the gifts that God had placed inside of me and how they are to be used for the building of his kingdom. When God gives you a gift, it is never just for you. The gift that he gives us, when shared, ultimately shows his glory. In finding that gift, you must first be open to his love. God is love and is the greatest gift to us. It is his love that empowers us and gives us the strength to just keep going. In the face of adversity, he will give us his strength and his power to endure life’s storms and attacks that seek to rob us of his promises to give us a better life. Love is the connection to him, and when we share that love, the greater the strength in us. This is my testimony of God’s love.

What would it be like to enter a life of vibrant worship and deepening romance with Christ? Offering passionate insights into the person of Christ, and true stories of blessing, pastor Gerrit Dawson leads us on a joyful journey toward loving Jesus and participating significantly in his love for the world.

From Blessing to Blessing seeks to: Enable individual study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, support RCIA and other adult faith formation programs, supplement diaconate and seminary training, provide a basic foundation for the Pillars: A Journey through the Catechism study program.

A resource book for anyone who is planning a funeral. You may be a family member or a friend of someone who has died. You may be planning your own funeral. You may arrange and conduct funerals professionally. Here you will find an abundance of words and ideas for celebrating a life in ways that are personal and honest.

God allows brokenness. We learned that God is good and gracious but we live in a broken world. This story deals with a broken home, a broken body and a broken heart. Jesus the Man of Sorrows knew the greatest suffering and loss. Out of all our trials our knowledge and love of God grew deeper. He brought healing and blessing. He never forsakes us but is in fact “near to the brokenhearted.” His grace is amazing and sufficient. We learned we had to be steadfast in our faith through it all. Faith means being faithful in all of our trials because God is in control and has a sovereign plan for each of us. Suffering here is temporary but heaven is forever glorious. There is hope, healing and blessing for the broken.

Elderly Micah, a childless widower from Nazareth, receives gifts of a blanket and food as he seeks shelter for the night in Bethlehem, but the greatest blessing comes after he is reunited with two kindly traveling companions and their newborn son in a stable. Accompanying CD contains the song on which the story is based, two additional original songs, and two other Christmas songs.

Congregations celebrate various rites and rituals as a way of commemorating the significant life events and experiences of their members. By blessing something or someone, God’s presence is invoked and the sacred is invited into the mundane, the holy into the ordinary. This book offers pastors and other church leaders a collection of ready-made, easily adaptable blessings and rituals for a variety of occasions. The book is divided into four major chapters: Children, Adults, Everyday Life, and Pastoral Care. It includes blessings and rituals for such occasions as: welcome into a home or neighborhood, receiving a first Bible, graduation from high school, receiving a driver’s license, blessing the backpacks and lunch-boxes for a new school year, and pet funerals. Pastoral care rituals include such occasions as grief, lost love, anger, and declining health. Key Benefits: • Provides readers with a source of blessings and rituals for key moments in congregational members’ lives and meaningful ways to celebrate and support their life experiences and transitions • Shows readers how the intentional use of blessings and rituals within the congregation helps reveal to the community God’s presence in every phase of life

The stories of this book are about the permanent interaction between God and humankind. These narratives invite us to witness the manner in which God enters human community in all of its complexities, struggles, challenges, fears, and ultimately hope. Hemchand Gossai not just discussed the large variety of themes within this texts, but also kept an eye on the implications for the Church and contemporary readers. Some experiences, like the barrenness, wilderness and the wrestling with God are described asmetaphors. The richness and texture of these metaphors allow the reader to embrace these stories in a way that makes them our stories.