What valuable lessons have you learned recently to promote your spiritual growth?

Question

Please give refernces when possible.

Answer 1

Your question is a very good question but I find it very hard to answer. I have personally experienced the hand of God working in my life. Miracles have happened that if I tell no one would believe.

The very recent lesson I learned is that, if a gift of love (can be material gift like striking jackpot) is given to us by God, it should not be taken lightly. That there is a reason for everything that comes into our life. Otherwise it would not have come in the first place. I recently overlooked such a gift and did not use it for the right purpose and due to that I am in financial difficulties now. In fact am unemployed.

The next time I get a gift from God, I know I am going to fully use it to the correct purpose it was given. Now I know for a fact that God do help us when we are really in need but we have to have done everything we can possibly do to improve our condition. That means taking total responsibility about ourself and our condition in life.

This lesson helps me become more humble and understand the meaning of humility a little bit more.

Answer 2

1. Learning to let go....I realized that getting emotional over the past (and beating myself up about it) is a waste. I've learned my lesson...and I'm moving on.

2. The only thing that's holding me back from anything is ME!
Why am I praying hard & doing nothing??? I know that any
thing is possible, but sitting around waiting isn't going to make
things happen.

Answer 3

Late last year I started to take my faith as a step by step process instead of a milestone by milestone one.

The Bible says that the steps of a righteous man are oreded by God, so I keep Him in my mind everystep of the way, and I've learned that I'm more accountable for the time I spend with Him and the time I waste. I'm able to do better today than I did yesterday, and I'm moreso ready to do what He has for me to do, because He prepares me.

Answer 4

I have been learning recently how much my dysfunctional family background affects the way I view God. I have learned how much I don't trust Him, how many lies I continually believe about Him, and how scared I am of Him. These lessons have and will help me to know Him more. But it is difficult.

Answer 5

There are so many lessons to name them, we are constantly and endlessly learning whether we accept, or know it.
The last big lesson I learned was to cherish things, to be more appreciative. Because, in all honesty, something you love can be taken away in seconds with the blink of an eye, and of course we never can understand why.

Answer 6

I've learned that since human beings are subjective by nature, each person will have different beliefs because of their different interpretations of the world. Rather than blindly following someone else's way of life, it's best to put more importance on one's own personal beliefs.

Answer 7

'You are accepted.' (Sermon by Paul Tillich).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich
http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=378&C=84

We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by that stroke of grace. It happens; or it does not happen. And certainly it does not happen if we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that we have no need of it. Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: "You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!" If that happens to us, we experience grace After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed. In that moment, grace conquers sin, and reconciliation bridges the gulf of estrangement. And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but acceptance.

Answer 8

I have learned that Christians are intolerant and fearful of people who are different then they are (note my last question asked). I have learned that because of this I am going to have to be more loving - not to make up for them being hateful - but to bring more positive energy back into the world. Be the change you want to see.

Answer 9

I learned or I should say I was reminded,We never know what tomorrow will bring,as God just gave My family another Miracle.

Answer 10

One cannot have God for his Father, who will not have the Church for his Mother, and likewise, one cannot have the Word of God for his faith who will not have the Church for his teacher. It is the infallible teaching authority of the Church, as promised by Christ, which alone preserves God's Word from erroneous interpretation.