Tuesday, September 3, 2019. 10:30 PM.
“Understand With Their Hearts”
-Matthew 13:15b. NIV.
Sonya
Sonya Universal
The Universal Lady
Hope the Lord God Be in You
And You in Him
And Both of You One
As the Father in the Son
And the Son in the Father
One True God Almighty
The Father the Son and the Holy Spirit
I see something in the name Sonya [Son Ya]
“What do you see?”
I see: “Son of Yahweh”
“How can you see that?”
[by the eyes of the understanding being opened]
“How can the eyes of the understanding be opened?”
Read what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being born again. [John chapter 3]. If you just turn away in unbelief at the term “born again” then you will not be born again. You must believe God’s Word. Imagine someone receiving in the mail a real check that is worth a million dollars. But, the eyes of his understanding are not open; so, after reading the information on the face of the check, he just thinks to himself: “This isn’t a million dollars, it’s only a piece of paper. I don’t believe it.” And so, he doesn’t endorse it with his signature; and he doesn’t take it to the bank and cash it; and so he receives nothing. His lack of understanding prevented him from believing and receiving.
Is that what you do with the gospel of Christ and with all the Scriptures? Do you merely and over-simplistically think: “It’s only a book.”
“And what will I receive if I read and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the Scriptures?”
You will receive the faith of Jesus Christ.
“And what will I do with His faith?”
The moment you receive Him, by the grace of God, through faith in His name, you become a new creature in Christ Jesus, a child of God, with a living hope in Him –and a member of His kingdom. And, at that point, it is no longer a question of what you will do; instead, it is: “What is God now doing in me? What will You have me do for You and for your kingdom, today, my Lord and my God?”
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” -Genesis 1:26, 27. NIV.
“Jesus Teaches Nicodemus” -John 3:1-21. NIV.
Dear Sonya, late in the evening of August 28, 2019
What do you think?
I remember what you said at McDonald’s on Branch Avenue in Providence on Thursday, December 4th, 1980. We went there for lunch after meeting at Providence College where we looked at an album of pictures in the library on that cloudy and windy early December day. At the restaurant, I mentioned Sheila O____, [who had written about you in The Woonsocket Call six months earlier] and then asked, “Is that how you pronounce her name?” And you said, “That’s how I say it.” You let me do most of the talking, Sonya. [Not that I especially needed to do most of the talking. It would have been interesting to hear from you, too; but you were inclined to quietness, I guess.] My mother seldom did that – letting me talk much. Thank you, Sonya. Thank you for your kindness. Reminds me of something someone mentioned on Facebook Messenger once. Just a phrase about “love and kindness and loving kindness.” A beautiful saying — like: “and tears more than smiles have comforted me.” -Sandra.
Beautiful music makes me feel that way. There are many songs written and sung by others that are included with my writing on my blog that make me feel that way. “The Rose” is one of them. Still remember you including that song, The Rose, in your valedictorian address on June 6th, 1980; which I enjoyed reading so much in The Woonsocket Call the next morning, a Saturday morning. Thinking now of another beautiful song: “”Come Saturday Morning” – The Sandpipers (Lyrics).” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nIdGutgymY
Also remember you mentioning a play by Shakespeare that you said you must go and read, as you closed a letter to me. Think it was “The Tempest.” I didn’t read it. Maybe, I’ll go to Wikipedia.org later and read a synopsis of it.
Sonya, would you write something to me?
Sonya, are you still a writer?
Are you a thinker?
Would you prefer calling me? If you do, I’ll listen, Sonya. I don’t usually answer my phone anymore. However, if you let me know you were going to call and when, I would pick up my phone and say Hi to you and mostly listen, I think. Unless you told me, “Mark, I’d rather listen than talk much. I’m like Emily Dickenson, now.” [By the way, Emily Dickenson was quite a writer; though, even her family did not know about all the poetry she was writing and just putting away into drawers and places like that. How sanctified from the world she was. And yet, for all her modesty, her writing did become famous after her earthly life was over. Was it Shakespeare who wrote: “The truth will out.”? Perhaps Emily’s writing also had to come out into the open, eventually. Truth must be heard and understood; and beauty must be seen – to be appreciated.
“For Emily – Whenever I May Find Her ~ Simon & Garfunkel (with lyrics)”
Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” -Matthew 5:14-16. NIV Study Bible.
I’d really like to hear from you in writing or otherwise. I shouldn’t put my phone number and email address here in a post on the Internet. If you wrote to me, though, then I could send my phone number and email address to you. You could then leave a voice or text message if you don’t want to have a live conversation, at first. [I remember that I already sent my phone number and email address to you in a letter a few years ago.]
At 67 – going on 68 in November, I’m slowed down. About as outgoing as Emily Dickenson.
“All my best love,” -Sandra.
That’s how you closed your letters to me in the early 1980s, remember?
I hope to mail this letter tomorrow, August 29th, my dad’s birthday — also Ingrid Bergman’s birthday. She also departed her earthly life on that date. I like to think of her life as a home run. She began it and completed it on the same date – like a home run hitter who makes a complete circuit of the bases and arrives back at home plate where it all began – at the very same spot, like “Camelot.”
Mark
You know why I don’t forget you, Sonya? Because you’re a writer, a writer and thinker whose style and substance is just the kind of writing and thinking I find interesting. Your writing is something to think about and write about.
It is now August 29th 12:01 AM.
August 29th at 5:18 PM.
Sonya: In consideration of the phrase: “believe women” that you mentioned online – have you considered Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? Genesis chapters 2 and 3? I mean, about Eve believing the serpent and disobeying God; and then she got her husband to do the same; and then they both were dismissed from the garden of Eden where life was just lovely; and they had to go out into the world where things were extraordinarily difficult for them every day for the rest of their lives — in separation from God, Who is Love and Light and Spirit. It must be lonely to live without His love; it must be confusing to live in the outer world without His light; it must be depressing to live without his Spirit.
And in consideration of the phrase “on a pilgrimage to Self through Source” which was found among your online writing — have you read the classic English story, “Pilgrim’s Progress”? It is written in Old English and was published in 1611 – the same year that the King James Version of the Bible was published. So, it may be difficult to get used to the style. I read it decades ago when I was younger, and everything was easier. The Holy Spirit of God, Who inspired every word of The Holy Scriptures, uses the word pilgrims in The New Testament book titled: Hebrews. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” -Hebrews 11:13. KJV.
Hebrews, chapters 11 and 12.
Even Charles Dickens’ style is difficult for me these days. His way of writing reminds me of an architecturally sophisticated and ornate cathedral. Simplicity is easier — a happy medium between too much and too little; like Goldilocks in her simple surroundings, who chose the bowl of porridge that wasn’t too hot and wasn’t too cold and wasn’t too big and wasn’t too small. Read that, too, decades ago when I was younger, and everything was easier. Even the Scriptures refer to simplicity: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” -2 Corinthians 11:3. KJV.
Genesis 2
Genesis 3
It is now August 30, 2019. 6:10 AM.
“Simon & Garfunkel – Song for the Asking (Audio)”
Maybe you don’t write anymore because you went on a pilgrimage to self through source; instead of going on a pilgrimage to God through faith in His Son, the Son of God, by the grace of God; and by believing the gospel of Christ. Maybe you should repent of the error of “believing women” and should believe God’s Holy Scriptures – and then, believe in Jesus and His heavenly Father; and receive his Holy Spirit, by obeying Christ our Lord and Saviour– and being born again; and enjoy newness of life and salvation; and be looking forward to the new heaven and the new earth that God is going to bring about; and enjoy being regenerated with a new and glorious body – just like the glorious body that Jesus Christ received when he was resurrected — just three days after he was crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” -Philippians 3:20, 21. NIV.
“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and your descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” -Isaiah 66:22-24. NIV.
Mark's Imaginings 