Tag: Bible

First Corinthians…

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

These are only my own contemplative thoughts. You may disagree and that’s OK!!

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I

reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of

childhood behind me.”

—1 Corinthians 13:11

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To doubt His mercy is like being a child when they sob and carry on

because they do not get what they want, and you, their guardian, are

appalled at the greed and neglect they display when they say they hate you, or when they storm off and say “you don’t love me!”. When my kids do this I just want to hit my head against the wall! Do they not

remember all the previous love and tender care I gave them in the

past? But they are children. They cannot see the bigger picture or the

life lessons I’m trying to teach them. Nor can they fathom all that

previous love I gave them, they are greedy for the ‘right now’. If you’re not giving them what they want ‘now’ you must hate them, you

must not want them, you must have forgotten them. Sometimes we can be the same way to God—if our prayers are not answered swiftly we feel He is not there, He has forgotten us, He doesn’t want us. But He is merely looking out for our best interest—maybe that job you wanted wasn’t for you? Maybe you would have gotten into an accident had you left for work on time today? We have to trust His guidance and keep our faith. We must not be like spoiled children, but humbled always and patient to put those childish ways behind us. I must remember this next time my kids are throwing a fit. I’m sure God rolls his eyes and shakes his head up there a lot, but always with a loving, tender

smile—for His love for us is great.

Seasons of Grace by Leslie Tentler

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

Possibly the driest book I’ve ever tried to read, but I feel like this might just change my thinking somehow or maybe even my life. Why do I think this? I don’t know. It was a recommendation from one of the archivists at the Archdiocese. I trust this guy’s opinion, though I think he may be on a different level. When I first met him he was translating an 18th century journal from Latin to English. 😬

I’m going to give it a try and see what I learn—probably more than I’d ever want to know! I was so desperate for it I ordered it from the lending library program! 🤷‍♀️ Hey, maybe when I finish I’ll pick up some lessons in Latin!

The book of First Kings

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ 4 Comments

I have no authority to teach you, these are only my own contemplative thoughts. You might disagree and that’s OK. .

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So they wanted a king, eh? Ok, give them a king.

And so, the Israelites got their wish. They rejected God as their king and asked for a human king. These human kings committed mistake after mistake(because they are not perfect), and it made me want to pull my hair out reading both first kings and second kings, because these guys witnessed some of God’s greatest miracles but then would reject God soon after. How could they do this?

It would be so easy and here’s why, and this is where my philosophy comes in: this ‘world’ is a heavy place—literally we are pulled by its gravity, held captive by it in many ways. We are getting heavy doses of worldly, secular stuff every day which keeps us tangled and confused. God will hand us a miracle today, but tomorrow we forget when someone cuts us off or a neighbor does something irritating. This is why the journey with God, completely and wholly without influence from the world—the place btw that lives and breaths around us and where most of us only see with our human eyes and the place we must move in daily—can be so difficult. We must try to see beyond the cloudy ether of this world. So, I almost sympathize with the terrible kings in these books, I too have been like them. The way with God is a way of constant discipline and much praying in silence to sometimes only receive silence in return. However, I think the key to setting ourselves free from worldly captivity is to establish a routine where we spend some time with God each day. Designating a time for you and God to be together, have coffee, talk, contemplate, just think about Him each day ( but try not to leave him completely behind, let Him remain in the back of your mind, carry Him with you) and watch the miracles unfold. At the very least (which is everything) it will lead you on the path to His gift of inner peace and joy. You’ll see. 🙂

The Gospel according to Mark

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

Is it wrong to say I found the book of Mark a little dry? It is wonderful to have the stories of Jesus told to us several different ways through the Gospels of Mark, Luke, John and Matthew, but I have in my notes from a year ago that I thought it was the driest version of Jesus’ ministry on earth. When I researched this a bit I learned that the Gospel of Mark was written by John Mark who was not a close follower of Jesus but who hung around Peter and sort of wrote down Jesus’ story through what Peter (an apostle) had to say about Jesus. It is the shortest of the gospels (which basically means, the good news), and the first. Mark’s gospel, some say, was meant to remember verbatim in order to recite or to use as a sermon, which explains its dry, straightforward quality. Which makes this post equally dry and straightforward. I put a link to the video I watched about this in my bio. I find this scholarly stuff really interesting. If any of this information is incorrect, I apologize, as it was gathered from the video. 🙂

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The book of Samuel

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

I have no authority to teach you. You might disagree and that’s ok.

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“Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” -1 Samuel 17:28

This is David’s brother speaking to him. No one knows anything of our hearts except God. We don’t know much of David at this point, but we know the sound of anger and probably jealousy in his brother’s voice, because David answers with, “Now what have I done?” David, however, does not let criticism stop him, he keeps on with his plan to follow God’s voice. People will always put intent on your motives, but you mustn’t get downhearted, especially when you know in your heart they are wrong. Only you and God can see your innerworkings and all your life up to this point. People will always judge you from the outside, but God looks within. I will add that it is the same for God, we mustn’t judge God based on another’s human interpretation. Even me, if I have ever said an untruth, I would beg someone to correct me, and I hope I would react with humility. We, you, know instinctively the truth of God’s word because His word lives in you and your soul will feel synchronized when you hear and see something that has pure God in it. So, follow this and let no one stop you from being your true good self and doing what you know is right. Remember, God is love. That is ALL.

The book of Psalms

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ 9 Comments

With my Bible readings I also read one psalm every day. For an introduction to the Bible this would be a good start—just read one psalm every day. The book of Psalms is a collection sacred songs and poems glorifying God. Most of them are written by King David, but my favorites are those written by the Sons of Korah. The Sons of Korah only wrote 12 of the 150 psalms. Their psalms are that of pure, genuine, humble, and beautiful praise of God. They rarely ask for anything from God except a call for Him to rescue them from an unjust world—much different from David’s psalms which, many times, ask for vengeance and violence against his enemies. I noticed the change in tone right away as I’m sure you would too. These speak to me and give me great comfort and my soul feels great peace.

My favorite verse…

“As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, my God.”

-Psalm 42:1

Also this…

“God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble

therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.” -Psalm 46:1-3

The book of Judges

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ 2 Comments

“Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.” –Judges 2:16

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Judges is one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. In this book, God raises up 12 judges over the course of 325 years to help keep the Israelites on the right path. I enjoyed this book because it helped me realize that I too had judges raised up for me in my life to help guide me. When my great grandpa (my grandmother’s father) died, I went 12 years before another person ‘passed through’ my life to lead me further to God. And I was lucky to have the perpetual guidance of my mother and grandmother. My other grandpa (my mother’s father) was a born again Christian and had a very aggressive approach to evangelism, but his wrong way guided me also, because I didn’t want to be like that. Since, I have thought much of my judges, and I give thanks to/for them and pray for them—which, to me, is basically any time I think of them with pure love and gratitude and meditate on their well-being with the knowledge of God’s presence(in this way many of us have ‘prayed’ without realizing it was prayer). Let us all give thanks to those who may have been our guides in the dark.