Spiritual Sounding Board – This is your place to gather and share in an open format.
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Luke 18: 1 – 17
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Matthew 18: 10
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
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May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you from the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.
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Feel free to join the discussion.
You can share your church struggles and concerns.
Let’s also use it as a time to encourage one another spiritually.
What have you found spiritually encouraging lately?
Do you have any special Bible verses to share, any YouTube songs that you have found uplifting?
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photo credit – Kathi – Wahclella Falls, Oregon
Spiritual Sounding Board 
In my family I was raised with diverse Christian denominations, from Russian Orthodox Christian relatives to Presbyterians. My Russian grandparents’ little church had a choir off to the right, unseen, that sang songs and chants with no instruments. When I need some peace, I listen to these beautiful songs.
Here is “We Praise Thee”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntT2VemnVV8
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And some Black Gospel from the Gospel Legends. And Jennifer from Dream Girls
sings “Where Would I Be” starting at about 4 1/2 minutes. Powerful voice!
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Here’s a re-post of the Russian Orthodox Chant, which didn’t show up properly in my first comment.
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Thank you Kathi and Velour for the beautiful music. It so much fills my heart to hear such talent glorifying God in their own way.
My eyes aren’t working too well this morning, so I will probably listening to an online sermon. This will be week #5 that I haven’t made it to church. My boss has been picking me up for work. I am blessed to work for the man that I do. I am hoping this relapse of MS is over soon. If you think about it, please pray for healing. I would like to get through at least 3 more years of working. Lord’s will be done.
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Praying for healing for you, dear Brenda!
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Brenda R., I think it’s you I still owe the Bible CDs to. I’m sorry for the long delay.
My computer crashed months ago and I lost the info. Could you please email your mailing address to Julie Anne again and ask her to email it to me. I will mail the package to you this week.
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Wow; 2 Sunday posts back to back. I hope that means “no news is good news” on all the disturbing reports. Or at least no worse news. Here’s a song we sang at church that gave me great encouragement that I need. May it encourage you all as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8C1EEztZ7w
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Thank you, JPU. I’ll post an update soon. Thanks for posting the video. I love all the contributions today!
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JA, I hope all is well with you! We miss you, but hope your silence means you are getting rest and not that you are not well.
I love keeping up with all your posts! Please let us know how you are. You are in my prayers xo Ann
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Velour, Don’t sweat the small stuff. I do appreciate you, very much. Thank you Kathi and anyone praying. I pray for you, also.
I found out last night that my cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that had gone to his brain, he was put in hospice and died in less than a months time. His brother who had been without one leg for decades lost the other leg during the same period of time. He had made his wishes known to let him go if it came to that, but my Aunt couldn’t give up her only other child and gave permission to the docs to take it. There is a whole lot of healing needed in my family, as I am sure that there is in many of yours. ((((Jesus)))) Even now, come quickly.
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need to chat u privately
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