Your Relationship With GOD

MY RESPONSES (AS I ANSWER) WILL BE IN ITALICS

1. Write down in one or two sentences your own definition, feeling and experience of God.
God is the source, center and summit of all life.

2. Which of the following words fit your conception, feeling and/or experience of God.

Father Mother Friend
Protector Beloved Ruler
Judge Spirit Intelligence
Energy Creator Forgiveness
Love Merciful Punishment
Helper Provider Transcendent
Within Above Presence
Kind Fierce All-knowing
Participant Uninvolved Almighty

3. What role does God play (or not play) in your life?
God is a centering force in my life, the One who keeps me focussed on what really matters in life, who makes it possible for me to experience peace, acceptance, love when I am living in harmony with him

4. If you could ask only three questions of God, what would they be?
I'll just focus on trusting instead of asking questions...

5. If you could have God fulfill three specific wishes or requests, what would they be?
I believe that God empowers us to fulfill our own wishes and dreams (even the noblest amd most unselfish of wishes), but it is always up to us to do the work.

6. To identify the ways in which you most need to make peace with God, answer yes or no to the following questions:

* Do you feel you have turned away from God - or that God has turned away from you? At times, but whenever I have found myself wandering off on my own, I am soon reminded of who and what really does matter...

* Do you ever feel unworthy of receiving God's love? No

* Do you sometimes get angry at God? No, I get angry with myself

* Do you ever doubt God's existence? No, but sometime's I wonder whether G-O-O-D exists

* Do you ever feel afraid of God's wrath? No

* Do you ever wonder why God allows evil and suffering to exist? No, God doesn't allow it... humanity does

* Are your spiritual beliefs in conflict with those of your family or your religious heritage? No

* Do you yearn to experience - or reexperience - God's presence? Always

7. Examine Your Spiritual History.

* How would you characterize the way your parents or step-parents felt about God? Probably a blend of hope, faith and superstition

* What did they teach you, explicitly and implicitly, about spirituality? That always at the center of spirituality is love

* In what ways, if any, was your spirituality affected by other family members, e.g. uncles, aunts, siblings, grandparents? It wasn't

* Was God a source of love and joy? Yes

* Was God used to intimidate or shame you, or make you feel sinful or unworthy? No

* What influence, if any, did specific clergy have on your developing attitudes toward God and religion? All the difference in the world. John Grathwohl became my mentor and led me on a path leading to ordination

* Were religious occasions a pleasant, rich experience, or did you resent having to take part? After my conversion, pleasant and rich

* How has your attitude toward God changed in adulthood? It has evolved from what I needed or hoped God to be to acceptance of who and what God is

* Have you come to question any of your early beliefs? Reject them? Disdain them? No

* What were the turning points in your religious or spiritual development? Conversion, ordination, marriage, children, marriage breakup

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