“Whether we believe or not, we belong to God. Whether we understand it or not, or feel His presence or not, or rejoice in that presence or not, He exists. He is my God. He is my Lord. Even during moments of darkness and terror, when God doesn’t exist for me, He still exists. When I feel I’m a failure, when all my efforts seem fruitless, when my life seems to have passed in vain, Christ is still my Christ. He is there for me no matter what happens. He exists irrespective of my capabilities, capacities, and comprehension. I might imagine that God is small. But God is great. I might think that God doesn’t hear. But He does. And He has given Himself entirely to me, so that there’s only one possibility of failure: for me to break off my relationship with the ‘One Who Is’ (Ex. 3:14).”
+ Elder Aimilianos of Simonaspetra Monstery, Mt. Athos
Gladsome Lights 
That’s beautiful. Where is it from? One of his books?
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I found it in our parish bulletin, but then also here http://www.holycross-orthodox.org/weekly-updates/2016/2/8/x9vlh16b6f8vb2dhtxls9lddh7jk57
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This is a beautiful reminder.
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These times come to all of us. Clinging to His promises gets us through. Thank you for sharing this.
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I love this quote!
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Wonderful! For the longest time, I have felt abandoned but always remember Christianity isn’t based on feelings or emotions, it’s based on God’s grace, love and mercy. God has a plan. But I do wish He’d share just a little…smile.
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Amen!
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Wonderful for Valentine’s.
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Simply beautiful.
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A perfect “valentine”! – a reminder of His great love for us!
OXOXO GJ!
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God is so immense, so unimaginably immense, that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. But also, full of trust.
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Thank you for this, Gretchen.
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Lovely! Reminds me of something I read in First Things today about the spiritual side of depression. I don’t know that we’ll ever quite figure out why God seems to disappear just when we need him most, but I do believe that he is very sympathetic to our struggle.
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