It is true, it is REALLY true.
It is not an allegory.
It is not for a few select saints.
Life in Christ is for me.
I was created for this, designed for this life.
Twenty-five years ago, my husband discovered a book at a Trappist monastery that changed our lives, called “Guideline to Mystical Prayer” by a British Carmelite nun, Ruth Burrows. She describes Petra, who is a woman who lives only by faith without any experiences of God, and Claire who is a “light on” nun who experiences mystical encounters. Both women know with absolute clarity that it was no longer they that lived but Christ who lived in them.
My husband and I were filled with an exuberant joy because we felt legitimized because we identified with Claire and we realized that holiness was real and was.possible.
“I have been crucified with Christ and
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God, for me.”
-Galatians 2:20
- My small success is that every time I surrender, it gets easier. Last friday I experienced an epiphany when I realized that there is no spiritual mountain that I must cling. With a mustard seed of faith, I look to the Spirit within me and bang..anxiety leaves and I feel His joy bubbling up. He is within me. No effort or work involved.
- This life in Christ is not unattainable but so very close to me that i could weep, weep in relief, weep in longing for this promised life is as close to me as my breath. I can taste it, smell it for He is near, around and in me, waiting patiently for the last final surrender, after thousands of tiny deaths, I am finally ‘getting it”.
joy of nine9 
Melanie, may I copy and paste this picture on Face Book and your words below it if I credit it to you?
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of course
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Wonderful. Thanks for the encouragement.
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🙂
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What an excellent post. I don’t know if i’ve reached your level of being crucified in Christ – I’m only six years into my religious transformation – but i hope to some day. Thank you Melanie.
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it is thrilling to know that is possible
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YOU, my dear are a fantastic writer and an inspiration. Christ is in Me. And HE makes me want everything else OUT! See, I’m not as eloquent as you. Your blog ALWAYS is like salt and light to me. THANK YOU!
God is good.
em
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you making me teary- thank-you. I only started writing 2 years ago with a couple of posts in Feb. 2012
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I can feel Christ and I need that sometimes. It’s real. It’s not the fake “look what I do aren’t I great, I’m so Christian”… it’s the “He and I are a pair on fire” that you emanate. And I like your style, what can I say… Amazing.
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now I am going to cry.. because that is exactly what happens when I write..my chest and hands burn and the words flow..not much planning or thought. That is why organizing pages and static home page almost killed me today till Christina T. helped me step by step. I am a techno idiot
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Well, let’s just say God put me in the right place. Happy to make you happy… to let you know you are doing this right – MORE THAN RIGHT!
I’m off to read. But know that you make a difference and that means something. Remember it.
Blessings,
Em
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🙂
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What an amazing place to have come to! It’s wonderful that you and your husband have found it together.
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we are opposite in personality but always on the same page in our inner life- unfathomable but wonderful
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