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What God Is Doing in the Dark Night of the Senses

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  When everything feels absent, God is not gone — God is working underground. 🌘 1. God is teaching you to love without reward In the early stages of prayer, we often love because we feel loved. In this night, God withdraws the sweetness so that love can mature. It’s the difference between loving a friend for their gifts and loving them simply for who they are. 🌘 2. God is purifying the senses The senses are not bad — they’re just limited. They can only grasp what is tangible, emotional, or imagined. God is preparing the soul to perceive the divine in a deeper way — through faith, not feeling. 🌘 3. God is shifting your center of gravity Before the night, your spiritual life may have revolved around experience. After the night, it begins to revolve around presence. You move from “I feel God” to “I trust God.” That shift is the foundation of contemplative union. 🌘 4. God is cultivating interior stillness The silence that feels empty is actually fertile. It’s the soil where divine...

Publisher's Pride: Books on Bestseller Lists - Travels with Elly (MacDonald)

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  Today's publisher's pride is Travels with Elly by Larry MacDonald, which reached #145 in travel with pets books. Book description: Discover Canada like never before -- from a personal perspective, similar to John Steinbeck's view of America in his 1960 book Travels with Charley . The author travels from coast to coast in a trailer with his wife and pets, including their Standard Poodle, Elly, in order to gain a better understanding of his adopted country. Interspersed between descriptions of history, cultures, places, and icons are the author's reflections on various things such as Elly's antics, signage, ferries, political injustice, environmental issues, and animal instincts. To provide a canine's perspective, Elly reflects on things of interest to her, including cats, cows, and other critters...but especially cats! Where was Canada's first settlement? What is its prettiest town? When and where was its most devastating shipwreck? And who was its greatest ...

How Opposites Argue — and How They Can Settle Differences Gently: Rationals (Judgers) vs. Irrationals (Perceivers) in Conflict

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  When Rationals and Irrationals argue, they’re not just disagreeing about what’s right — they’re disagreeing about how life should flow . Rationals trust structure and closure. Irrationals trust flexibility and discovery. Each believes they’re being responsible; each feels the other is being unreasonable. Why They Argue Differently 1. Different Rhythms of Decision Rationals (Judgers) prefer to decide early and stick to it. Irrationals (Perceivers) prefer to keep options open until the last possible moment. Research on cognitive tempo shows that Judgers experience stress from uncertainty, while Perceivers experience stress from rigidity. So when a Rational says, “We need to decide now,” and an Irrational says, “Let’s wait and see,” they’re both trying to reduce anxiety — just in opposite ways. 2. Time Orientation Rationals live by schedules and deadlines. Irrationals live by flow and responsiveness. In conflict, this means: Rationals want resolution that restores order. Ir...