MSI Press Blog

A true encounter with God—one of those moments that rearranges the interior furniture of the soul—never leaves a person where they were. It may come quietly, like a soft shift in the heart, or with force, like a spiritual earthquake. But however it arrives, the aftermath is unmistakable: life is no longer lived on the same terms. 1. The Immediate Afterglow: Clarity, Tenderness, and Disruption The first hours or days after such an encounter often feel strangely illuminated. Ordinary things look different. Conversations carry more weight. The heart feels tender, porous, receptive. People often describe a sense of rightness —as though something deep inside has finally aligned. But this clarity is often paired with disruption. Old habits suddenly feel incompatible. Long‑held assumptions wobble. The soul senses that something has shifted, even if the mind hasn’t caught up. A transforming encounter with God is rarely just comfort; it is also reorientation. 2. The Unsettling Middle: When the ...

  Mystical experiences—moments of union, illumination, or transcendence—have been reported across centuries and cultures. Yet they seem to visit some people often and others never. Why? 🌿 1. The readiness of perception Mystical awareness may depend less on divine favoritism and more on attentional openness . Some people cultivate silence, contemplation, or awe—conditions that quiet the analytical mind and heighten intuitive perception. Others live in constant sensory and emotional noise, leaving little space for subtle experience to register. 🔥 2. The temperament factor Psychologists note that people high in “openness to experience” (one of the Big Five personality traits) are more likely to report mystical states. They notice patterns, beauty, and paradox without needing immediate explanation. Those wired for control and predictability may resist the surrender such experiences require. 🌊 3. The neurological doorway Neuroscience suggests that mystical states correlate with decre...

  An encounter with God rarely announces itself with fanfare. It may arrive in silence, in crisis, in beauty, or in the ordinary rhythm of a day. Yet when it happens—when a person truly meets the divine—the axis of life tilts. What once seemed central begins to shift, and what once felt peripheral becomes luminous. 1. The Disruption of Certainty To encounter God is to be interrupted. The tidy architecture of belief, identity, and control suddenly feels too small. You realize that the divine does not fit inside your categories—it dismantles them. This disruption is not destruction; it’s revelation. It exposes the scaffolding of self that was never meant to bear the full weight of meaning. 2. The Reorientation of Desire Transformation begins when desire itself changes. The encounter awakens a hunger not for possession or achievement, but for presence. You start to crave integrity, compassion, truthfulness, and mercy—not as moral duties, but as the natural language of love. The heart ...

  This week editor's choice:   Blest Atheist by Elizabeth Mahlou Book Description: As a young child, outraged by the hypocrisy she finds in a church that does nothing to alleviate the physical and sexual abuse she experiences on a regular basis, Beth delivers an accusatory youth sermon and gets her family expelled from the church. Having locked the door on God, Beth goes on to raise a family of seven children, learn 17 languages, and enjoy a career that takes her to NASA, Washington, and 24 countries. All the time, however, God keeps knocking at the door, protecting and blessing her, which she realizes only decades later. Ultimately, Beth finds God in a very simple yet most unusual way. A very human story, Blest Atheist encompasses the greatest literary themes of all time – alienation, redemption, and even the miraculous. The author’s life experiences, both tragic and tremendous, result in a spiritual journey containing significant ups and downs that ultimately yield gr...