[u-dog]

Originally Posted by pnggrad79

Thanks, RevCobb, I hope you have found an affirming congregation in Virginia. My partner and I are going to a UCC church in Spring, but are literally starving for some spiritual "meat". We love, love, love the people, but the teaching is lacking in emphasis on spirituality. I guess I need more than just milk.

PNG, I've heard you say this before and I may even have said this to yOU before... (my brain is growing older by the day)... IS IT POSSIBLE.. that you are called to bring "the meat" to this particular "potluck"? Someone has labored to create the community that draws all of these people that you love together... that was THEIR offering. But you percieve that there is a certain spiritual piece that isn't there. Maybe that perception is an "itch" that the Holy SPirit is inflicting on you so that you will act to fill the need. I can guarantee you that you are NOT the only person who feels this need. Find them and then enrich your community by building something that meets the need. You are SUCH a mature and competant person. Trust your perception! A church isn't a "grocery store" where we have to be happy with whats there or look elsewhere. Its a spiritual "flea market" where we all bring our stuff and trade it around!

Jennifer-I hope to heaven you never find yourself in the same situation my daughter found herself in, because she carried this tremendous guilt around for months, and now wishes that she could go back and undo the damage. Grace is always there, but the damage is done, and all we can do now is move on.

This language about "damage" being done concerns me a little bit. Your daughter hasn't been "damaged" and she hasn't "damaged" anything. She is still perfectly, totally, wonderfully, beautifully "intact". She is unfolding according to God's plan. She made a painful mistep on the journey of life. She exercised poor judgement in the use of her God given gift of sexuality. Clearly, she wishes and you wish that she had chosen differently... but she didn't. Because the two of you (three of you including your wife) have remained open to one another in love and because you remain open to the healing and leading of God... God can and will use her mistep to shape and guide and strengthen her in ways that would not have been possible had she not made her mistake.

Thats the nature of Grace. We make mistakes ... and if we let him/her do it ... God takes those mistakes and turns them into blessings. As you remarked earlier... "All things work together for good for those who trust God" This may be the experience that allows/prepares your daughter to be a resource to someone else ... perhaps to save another persons life. Who knows?

So lose the "damaged" language! She would only have been damaged by this if she, and you and your wife had acted in a way that shut each other out and shut God out. You didn't and as a result she hasn't been damaged... she has been forged and shaped for service to a hurting world!

Thanks everyone, and please continue praying. You are the best.