If we define encounters of goodness as those experiences which have moved us towards drawing us to God, there are many, both good and bad. Even the bad ones taught me that pursuing desires for ultimate contentment in life does not work because we will always want more of what we desire. This is why we are told to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and not lean on our own understanding. When we rest from our thoughts and desires using unconditional trust in God we can have peace and agape love from God as fruits of the Spirit. God’s power is what frees us to be open to others instead of being enclosed in our pursuit of deceitful desires.
Sometimes, there is a bitterness that arises from negative. Experiencing evil, without it being touched by grace, really doesn't bear any fruit. It is the grace that certainly inclines us towards the good. But from a phenomenological point of view, there is a natural grace in us, that when we experience evil it is precisely our nature that inclines us to be averse to it.
I suspect that negative experiences that God eventually uses for our drawing close to Him are not perceived by us as such until we actually draw close to God in order to open up to grace. Then we can look back and see how they eventually worked out for our good. The frustrations from my past experiences of not finding peace in different ways moved me toward eventually finding it in God.
If we define encounters of goodness as those experiences which have moved us towards drawing us to God, there are many, both good and bad. Even the bad ones taught me that pursuing desires for ultimate contentment in life does not work because we will always want more of what we desire. This is why we are told to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and not lean on our own understanding. When we rest from our thoughts and desires using unconditional trust in God we can have peace and agape love from God as fruits of the Spirit. God’s power is what frees us to be open to others instead of being enclosed in our pursuit of deceitful desires.
Sometimes, there is a bitterness that arises from negative. Experiencing evil, without it being touched by grace, really doesn't bear any fruit. It is the grace that certainly inclines us towards the good. But from a phenomenological point of view, there is a natural grace in us, that when we experience evil it is precisely our nature that inclines us to be averse to it.
I suspect that negative experiences that God eventually uses for our drawing close to Him are not perceived by us as such until we actually draw close to God in order to open up to grace. Then we can look back and see how they eventually worked out for our good. The frustrations from my past experiences of not finding peace in different ways moved me toward eventually finding it in God.