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    "My conversion involved as yet no belief in a future life. I now number it among my greatest mercies that I was permitted for several months, perhaps for a year, to know God and to attempt obedience without even raising that question. My training was like that of the Jews, to whom He revealed Himself centuries before there was a whisper of anything better (or worse) beyond the grave than shadowy and featureless Sheol. And I did not dream even of that. There are men, far better men than I, who have made immortality almost the central doctrine of their religion; but for my own part I have never seen how a preoccupation with that subject ar the outset could fail to corrupt the whole thing. I had been brought up to believe that goodness was goodness only if it were disinterested, and that any hope of reward or fear of punishment contaminated the will. If I was wrong in this (the question is really much more complicated than I then perceived) my error was most tenderly allowed for. I was afraid that threats or promises would demoralize me; no threats or promises were made. The commands were inexorable, but they were backed by no 'sanctions'. God was to be obeyed simply because He was God. Long since, through the gods of Asgard, and later through the notion of the Absolute, He had taught me how a thing can be revered not for what it can do to us but for what it is in itself. That is why, though it was a terror, it was no surprise to learn that God is to be obeyed because of what He is in Himself. If you ask why we should obey God, in the last resort the answer is, 'I am'. To know God is to know that our obedience is due to Him. In His nature His sovereignty de jure is revealed.
    Of course, as I have said, the matter is more complicated than that. The primal and necessary Being, the Creator, has sovereignty de facto as de jure. He has the power as well as the kingdom and the glory. But the de jure sovereignty was made known to me before the power, the right before the might. And for this I am thankful. I think it is well, even now, sometimes to say to ourselves, 'God is such that if (per impossibile) his power could vanish and His other attributes remain, so that the supreme right were forever robbed of the supreme might, we should still owe Him precisely the same kind and degree of allegiance as we now do'. On the other hand, while it is true to say that God's own nature is the real sanction of His commands, yet to understand this must, in the end, lead us to the conclusion that union with that Nature is bliss and separation from it horror. Thus Heaven and Hell come in. But it may well be that to think much of either except in this context of thought, to hypostatize them as if they had substancial meaning apart from the presence or absence of God, corrupts the doctrine of both and corrupts us while we so think of them".

(Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p. 231-232)

Senhor,

Ao contrário de C. S. Lewis, conheci-Te primeiro através das Tuas promessas, e só mais tarde aprendi e apreendi o Teu Senhorio por direito, sobre tudo quanto há. Percorro o percurso inverso ao deste autor, pedindo-Te, "Autor e Consumador da Fé", que me ensines a amar-Te e a obedecer-Te sem olhar a recompensas e ameaças, mas sim (e tão somente) por aquilo que és. Quero ajoelhar-me na Tua presença e em silêncio, em êxtase, ser transformada, purificada, refeita à Tua imagem. Quanto mais olho para Ti, mais me abismo com a Tua formosura, com a minha fealdade e com o Teu amor sobrenatural. Escrevo e oro e penso tantas coisas... Ó Senhor, faz-me nova. Que eu tenha uma vida que "supera intenções" e Te busca na prática, "em espírito e em verdade", dando-Te aquilo que é Teu por direito: toda a honra, toda a glória, todo o poder. Em nome de Jesus, amém. 

1 Samuel 2:1-10

It took a quarter of a century...

... but it happened. At last, "Fiddler on the Roof" came my way. There was laughter, there was crying, and a great deal of amazement. Of all the characters, Reb Tevye resonated with me the most. My next goal is to meet him in his original form, brought to life by Sholem Aleichem's hand. I have the tendency to fall in love easily, but great story-tellers make it absurdly simple. Paint me a portrait of the human nature with humor and context, in narrative form, and my heart is won over. It's that straightforward. Easy as pie.

Tareia em Colossenses

"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." (Colossians 1:9-12, NASB).

Avenida da Liberdade, Lisboa

"Por esta razão, nós também, desde o dia em que o ouvimos, não cessamos de orar por vós e de pedir que sejais cheios do conhecimento da sua vontade, em toda a sabedoria e inteligência espiritual; para que possais andar dignamente diante do Senhor, agradando-lhe em tudo, frutificando em toda boa obra e crescendo no conhecimento de Deus; corroborados em toda a fortaleza, segundo a força da sua glória, em toda a paciência e longanimidade, com gozo, dando graças ao Pai, que nos fez idôneos para participar da herança dos santos na luz" (Colossenses 1:9-12, ARC)

Sobre o carácter feminino

Os ensinamentos básicos sobre namoro, sexo e afins foram-me transmitidos durante a adolescência. Acampamentos de Verão, retiros de Páscoa e programas especiais da EBD não deixavam de pregar: não se metam em avarias,"o verdadeiro amor espera", etc.

Porém, só aos vinte e um é que comecei a tentar compreender estas coisas com uma intencionalidade diferente (a S. teve muita influência no processo). Livros, artigos, pregações, entrevistas e sei lá que mais foram devorados, mastigados, escrutinados com avidez. Os assuntos não mudaram: namoro, casamento, permanecer solteira, o carácter masculino aos olhos de Deus, o carácter feminino aos olhos Deus... mas a profundidade com que foram estudados deu-me uma visão bem diferente daquela adquirida nos primeiros anos de cristianismo. 

Não é pelas muitas leituras e audições que me considero muito sabida no assunto. Pelo contrário, quanto mais absorvo mais me apercebo quão ignorante sou. Hoje não só tive uma consciência renovada da minha ignorância, como me senti deveras pequenina. A culpa, já se sabe, é do trabalho do Senhor através do pastor John Piper. Os desafios desta pregação são simples, mas árduos. Deus me dê a graça de  não ser teologicamente mariquinhas, de não ser fracota na aplicação destas verdades básicas, mas transcendentemente profundas. E Deus me ajude a mastigar e engolir tudo isto... (suspiro). É muita areia para a minha camioneta.

Easy

Tyndale - Bayview Campus

It is so easy, o Lord, to praise You in the midst of green pastures.

To worship You when the birds sing, and the breeze declares the wonders of Your creation.

It is so easy to be amazed by Your love when the afternoon is filled with sun, and blue,

when supper is a delightful guaranty,  when all over the place, the grass is green.

Help me, o Lord, to have this kind of disposition when the cold winds come

When the snow buries all that is lovely, and pure, and joyful.

Help me to praise You in the desert, in the barren places,

Through the painful paths of uncertainty and nothingness.

Help me, o Lord, to not overemphasized the beauty of Spring,

or the harshness of Winter, 

And simply see You, through all and in all.

Show me Your love, o Most High, every day, in every way.

Cause my heart to worship regardless of its surroundings.

Teach me how easy it can be if You are all that I see.