The Interior Castle
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Ecstatic delight explodes within me as You breathe on me. My senses twirl in a litany of colors and emotions as I feel Your breath wash over me, caressing me like a lover. Tears cascade to the carpet as I encounter Your presence in such a strong and living way; I am love taken. I watch as You drink of the cup of my adoration and Your thirst is slaked. Your love has always satisfied this soul, but never in my dreams did I ever imagine my adoration and love would satisfy You so! You hand me the cup of Your intoxicating love from which to drink and slake my own thirst for You, my beloved. I am ravished by what I see in Your eyes for me, undone, disassembled in my being. I am a captured heart.
The aroma of worship rises from my lips to you like the fragrance of jasmine and myrrh; I hold up my hands in adoration and You fill them with Your glory. Beams of shining light emanate from Your heart to mine and I am filled with such love, it takes away my breath. Then and only then do I whisper words of love and adoration to the One who bought me at such cost, with such love. That which I have seen, that which I have touched, and that which I have known, I know. Away from You I am lovesick; with You I am smitten and filled with Your love. But always my desire is for more of YOU! ~ Bert Mystic Bliss Thompson
Like the oxygen rushing in and out of my lungs, He swirls around, beneath, beside, throughout and within me. Permeating the fibers of my existence, He is the ever present substance that holds my matter together.
Dependent upon Him, I rise. Resting in Him, I fall. Empowered with Him, I drift side to side. Alive as His blueprint, my thoughts infused with a deep craving for the weary, for those who've never heard, for the children, for the righteous, for the stolen ones, for the young, for the old, for the dying, for the confused, for the victors, for the broken, for the religious, for disfigured, for the one who's never known love, for the one who always has...for humanity, for the nation's.
Today, I choose to operate upon, in, with and as, His manifested compassionate touch. Won't you? ~ Jennifer Gibbs Wilburn
Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!
