Thomas Keating Quotes

I didn't have a rigidly enforced religious parental pressure, but I did have a few years in my mid-teens of turning to religion, and it was very meaningful to me.

You do not need to understand healing to be healed or know anything about blessing to be blessed.

I want to tell you about the God that actually showed up and healed my heart. Not the God I grew up, because the God I grew up was fundamentally, and I use the word advisedly, fundamentally untrustworthy -- schizophrenic, narcissistic, unreachable, unknowable, and my concept within which I grew up was that Jesus -- He likes me -- but He came to save me from God the Father -- who was the one who was angry and distant, and unreachable, unknowable. All of that had to come crashing down.

I don't want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit.

Read the Bible and inspirational books for a purpose. Ask for divine guidance. Search for the light.

The Bible is the proper book for men. There the truth is distinguished from error far more clearly than anywhere else, and one finds something new in it every day. For twenty-eight years, since I became a doctor, I have now constantly read and preached the Bible; and yet I have not exhausted it but find something new in it every day.

God will bring people and events into our lives, and whatever we may think about them, they are designed for the evolution of His life in us.

I only wish that I had had the courage and the knowledge to have gotten that out of my system, out of my mind or my heart years earlier. But there is no book, there is no manual to tell you how to deal with sexual abuse.

If Jesus heals instantly, praise Him. If Jesus heals gradually, trust Him. When Jesus heals ultimately, you will understand.

Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Healing is the discovery of the Divinity within.

A tension or difficulty can signal the approach of a new grace of God. But it has to be looked at wisely and humanly.

The most important healing - realizing who you are. The healing on the outer level is fine, but it's not the essence of healing.

Why isn't there a book about someone losing their faith and it being a beautiful experience?

I think one of the most rewarding experiences in life is to see people come to Christ and make lifestyle changes. When that happens, you definitely see God behind it. This year we've seen eight students make first-time decisions for Christ and when I see that, it's a great feeling. I'm really thankful that God is changing somebody, or sometimes he's changing me.

The call of God creates sight in us. It's the work of God in our hearts to awaken us before his word.

The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us.

Sometimes, if you're like me, [God] will brace or reprove in a highly personal process not understood or appreciated by those outside the context.

What breaks your heart is part of a divine design to bring change!

Part of the faith walk is to understand your weaknesses and is to constantly try to embetter yourself and get closer to the Lord.

So many of us start along the spiritual path because we are suffering. But you must realize that for real healing to occur, there must first be deep compassion for yourself, especially the parts of yourself you dislike or consider ugly.

Religion is not an end in itself. One's union with God is the ultimate goal.

I used to think God guided us by opening and closing doors, but now I know sometimes God wants us to kick some doors down.

After more than sixty years of almost daily reading of the Bible, I never fail to find it always new and marvelously in tune with the changing needs of every day.

I get sent Bibles. I have a collection of about 20 in my room. People think I need to be guided.