Beloved

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The Hour of Power you tube video was of Mr. Nouwen on being God’s Beloved (Being the Beloved (FULL) by Henri Nouwen). The chart of the zig zag short life was a visual reminder of how interaction and influences can redirect the personal view of who we are. Jesus was told by God that he was Beloved, and this gave him strength during his earthly trials. When it was described that even Jesus relied on this knowledge to make it through, I realized how important it is for me to do the same more consistently. I will hold on to this as I begin my first semester at William Jessup University. As I was watching, I questioned who was Mr. Nouwen. Did he die before 2010? Pausing the video, I discovered he was a Dutch Catholic Priest who wrote many books, served those who had developmental disabilities and he suffered from clinical …show more content…

Nouwen pointed out that we are affected by what people say and think of us. Our mood, attitude and displays of self-confidence are capable of being swayed by comments, awards, acclimations, words from those around us. The most helpful and harmful can be from those closest to us. Family is the first place we gain knowledge of who we are and how we compare. My brother is a natural learner, who can hardly look at a book and do well in school. I was unable to read until about 5th grade. At that time all the hard work to learn a different way to read took hold and here I am today, a college student with a 3.5 GPA!!! My mom would not let others be judgmental of me as I was working towards the goal of reading. She kept me current on all the knowledge my age group was partaking in by reading everything out loud to me and writing down what I wanted to say. I now love to read and continue to do so differently than others. I take from these years the realization that you can change, do not have to be who others think you are and need to remember that difficulties do happen, but through God and perseverance paths can change and

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