You Say... (What inspired the following postings)

I often receive forwarded emails from my friends. Many times they are of religious content. Just today I received one that has a chart in it, entitle God Has A Positive Answer.
I find, that the chart is well intentioned, however, it does not make me feel any better. The content is typical for our religious approach to spirituality – it is, for my life, rather removed from reality. However, if I look at the content of the messages in a different perspective, it suddenly is very applicable to my life.
I thought, I take this opportunity as inspiration to try to ponder the different topics in the chart, looking at them in a different light; rather non-traditional and unconventional but closer to my real life.
I hope these ideas will trigger some thoughts in you and help you find the answers that are true and real in your life.
The chart consists of three columns: You say, God says, Verse. I don't list the chart here, as I find it does not provide much relief. Instead, I just take the “You say...” column and write what I would tell you, if you had said this to me...