Sometimes the perfect blog topic falls right into my lap. ;) A friend posed this question yesterday: "What if your identity, your existence was defined by the worst thing you ever did?"
I love this question because it not only made me think about how *I* would feel, but also how I handle other people's past mistakes. In my 37 years of life, I have done some pretty despicable things. If I were to be judged only on the worst thing I ever did, I just don't know if I could live with myself. There would be no chance for redemption. Of course, what one person saw as the worst thing I ever did may be totally different than what someone else saw as my worst thing, so I'd be going through life with all of this ugliness hanging over my head, branding me a big loser to everyone I knew! I can only imagine the things I'd be branded with. I shudder just thinking about it.
What about you? If you were defined by the worst thing you ever did, how would you feel? Is it something that you could deal with, or is it something that would eat you up inside? Is it something you could brush off or something you would spend the rest of your life trying to get out from under?
Jesus told St. Faustina (my beloved confirmation saint, by the way!), "My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.” How thankful I am that no matter how awful my past is, no matter what the worst thing is that I have done, I can be forgiven. The only one whose opinion of me truly matters is God's. Granted, in this earthly life, I'd love to have everyone I've ever hurt or everyone who's been a victim of my past mistakes to forgive me, but even if that doesn't happen, I can find solace in God's mercy and forgiveness.
As our Blessed Savior was dying on the cross, one of the things He said was,"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."(Luke 23:34) Stop and ponder that statement for a moment. After He had been subjected to all forms of cruel torture and the nails were hammered into His flesh, Christ asked God to forgive the ones who did it AND to forgive US because it was our sins that pierced his flesh with those nails. How do we handle forgiving those who hurt us? How often do we leave the past in the past? Speaking for myself, it's sometimes very hard. We equate holding a grudge against someone with having power over them. We can pull up their past and use it to hurt them. What does that say about us? Does that not make us even lower than whatever they did? Just something to think about.
Praying that today God touches my heart and really helps me to forgive those who have hurt me or caused me grief in the past so that I, too, may be forgiven by Him for things I may have done to others.
Showing posts with label mercy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mercy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Understanding Purgatory (Yes, It Exists!)
One of the things I learned during my adult faith formation classes before I converted to Catholicism is that Protestants do not believe in purgatory. Up until I was taking those classes, I didn't know it existed as it does; I considered purgatory and hell to be one and the same. They couldn't be more different!
It is a popular belief (especially with Protestant denominations) that when a person is baptized and commits their lives to Christ, they are bound for Heaven, no pitstops in between. This is both presumptuous and erroneous. We are not promised that we're going straight to Heaven immediately upon death. That would be nice, but it's not realistic. We console each other by saying, after a loved one's death, that they're in Heaven now and that everything is fine. The truth is that, unless they lived a life of incredible holiness, they're probably not there yet. And unless they consciously chose to reject God and His love for them, they're not in hell, either. So where do they go? The answer is purgatory.
Purgatory is a place where the dearly departed WHO ARE ASSURED OF GOING TO HEAVEN go to be purified of any stain of sin that was on their soul when they passed from this earth. If you drop dead the moment you walk out of the Confessional and you've really honestly confessed all the sins you could remember and were absolved of your sins, you can pretty much be assured of going straight to Heaven. But that's pretty much one of the only ways that I can think of.
I believe that purgatory is just another one of God's mercies toward us sinners. He doesn't want us to be separated from Him, but nothing unclean can enter into Heaven (can you even begin to imagine how awesome it will be when we finally get there?!). In His mercy, He allows us to spend some time in purgatory to purge all of our sins, to cleanse us completely so we can enter into Heaven with Him. It is not meant as punishment (although some may view it to be so because they are temporarily separated from God).
Each time I pray the rosary, I begin with offering it up for all the souls in purgatory, especially the souls of my departed family and friends. We have many opportunities to help the souls in purgatory, but few take the time to do it, and even more don't even know that our prayers, rosaries, Masses, Stations of the Cross, etc., help them. When I think about my loved ones who have passed from this world, I know that I don't know where they are, but I cannot think of any reason at all why any of them would be anywhere but in Heaven or headed there. A powerful prayer for those in purgatory is this:
O Lord, who art ever merciful and bounteous with Thy gifts, look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory. Remember not their offenses and negligences, but be mindful of Thy loving mercy, which is from all eternity. Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires that they may be made worthy to behold Thee, face to face, in Thy glory. May they soon be united with Thee and hear those blessed words which will call them to their heavenly home: "Come, blessed of My Father; take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Another, simpler one goes like this:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
In turn for our prayers, once they are released from purgatory, they will be some of our most powerful intercessors before the throne of God! They will help us because we helped them. There are so many souls in purgatory who remain there for terribly long amounts of time because they have no one to pray for them (or not one who WILL pray for them). No prayer for the souls in purgatory ever gets wasted. God's mercy will never be outdone, either. :) So let us remember this the next time our loved ones leave this life for their eternal one.
It is a popular belief (especially with Protestant denominations) that when a person is baptized and commits their lives to Christ, they are bound for Heaven, no pitstops in between. This is both presumptuous and erroneous. We are not promised that we're going straight to Heaven immediately upon death. That would be nice, but it's not realistic. We console each other by saying, after a loved one's death, that they're in Heaven now and that everything is fine. The truth is that, unless they lived a life of incredible holiness, they're probably not there yet. And unless they consciously chose to reject God and His love for them, they're not in hell, either. So where do they go? The answer is purgatory.
Purgatory is a place where the dearly departed WHO ARE ASSURED OF GOING TO HEAVEN go to be purified of any stain of sin that was on their soul when they passed from this earth. If you drop dead the moment you walk out of the Confessional and you've really honestly confessed all the sins you could remember and were absolved of your sins, you can pretty much be assured of going straight to Heaven. But that's pretty much one of the only ways that I can think of.
I believe that purgatory is just another one of God's mercies toward us sinners. He doesn't want us to be separated from Him, but nothing unclean can enter into Heaven (can you even begin to imagine how awesome it will be when we finally get there?!). In His mercy, He allows us to spend some time in purgatory to purge all of our sins, to cleanse us completely so we can enter into Heaven with Him. It is not meant as punishment (although some may view it to be so because they are temporarily separated from God).
Each time I pray the rosary, I begin with offering it up for all the souls in purgatory, especially the souls of my departed family and friends. We have many opportunities to help the souls in purgatory, but few take the time to do it, and even more don't even know that our prayers, rosaries, Masses, Stations of the Cross, etc., help them. When I think about my loved ones who have passed from this world, I know that I don't know where they are, but I cannot think of any reason at all why any of them would be anywhere but in Heaven or headed there. A powerful prayer for those in purgatory is this:
O Lord, who art ever merciful and bounteous with Thy gifts, look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory. Remember not their offenses and negligences, but be mindful of Thy loving mercy, which is from all eternity. Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires that they may be made worthy to behold Thee, face to face, in Thy glory. May they soon be united with Thee and hear those blessed words which will call them to their heavenly home: "Come, blessed of My Father; take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Another, simpler one goes like this:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
In turn for our prayers, once they are released from purgatory, they will be some of our most powerful intercessors before the throne of God! They will help us because we helped them. There are so many souls in purgatory who remain there for terribly long amounts of time because they have no one to pray for them (or not one who WILL pray for them). No prayer for the souls in purgatory ever gets wasted. God's mercy will never be outdone, either. :) So let us remember this the next time our loved ones leave this life for their eternal one.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
God Doesn't Hate Us
In the past few days I have had two people claim that God hated them. I understand why they said it -- they were both struggling, both with different situations, but struggling nonetheless. They'd lost their footing and felt that God had turned His back on them in their times of need. So I could understand that in their frustration and anger, they would say those things. This doesn't mean that it didn't sting my heart to hear people who once claimed to love God say those things.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Showing posts with label mercy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mercy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
The Worst Thing You Ever Did
Sometimes the perfect blog topic falls right into my lap. ;) A friend posed this question yesterday: "What if your identity, your existence was defined by the worst thing you ever did?"
I love this question because it not only made me think about how *I* would feel, but also how I handle other people's past mistakes. In my 37 years of life, I have done some pretty despicable things. If I were to be judged only on the worst thing I ever did, I just don't know if I could live with myself. There would be no chance for redemption. Of course, what one person saw as the worst thing I ever did may be totally different than what someone else saw as my worst thing, so I'd be going through life with all of this ugliness hanging over my head, branding me a big loser to everyone I knew! I can only imagine the things I'd be branded with. I shudder just thinking about it.
What about you? If you were defined by the worst thing you ever did, how would you feel? Is it something that you could deal with, or is it something that would eat you up inside? Is it something you could brush off or something you would spend the rest of your life trying to get out from under?
Jesus told St. Faustina (my beloved confirmation saint, by the way!), "My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.” How thankful I am that no matter how awful my past is, no matter what the worst thing is that I have done, I can be forgiven. The only one whose opinion of me truly matters is God's. Granted, in this earthly life, I'd love to have everyone I've ever hurt or everyone who's been a victim of my past mistakes to forgive me, but even if that doesn't happen, I can find solace in God's mercy and forgiveness.
As our Blessed Savior was dying on the cross, one of the things He said was,"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."(Luke 23:34) Stop and ponder that statement for a moment. After He had been subjected to all forms of cruel torture and the nails were hammered into His flesh, Christ asked God to forgive the ones who did it AND to forgive US because it was our sins that pierced his flesh with those nails. How do we handle forgiving those who hurt us? How often do we leave the past in the past? Speaking for myself, it's sometimes very hard. We equate holding a grudge against someone with having power over them. We can pull up their past and use it to hurt them. What does that say about us? Does that not make us even lower than whatever they did? Just something to think about.
Praying that today God touches my heart and really helps me to forgive those who have hurt me or caused me grief in the past so that I, too, may be forgiven by Him for things I may have done to others.
I love this question because it not only made me think about how *I* would feel, but also how I handle other people's past mistakes. In my 37 years of life, I have done some pretty despicable things. If I were to be judged only on the worst thing I ever did, I just don't know if I could live with myself. There would be no chance for redemption. Of course, what one person saw as the worst thing I ever did may be totally different than what someone else saw as my worst thing, so I'd be going through life with all of this ugliness hanging over my head, branding me a big loser to everyone I knew! I can only imagine the things I'd be branded with. I shudder just thinking about it.
What about you? If you were defined by the worst thing you ever did, how would you feel? Is it something that you could deal with, or is it something that would eat you up inside? Is it something you could brush off or something you would spend the rest of your life trying to get out from under?
Jesus told St. Faustina (my beloved confirmation saint, by the way!), "My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.” How thankful I am that no matter how awful my past is, no matter what the worst thing is that I have done, I can be forgiven. The only one whose opinion of me truly matters is God's. Granted, in this earthly life, I'd love to have everyone I've ever hurt or everyone who's been a victim of my past mistakes to forgive me, but even if that doesn't happen, I can find solace in God's mercy and forgiveness.
As our Blessed Savior was dying on the cross, one of the things He said was,"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."(Luke 23:34) Stop and ponder that statement for a moment. After He had been subjected to all forms of cruel torture and the nails were hammered into His flesh, Christ asked God to forgive the ones who did it AND to forgive US because it was our sins that pierced his flesh with those nails. How do we handle forgiving those who hurt us? How often do we leave the past in the past? Speaking for myself, it's sometimes very hard. We equate holding a grudge against someone with having power over them. We can pull up their past and use it to hurt them. What does that say about us? Does that not make us even lower than whatever they did? Just something to think about.
Praying that today God touches my heart and really helps me to forgive those who have hurt me or caused me grief in the past so that I, too, may be forgiven by Him for things I may have done to others.
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Understanding Purgatory (Yes, It Exists!)
One of the things I learned during my adult faith formation classes before I converted to Catholicism is that Protestants do not believe in purgatory. Up until I was taking those classes, I didn't know it existed as it does; I considered purgatory and hell to be one and the same. They couldn't be more different!
It is a popular belief (especially with Protestant denominations) that when a person is baptized and commits their lives to Christ, they are bound for Heaven, no pitstops in between. This is both presumptuous and erroneous. We are not promised that we're going straight to Heaven immediately upon death. That would be nice, but it's not realistic. We console each other by saying, after a loved one's death, that they're in Heaven now and that everything is fine. The truth is that, unless they lived a life of incredible holiness, they're probably not there yet. And unless they consciously chose to reject God and His love for them, they're not in hell, either. So where do they go? The answer is purgatory.
Purgatory is a place where the dearly departed WHO ARE ASSURED OF GOING TO HEAVEN go to be purified of any stain of sin that was on their soul when they passed from this earth. If you drop dead the moment you walk out of the Confessional and you've really honestly confessed all the sins you could remember and were absolved of your sins, you can pretty much be assured of going straight to Heaven. But that's pretty much one of the only ways that I can think of.
I believe that purgatory is just another one of God's mercies toward us sinners. He doesn't want us to be separated from Him, but nothing unclean can enter into Heaven (can you even begin to imagine how awesome it will be when we finally get there?!). In His mercy, He allows us to spend some time in purgatory to purge all of our sins, to cleanse us completely so we can enter into Heaven with Him. It is not meant as punishment (although some may view it to be so because they are temporarily separated from God).
Each time I pray the rosary, I begin with offering it up for all the souls in purgatory, especially the souls of my departed family and friends. We have many opportunities to help the souls in purgatory, but few take the time to do it, and even more don't even know that our prayers, rosaries, Masses, Stations of the Cross, etc., help them. When I think about my loved ones who have passed from this world, I know that I don't know where they are, but I cannot think of any reason at all why any of them would be anywhere but in Heaven or headed there. A powerful prayer for those in purgatory is this:
O Lord, who art ever merciful and bounteous with Thy gifts, look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory. Remember not their offenses and negligences, but be mindful of Thy loving mercy, which is from all eternity. Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires that they may be made worthy to behold Thee, face to face, in Thy glory. May they soon be united with Thee and hear those blessed words which will call them to their heavenly home: "Come, blessed of My Father; take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Another, simpler one goes like this:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
In turn for our prayers, once they are released from purgatory, they will be some of our most powerful intercessors before the throne of God! They will help us because we helped them. There are so many souls in purgatory who remain there for terribly long amounts of time because they have no one to pray for them (or not one who WILL pray for them). No prayer for the souls in purgatory ever gets wasted. God's mercy will never be outdone, either. :) So let us remember this the next time our loved ones leave this life for their eternal one.
It is a popular belief (especially with Protestant denominations) that when a person is baptized and commits their lives to Christ, they are bound for Heaven, no pitstops in between. This is both presumptuous and erroneous. We are not promised that we're going straight to Heaven immediately upon death. That would be nice, but it's not realistic. We console each other by saying, after a loved one's death, that they're in Heaven now and that everything is fine. The truth is that, unless they lived a life of incredible holiness, they're probably not there yet. And unless they consciously chose to reject God and His love for them, they're not in hell, either. So where do they go? The answer is purgatory.
Purgatory is a place where the dearly departed WHO ARE ASSURED OF GOING TO HEAVEN go to be purified of any stain of sin that was on their soul when they passed from this earth. If you drop dead the moment you walk out of the Confessional and you've really honestly confessed all the sins you could remember and were absolved of your sins, you can pretty much be assured of going straight to Heaven. But that's pretty much one of the only ways that I can think of.
I believe that purgatory is just another one of God's mercies toward us sinners. He doesn't want us to be separated from Him, but nothing unclean can enter into Heaven (can you even begin to imagine how awesome it will be when we finally get there?!). In His mercy, He allows us to spend some time in purgatory to purge all of our sins, to cleanse us completely so we can enter into Heaven with Him. It is not meant as punishment (although some may view it to be so because they are temporarily separated from God).
Each time I pray the rosary, I begin with offering it up for all the souls in purgatory, especially the souls of my departed family and friends. We have many opportunities to help the souls in purgatory, but few take the time to do it, and even more don't even know that our prayers, rosaries, Masses, Stations of the Cross, etc., help them. When I think about my loved ones who have passed from this world, I know that I don't know where they are, but I cannot think of any reason at all why any of them would be anywhere but in Heaven or headed there. A powerful prayer for those in purgatory is this:
O Lord, who art ever merciful and bounteous with Thy gifts, look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory. Remember not their offenses and negligences, but be mindful of Thy loving mercy, which is from all eternity. Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires that they may be made worthy to behold Thee, face to face, in Thy glory. May they soon be united with Thee and hear those blessed words which will call them to their heavenly home: "Come, blessed of My Father; take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Another, simpler one goes like this:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
In turn for our prayers, once they are released from purgatory, they will be some of our most powerful intercessors before the throne of God! They will help us because we helped them. There are so many souls in purgatory who remain there for terribly long amounts of time because they have no one to pray for them (or not one who WILL pray for them). No prayer for the souls in purgatory ever gets wasted. God's mercy will never be outdone, either. :) So let us remember this the next time our loved ones leave this life for their eternal one.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
God Doesn't Hate Us
In the past few days I have had two people claim that God hated them. I understand why they said it -- they were both struggling, both with different situations, but struggling nonetheless. They'd lost their footing and felt that God had turned His back on them in their times of need. So I could understand that in their frustration and anger, they would say those things. This doesn't mean that it didn't sting my heart to hear people who once claimed to love God say those things.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
Where is God when it seems like everything in our lives is turned upside down? Where is God when it seems that not a soul in the world is there for us? Where is God when it feels like we're going through the motions every day but not really living anymore?
The answer is that God is still with us. He doesn't leave us, nor does He turn away from us. In fact, it's often the other way around. We expect God to work miracles every time something goes wrong in our lives, and when it doesn't happen that way, people begin to step away from Him or question His existence altogether. We live in a society with ways of communicating and doing things instantly, so we expect the same from God. We want quick fixes so that we don't have to suffer.
I have dealt with many trials in my lifetime and there have been times I've had to just sit down, cry my eyes out and try to figure out what in the world I was going to do. I have lost count of how many nights I've cried myself to sleep over this or that, or wasted precious moments worrying about how this or that would turn out, how we'd make it through -- but we always made it through. Often times, God's blessings were greater than anything I'd prayed for. It didn't always happen right when I wanted it to, but it always happened and it always fell into place perfectly.
God doesn't turn His back on us, or lose patience with us, or ever stop loving us. He never promised that because we believed in Him that we will never go through trials or suffering. John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Christ states very clearly that we will have trouble on this earth; we will have trials and we will have sorrow. Rather than turning away from God, this is our time to cling to Him because our peace rests in Him. Our comfort rests in God and until we can accept this and believe this, our miseries will be tenfold.
It is SO important that we not fall into this way of thinking - that God no longer cares for us because we struggle so much in our lives or because we've had a string of unfortunate events. That is EXACTLY what the devil wants us to believe! As soon as he can plant that little seed in our minds, we begin to nourish it by continuing to doubt, continuing to walk further from God, continuing to blame Him for all of our trials, and by doubting God's ability to bring us through the storm. Before we realize it, the devil has both hands firmly around our shoulders and is quickly leading us into a path of darkness and despair.
Some people don't believe in the power of prayer. I do. I believe that God hears every prayer, even the unspoken ones, the ones that are stuck inside our hearts because we don't know what to say out loud. We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to really open our eyes and our hearts and KNOW that God's got this. He knows what we're going to go through before we even go through it, good and bad. Some of our suffering is our own doing, some of it isn't. Regardless, God knows and He's got us covered, but we have to trust and have faith in His love, mercy AND in His timing.
God doesn't hate us. He created us out of love because He *is* love. Some people's love for God may change depending on their circumstances, but God's love is unending and beyond measure and always available when we need it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)