This may sound strange, I say it and have been saying it, but I REALLY believe it now. God’s Power and Love can do all. His will, will be done. We only need to allow him to work through us, however even when we fight him, he still will use us and get us to our destination. We need to choose however to fight or help. Do we want to take the left fork in the road through the desert or do we want to take the right fork through paradise?
It has been a while since I posted, but much has happened. There have been issues with the family that really were a struggle. However I do know that it would have been worse, had I not allowed Jesus to take me by the hand and lead me through it all. Without getting into the nitty gritty, children have a way of testing and bringing on great amounts of stress. Some children more than others, and some in a single family more than others. It would even seen they thrive on this and purposely look for reasons and ways to put and allow ourselves to feel more stress, when we take it personally.
Learning and re-learning how to act and react to the opportunities put forth by God, can make all the difference. Sometimes I just do not realize that those things I consider stresses put forth through my family, are also there for a learning experience. That is, if we choose to learn! I have some great friends and family who have stuck by me as I have learned to learn. Recently I was called by a friend from Hosanna church. She had gone through many issues with her child as well. She learned that the experience was something God had put in front of her to be able to share all that she learned from dealing with her child, to others (me and more I am sure). I am extremely grateful for the time she took out of her busy schedule to speak with me. Sometimes it is just great to hear, “It’s not you. Others have and will go through this as well.”
This week I got to see a new movie. Well, new to me but one that has been out for a couple of years. I am a little slow on getting to movies, unless of course it is a sci-fi movie, then I will run on out to it as soon as I can. Anyway, the movie, was on the gauge of a Frank Capra movie. For those of you who don’t known who Frank Capra was, his movies always seem to have a lesson, were predictable and were corny. Just my kind of movie. Later his movies were know as Capracorn. Probably the best know Capracorn was “It’s a Wonderful Life”. So, what movie did I see this week, well one that has just really shed some light on what God can do. Was it a true movie, no it was not, but it surely illustrated God’s awesome love and power. My family watch “Facing the Giants”. It was predictable but gave some great life lessons. Unless we fully trust God, how can he work in and through us? He gave us free will and respects that. So it is up to us to prepare the filed, so he can sow the crop. If we do not prepare ourselves, both in mind and body, then God’s crop, will not be sown in fertile soil. Not that God will not keep working on us until we get it, but would it not be better to prepare for him, than fight him? Why not make it easy for God to work in us, so we can reap the benefits of God’s Love, being with him in paradise today, then wait until tomorrow?
I love my God and want others to know his love as well. Love your God with all your heart and Love your neighbor as yourself. Seems like that is just way to easy doesn’t it? Just do that and all else falls in place. We/I sometimes forget that God’s Grace and Love, really is that easy. Jesus says so, and we need to follow Jesus’ lead.
God Bless, and may God’s Grace and Love shine on you.
Not only today but tomorrow and the day after and after and after.
Amen!!!!
Good to see you haven’t given up on the blog. I was beginning to wonder.
Your comments about choosing to let God work in us brings to my mind St. Paul’s exhortation to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). Without question that destination to which you alluded is our ultimate communion with God. It also follows that while His grace alone makes that communion possible, our ultimate success in reaching that destination is predicated upon our willingness to respond positively to that grace. That response is made up of our every day choices. We can choose, in love, to let God’s grace work in and through us; or we can choose, by virtue of our free will, to resist that grace and not act in love and thereby forfeit our salvation.
The bad news is that as humans we will inevitably fall short of fully cooperating with God’s grace at times. The good news is that His mercy and forgiveness are always available to us if only we would recognize and confess our sin, earnestly repent of it, and work to better conform ourselves to His will. When I say work, I mean to cooperate with that great and wonderful gift of grace, given to us by God, that makes it possible for us to merit heaven.
As the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563) put it “all ought to have the most secure hope in the help of God. For unless men are unfaithful to His grace, God will bring the good work to perfection, just as He began it, working both the will and the performance.”
Blessings to you.