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God did make women and men equal, but He did not make them the same.  God made them in such a way that they complemented each other.  Women and men have equal value simply because God made them both 😊.  But they do not serve the same purpose! Our country, indeed the world, may try again and again, in a variety of ways, to make men and women the same.  But they will never succeed.  Because God’s Purpose can not be thwarted or “cancelled” and those who try to do so will eventually face the consequences.

For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)

Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

It’s funny how faith grows from acceptance, but it does.

By accepting God’s Will, by asking God to make our will, His Will, our Faith will flourish and grow.  But it’s not until we accept God’s Will as our own –  that faith grows.

There are any number of things that we want, but figuring out if we truly need them is the key.  God does give us what we need-always, but He does not always give us what we want!

Think of how we parent our children.  We always want to give them what they want, but we know that it is not always good for them!  For example, what child would not rather go out and play versus doing homework, but then they do not learn.   So they may be happy in the short term, but definitely not in the long term! Memorizing Bible verses may not be as fun as playing, but a deep seated knowledge of the Bible will be needed to survive in this world. When a child is sick, they learn strength. And when a child struggles, they learn perseverance. All of these – they will need as adults…

 It’s the same with God, He loves us and wants us to be happy 😊.  But always giving us what we want does not help us to grow, or necessarily give us what we will need in the future. 

It is, no doubt, harder when the issue is more difficult as when someone dies or we lose our job.  We can’t always understand why God allows bad things to happen to good people, but there are reasons. Good ones!

One is that God has to answer everyone’s prayers, not just our own.  Another is that what we think is a need, is actually a want.  We may not understand until we get to Heaven, but we will understand.

Until then, we need to Trust in God’s Love for us. Whatever His Answer-Yes, No or Not Yet, IS based on His Great Love for us and is ultimately for our Good 🙂

Seems to be a common debate these days.  Those for masks say that they are for them because they help prevent others from becoming ill with Covid.  Those against masks say they do not help protect anyone.

It’s a complicated issue, an issue on which many good people disagree, and an issue upon which  Christians disagree.  But masks in and of themselves are not yet proven to be a Christian issue.  What is a Christian issue is loving thy neighbor!

We can’t always help what we “feel” and sometimes we have to ask God to help with our “feelings”.  But we can always help how we act!  Jesus didn’t say “love thy neighbors” with whom we agree.  He told us to love ALL of our neighbors.

So the next time we meet someone with whom we clearly disagree with-let’s make it our personal project to reach out to them and to be kind to them. 

God always keeps His Promises.  We promised to “love our neighbor”, so let’s keep our promise and let’s make being kind to everyone we meet our special project this week and see what a difference that makes 😊

It’s been my experience that when God says no, it’s because He has something even better in store :).

It’s easy to see why that is a difficult concept to understand. How can God have something “even better in store” when someone dies. But when someone dies, and they go to Heaven-that is “even better”. We may not see it that way, because we miss them, but for them – Heaven is as good as it gets!

I had a really close friend die not that long ago. She was so sick and suffered greatly! I miss her so much, but for her-it’s great! She isn’t sick or suffering anymore-she is free! And happy! To wish her back here would be selfish on my part, no matter how much I miss her.

God is good and He loves us so! We need to practice Trusting His love for us. If we do not get that new job, if someone we love goes to Heaven, even when we suffer from illness, we need to Trust that God has a good reason for it all.

God wants only what is good for us, because He loves us! And because He knows our current days and our past ones, and our tomorrows, God can make the best choice for our ultimate good 🙂

No matter what His answers to our prayers may be, We can Trust His Love for us 🙂

“For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; ¹³ In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God”-Isaiah 59:12-13

Sin creates a distance between us and God; that’s why it is so dangerous.  Can God hear the pleas of a sinner? Jesus came for the sinners! But when we allow a distance to grow between us and God, we lose the “benefits” of being close to our Lord.

Being close to God brings daily peace and happiness, daily faith and hope, the deep knowledge that God is with us every second and He loves us! The complete faith that we are going to Heaven and the knowledge that not only will we be overjoyed to see Him, God will be overjoyed to see us too!

God is also the one we can bring All of our worries and fears too! Whenever I am afraid or worried, I pray this prayer:

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”-Psalm 56:3-4

But it is impossible to Trust someone that we never spend time with!  Or that we are not close too! Do NOT let anything separate you from God!!!

There are many reasons to “abhor sin”, as they say.  But perhaps one of the most important ones is that it separates us from God! 

Thankfully we can seek His forgiveness and repent through His Son Jesus Christ and start new 😊

“But when the wicked turns from his wickednes sand practices Justice and Righteousness, he will live by them.”-Ezekiel 33:19

Today is the Jewish “Day of Atonement”. Between tonight and tomorrow, there will be much prayer, fasting and repentance.

For us as Christians, the Day of Atonement serves as a good reminder. Repenting is not just about being sorry, it’s about changing 🙂

Jesus came to pay the price for our sins so we would not have to, but that doesn’t mean we can just sin whenever we feel like it either. Nor does it mean we don’t even have to try to lead a righteous life-we do.

As Christians, every day should be a “Day of Atonement” for us. For every day we can tell Jesus how truly sorry we are for any ways in which we have failed Him, and we can seek to lead a more righteous life. For “With God All Things Are Possible” 🙂

God forgives us through Jesus because He loves us. Do not fear the sins of the past, or even the present, for God loves us beyond all measure 🙂

The Stations of the Cross is celebrated by many churches at Easter.  But Mary, our Blessed Mother, did not create the Holy Way of the Cross (Stations of the Cross) to only be celebrated at Easter.  She created the Holy Way of the Cross to be celebrated outside, each morning and each evening.  If Catholic Tradition holds then Mary, our Blessed Mother, was the one to first create the Stations of the Cross and it seems only wise to do it as Mary did and build them outside so they are available for daily worship and meditation.

Covid, and possibly other diseases, may be problematic for a long time to come, but we need to stay connected to our churches, our community and to Jesus.  Creating an outdoor “Holy Way of the Cross” , as the Blessed Mother did, would help us to do all three!

Mary created the Holy Way of the Cross to give people the great gift of meditating on Christ’s Life.  Our Father created us to worship as a community.  And with so many not attending church because of Covid, this would give us all a safer way to worship and stay connected to our church. 

As the world darkens and the persecution of Christians increases, we will need to feel connected to Christ, to our Church and to our Community.  What better way than this?

Building outdoor Stations of the Cross can help the faithful stay faithful.  And creating outdoor spaces where we can gather together to worship and meditate of Christ Life-as well as Honor Mary at the same time can only help us in the coming days.

Keep The Faith-Jesus IS coming back 😊