Author: Faith

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”-Matthew 7:11

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows,” 1 Chronicles 16:11-12.

But in order to receive God’s Gifts, we need to see them and accept them!

A Rainbow, a beautiful reminder of God’s Promises Kept.  An amazing sunset.  The sea, the mountains, a beautiful field…God gives us many Gifts in beauty and nature. 

A hug, a smile – at especially the right time, a chance encounter with a new friend, a visit from a loved one, someone we love returning home…

Someone healed, someone saved, someone returning from war…

A deeper Faith, to love God more, to share our faith…

The list is endless…

We ask God for encouragement, and He sends it.  We ask God for a loved one to be healed, and He heals them.  We ask Him for help and He sends a hug…We ask Him to send the Holy Spirit, and He does?

We ask, God answers, because He loves us!  ?

“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”-Mark 2-17:18

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”- Matthew 22: 36-40

“But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.”-Ezekiel 33:9

Despite our best efforts, we all sin.  But clearly, Jesus loves the sinners and came to help them and to save them (fortunately for us ?).  Jesus ate with sinners and He spent time with them. He healed sinners and and He talked with them. And perhaps most important, He shared the Truth with them.  He didn’t just love them; He showed them that He loved them!  Just as He does for us now ?

Notice Jesus showed them how much He loved them AND He shared the Truth with them.  He didn’t tell those that sin, that they could do whatever they felt like, but He also did not stop loving them if they failed to obey.

And in this, Jesus gives us a great example to follow.  The Bible says what it says.  We can’t change it just to be more popular with others or make others feel better about and justified in their sinful choices.  In fact, to lead them astray that way is just wrong! We are obligated to share the Truth of God’s Word.

On the other hand, it is up to the Holy Spirit to Convince them of the Truth of the Bible and it’s up to the sinner to accept the Truth of God’s Word.  And It’s our job to keep loving them, whether they accept the Truth or not.  For Christ’s command to us did not say “Thou shalt love thy neighbors as thyself”-if they do as we say ?

In the recent movie, Our Lady of Fatima, we hear Mary talk about the need for penance. She says that “God is much offended”. In Her final message, Mary said,  “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” (1917)

Can you imagine how much God is offended now?

In Our Lady of Lourdes, Mary’s clear message was the need for penance. Not just for ourselves, but for all sinners. (1858)

But as human beings, we don’t like penance. Sometimes we don’t even realize – we need penance. It seems so old-fashioned, so “out of style”. But it’s not. Better to do penance now, then suffer later!

And we may suffer now more than we realize, for sin creates distance between us and God, and creates guilt-whether we realize it or not.

And that is why Repentance & Penance are so very important. They brings us back to God and free us from guilt, but we need both!

Repentance is simply a sincere regret for sin and a willingness to change. And penance is simply “any act or set of actions done out of repentance for sins”. It could be prayer, selfless acts, fasting…

Jesus did indeed already pay the price for our sins, without His Great Sacrifice, we could not enter Heaven. However, Repentance and Penance are still required.

But one thing we all need to realize? We all sin. Repentance and Penance are truly gifts. Gifts that free us from guilt and brings us closer to God once again. Something we all want, so thank you Jesus for providing us a way and thank you Mary for always pointing the way to your Son 🙂

At sometime, we all struggle with self-confidence. We just do.

But life is much easier and happier when we put our Faith in God instead of ourselves. We may not be able to do anything, but God can!

Whether it is a certain relationship or obtaining a certain job, driving accross country or dealing with illness…We may not feel confident in our own ability, but we can feel confident in God’s abilities. And whether we do everything right or do everything wrong, if it’s God’s Will, it Will happen-no matter what 🙂

So here is the key: simply ask God, in Jesus’ Name, that God’s will be done in our life.

For what in what appears to be a crisis in self confidence, is more often an unwillingness to accept God’s Will for our lives. And that, with prayer, we can “fix”.

So if we are struggling with that, all we need to do is to remember that God loves us and knows all our tomorrows 🙂

A friend of mine sent me this photo. It was just so perfect! What’s really interesting about this Rainbow in particular though is that it clearly separates what is dark from what is light.

And that is exactly what will happen at the end. If we are following Jesus, we will be filled with the light of the Holy Spirit. But if we are not, we will be filled with darkness.

Only those who believe in Jesus and follow Him will be filled with the light of the Holy Spirit and enter Heaven.

It’s our choice, given to us by God Himself 🙂

We all have them. Sometimes they are big concerns like finding the right job to support our families or the suffering of someone we love who is ill. Sometimes they are little ones like spiders or snakes, lol.

But whatever our fears, they are real and sometimes loom very large. So how do we deal with them? The first step is asking ourselves, “Do we trust God”. Really Trust Him. Because if we do, then we know that God loves us and will not give us more than we can handle. There is a famous quote from Billy Graham, “God’s Will will not take us where His Grace can not sustain us!” And it won’t.

But we do have to focus on that! For me, after I pray, I also ask myself a second question. Is what I am anxious about uncomfortable or unsurvivable? And if I think about that, it helps. Because most things we can think about are surviviable. And I remind myself that if for any reason I don’t survive, I’m going straight to Heaven 🙂

There’s a third question I sometimes ask myself, “how long is this really going to last?” Really? 10 minutes? Three days? A week? Most things that cause fear or anxiety don’t seem to really last that long.

Fourth, a doctor or medicine is sometimes needed. Sometimes short term and sometimes long term. This is NOT something to feel badly about. God gave us doctors for a reason. There is a story about a man who was drowning. Three ships stopped to save him, but he would not board them. He said “God will save me”. He drowned and went to Heaven. And when he got there he asked God, ‘why didn’t you save me’. And God said, ‘I did. I sent you three ships’ :). Sometimes we need a doctor, and if that is the way God chooses to Help us, we need to take that Help and not be ashamed of it. Instead, we need to choose to be grateful that God made doctors.

There is another step that helps me tremendously when I am afraid. I picture God our Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit or Mary in my mind’s eye. And I focus on that picture and ask for Help. By putting all of my focus on God, there just isn’t as much room for my fears. And you know what else? After I have done whatever I needed to do or survived whatever I needed to survive, I feel free! When we face our “Goliath”, God rewards us with freedom and light 🙂

With God Anything IS Possible 🙂. It always will be. Short term, long term, God is in for the long haul, and He will give us what we truly need in this world. And when we get to the next world, there just won’t be any fears or anxiety 🙂

Jesus has us, don’t worry 🙂

Sometimes, life can feel like such a struggle-everyday!  And it can be so exhausting.  Especially when we are holding onto our will instead of God’s Will ?.

And sometimes, it’s just hard to let go of our will.  Perhaps it’s a particular job that we wanted to get or perhaps it’s a person we love who is ill, and we want that person to get better.  Perhaps, it’s covid, or the direction of our country, or the direction of the public schools…  There are many pure, unselfish, well-intentioned efforts happening every day, but that doesn’t mean they are God’s Will.

The Truth is, we don’t always know why God’s Plan is better ?.  But we know that God’s Plan is indeed better. And we know that God knows our future, and we don’t. And God loves us!

Perhaps the job we wish for won’t bring us into contact with those God wants us to meet.  Perhaps the person who is sick is bringing many to Christ. 

We know from reading the Bible, that our nation is not a leader in the final days, just as we know that Jesus Will come back for us 🙂  So perhaps our nation will not turn back towards God and perhaps it will.  But we do know that whatever God’s Will for our country and schools; it will eventually be used for our good ?

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have trouble letting go of “my plans” in favor of God’s Plans.  After all, my plans are such good plans, lol (good thing God laughs). 

And so I ask Him to change my will to His Will-and then there is no more struggle.  When we are in God’s Will, it’s the very safest and happiest place to be.  There is peace.  Worry and fear are gone.  We can’t always get there by ourselves, but God can get us there, if we ask Him.

God knows and understands what will bring us Peace and Joy.  After all, He made us and wants us to be happy!  So if we are struggling a bit, this prayer helps?

 “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” – Psalm 51: 12-14

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope”- Romans 15:4

“The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary”-Isaiah 50:4 KJV

Sometimes, people read this verse and think they “are not learned enough”, but we are all “learned” enough to share the love of Christ ?.

Sometimes, we need the wisdom of our elders.  Sometimes, we need the enthusiasm of our youth.  Ever hear the saying, “out of the mouth of babes”?  And sometimes, we just need a hug ?.

God’s Word has everything we need to know and our Lord Jesus has commanded us to love God with our whole hearts, souls and minds, and each other as Jesus has loved us!

We have everything we need to Follow Jesus right here and right now.  And the Holy Spirit will Help us ?