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¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the ^[c]elect’s sake those days will be shortened. – Matthew 24:15-22

Just reading this makes me feel tired. I know that there are many of us who are already tired living in our current world, the time of the “Great Tribulation” seems like more than we can handle!

But there are a few things we should remember. First, many Christians do not think we will be here. Many believe that we will be “raptured” before the “Great Tribulation and not be on earth during this time. One thing to remember though, is the theory of pre-trib rapture is relatively recent. Many Christians believe in “Mid-Rapture”. In other words, we will suffer some, but not the worst of it. And some Christians believe that we will not be “raptured” until after the “Great Tribulation”, and so will be here for all of it. This is often referred to as “Post-Trib”.

But regardless as to which theory we believe in, God will still answer prayers and He will still help us. We will not be forgotten, because God loves us . We will never walk our road alone:)

“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for ^[a]all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, ^[b]pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. ” – Matthew 24:1-12

Because Jesus loved us so and knew that, despite our faith, we would worry about the future, He shared with us the signs that we should look for as signs that the “End of the Age” is coming. Jesus is also very clear in a later passage that ONLY the Father knows when that will be.

But that some of the signs exist in our world can also not be ignored. Will the End come soon? Will it be many years from now? We don’t know. But we do know this, many of the signs are here now.

So what do we do? We do what we have always done. We pray. We repent. We love God and we love each other. And we read and follow the Bible, God’s roadmap for our lives :).

We reach out to others who don’t believe yet and give them every chance to accept Jesus as their Savior. And as we reach out, we remember that while our faith is ours’ to share, it is the Holy Spirit’s to convince 🙂

While Praying The Rosary, I saw a skyscraper and what looked like a small, plastic-covered greenhouse or food store all in the same image, on a cloudy day. A light blinked in the distance. It wasn’t the sun.

While Praying The Rosary, I saw children crossing over a bridge to be greeted by Jesus and Mary. The line of children waiting to cross the bridge went on as long as the eye could see. They were laughing and talking to each other.

Clearly safe and happy 🙂

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,  I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.”-Matthew 25:34-36

So often we wonder, what can we do to thank God who has done so much for us? This verse gives us so many ideas. We can feed the hungry and thirsty. Reach out to those in prison. Give clothing to those in need.

Jesus said, “the poor you will always have with you”. And we will. We can thank Jesus every time we reach out to help them 🙂

“O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.”-Psalm 92:5

God’s works are indeed great! It is hard to even comprehend the power that God had to create this world! The mountains, the seas, the forests, us! :). Indeed, God’s works are great 🙂

The second part of this verse talks about God’s “thoughts” being “very deep”. Can we even imagine how deep? For God must think of the good of every single human being. Listen to the prayers of all those praying. Plan for the future of all of those living. Consider how each life touches another. I don’t know about you, but I’m just not capable of all of that!

God loves each one of us! How Blessed are we 🙂

“ One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”   And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” – Luke 23:32

According to some, this thief lived in the dessert and was a murderer, as well as his thief. Some say he had actually met Jesus when Jesus was but a child. He was often referred to by many as the “repentant thief”.

When we think of him, we remember how repentant he was and how he asked Jesus “to remember me when you came into your kingdom”

These verses are so important for so many reasons. But there are two that are especially important. It didn’t matter how badly the “thief” had behaved, Jesus clearly forgave him. And took him to Heaven. The second is, we have until our last breath to seek Jesus’ forgiveness, repent and ask Him to be our Savior.

For many who have lived their whole lives in service to God, this can seem unfair. But God is always fair :). There has to be a finish line somewhere. Our lives on earth are it. We have our whole lives on earth to accept Jesus as our Savior. But that’s it. If we don’t, the penalty lasts an eternity.

And for those who are thinking right now, “Oh, I have plenty of time”. The truth is we are only guaranteed this one moment! The moment we are living right now, so waiting is not a good option!

We need to ask Jesus to be our Savior today!

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night”-Psalm 92:1-2

There is a song called “Split the Sea” by Hannah Kerr which is so encouraging! And she is so right!

“Never thought I’d be where I am now
No way through and no way out
Oh it’s hard, but I’m still holding on
Even here, nothing’s too far gone
I believe
Every promise that You’ve spoken
I believe
You are faithful every moment
It may look impossible
But You’re the God of miracles
You have always made a way for me
You can still split the sea”-Hannah Kerr“

“N0thing is too far gone” for God; He’s got us 🙂

Can we ever thank God enough 🙂

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”-Psalm 40:1-3

Sometimes, “waiting patiently for the Lord” is hard, but it is important. Just because God has not answered a prayer yet, does not mean that He won’t.

Above all else, God loves us! And so He wants the very best for us. Sometimes prayers are answered, but the answer is not yet. And that really is okay. For our Lord sees not just today like we do, but all of our tomorrows. And all of everyone else’s tomorrows. And so, in the long term, God truly knows what is best for each of us. How Blessed are we that God loves us so much that He takes the time to ensure that all things work to the good of those who love Him!

So if you are worried that God is not answering your prayer, don’t be. God hears our prayers and will always do what will bring us the greatest good 🙂