FollowingJesusUS.com

Jesus always makes a way for those who Follow Him. It’s not always an easy path, but it is a path that will always bring us Home 🙂

“He makes the way, even when I see no way…I stake my love, my all on You.”

“Trust the Unseen Hand”-Elohim

Mary: Christ’s Mother & Our Mother Too 🙂

“When Mary first appeared to Juan Diego, she called herself his Mother, and her reasoning for wanting a church built in that spot was because she wanted all to know that she was their mother, “Know and understand well, you the most humble of my son, that I am the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. I wish that a temple be erected here quickly, so I may therein exhibit and give all my love, compassion, help, and protection, because I am your merciful mother, to you, and to all the inhabitants on this land and all the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me; listen there to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows. “Am I not here, who is your Mother.”

There is a second time that Mary referred to herself as “our Mother”.  When Juan’s Uncle became ill, Juan missed his appointed time to see Mary.  He felt very ashamed.  And yet, Mary understood and reassured him that his Uncle was better.  The only thing that she “chided” him on -was not asking her to help! And in fact, she said to him, “Am I not here, who is your Mother.“

I know that there are many people who attend different churches (Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical, AME…). Some pray to Mary and some do not. But when we forget or refuse to ask Mary to pray for us, we miss a great opportunity.  For She is not just Christ’s mother, She is ours’ too and she loves us.

The days ahead will be difficult ones.  We will need all the help we can get in order to keep our faith strong.  Persecution is not coming; it is already here. 

We shouldn’t hesitate to ask Mary to pray for us! God loves her very much and so does Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  And so should we 🙂 Thank You Mary, we are Blessed to have you!

As we vist shops and internet sites, happily searching for that perfect gift for someone we love, what will be our gift for Jesus. We know what a huge Gift Jesus gave us, what will we give Him?

Remember the Bible verse:

 ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

So what can we give to Jesus? Our complete surrender and we can help “the least of these” 🙂

As we approach Christmas, many are filled with joy. But some are struggling and hurting. They may not be able to afford Christmas presents for those that they love this year. Perhaps they have family relationships that hurt. Perhaps they don’t even know where their next meal will come from.

But Christmas is about Jesus’s arrival and the free Gift that He brings with Him, Salvation.

Sometimes when we are struggling or hurting the only prayer we can manage is “Please help, thank you”. Or sometimes we even wonder if God is really there. And sometimes during those times of doubt, the only prayer we can manage is “Jesus, I don’t know if you are really there, but I want you to be. Please help me, thank you,”. And that is really okay. No matter where we may be in our walk with Christ, we just need to keep talking to Him. Jesus will do the rest 🙂

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 1-:18

Born without sin, Mary remained without sin.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is simply the name the Catholic Church gives the day that we celebrate Mary’s Immaculate Conception.

But we all celebrate Mary, Our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Conception. For without it, we would not have Christmas!

For, as we all know, Mary Our Blessed Mother is Jesus’s Mother.

Thank You Mary!

“ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”- Matthew 1:21

As we approach Christmas, we thank Jesus for Rescuing us and for continuing to Rescue us. Because that is really what Christmas is – a Rescue opeation 🙂

Jesus was born into this world to Save us! To Rescue us from our sins and build a bridge for us to our Father.

Thank You Jesus!

“My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”-Psalm 121

When times are hard, these hard times can be a Gift. Because it is when times are hard that we run to Aba and cry out for help. For we know that “our help comes from the Lord”.

But when times are good. When everything is going just as we planned, lol. When our spouse and our children are happy and healthy, we somehow just become too busy. Busy with work, busy with life…And we forget how important it is to maintain that friendship, that bond with God, that we needed so desperately just a while ago when times were harder.

Maintaining that bond, that friendship with God takes time; it takes prayer and it takes listening to what God has to say. It takes being willing to obey whatever God wills for us. It takes a willingness to become all that God wants us to become!

It takes Following Jesus every single step of the way – all the way Home 🙂

Surrender is a willingness to Follow Jesus no matter how hard life might become. No matter what we may lose. Some people turn away from Jesus when life turns out in a way they didn’t want, but some turn to God. It is those who turn to God no matter what, that learn the true meaning, and Gifts, that our Lord gives 🙂

The Bible teaches us to accept hardships and trials with “joy”. But this does not mean that we don’t cry, that we don’t become angry at first…These are human emotions and God understands them. Afterall He made us 🙂

The acceptance of hard times simply means that we turn to Jesus, we accept them with Spiritual Joy. Because we know that these trials will bring us closer to Christ. And in that, we Rejoice!

Jesus loves us; He will never let us fall all the way 🙂

Sometimes Surrender to Jesus is almost easy. Sometimes life becomes so hard, that Surrender is the only choice! But sometimes life is going well, and Surrender is hard.

But surrender is required if we truly wish beauty to be made from our ashes and our souls to rise 🙂

And either way, Surrender to Jesus is necessary if we truly wish to Follow Jesus!

Following Jesus means, in part, that we must Surrender completely. Every prayer needs to end in “Thy Will Be Done”. Because surrender means putting God’s Will First!

Surrender takes Trust. Why? Because we must Trust that Jesus loves us so and that all that happens in our lives, happens ultimately, for our good 🙂

And Surrender takes a willingness to give our will to Jesus. It’s harder than it sounds, but it is so worthwhile 🙂

There is a truly wonderful daily prayer:

“O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, please take care of everything”