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Believe!

“Believe what you do believe. or else you will never persuade anybody else to believe it.”-Charles Spurgeon

As we approach Christmas, our thoughts and our hearts go out to those we love that do not believe. We want to share our joy and our hope with them, but are sometimes unsure how we can do that.

The first step is to “Believe what you do believe”. We can’t share what we don’t truly have ourselves. So often we ask, how do we make our faith stronger? There are some steps that can help such as praying and reading the Bible.

But really the way lies in asking God to make our faith stronger. To give us that Gift so that we can share it with others. Jesus said in John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit.

So ask the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ Name, for Help today 🙂

Pray For Peace!

In Matthew 24, verse 24, Jesus warns us that:

“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” – Matthew 24:24

So how will we know when Jesus truly returns? We know many things, but one of them is that Jesus will never contradict what is in God’s Word. Never.

The Bible is our resource; we need to read it.

And as we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, we can celebrate the Hope that Jesus gives us. The knowledge that we are saved because He chose to be born. Truly we are Blessed. Thank you Jesus!

Prepare, Pray and Be Ready!

“Be Born In Me”

Thank You!

Christmas, in a sense, began with Mary’s Yes. We often forget just how young Mary was. Just a girl. How overwhelmed She must have been! I can’t even imagine how filled with love Her Heart was for God! Or how filled with courage and faith :).

That Mary said Yes to God, and helped to give us the Greatest Gift we have ever received: Jesus.

Thank you Mary, we will always be so very grateful 🙂

Mary’s Message Of Hope

During the 16th and 17th centuries, our Blessed Mother Mary appeared in Ecuador to a little known Spanish nun. She gave both a warning and hope for the future. Mary predicted a “spiritual catastrophe” that would occur in the Catholic church, beginning sometime after the mid 1900’s and spread.

One thing that Mary shared was that many would be unable to receive the Sacraments (Holy Communion, Confession, Baptism…). And did this not occur during Covid? While Walmart was deemed “essential”, church was not!

Mary also warned that the Sacrament of Marriage would be attacked. And has it not been? Less and less young people are even getting married. Gay marriage seems to be the law of the land, despite the fact that it is clearly displeasing to God! And in spite of the fact that during the Sacrament of Marriage, we pledge before God to love another person until death due us part, divorce has grown by leaps and bounds.

Does God forgive us if we ask in Jesus’ Name and repent? Of course! God forgives all of those who truly repent though His Son Jesus Christ. But the increase of men and woman breaking the vows that they made before God is concerning. Is Marriage under attack? Yes!

There will, for a variety of reasons, be a decrease in Priestly and Religious vocations. And that is important, for who will teach us? And who will help to hold us accountable? Who will lead the effort to continue the faith?

Many of the sick will not receive the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. In other Christian Churches, this is simply called a Prayer for the Sick. And it’s also important. For those prayers sometimes bring healing and always bring comfort.

Mary also told us that priests who truly serve the Lord would be attacked. Have they not been? Both priests and ministers who truly serve the Lord ARE being attacked. And their message, found in God’s Word, ARE under attack as well!

Mary also said that many of the Faithful would be Blinded. Truly unable to see what is happening around them and to them, and truly unable to see what God requires of them! Will they be lost?

Mary also said even more people will fall into sin! Too many will pick and choose among God’s Word, seeking to justify their sinful choices, but there will be no justification before God!

“Widespread moral corruption, Profanation of the Sacraments of Matrimony, Depraved Priests, Unbridled Lust, Loss of Innocence and Lack of Priestly and Religious Vocations” are just a few of the evils that Mary warned us would happen.

This will be a time of punishment. But Mary said, ” I will always be there ready to listen to their cries and soothe their pain. Tell them that they should always run to their Mother with confidence and love…”

And Mary also said, “But when evil finally seems to triumph over all, when all seems lost, Complete Restoration of the Church will begin and the Church will finally reawaken.” Because God loves us 🙂

We need to pray daily, both for the courage we will need and that our Faith will grow-despite the difficult challenges we will face. And God WILL answer, because He loves us 🙂

Heaven IS A Place Of Light!

**Heard and Seen while Praying The Rosary**

This is important because our earth will become a place of darkness, but Heaven will remain a Place of Light. And since Heaven is a Place of Light and Heaven is our Home, no matter how dark our lives on earth grow, we will spend eternity in Light 🙂

This is where our Hope IS!

Heaven is more than any of us can imagine. It’s hard to explain Heaven, but think of all of the things you do and now think of them always going well and never having any fear! Imagine a flower touched by light and how beautiful it is! Now imagine flowers touched with God’s Light 🙂

For example, when we pick an apple or buy one. Many of us wash it, in case it has “germs”. And we do this for all the fruit we get, grapes, pears, strawberries, blueberries… But in Heaven, we will not need to wash anything and the fruit warmed by God’s light will taste so amazing :).

The gardens will be more colorful and more fragrant than we have ever seen! The colors of the flowers will be more brilliant; the fragrance will be so beautiful and exactly what we wish for.

In Heaven, we will not have to walk, if we do not wish, to go to the next beautiful site, because we will be able to simply think of it and be there.

The river will be touched by God’s light and the light will dance on it making it astoundingly beautiful! We will be able to drink straight from it with no fear of getting germs or becoming ill.

Sense a pattern here? There are no fears or fatigue or worries or pain or illness in Heaven. When we come Home, we leave all of them behind!

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”-Revelation 21:4

There will be animals in Heaven. Dogs, lions, elephants, horses, zebras…And they will be so happy! We will never need to fear an animal for they shall be happy. And not only that, we will be able to ride any of them 🙂

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” – Isaiah 11:6-9

Heaven is not some misty place where we do nothing. Heaven will be filled with awe inspiring grand adventures! And when we are done for the day (so to speak), there will be a wonderful Home for us to go to 🙂

“In My Father’s house are many mansions;” – (Jesus) John 14:2

We will be able to jump from the highest waterfall to the river with no fear! (Remember how our mother’s always said be careful that the water is deep enough lest we hit our head, lol). That won’t apply anymore, the water will always be just right!

We need never fear death, for death is just the door to Heaven. God will send His Angels to get us or come Himself. Even on our journey Home; we will not be alone!

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

If we truly choose to accept Jesus as our Savior, if we love Jesus and follow Him, we WILL go to Heaven.

We need not fear anything on this earth, for Heaven is our true Home.

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

“Let brotherly love continue. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. ³Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.“-Hebrews 13:1-3

^”Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. ⁵Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶So we can confidently say,”- Hebrews 13:4-6

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?” – Hebrews 13:6

It can be hard to love some people. Especially right now. But remember, we don’t have to agree with everyone and we don’t have to condone everyone’s behavior. In fact, loving someone also means being honest with them.

And Loving someone is being kind to them, listening to them, encouraging the good in them, hugging them and helping them when they are in need…We can all do that 🙂

Our beloved country may never be what it once was, but Jesus’ Commands have not changed:

^“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.“-Matthew 22:36-38

^”And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” – Matthew 22:39

Do Not Fear!

“Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame” – Isaiah 54:4

We all fear some things; it’s just part of being human. But the stronger our faith; the less we fear.

One of our fears can be whether or not we will know what to say when we are called upon to stand up for our faith. But we need not worry about this. God has already Promised that the Holy Spirit will place the words in our heart that we need to say. We will not be “confounded” or “put to shame”.

A time is coming for all of us in which we will need to make some very hard choices. Choose Christ 🙂

And do not worry about the future, for God always Keeps His Promises 🙂

When Bad Things Happen.

When bad things happen. When someone we love becomes ill or even dies, when someone who is just so very good, who seemed to do everything right, suffers, it can be a real test of faith.

But it is also when we need our faith the most. And while we are praying so hard for the person we love to be healed; we also need to be praying for ourselves and those we love. We need to Pray that our faith will not fail, but grow. We need to ask Jesus to hold on to us, even if we fail to hold on to Him. And we need to ask God to strengthen our faith and not allow it to weaken. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to Help us. To Comfort us. To lift us out of the pain we are in, if only for a while, so that we can recharge and comfort others.

And we also need to be honest in our prayers. If we don’t understand why these horrific things are happening, it’s okay to tell God that. I do. And it is okay to be angry and sad. But it is also important to end our prayer with “Thy Will Be Done”.

We only know what we want now, but God knows all of our tomorrows. In fact, God knows all of the tomorrows of every single human being and He loves us. We can Trust His love; we need too.

And perhaps most important. Faith is not about how we feel every day, but who we choose to follow. There have been a number of times in my life where I have been on my knees praying, teeth gritted, tears flowing, and forced myself to pray. And that is exactly how we sometimes get through really difficult times with our faith intact. We keep praying, even when we don’t feel like it. And even if God “feels” far away, He is not. He’s right beside us. Holding us up.

This is not Heaven. Bad things happen on earth. God does not stop them all, but He does help us walk through them. And unfortunately, with pain, that is the only way to deal with it. We have to walk through it to the other side. With God holding our hand every step of the way!

Trust God; He loves us and will not let us down. And God will never leave us.

The Fourth Horse

**Seen While Praying The Rosary: The Pale Horse**

“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.”

^”And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”-Revelations 6:7-8

Our time will come…

Prepare, Pray and Be Ready…

What is “Highly Esteemed Among Men Is Abomination In The Sight Of God”

“And he said to them, You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”-Luke 16:15

There can be no doubt that many Americans, millions even, justify their actions by the approval of other human beings, rather than the approval of God. The problem with that choice (for they choose to do so) is that God does NOT approve!

We need to seek God’s Will for every choice we make in our lives. Daily prayer and the daily reading of G0d’s Word can help us to make more Godly choices. Ending every prayer with a prayer that “God’s Will Be Done” can really help 🙂

All of our choices should be chosen based on what God’s Will is for us, not man’s.

Prepare, Pray and Be Ready!