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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

God is working within each of us. Let us use that power given by our loving Lord to help each other every day. Praying for others and asking for pray from our family and friends is so important but sometimes hard. Recently I have felt the graces that prayer from family and friends can provide.

I personally pray a lot. I pray for God to work in me, not only to come into my heart but once in there to soften it, to use it, to mold it and lead me in any way that He wants me to go. I pray for others whom I know that have asked for pray, I pray for our church leaders, government leaders, for the poor, the homeless, on and on…. And I have a few friends that I can turn to at a moments notice and say, ‘I need prayer please’, and with no more explanation than that I know they’ll stop whatever they’re doing to ask God to guide or intercede for me in whatever the need may be. I’m comfortable going to these people and seeking help.

This last month I’ve had some major changes taking place in my life, changes in employment, financial situations, and health issues. All of these leaving me uneasy and relying on God’s grace to see me through. These challenging circumstances, things that I must admit I’ve taken for granted for years, have been rocked and made my comfortable life a little unsteady. As each circumstance came up, I’d talk to the Lord, and say, ‘OK, Your will be done Father.’ I’ve laid each obstacle at the ‘Foot of the Cross’ and looked for Jesus’ lead to move me forward. Each time, He’d give me direction and the answers I needed. But then another snag in life would show up. One after the other after the other, until I said, ‘OK what is it, am I doing this all wrong?’ I didn’t understand what was going on. I’m not saying my life has been a bed of roses over the years but I’m usually pretty good at getting things handled and moving on. This time one after the other, things began to pile up.

I want to be able to be there for others, offering prayers for someone, or trying to help out where I can, not worrying about what’s happening in my life. And to top it off, I’m not used to going to people for my problems, I have a difficult time asking for help for myself. There are a few people I turn to that I can always count on to be there for me but I am much more comfortable offering assistance than asking for it. I don’t have a problem being willing to assist others when needed by praying or lending a hand or whatever. And I can go to others to ask for the need of friends or family. But when problems are coming in my life I try to pray for myself without bothering a lot of people with the details.

The last few weeks I’ve been humbled into realizing that I needed major pray warriors on my side. I enlisted the few familiar friends and at first the problems would start to work themselves out and then bam, more of a mess would arise out of the blue. I think I was getting lovingly hit over the head with enough issues that I had to be forced to go outside my comfort zone and enlist more people to lift me up with prayer. And guess what, they did, in groves, they’d pass the word along and more and more would pray. I found myself being unable to concentrate on my own prayers and be worried that I wasn’t doing what God wanted. One friend confided that she felt my anxiety in her stomach and she prayed even harder for me, over and over again. Another friend enlisted a whole school to pray for me. Even though I couldn’t concentrate and my prayer wasn’t going the way it usually did, I’d feel more of God’s presence and comfort with me. An overwhelming sense of peace would surround me these last few days even as another bit of bad news hit.. The prayers of children, family and, friends rallying together lifted me up, held me, and healed me like nothing else could. I began to not care what the problems were or the seriousness of any of the situation. I truly trusted and felt the Lord will provide no matter what.

Miracles happen every day, I’ve seen many in my life, I’ve no doubt in my mind the power God has here on earth. As my life goes on I see that power, I truly feel that power, that awesome presence of a loving, kind and gentle Savior.

Never be afraid to ask for prayer. And go out of the comfort zone when doing it. You can be blessed beyond your imagination and by bringing more to prayer you are blessing others. God put us here to live in community to help each other. Pray we always can do that..

Thank you one and all for the prayers, for the help, and for the healing I needed to see I can’t just rely on myself, that there are times we all need to let go, let God and others be the strong ones.

Jesus is the reason for my hope, and never before have I been more aware of this. The Holy Spirit is within each of us, let us all work with His power to lift each other up in good times and in difficult times.

Let all the earth cry to God with JOY today and always!

URLVD

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