“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.”
To BELIEVE is to REPENT!
Tag: Christ
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The highlight of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chicago in October 1979 was a three-hour Mass in Grant Park, attended by an estimated 200,000 people. (Photo courtesy AP / Wide World)
I must say sorry for this being so late, but I was captivated most of the weekend and days following by so much going in that I hadn’t had a chance to put this to the pen, or in this case, to the fingertips.
I was blessed in so many ways, on that warm October 5th day in 1979. I was 12 years old and all the Catholic Schools were given the day off to attend the mass in Grant Park. My mother took me and my brother on the train to make sure we had the chance to see the Pope. We waited on the parade route with so many people. I had never seen so many people before. As we waited for the motorcade I began to walk up the street where the crowd was thin. As I made my way through the people to get closer to the curb, now, Blessed Pope John Paul II was heading our way. I stood in awe as his car slowed to a snails pace and he blessed all standing on the side of the street. I’m sure everyone in that huge crowd of people could say the same thing, but I know in my heart, as I stood there, he looked directly at me and blessed me and the people around me. I was emptied of every ill feeling in the world in that split second and felt a joy and love I had never felt in my life. From that day on, I loved him so dearly. To see his photo or hear him speak on television always brought a smile to my face. And in every way today, continues to have the same effect on me. He was and will always be “Papa” to me. Great will be his title.
When I think of that day now, I know in my heart, I have him to thank for putting in the good word.
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What is God’s will? I think the only what to answer this question would be to look at His spouse, our Holy Mother Mary. Once she accepted to do the will of God “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word.” not only was she giving in to God 100% but also giving up her life to sere Him. She no longer had Free Will, but God’s Will. Meaning, no matter what she did, it was pleasing to Him. Mary, is then, God’s will in the physical being. She was also “Full of Grace” meaning she was unable to offend God, because she was sinless.
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I don’t remember where I was but traveling the road with Mark, my husband. He wanted to get a new window cling at the exchange because, his words, he worked so hard for his stripes. Granted, he served 23.5 years in the US Marines. He did work hard for them.
I immediately thought of my true spouse, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The “Bridegroom”. How He had earned His “stripes” through a scourging. It just didn’t equal and never can.
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After Mass this morning, I took Sister Soledad to Home Depot and then to Rite Aid. My husband took our girls to the Padres game and gave me the day to think. I took a ride to an old fishing hole. It used to be a water reclamation area now turned into a recreation park, with 7 lakes. I packed my Shakespeare rod, purchased some worms and took my packed lunch. Turkey & cheese on pita bread. I walked to a picnic bench and sat down next to the water. There was a mommy duck with 9 brand new baby’s. Something told me to buy duck food while I was at the bait shop and I did. The mommy & baby’s were fed well with the cracked corn.
I prayed to our LORD Jesus Christ deeply.
I sat for a moment watching the beauty of God’s creation, eating my lunch and praying. As I looked around I noticed the park I had known for some time, had changed. The islands in the middle of the lake that used to be tropical were cut down. The palms were replaced with new trees. Almost sanitized and dry. On the bank of one of the islands, was a turtle that seems to be waving his flipper.
I prayed more intently and a flock of ducks came out of the water. Quacking up a storm. I heard that voice in my heart say, feed my ducks. I shared my lunch with some of them, then took a little walk. I walked to the bank and I took the worms I had purchased and tossed them into the water. Just before I did, I seen a big fish. I never tossed a line in, just the worms. Then I walked back to my car, packed it up and went to see our LORD in adoration.
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Imagine if every soul on earth could see what they looked like full of sin. No make up in this world could cover up the scars. Only Christ can through a conversion of heart to Him.
Last nights reading, one of my favorites….
Disfigured by sin…Isaiah 52:13-53:12
See, my servant will prosper,
he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights.
As the crowds were appalled on seeing him
– so disfigured did he look
that he seemed no longer human –
so will the crowds be astonished at him,
and kings stand speechless before him;
for they shall see something never told
and witness something never heard before:
‘Who could believe what we have heard,
and to whom has the power of the Lord been revealed?’Like a sapling he grew up in front of us,
like a root in arid ground.
Without beauty, without majesty we saw him,
no looks to attract our eyes;
a thing despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering,
a man to make people screen their faces;
he was despised and we took no account of him.And yet ours were the sufferings he bore,
ours the sorrows he carried.
But we, we thought of him as someone punished,
struck by God, and brought low.
Yet he was pierced through for our faults,
crushed for our sins.
On him lies a punishment that brings us peace,
and through his wounds we are healed.We had all gone astray like sheep,
each taking his own way,
and the Lord burdened him
with the sins of all of us.
Harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly,
he never opened his mouth,
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers
never opening its mouth.By force and by law he was taken;
would anyone plead his cause?
Yes, he was torn away from the land of the living;
for our faults struck down in death.
They gave him a grave with the wicked,
a tomb with the rich,
though he had done no wrong
and there had been no perjury in his mouth.The Lord has been pleased to crush him with suffering.
If he offers his life in atonement,
he shall see his heirs, he shall have a long life
and through him what the Lord wishes will be done.His soul’s anguish over
he shall see the light and be content.
By his sufferings shall my servant justify many,
taking their faults on himself.Hence I will grant whole hordes for his tribute,
he shall divide the spoil with the mighty,
for surrendering himself to death
and letting himself be taken for a sinner,
while he was bearing the faults of many
and praying all the time for sinners. -
Since I could not attend adoration yesterday morning, I found myself in the prayer labyrinth. Before I started my prayer walk, I went over to the grotto where our statue of Bernette is with Our Lady of Lourdes. I prayed to her and told her I had fallen madly in love with her Son. We ended up having a very long conversation. I smiled and walked to where the start of the labyrinth was and on my way, I found blessed palms laying on the ground. They were intertwined with one another and someone spent time to do so. I picked them up as I could never leave them just laying on the ground. They were with me my entire journey. As I got to the center of the labyrinth, I knelt down and began to pray. As I did, I noticed another blessed palm, tucked into one of the lamps, out of normal sight. I left it there and finished my prayers.
While attending the Mass of the Lords Supper, I remembered the blessed palm that needed help. I was filled with an overwhelming desire to not leave that palm behind in the elements. It had been blessed and did not belong anywhere but in a place of honor.
After mass & a brief adoration, I walked outside and it was quite dark. There were many people around as mass had just concluded. Some watched as I walked to the center of the labyrinth which was unlit. I knelt down and felt around under the lamp in which I had seen the palm. I could not see but managed to take hold of it and was so happy I had found it. I couldn’t help but look up to the sky and smile as I said, “Like a thief in the night”. No one knew what I was doing and how important it was for me not to leave that palm behind. Like the Chrism used at baptism, that leaves the mark of the LORD on each soul indefinitely, identifying us as His, was the way I seen this palm. It had become lost and belonged to our Lord. That drive I had in me to get it, is the same drive our Lord has to go get His souls when they become lost. Or, “No soul left behind”.
Mark 13:2 “And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
“turn your ear to me, make haste. Be for me a rock-fastness, a fortified citadel to save me.”
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“There is a Hindu story comparing the mind to the trunk of an elephant – restless, inquisitive, always straying. In India, elephants are sometimes taken in religious processions through the streets to the temple. The streets are crooked and narrow, lined on either side with fruit and vegetable stalls. Along comes the elephant with his restless trunk, and in one sinuous motion, he grabs a whole bunch of bananas. He opens his cavernous mouth, and tosses the bananas in – stalk and all. From the next stall he picks up a coconut and tosses it in after the bananas. No threats or promises can make this restless trunk settle down. But the wise elephant trainer will give that trunk a short bamboo stick to hold. Then the elephant will walk along proudly, holding the bamboo stick in front like a drum major with a baton. He doesn’t steal bananas and coconuts now, because his trunk has something to hold onto.”
Over last weekend, I spent the morning after mass on Saturday, in front of an abortion clinic on Miramar Road, praying with a group of 50 or so others. The decision to go and do this was a hard one. I had always wanted to but had in the past, blocked myself from participating because I would often feel like a hypocrite. I went and it was the most uplifting experience I had ever participated in. I had confessed my sin many years ago and only now have forgiven myself. I had always felt that I had so much to offer in regard to praying with so much love but that “Elephant” would always be in the room to point out my shortcomings. As I pulled up in front of this clinic and parked my car, walking to greet the others, I noticed to the left of the abortion clinic a store named “The Elephants Trunk”. I smiled when I noticed it. I confessed that years ago & focused more on the prayers that were needed for souls about to make the same deadly mistake I had years before. If only the women walking into this place understood the significance of that store just a few doors down, the decision would already have been made to keep their child.
“6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
13 Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. 15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to
approach unto him.”
20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can
draw up Jordan into his mouth.
24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.” Job 40 6-24I think of the “Elephant” as our Lord. Through the Holy Spirit, knocking over our guilt and making it more apparent and less likely to be hidden from our own eyes. Until we address the underlying problem, and fix it, how can we even attempt to fix others? Ensure that “Stick” is always in the elephants trunk. Meaning, keep yourself clean and avoid sinful behavior or that “Elephant” will never let you rest.
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Oh to only be a palm fron that day Our Lord entered Jerusalem, placed at His feet, comforting His entry..“When they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. 3 Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once.”
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
“Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road.The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken 8 and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matt 21 1-11
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The pain a soul feels after having an abortion is endless. No amount of suffering a woman can feel by HAVING a child under any circumstance, can ever compare to the pain she has after taking the life of her own child. Evey relationship with every person she comes in contact with after making the decision to have one, is compromised. The emotional and psychological problems are enormous and burdensome and to add it to the cross she already carry’s is a tremendous amount of weight, most times then not, just to heavy to carry alone. Everything in the woman’s life in this world after having an abortion, reminds her of the day she took her own child’s life. The pain NEVER goes away. How do I know? I fell for the empty rhetoric at one time in my life, that the baby growing inside of me, was not human.
In March of 1993, while having an affair with a married man fifteen years older then myself, for already two years, I found out I was pregnant. I was already a single mom with a six year old daughter from a marriage that should have never taken place, struggling to make ends meet. No one knew I was having this affair and I was all alone. What I thought was “Love” I had felt for this man, was anything but love as I can see so clearly now. I sat him down and told him I was pregnant. His response was he wasn’t about to leave his wife. They had been married for over twenty years and he couldn’t do that to her. Rather then go with my motherly INSTINCT to protect this beautiful life of the child growing inside of me, I told him that I would see my doctor and discuss abortion.
The day I met with my doctor, the same doctor that had delivered me, he confirmed I was pregnant and only about four to five weeks along. I told him the situation and that I was considering abortion. He said ok and left me sitting on the examination table as he walked out of the room. As I sat there on the examination table, I heard that voice in my heart. DON’T DO THIS! This is not you! And I changed my mind. I couldn’t go through with this horrific thing I was thinking about doing. It was done! I was going to have this child and all the pain and suffering I would have to endure bringing another child into this world even without the funds to do so. It was time to face the music of the life I was leading.
The nurse came into the examination room and told me to roll up my sleeve. I did and she jabbed me with a needle. I asked her what she had just given me and she said it was “Vitamins”. I then told her after, I changed my mind and I was going to be going through with the pregnancy. Her very stern and angry face melted into one of horror. I quickly learned, it was not vitamins she gave me, but a shot to kill the baby and cause a miscarriage. I NEVER knew having an abortion was just one shot away. I always thought it was a serious medical procedure that would take time to think about because it would have to be planned out ahead of time. It wasn’t. It was all contained in that shot the nurse had already given me, after I had changed my mind. My stupidity, led to the murder of my child, at my hands. My lack of understanding the SERIOUSNESS of the situation all came to light.
She left the room and my doctor came back in. He held my hands and said it was to late and that it was in God’s hands now. I ended up losing the baby two days later. Alone, at home, without anyone knowing the pain I was going through. Nor the pain this little innocent life felt. It was official. I committed murder.
Not a day has passed that I don’t think about my “little soul” in heaven. I am constantly reminded about this little one every time I see children, pregnant women, birthday party’s and even still now, in my own children. During the time of this event in my life, I tried to block it out as much as I could. In doing so, the relationship I had with my daughter faltered because I could not bare to look at her and NOT see the child who I took out of this world. The psychological and emotional effects took their toll. How could anyone want me now, knowing what I had done? How could I explain to my daughter that she could have had a baby brother or sister but I murdered the baby. The effects of abortion on the soul of the woman who has had one, is a pain she will carry with her through her entire life. The baby just doesn’t “Go Away” and the woman is NOT left to continue on in her life. The baby goes away and the woman carry’s that event forever. Nothing can change the facts.
As many years that have passed, I always think about how old my child would be now. What they would have looked like. Who’s life they would have influenced. My child would be entering college this year. Just this past Christmas, my five year old daughter gave me a present that shook my soul. It was an innocent gift she had made in school for me. Her teacher had drawn her arms and hands and glued them onto a heart. The little hands were my five year-olds hands, imprinted in red tempera paint. When I opened the gift, I burst into tears and hugged her so tight. I couldn’t stop crying. Seeing the little red hands reminded me of the little one I have in heaven and what I had done. You see, the pain never does go away.
In my conversion of heart, coming back to the Catholic Church, just confessing this grave sin eased the burden I carry. It is a forgivable act and through repentance and working WITH the graces our Lord STILL pours on the soul, it becomes lighter to carry when you know Our Lord STILL loves us. I didn’t have the counseling made available now to help women who have had abortions. At the time, the evil one had me believing I was damned to hell because of this act. I only know now, that is NOT true! Rachel’s Vineyard is one such organization that WILL HELP you! You do not have to suffer alone.
Never NEVER let anyone tell you that baby inside of you is just a blob of tissue. What they don’t tell you is how the loss of that “Blob” at your own hands, causes a woman so much pain and so much emotional damage, not to mention the damage done to the body. If my child was just as they say, I wouldn’t have this weight on my soul. Obviously its more then just a blob. The consequences of taking that “Blob” last a lifetime. Get INFORMED! And then inform everyone. Abortion is just a sanitized name for murder.
No matter when the pregnancy ends, conception is the beginning of motherhood.
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“Make your fold with the sheep; flee from the wolves: depart not from the Church,”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, pray for us. Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all. Amen
St. Cyril’s teaching about the Blessed Sacrament is of the first importance, for he was speaking freely, untrammelled by the “discipline of the secret”. On the Real Presence he is unambiguous: “Since He Himself has declared and said of the bread: This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any more? And when He asserts and says: This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate and say it is not His Blood?” Of the Transformation, he argues, if Christ could change water into wine, can He not change wine into His own Blood? The bread and wine are symbols: “In the type of bread is given thee the Body, in the type of wine the Blood is given thee”; but they do not remain in their original condition, they have been changed, though the senses cannot tell us this: “Do not think it mere bread and wine, for it is the Body and Blood of Christ, according to the Lord’s declaration”. “Having learned this and being assured of it, that appears to be bread is not bread, though perceived by the taste, but the Body of Christ, and what appears to be wine is not wine, though the taste says so, but the Blood of Christ . . . strengthen thy heart, partaking of it as spiritual (food), and rejoice the face of thy soul”. It is difficult not to see the whole doctrine of Transubstantiation in these explicit words. Confirmation is with blessed chrism: “As the bread of the Eucharist after the invocation of the Holy Ghost is not bread, but the Body of Christ, so this holy myrrh is no longer simple, as one might say, after the invocation, but a gift of Christ and capable by the presence of the Holy Ghost of giving His divinity” (ii, 4).
Taken from New Advent
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I often ponder “Repentance”. In my heart, I can see its effects, not as a way I hope to be, but as a way I should be right now.
Rend Your Heart Joel 2:12-13
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.Great advice on how important it is, not to give up more, but to do more from Rev. James Martin, S.J. Catholic priest and author, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.
Bothering to Love: One Priest’s Modest Proposal for LentHere are some great quotes I felt needed to be shared today:
“Are you capable of risking your life for someone? Do it for Christ.”~Venerable Pope John Paul II
“My child, I have need of victims, and strong victims, who by their sufferings, tribulations, and difficulties, make amends for sinners and for their ingratitude.” Saint Gemma Galgani, letters
“Love wants to suffer for the Beloved… Love wants to expiate the sins that have so deeply penetrated mankind. Love wants to make up for the lack of love among those who sin. Love wants to relieve the debt of suffering that sinners owe to God. Love wants to give God what sinners are depriving Him of by their sins.” Servant of God Fr. John Hardon
Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps. Luke 9:23
To change and to change for the better are two different things. – German proverb
Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, `Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.’ I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners. – Matthew 9:13
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. – Proverbs 3:7
God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.-Romans 2:4
Confession is the first step to repentance. English Proverb
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Ah! if you only knew the peace there is in an accepted sorrow. – Jeanne de la Motte-Guyton
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Originally blogged on 3/5/2011
My devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began at a very young age, and I didn’t even know it. As a matter of fact, I forgot all about it until the Holy Spirit reminded me about it last fall. It was something I had blocked in my memory because of fear. Fear I had been committing a grave sin at a very young age. By falling in love with Him.
Shortly after my first Holy Communion, I received a picture of the Sacred Heart Of Jesus. I honestly do not remember where the photo came from but I think my great uncle, who was a priest, gave it to me, with a rosary and a marble statue with a metal plaque bearing the image of the Last Supper. He had also celebrated the mass for my communion, during my grandparents fiftieth wedding anniversary. No matter how I received it, I fell in love with His face and kept it for some time. No matter what I was doing during the day, hanging out with my friends in front of the house, or doing stuff around the house, I would go into my bedroom and gaze into His eyes, believing if only in my child sized brain, He was my “Boyfriend”. Like more teens & girls do today, with celebrity’s photos. Then walk back to my friends or what ever and pretend to be what “They” wanted me to be. I wasn’t exactly a “Good Kid”. Most everything in my youth, I repent for now. I call it the added weight to my “Cross” I carry back to our Lord. Not the sins, but the pain I know that I caused Him. Keep in mind, I had only fallen in love with His face, not knowing Him through His word and loving Him for what “I THOUGHT” rather than for what I now know Him to be.
One day, as I was looking into His eyes, when I escaped from the world and I could just see His face, I became overcome by guilt and thought, He is God Peg.. Who are you to call Him a “boyfriend”. So I asked someone. An adult, who told me no. I knew in my heart He was with me. I felt him throughout my entire body. I could hear Him saying in my heart “You are far to young, one day I will come to you”. My stupidity and pride blocked these words leading me on a path that not many return from. I got rid of the picture of the Sacred Heart of our Lord that I had fallen in love with, believing I was not good enough, with much angst and started to become, what the world wanted me to be. I was an angry child after that. Nothing could make me happy. I remember giving the picture to my mother and telling her to keep it, thinking He couldn’t love me. I ran away from Him, like the naked man in the garden, the night before His execution, disobedient to everything, heading into the world, without my “Sheet”. Afraid to stay when He needed me to learn, and grow up in my faith. My love for Him, was not perfect yet. I did not love Him fully.I’m not making excuses, there is no excuse. Only my repenting.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1 Corinthians 13:4
I was impatient, I was mean to others, I envied anything and anyone better than me, I boasted and lied to make myself look better and I allowed my pride to get the better of my faith in Him. Worst of all, I did these things, knowing He was still with me. When I did these dreadful things, I could hear Him telling me NO until one day, I could only hear myself, becoming deaf to Our Lord. Thus, moving forward to committing the ugliest mortal sins, that only He can scrub clean from my soul, through my sorrow and repenting. Repenting does not mean to just say your sorry, it means to change your entire way you are living, and live through Him and not just lip service.
Being on the path back to Him, I have found, true love and see that love growing stronger and stronger. An unbreakable Love. Love for everything He is. Love for His word, His forgiveness and His church. Through His church, I can touch, taste, hear and see Him. As that love began to build, slowly I was able to see Him in total strangers. It has been a very slow process, but one in which I am so grateful. It was only this past year, that I discovered again, the photo of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in which I loved as a child and now love with every fiber of my being, fully and maturely, not based on what He “Looks Like”, but how He is.
Edit to add: July 1, 2014
So much has taken place since this post, since the day I walked away from our Lord at that young age to now in how He has done so much to get me back home.. Yesterday, all I could think of was our Lord and how all I wanted to do was attend Holy Mass. I got home from work, and was listening to music, pondering… The time for Mass was getting closer and a song started to play. One I had not heard in many years and never truly listed to the lyrics. I did yesterday. My heart burst when I understood the lyrics and that particular time in my life I had walked away from Him, because I did not know how to love. Bringing me back to yesterday, and how He not only taught me how to Love Him, but to understand He will never leave me.. Keep in mind, you have to read my entire blog to understand how long it has taken to get back home…
I ran all the way “Home”, and the door was open, waiting for me..
This is the song:
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Ah the “Freudian Slip”. An action of the tongue so often called “faulty actions”, “faulty functions” or “misperformances” after himself, rather then something in the inner soul that I surely believe God in His infinite wisdom, brings about to the person preoccupied with other thoughts, they are afraid to express with the tongue. Or, Gods way of getting it “off the souls chest” an into the light of day to reflect on or to repent for thinking it in the first place.
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15
As I woke up yesterday morning, I noticed my husband had a perplexing look on his face. I know he was worried about our income. I didn’t say anything and walked away taking his anxiety with me to our back yard. While stepping outside, with the weight of his worry’s, I knew a prayer was needed for us. I looked up in desperation to the sky with all the intentions to pray to God and out of my mouth, instead of God, comes Dad. I immediately started to giggle out loud. The weight of the world was gone. I then prayed in thanksgiving to God.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
This was the second time this had happened to me which I thought of immediately after praying yesterday. The first time, was in the presence of a homeless man that I engaged in conversation, by asking him if I could pray with him and for him and give him some money for lunch.. I ended up speaking to this man named Fred, for almost two hours, about Jesus and faith. I could not believe how strong his faith was and he had taught me a lot about my own faith. In the midst of our conversation, when I was telling him about how LOVE was the driving force, I was about to say “Our God” and what came out of my mouth was “My Dad”. We both stopped dead in conversation and both our jaws dropped.There was a few seconds of silence which was quickly replaced with Fred saying to me, that is Abba Father! We both smiled. It was hard for me to leave Fred that day, and I will never forget him.
