Women Who Walk By Faith

Dying to self, realizing that all is God’s

“You should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” Ephesians 4:22-24

What does it mean to die to self and be a follower of Christ? In this world we live in today, what does that look like? How can I truly be as Christ is to me? How can I, like the grain of wheat that falls to the earth and dies, “produce much fruit,” John 12:24?

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Pretty serious questions. I often ponder these questions in my life along with am I fulfilling God’s Will by acting on the answers to the above questions.

Is my heart truly mine? Are my hands and feet truly mine? How about the money in my bank account, my possessions or the children I am blessed with? The more I contemplate this, the more my answer is – if I die to self and follow Christ, the answer to those questions would be no, they are all God’s.

When I lay down my heart and allow it to be in union with Christ, I will love others as He loves me. I will embrace each person as if he or she were my brother or sister. I would pray for them as if they were a part of me.

When I allow Christ to be my hands and feet, I will feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked. If I see one of my sisters and brothers injured, I will pick them up and attend to their needs. I will be a true servant to each of my brothers and sisters, giving of myself.

When I accept that my possessions are not mine but God’s, given to me to use to build His kingdom, I would trust that when my brothers or sisters reach out to me in financial need, I would give what I had to give, knowing that it was God’s to give in accordance with His will.

When I accept that my children are God’s, I would have less anxiety, trusting their lives into the hands of their true Father, their creator. I would know that the hands that created them within me will direct their paths and their journey in life.

When I truly know that all I have is God’s, when I truly die to myself, my trust and peace will reach the heavens. I would live the life God intended and I would be fulfilling His Will, building His kingdom here in this temporary home. I think this is what it means to me to die to self and bear much fruit, just as the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it is then that the wheat is useful. And so we, like the grain of wheat, will feed God’s people by bearing fruits of the kingdom through our service, love, compassion, and mercy given to us to be Christ in this world that needs it.

Dear friends, is your heart God’s heart? Are your hands and feet that of Jesus? Are your possessions God’s gift to use to aid His people? Are your children His, given to you to spiritually guide and produce abundant fruit in the kingdom of God? How simple would our lives be when we accept that all that we are and all that we have is God’s and was given to us to serve and love our brothers and sisters.

Have you performed open heart surgery on yourself? – God is waiting

“When you look for Me, you will find Me. Yes, when you seek Me with all your heart, I will let you find Me and I will change your lot.” Jeremiah 29:13-14

Have you or any one you know had open heart surgery? What about a conversion of faith from darkness to light?

What is the difference between physical open heart surgery and a spiritual open heart surgery?

In the physical sense, open heart surgery consist of any repair to the heart where a surgeon has to create an incision to access the components of the heart. It’s not really a physical opening of the heart but an opening of the chest.

What about the spiritual sense? What does it consist of? I think that when we have “spiritual open heart surgery,” the heart of the spiritual self cracks open as one begins to mindfully seek God and God begins widening that crack as He pours His light into it. This is the heart of our spiritual conversion.

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A dear friend of mine reminded me recently that this process has to begin with us. God does not force Himself into our heart. He doesn’t make the incision, in a sense. He waits until their is a tiny crack of true longing for Him within the heart and then He pours into it. We are the surgeons that make the incision, God then provides all the instruments to repair it, transforming our lives through His light and truth.

I can pin point the exact moment when this happened to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God, pray, thank Him or celebrate Him. I didn’t really know Him as I know my best friend or a member of my family. I didn’t have a relational connection with Him. When my mind began to search for a purpose in my life and my heart began to seek God in prayer, longing for more of Him, my life began to change. A tiny crack was opened and God began to widen that crack by pouring into me, changing me. My eyes opened, my mind opened, and my soul longed for more as I hungered and thirst for God. The more I longed for Him, the more He fed me, pouring people into my life, knowledge of Him, love, truth and trust. My journey hasn’t stopped since. The crack continues to widen and I continue to grow through the struggles and through the joy filled moments. He hasn’t stopped pouring people into my life, knowledge, love, truth and trust. Even when I stumble, I still know the journey is and has been amazing as my heart continues to open – opening a world of truth, miracles and wonder. This is the spiritual sense of open heart surgery that I have experienced – as my heart has completely undergone a transformation on another level that is divine and exquisite.

Perhaps, you have experienced this transformation in your own unique way. If not, are you prepared to perform “open heart surgery” on yourself by seeking God with all your heart and allowing Him to do the rest? A tiny crack is all He needs to fill you with all His glorious wonder. This Advent seek Him by opening your heart and receive the greatest gift, His friendship.

Forgiveness scores!

One of my memories as a young girl is learning about the “Saints”. Before you sit back and think, well that’s nice and wholesome, I want to explain a little. The Saints I grew up watching and learning about were the New Orleans Saints. Growing up in Louisiana, many of my family members gathered around the TV on Sunday to watch the Saints play football. There was lots of yelling and screaming, jumping and clapping, coupled with some minor frustrations when they didn’t play well, which happened to be often when I was growing up.

These Sunday afternoons coupled with playing football with my brother and his friends, I learned the language of football. I learned about offense and defense, scoring and blocking. I learned running plays and passing plays. You may ask yourself what does this have to do with a “faith blog?”

Ever consider your struggle with forgiveness in the form of a football game?

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Humor me as I explain a little. On the field, you have forgiveness on the offensive side, while anger, resentment and bitterness are on the defensive side. As forgiveness catches the ball and runs down the sideline, anger tries to knock him over, causing him to stumble. Then from out of nowhere, bitterness and resentment come from different angles, diving in for the tackle. At first glance, forgiveness appears to be tackled among the pile of anger, bitterness and resentment and then out of the entanglement, forgiveness emerges. It is as if he gained strength from another source and he gracefully escapes the pile, running towards the ultimate touchdown of glory and peace.

Quite a game! When forgiveness is on the offensive side in the football game, glory and peace will always emerge and will always score. This is a promise from our Heavenly Father as He proved this very thing when His only son, Jesus, died for us so that we may be forgiven. He also promises to give us the strength we need to emerge from the bottom of the pile to score the touchdown.

So, I ask myself when have I struggled with forgiveness and I ask you, have you battled with forgiving someone? Although you know it’s the right thing to do, you want to hang on to the anger or hurt within you. You may even feel justified to not forgive. Forgiveness is hard, especially when we are on the receiving end of the hurt and the other person continues to go for the tackle. There is nothing worst than the bondage of unforgiveness. Our hearts are unable to be free when we cannot forgive. If we suffer from hurt or brokenness, we are unable to heal and move forward if we cannot forgive. This keeps us shackled to the past, the brokenness, the pain, the anger, the bitterness and resentment. None of these are lifegiving for our physical and spiritual needs. What holds us back from seeking forgiveness if we seek a joy filled life?

Are you ready to be on the offensive side or the defensive side? Do you want to be bound by anger, resentment and bitterness in the pile up on the football field or do you want to emerge glorious and peacefully through the triumphant offensive moves of forgiveness?

Dear friends, forgiveness is an awesome gift that each of us has been given. No matter how difficult it may seem and how justified you feel to not forgive, take a leap towards the goal and place your bet on forgiving others.

If I saw You walking by…

If I saw You walking by, would I be a beggar, the one who gave all she had, the blind man, the hemorrhaging woman or the Pharisee? I ponder this question as I journey through life. Am I at times the Pharisee, persecuting You with my ignorance to who You are, what You have done for me? Do I, like the blind man and the hemorrhaging woman know who You are and desire Your healing? Am I the beggar, searching for what You have to offer, seeking Your riches? Or may be I am the one who gave all I had, honoring Your presence?

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Through my journey, I have been each of these. I have persecuted Jesus through my earthly desires and selfishness. I have thought of myself when I have meditated on the Passion as one who has spit on Jesus, that screamed “crucify him”. When I see myself in the Passion in this role, I identify with the affect of my sins. My sins affect not just my small world and inner being. They have a greater affect, a ripple affect that extends to my community and beyond. In essence, my sins today are the people of yesterday that persecuted and crucified Jesus. Sometimes that is a little hard to swallow – to consider my own sins a part of Jesus’ Passion.

Then there are times when I am the blind man or the hemorrhaging woman, seeking healing and knowing that Jesus is the source of that unending gift of life giving water. My healing comes in the form of both physical and spiritual healing. More often, my healing takes the form of spiritual healing and it is through the deeper relationship with Christ that I find that healing, through embracing the Body of Christ, found in both the Eucharist and the Church.

When I see myself as the beggar, I ponder the riches I seek. When I have fulfilled this role, have I sought from Jesus only to gain for myself or I have sought from Jesus riches to pour out upon others? Through my journey, I have done both. I remember when I was in college, I would pray my rosary or kneel down in prayer to ask for God to assist me in making a good grade on my exam. In my mind, I always felt that if I had studied and did my part, then prayed and asked God to do His part, I would be successful in making the grade. I guess it worked. But I think in my shallow faith at the time, I was begging God to help me make the grade for my own personal success, not considering what His intention was for that success. On the flip side, as I have grown in my faith, I often find myself praying for things that help me to be the person allowing God to fulfill His Will in or to accept His Will in the outcome of something I am praying for.

When I look at all these roles, I think I personally prefer to be more of the person who gave all that she had, honoring God’s presence. This is the role that I feel will provide holiness. This is the role I want to fulfill more often in my life as I journey forward to my final resting place. It is in this role that I accomplish all other roles and unite with God.

I think in our journey we each go through phases of each of these roles. It is important to do so because I think this is where growth in our relationship develops and becomes deeper so that we can establish holiness, our ultimate goal on this earth that God has given each of us. As we go deeper in our faith and develop a more prayerful relationship with God, we begin to move further away from some of the roles such as the persecutor. I know through my own journey that we are often relearning to walk. Each time we relearn, the falls and the time it takes to relearn to walk the journey become smaller and smaller as our conscience and heart unite to the one who created us to be Holy.

I want to end this post with a thought. What does it take to give all that we are, honoring God’s presence in all that we do on a daily basis? I don’t think it means we are perfect. I think it implies that we are doing the best that is capable of us, which is what God created you to do – hence holiness. God Bless!

Have you noticed the sprinkles decorating your faith

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life…” John 14:6

With the holidays coming around the corner, many of us will be making some yummy goodies. Some of them may be sprinkled with little candies for decoration or added flavor. You will bake and decorated them with either joy or stress of trying to bake them with a ton of other holiday things to do. Either way those who delight in them are filled with sweet joy as they admire and taste your delicious and beautiful holiday treats.

Making holiday treats sprinkled with decorative candies is a way that many people celebrate and share their love during the holidays.

So what about our faith? Are there times when God sprinkles your life with sweet grace decorating your faith and trust in Him?

The past few days, I have seen so many simple graces sprinkled upon my faith guiding me to trust in God’s divine will in my life. These sweet sprinkles have come in several different ways to remind me of His presence and His hands in all that is surrounding me.

Just the other day, I found myself praying for guidance in a circumstance in my life and when I was calling out to God, I received a message from a sweet sister in Christ that began with “Lord, thank you that you are near when I call upon you. Today, I cry out to you for help…”

Today, I hear the song by Pat Barrett “The Way (New Horizon)”, not once but twice on the radio when I got into my car. The sprinkles began to pour out two days ago when the verse John 14:6 was playing in my head reminding me that Jesus is my way, truth and life as I lean on Him and the Word of God, placing my trust in His hands.

You may ask what does this have to do with baking and sprinkles? Often I think we walk through our journey of faith going through the motions of going to church, reading our Bibles, may be doing some Bible study. And often as this is intermingled into everything else in our lives, we don’t realize the sweet decorative sprinkles God is pouring out in our faith through reminders of His presence and His will in our lives in some of the small things that align with where we are in a moment. Being open to seeing, hearing, feeling God’s presence reveals a beautiful, decorative faith of trust.

I’m often amazed at the little things that remind me of His presence, His love, His protection, His promise and His mercy. God hears every word we say. He knows every thought we have. He knows our circumstances, our pain and our joy. And just when we least expect it, He sends us little sprinkles to reveal Himself in that present moment, decorating our faith with His love. Just as in baking for the holidays, we may be in a joyful moment or a stressful one but His decorative sprinkles will always fill us with joy and delight as He shares His love for each of us, His children.

Listen to the lyrics in the song by Pat Barrett, “The Way (New Horizon).”

Are you walking your journey looking through the rear view mirror?

Do you often feel like you get drawn back into your past? Perhaps, you go back to relive a very happy moment? May be, you haven’t healed from an event in your past and you go back wondering what went wrong, you ask a bunch of what if’s or you just can’t move forward because of the pain?

Why does the past often seem so attractive? Can we relive an exact moment in our past, re-create it?

Our past is never meant to be re-created. In fact, it never can be. Even if I walk the same path today as I did yesterday, my foot prints will be different, my thoughts will not be exactly the same and the environment around me will be slightly different, even though it is the same path as yesterday. No matter, where or how we walked the journey yesterday, we are meant to always be in the present moment.

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So, why does God give us this capacity to remember the journey we have already traveled?

I think He does so to reveal moments of joy and happiness and moments of sadness and pain to aid us in the present moment. They either will help us through a learning experience or they will bring a smile in the moment when we need it.

Sometimes, I think in my own personal life, I feel I get sucked back into my past through current circumstances. I have two choices in those moments. I can either allow myself to be sucked into a place that no longer exist or I can choose to move forward in the present moment by choosing to deal with the circumstance through the grace of all things God has provided in that moment to aid me to continue the path forward, only looking back to learn how to best proceed.

Then there are memories in my past I cherish, memories that bring pure joy. Being a mom of two beautiful young ladies, I cherish the memories I have of their childhood, the moments they brought laughter to my day by their actions and words, the moments when they made their first accomplishments as they grew into the the young ladies they are today. I also embrace the memories of those who have gone before me or who have provided me with great wisdom and love through my childhood and young adult life. These memories are things I can look back on and be filled with joy and also learn from as I embrace the current moment.

As I reflect on my own journey, God provides these memories to me for a purpose and that purpose is not for me to try to relive the moment or to go back and stay in the past. He gives them to me to learn from them, to rejoice in them, to strengthen me and remind me of all the gifts He has provided for me in the journey.

If we try to drive looking through the rear view mirror, we will never move forward and reach our ultimate destination. The rear view mirror is there to help us journey forward by seeing what is behind us and using that to make the best decision to maneuver as we travel the road ahead in the present moment, where God is, providing the ultimate compass of guidance.

Are you walking your journey looking through the rear view mirror or are you using it to aid you as you maneuver the challenges of life?

Good and faithful servant

“Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.” Matthew 25:21

Do you long to hear those words “well done my good and faithful servant?”

Over my adult life, there have been many good and faithful servants in my life but often times I may not have truly recognized there service as so. Throughout my life, I have been a very selfish, independent young woman.

When others serve me, I tend to find it hard to accept, mainly the root being my independence. I also have noticed in my adult life that I may have taken others’ service towards me for granted, the root being my selfishness. Since my faith was ignited, I have been trying to recognize and be more attentive to my old habits and be more in tuned to being a good and faithful servant.

This past year, God has been teaching me a lot about service, through events in my life. I have been on the receiving end of many wonderful women’s service and I have walked along side many as they served others. It has been a beautiful journey learning to accept it when I need to and appreciate those that are giving their time and talents. It also has been joyous serving along side these beautiful women.

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This weekend, I was reminded of a different kind of service, a service that is humbling and small. I never considered, visiting another person who is going through a difficult period service. This weekend, I experienced a form of service that brought joy to my soul, yet sadness to my heart. In my past, this is the service that was given to me, yet I never recognized it as service. This person I visited was a person who cares about me and has offered me support and comfort. Today I realize that it was Jesus acting through her. Jesus suffering with me. At Mass today, one of our parish Deacon’s beautifully painted the picture of a good and faithful servant. He said that there are 3 things that a person who serves will undergo.

He/she will undergo suffering. To serve another, you have to make a sacrifice.
He/she will be united in suffering with that person, just as we are united to Jesus in His suffering on the cross.
He/she will carry a piece of the load of the person being served, just as Jesus carries our load.

The Homily spoke so greatly to my heart and highlighted my weekend visit. My friend is a good and faithful servant and has been by my side picking me up and providing me shelter through some very tough times. I have prayed and spoken to her a number of times during her suffering but had not gone to sit with her to share moments of laughter. This weekend I cleared part of my day to do just that, go sit and share a smile with her.

Serving is not just about doing big things, such as volunteering to clean up after a hurricane, or at a soup kitchen. It’s more than that. Serving is also showing love to your neighbor through humble, small acts. It’s sitting with an old man or old lady that has no family, but smiles at the site of your presence. It’s saying a kind word to the person at the register, that looks like she has had a rough day and bringing joy in that very moment. Serving is picking someone up when they are down, lifting the load off their shoulders, even if it’s for a split second. It’s feeling their suffering and walking their journey beside them.

Even in the small things, we can serve one another spreading the joy of our Lord and bearing the suffering with one another. When you think of serving, don’t just think of the big ticket items but think of the small acts of love and kindness. Take a little extra time and bring a smile to someone’s face by feeling their suffering and lifting the weight from their shoulders by bringing a joy filled smile upon their face. By sharing in the small matters, you will be given great responsibility, sharing in your Father’s love – go and be a “good and faithful servant.”