#peace – Page 3 – Women Who Walk By Faith

Eye of the storm – revealing God’s presence

“You have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb you have cared for me.” Psalm 71:6

Have you seen the hands of God throughout your life? Have you seen Him carrying you in a moment, in a circumstance, through your lifetime? Have you ever sat down and written your spiritual biography, spiritual journey, from childhood? From the moment you first remembered God?

Perhaps it’s a good exercise. And you may uncover moments that God was there and at the time you just didn’t see Him or feel Him. Many of us don’t open up to an awareness of God until later in our lives. If you really sit down and review your life, I’m sure He will reveal Himself to you in a moment when you needed Him but you didn’t realize that He was right beside you – catching your tears, embracing you with a hug, removing you from a situation that wasn’t healthy or was dangerous, or just paving a path for the successes in your life by guiding your choices in accordance with His will.

I once read a testimony written by a lady and the image she described of God’s presence is one I can relate to living in the south near the Gulf of Mexico and in my own testimony. She painted the picture of a storm, a hurricane to be exact. If you know much about hurricanes, you know that one side is very windy, one side is very wet and rainy and the center is calm – no wind and no rain.

dark clouds — Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

Life is kind of like the hurricane, it can get very windy and rainy. The storm will rage but in the center, God is there waiting for us. He never leaves the storm, never steps away from our life. He’s there in the calm, in the center of it all. The outer realms of the hurricane doesn’t necessarily have to be a trial or struggle your going through, it could just be the craziness of life. God is right in the center waiting for you to meet Him there.

When I think about this center, I think about the core of my being. Deep within me is where God is waiting for me. This center is where His will and my will align, where my heart and His love align, where the graces are poured out upon my life, where the strength is renewed and refreshed, where my joy radiates. There is no room for fear there, no room for anger, unforgiveness, anxiety, selfishness. Those are on the outer realms. They are the windy, rainy layers of my being. The more I go to this center, the more in touch of who I truly am, who I was truly created to be before I was “formed in my mother’s womb.”

There are so many things that go on in our outer circles of us that influence where we are in a moment in time. These environmental affects involve people, events, circumstances. Sometimes they can really influence the winds and the rain of our being. They can really stir up the storm. These are the moments I think we don’t see God in our life. It isn’t until we go to that “eye of the storm,” the core of our soul that we see God and what He has done in our life or is doing in our life.

I recently had to look back on my life and uncover a place that I never want to go back to. Although it was painful, it strengthened my faith and my trust in God. Looking back I could see that it was only through the grace of God, His strength present in the center of my storm, the center of my being, that brought me out of this place to a place of love and joy.

One of the things I notice when I go back to my past is that it isn’t until I was open to seeing God that I went into the center and allowed Him to align my path to the journey He had prepared for me. Although He was there, as long as I stayed in the circumstance of the storm, the outer layers, I didn’t see Him. It was when I was ready to go deeper within me that I became aware of God’s presence and allowed Him to pull me to a place that aligned with His will for me. I think this is where our faith grows to a deeper level in our relationship with God. It is this realization that opens us up to surrender and trust in God in our life. This reality proves that He is and always has been with us and cared for us.

Have you faced your Goliath today?

“…it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord who shall deliver you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:47

I’m sure that everyone has heard the story of David and Goliath as a child. We each probably thought it was an awesome story of courage and strength and deep within wanted to be someone like David.

Have you ever asked yourself if it was David’s precision that knocked Goliath to the ground and allowed him to kill Goliath or was it David’s faith, strength and courage from God that precisely brought Goliath tumbling down so that David could kill him?

ancient antique armor armour — Photo by Maria Pop on Pexels.com

We know the rock that David used was the impacting action that brought Goliath to the ground and we know that the rock had to hit Goliath at the precise location. These were the physical actions that we see happen. The underlying spiritual actions that had to take place were definitely God’s presence within David to give him the courage and the skill to accomplish His Will in freeing His people from the Philistines.

Four things David had to do to free the Israelites from the Philistines by conquering the bully:

Believe God existed
Trust God
Surrender to God
Answer God’s call by acting

There are a lot of Goliath’s in this world. They come in many different forms. Your Goliath may be a mountain that you have to climb, a fear you have to face, a person who is bullying you, someone who has controlled the world around you, financial debt or an illness you are struggling with? It can be anything that is preventing you from being free, anything weighing you down, taunting you.

These Goliath’s in our lives bind us by telling us we aren’t good enough, we are weak, we are too small, we are powerless, we will never beat what we are dealing with, and the list goes on.

When we are faced with our own Goliath, we feel weak and alone. We may even retreat into hiding just like the Israelites became frightened and retreated in 1 Samuels 17.

The good news is that there is a David within each of us that can crush any Goliath in the way. And just like David, we are victorious through our belief in our Heavenly Father, trust, surrender and answering His call in our circumstance, for great is our glory in God’s victory (Psalm 21:6).

When you are faced with your Goliath today or tomorrow, remember that “the Lord is [your] strength and [your] might (Isaiah 12:2)” and you are never alone for God is with you always. “When you pass through waters, I will be with you; through rivers, you shall not be swept away. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, nor will flames consume you (Isaiah 43:2).”

“Face [your] GIANTS with confidence (Confidence, Sanctus Real)” today with faith in a God who loves you, and trusting and surrendering to His Will.

Broken and shattered – reshaped in goodness

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty, say to the Lord, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

Does your life feel broken and shattered or may be it has at some point in your life? Perhaps, you have a close friend or family member who feels broken and shattered?

It so easy to tell you there is hope. All you have to do is trust God and He will make everything new, that His goodness will prevail. Instead of spending one minute telling you this, I would like to share a little piece of my story that reveals this hope, this newness that comes from trusting God.

I recently took a road trip with my daughters. I find road trips can be very awesome times with God, especially when everyone in the car is sleeping. As I was driving along the uninteresting interstate, I found myself reflecting on my life as my playlist was rolling through. As some of the older songs in my playlist were playing, I began to reflect on a few significant moments in my life. I tend to like these moments of reflection on my past because they reveal how far God has carried me and how far I have grown in my faith through my past. In some cases, it helps me to move another step forward.

As the song by Matt Maher, “Lord I need you,” began to play, my mind became very vivid reflecting on the very day I first heard this song. This day would be one of the most difficult days in my adult life as I was driving to see my counselor with my daughters to tell them that their daddy and I would no longer be together. I had made a decision that would change their lives forever. My heart was broken and my life seemed to be shattered as I heard the song playing in my car that day.

When the song came on, tears just streamed from my eyes. In that moment, I really needed God to be with me. I needed Him to guide my heart so that I would not fall apart. I was so broken during this period of time that falling apart seemed so easy. This would be one of the many moments during my journey where God revealed His presence to me, giving me strength that I would need. He knew I needed Him at that moment in the car and there is no coincidence this song came on. He wanted me to know that I needed Him to get through this and that He was holding my hand.

This wasn’t the only song that sparked reflection for me on my road trip. A little further down my playlist was a song by Danny Gokey, “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again.” As a dear friend recently reminded me, this song also speak volumes to my story. One of the hardest things I think I have had to do during my healing is to forgive myself and to love myself. God taught me a lot about myself and He began to lead me down a path of healing as He began to mold the shattered pieces and glue my brokenness. Sometimes I still see the scars and the broken path and I’m reminded where I have been. This is who I use to be and it has been through the loving hands of God that I was carried through to the person I am today. I no longer “live there anymore.” It was His grace and companionship in this journey with me that helped me to persevere.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my adult life is that sometimes we shatter. It’s in the shattered pieces that God reshapes our lives into something new and good. It’s not easy being reshaped but it’s essential and possible. It is made possible through trust, trusting God with the shattered pieces.

If you are feeling broken and shattered or someone you know is, surrender your brokenness, the shattered pieces, to God. Allow Him to reshape you into the one He created you to be.

Lenten journey

In a few weeks Lent will begin. It is a time of reflecting in the darkness. Its a journey being transformed through the light by the death and resurrection of Christ which brings new life to each of us. For several years, I taught kindergarten faith formation. I have to say although chaotic at times, it is one of my favorite groups to teach. Their little minds are easily fascinated and soak in everything you teach them. One of my favorite lessons was teaching about Lent with the analogy of the butterfly.

Dear friends, there is a butterfly in each of us waiting to be transformed in beauty, and released from the captivity of the cocoon.

Our sin is the cocoon that traps us within. It is the blanket of death in spirit that wraps us tightly, imprisoning us from life, joy and happiness.

During Lent, we reflect on these things that separate us from God, the sin that kills our soul, entrapping our spirit. Through the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are cleansed, set free from the chains that tie us down. The beauty within, the butterfly, emerges revealing the new life of joy. At this point in our journey, we reach a peak moment on the mountain of our faith and are closer to God than any other moment in that season of our journey.

I think the beauty is that each liturgical year, we are able to go through this process of transformation, of growing closer to God, unlike the butterfly who only goes through it once.

Think about Lent as the season of the cocoon. The season leading up to Lent is a season of gluttony. During Lent, we begin to look within and abstain from those things that we have indulged in, particularly our sin. During Holy Week, at Easter we see the transformation, the great release of our spirit, freely embracing our faith and the love God pours out for each of us. This is the height of the season, the Agape of love that covers us, lightening our load on our journey to strengthen us for the new road ahead.

This Lent, I invite you to look at it as a journey of reflection, release and transformation. Receive the ultimate sacrifice and love as if it were the first time you went through this season, as if you had never heard the Passion of Christ. Embrace it and be strengthen and fed for the journey that lies before you.

Broken and glued…

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak and as many as touched it were healed. Mark 6:55-56

Have you ever felt broken? Or perhaps even damaged goods? Something or someone hurt you in a way that you feel has impacted you in some way? It can be something that happened 20 or 30 years ago, that is still affecting a small part of who you are today.

There’s hope!

I was reading the Gospel reading this morning from Mark 6:53-56. Wherever Jesus was, people were desperate for healing and wanted so bad to just touch the tassel of His cloak because they knew that they would be healed. When Jesus walked the earth in human flesh, people saw the miracles of healing. Today, many lose hope because sometimes these miracles aren’t as apparent.

Is it their faith that is being tested or is it that they completely lack faith?

We are each in different places in our spiritual journey and I firmly believe that God meets each of us wherever we are. I also believe He brings people in our lives and that Jesus is alive in each of us. Through us, through our actions and our prayers, He delivers healing power. Many times, it’s subtle and takes time. In some cases, we may not see the healing we are expecting, especially when the underlying healing is within the person’s soul. When it comes to spiritual brokenness, matters of the heart and the mind, it is our brothers and sisters and our relationship with Christ, our prayer, our openness to see and feel His healing power sweep through us that repairs that brokenness, preparing us for something much greater.

There have been many moments where I have felt I was too broken from things in my past, that I was damaged goods and could not move on when it comes to matters of the heart. Over the last several years, I have surrounded myself with wise, spiritual sisters and brothers. They have helped me to grow in my spiritual life and to see beyond my pain. They have showed me how much life God brings amid the suffering. Most of all they have helped me to see God’s promise of love, His love letter to me. The weeds in my garden were there for a reason. Although they needed to be pruned, they served a purpose. Their purpose was not to keep me in the brokenness of my life but to move me beyond it. They were there to show me how to embrace life, a life full of beauty, full of life giving flowers. Although there are moments I still go back to my past and begin to weep for that woman that endured the heartache, I draw back to the present and rejoice with the woman that is thankful for God for all the brokenness throughout her life. It is in my pain and suffering throughout my life that I have flourished into the beautiful flower that God has created me to be. It is in His promises that I look forward to life from this present moment. My heart has found a new purpose and it has been repaired through the healing power of my savior. Although I have not touched the tassel from His cloak, I have received Him – body, blood, soul and divinity.

My dear friends, we need to “be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)”. The enemy is looking for opportunities to knock us down and keep us down. This is what happens when we feel broken and damaged. I love the image of a piece of pottery that has been broken in pieces and then glued back together and repurposed for something even greater. This is how we defeat the enemy. We allow ourselves to be glued back together through the gifts of our faith and the gifts of each other.

If you are that person who feels broken or damaged, I invite you to find a sister or brother grounded in their faith to talk to, to bring the healing power of Christ to you. If you are not that person feeling broken or damaged, I invite you to look around you, there is someone who needs you to bring Christ’s healing power to them. Let them touch the tassel of your heart with their story so that you can be Christ like to them.

Life’s greatest sustenance

What sustains you in life, through your struggles, illness, pain? How do you find peace in knowing this life is not permanent?

Today, as I sat in the infusion room waiting for my IV of ferritin, I peered around the room. Surrounded by patients receiving treatment for cancer or other disorders, my heart poured out to these men and women. I visit this room twice every two years and the sadness I feel is always the same, yet part of me finds thanksgiving for the many blessings in my own life, especially my own hardships and struggles. Perhaps a bit of guilt sweeps over me knowing I’m only here to treat one of the two forms of anemia I battle that mainly results in exhaustion and tiredness with occasional feelings of faintness.

My disorder is mild and manageable in my daily life. As I think about these patients and how many or all are fighting for their life, I ponder my own peace and life sustainability. Often I’ve thought about facing the last moments of my life when that time comes – will I be afraid or at peace. Over the past few years when I contemplate this, I feel at peace knowing where I am in my faith journey and that because of it when that day comes I am on my way to a place that is beyond my own imagination. I love this simple quote by Pope Pius X. It’s simple yet it speaks volumes.

“Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven”.

We can look at this quote from two perspectives.

Receiving the Eucharist is like Heaven on earth. One may ask WHY? After receiving the Eucharist, we truly walk with Jesus within us. He can only take that place if we are in the state of Grace, meaning our souls are clean and welcome to receiving Him. Isn’t that what Heaven will be like? A state of grace walking with Jesus….
The second perspective is that if we are receiving Jesus then hopefully we are also following Him and striving for holiness as God desires us to. In this case, it also is the shortest path to Heaven because it leads us straight there.

The Eucharist is the center of my faith and my journey and it is in the Body and the Blood of Christ that I am strengthened and sustained in all life throws at me. Some may not truly understand what is contained in this bread and wine present in a Catholic Mass. If not, I challenge you to watch the link below on the miracle of the Eucharist at Buenos Aires. May your eyes and your heart be open to Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist. Blessings to each of you!

Light in the darkness

Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Have you strayed from the path God was leading you on? Perhaps during some phase of your life, you took a different path, away from your faith. Looking back, can you see how easy it was to stray from God’s will in your life, to take a detour? May be one path looked more attractive, easy, or entertaining than the other.

This morning God let me in on a mini lesson.

I love to walk around the pond at work before starting my day. I sense God present around me as I walk prayerfully around the pond. I often ask God to reveal Himself to me, teach me or inspire me. Many times, He does just that.

This morning I started my day a little early. The sun had not yet risen, so the path I walked along was dark with light sprinkled around for some visibility. After praying, I allowed myself to be present to my surroundings. As I maneuvered through the darkness, I could hear the pleasant sound of the waterfall and the birds singing. Music to my ears. As I walked along the path, I noticed a little bird just as the path makes a small fork. I watched him and began to follow him. I detoured to the path that I normally do not take as I walk around the pond so that I could follow the bird. Even though I didn’t get lost, it reminded me how easy it is to wander from the path, to stray from God. I began to ponder this for a minute. In the struggles of my marriage, I could have fallen into hopeless despair instead of falling into my faith. Through my divorce, I could have run into the arms of another man, instead of being embraced by God. If I would have strayed from the path God was leading me on during the darkest days of my life, I would not be content in who I am, and who God is for me. I would not have seen all that God was doing for me, how He was holding and carrying me. Perhaps, eventually, I may have found the path again as the two paths merged.

foggy path — Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

It’s so easy, especially when we are struggling with something, to turn to something else that may not be healthy for us. Sometimes it presents itself as the “thing” that will take away all our pain or something that looks more enticing. My mini lesson this morning validated John 1:5 “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Darkness is never dark when we allow God to be present within us. So in the darkest moments of our life, when we carry the Word of God within us, He is the “lamp for [our] feet, a light for [our] path” (Psalm 119:105).

I have seen this prevail in my own life as I allowed the tiny shimmer of light guide my path. It was Jesus in the Eucharist that shone upon my path guiding me closer to God as I walked through my struggles. This path wasn’t always easy but it has been a joyful ride, full of mountains and valleys, but it has never been dark because the darkness has always been overcome.

Have you allowed the light to shine upon your path in your journey? God’s light is never extinguished, as long as we accept the invitation to carry it.