Just have Faith

 

Friends of Faith:

Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Mk 5:21-43

Seems so simple, but do a faith check; and a fear check and a trust check….

How are you really doing?

No matter who we are, there is some area of our life where we “fear” and/or some part of our life where we try to control the situation (so lack faith or trust.)

I haven’t written for a while partly because I have “feared” judgment; that my message would be taken politically or in judgment of another’s fear. And partly because I didn’t want to sound like I was judging another’s faith or trust.

And because of my fear it’s possible that someone else hasn’t been supported or lifted up in their own faith. That’s what being a witness for Christ is all about. That’s what having faith is all about.

What a tangled web we weave – because of fear, because of a lack of trust – or even because we are trusting in something other than God himself.

The woman who was hemorrhaging had faith enough to simply reach out and touch Jesus’ cloak and she was healed. The family of the dying daughter had enough faith to ask for her healing and she was brought back to life – from death to life.

Yes, God has that much power – to bring us back to life. But will we even take the challenge to ask?

My biggest regret looking back at the last 20 or so months, hasn’t been that I feared sickness or death, but that I lacked faith – faith enough in your responses; faith enough in the Holy Spirit so that you would hear HIS message through me. Faith enough that the Holy Spirit would guide my message so that those reading would be converted, be comforted, strengthened and given the courage to trust in their own relationship with Christ Jesus, and in his healing power.

That is what I keep learning that the devil wants – to keep us in fear; to push down our faith; to take away courage inspired by the Holy Spirit and most importantly to keep us away from the Eucharist and our communion of faith – the Church community to which we belong; where we are given strength in numbers (where 2 or 3 are gathered….)

Go. Ask for God’s healing and conversion. Do not fear. Just have faith!!!!

Blessings,

Charlotte

Tomorrow Never Comes

Friends of Faith:

Don’t put off until tomorrow, what you can do today. Now is the time.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Teresa

Yesterday’s readings were all about God providing… for today’s needs. But in my human nature, I am always searching for tomorrow’s desires instead of thanking God for the blessings he is providing me today. AND instead of using those blessings for God’s call, I often find myself responding that I will make time “tomorrow.” 

“Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. ... We have only today to make Jesus known, loved, served, fed, clothed, sheltered. Do not wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow we will not have them if we do not feed them today.” ― Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living

“But now, listen to what I am about to state in your hearing and the hearing of all the people. From of old, the prophets who were before you and me prophesied war, woe, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled.” Jer 28: 7-9 (emphasis added)

So, am I so busy planning for a tomorrow that will never come that I am missing the peace and the joys of today? And, am I so busy helping myself that I am failing to help others who are searching for and waiting to be fed – with my smile, with a kind word, with the fulfillment of a need which opens their eyes or ears and speaks to them of Jesus’ presence?

Right now I am praying for patience until our building is released so that we can go in and recover, then demolish, and then rebuild. But I realize as I pray for patience I often find myself more focused on asking for what I can’t have, then for speaking about all that I do have – offices and space to operate out of, family and neighbors sent to help out – blessings of gifts and provisions too countless to even fully acknowledge, blessings of peace I won’t fully recognize until the predictions of a new building are fulfilled.

So while it is often tempting to focus on and ask for tomorrow’s gifts, it is today that I am needed, today that needs me, today that I can make a difference and it is for today that God provides.

“What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?  No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rm 8: 35-39

And what separates me from answering God today? It is only me and my desire to make my own answers for tomorrow– sin caused by greed, fear, and a lack of trust because I am trying to have control, provide and protect myself instead of giving God an opportunity to rule over death, life, powers, principalities and time.

“Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully ,listen, that you may have life.” Is 55: 1-3

Heavenly Father, Your love is the answer. Help me to rely on You—to be in Your presence and Your peace by saying yes when you ask me to spread that peace and love to others. Help me to filter out the noise of tomorrow, and instead find the patience to enjoy what you provide me today. Make ME an instrument of Your peace. Thank you for the gift of today. Amen.

God will provide – he will give us peace, if we recognize Him, by thanking him for the peace we have today instead of trying to look far into the future. And when we get to the future we will look back and say, yes God has provided the answers, he offered us peace – if only we had taken it, been content and waited not for tomorrow, but had enjoyed all we were given today.

So what good for God have you been putting off until tomorrow? When you stop to think that tomorrow may never come, what is it that you wish you would have done today?

Plan today to give God glory by what you do TODAY,

Blessings,

Charlotte

www.morningreflection.blogspot.com

Roll Away the Stone

Friends of Faith:

HE has RISEN! The stone has been rolled away!

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Lk 24: 2

Have we allowed Jesus to roll away the stone from our tomb?

What is the stone that keeps God from entering our tomb?

Is our stone an addiction to work, food, alcoholism, drugs, arguments (with our spouse, etc..), pornography, lying, stealing,  manipulation…..? Are we too proud to let God enter our lives?

What fear keeps us in our tomb and hidden behind the “self” God created us to be?

I believe in the miracle of the Resurrection. I believe if I ask for Jesus’ help he can roll away any stone in my life, allowing me to exit sin and rise to a new life. I believe that His death on the cross and His forgiveness are the miracle designed to set me free me from the bondage of the sins that hold me back from the peace and joy he created for us in the Garden of Eden.

Am I humble enough to let go of my pride and ask for His help and His forgiveness? Will I accept the sufferings in my life as an imitation of His suffering for us on the cross? Will I help to roll away the stones in other people’s lives by forgiving them as He forgave me?

Sometimes being an ordinary sinner is easier than dying to our selfish desires and being transformed into the extraordinary person God has called me to be, His daughter(son), filled with God’s grace. It is much easier to stay behind the stone than it is to roll it away.

“Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” Col 3: 1-4

Are we afraid that that by spending time with those who know us best our true self will come out?

Jesus: You paid a debt You didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay. Roll away the stone that keeps me in the tomb of my own sin. Raise me to living the life You desire for each of your children. Teach me the way to follow the example of Your cross and to die to myself by willingly and patiently serving others as You served me. Give me the courage to avoid temptation and forgive me for my sins. Help me to forgive those who hurt me so that they too can be forgiven (Forgive us our trespasses AS I forgive those who trespass against me). Amen.                   

Do I truly believe that He changed our world for us when he allowed himself to do God’s will and when he stepped out from behind the stone?

Will I step out of my comfort zones and do what God desires me to do? Will I answer His call? Will I live as if I believe?  Do I believe that Christ can roll away ANY stone in my life?

Roll away the stones of fear, unbelief and unforgiveness,

Blessings,

Charlotte

Love is Greater than Fear

Friends in Faith:

And they waited. And we waited. And we are rewarded. We are rewarded by a love that conquers our fears, a love that achieves our hopes, a love given to us by His grace because we believe.

And all because one man, Jesus, had a love for us greater than the fear of suffering; a love greater than the fear of torture and humiliation; a love greater than the fear of death.

Our patience was/is much less than the patience of Christ’s followers. We know what we are waiting for, Christ’s followers did not, and yet we struggle to wait thru the 40 days of Lent.

Christ’s followers had waited since the days of Adam, Abraham, Noah and Moses. We do not have to wait at all, since Christ’s redemption has already been given to us. Our only waiting actually comes in our searching, in our unbelief, or lack of belief, in what Christ’s death and resurrection means to us as Christians.

We have been given a love to conquer our fear the moment we were baptized. And if we accept and live in His grace we may share in His resurrection.

Just as fire and water our newly blessed thru scripture at the Easter vigil so we are renewed thru living and walking with Christ when we reflect His light in our lives and pour out our self in service to each other, just as He did in His own life for us.

“Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” Col 3:1-4
So what is a Love greater than fear?

It is a love that brings someone back to me when I need forgiveness for harsh words, judgmental actions, or unkind deeds.

It is a love that allows me to give my time to care for a sick friend, to stop to say an encouraging word to someone struggling with the loss of a loved one or to stay committed to a spouse who misunderstands or treats me without respect.

It is a love that replaces my fear of loneliness, my fear of suffering, my fear of sickness, my fear of loss, with hope, peace and comfort.

In each of these instances it is the images of the suffering Christ and the risen Christ which gives me the encouragement, the comfort, the hope, and the strength to keep moving forward.

It is the image of Jesus unselfishly hanging on the cross that is my reminder that I am supposed to sacrifice my own needs, my own time, my own wants to serve others. His walk to the cross is my reminder that “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”’ Mat 16:24

And it is the next image of Him, resurrected from the tomb, that turns my fears of not having enough time or money--of earthly things; or my impatient fears of being hurt and bearing more than my “fair” share—into the energy, peace and comfort to unselfishly accept my burdens and continue to move towards His glorious, resurrected, all encompassing, LOVE.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. He is Risen!

Blessings this Easter Season,
Charlotte