Chapter 17 – Never forget that God is with you…

“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”

Ephesians 10 : 6

 

I often feel God's presence in nature

I often feel God's presence in nature

 

Hey God, its me Lori,

Please help me to know that no matter how trying life becomes you will always be there for me to lean on.  That even the most difficult times will pass.

 

 

Never forget that God is with you…

            I just found out about a mom who was a good friend of someone in my family committed suicide.  The children she left behind are 3 years old and 9 months old.  The family believes it was post-pardum depression.  When I heard this I wanted to cry and be ill at the same time.  I just can’t get it out of my head.  How could a mom ever say goodbye to her children.  I know that she had to have been out of her mind, you have to, to take your own life.  But I can’t stop thinking about those children for the rest of their lives they will have to carry the burden of knowing that fact.  They will not have their mom with them ever again.  I cannot imagine going through a disease and having to say goodbye to my children knowing I would die, but that would not be under my control.  What demons must have haunted her soul to make her believe that was the only way out.  I am praying for her family.  I truly believe that our God is merciful and she will be forgiven and enter heaven.  God must have known her thoughts at that very moment.  God gives us free will.

 

I don’t want to drag anyone down while reading this book. It is a book to lift you up.  To make you appreciate life and your children.  To give you some simple ideas about how I have taught my children about faith and God and to share my little story with others.  However, I feel that this chapter should be written because each person reading this should know you are never alone God is with you.  When you feel abandoned and depressed, confused, in despair and pain, God is still there.  He may not lift up the hurt like you want him to but he is there in that darkness.  You just have to reach out to another person and ask for help.  In our world today there is help for everything.

 “But the good news
Is there’s angels everywhere out on the street
Holding out a hand to pull you back up on your feet
The one’s that you’ve been dragging for so long
You’re on your knees
You might as well be praying” –

If Your Going Through Hell – Rodney Atkins

 

The angels are your spouse, significant other, parents, sister, brother, friends, coworkers, a priest or minister, call a hot line any of them and someone will help you I promise you. God has no hands but ours and he is present in every person who is there to listen and pull you back up.  As bad as life might seem it will get better.  Please remember this: every action we take has an effect on all of us especially our children.

           

At our weakest point if you let God take your sorrow and despair He will carry you through it.  This poem has always inspired me I hope it inspires you as well.

Footprints in the Sand 

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.

“Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way, however I noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why,when I needed you most you would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Author Carolyn Joyce Carty Copyright  1963

            This Sunday the priest that married my husband and I gave a homily at our Church.  It was so powerful to me.  I think God wants us to hear different messages at different points and times in our lives.  Well, yesterday he wanted me to hear Father speak from his heart about God.  He said that the early Christian Church knew something and held the belief that so many neglect to believe today.  That God dwells within each one of us.  The earliest form of Christianity was not only outlawed the people were persecuted for their belief in Christ.  So there were no great Churches where the Christians could worship together. People would gather in homes together and celebrate the Mass but it was a very different Mass than we see now.  The focus of their gatherings were not as much about sacrament as about being together and sharing Christ’s message.  As the priest said sacraments are precious but they do not mean as much as having God dwell within you at all times.  In this day and age you go to Church and when most people leave they leave God behind.  It’s like this small little time frame in their week has their attention and the feeling of holiness.  Once they set foot in their car God gets left behind.  But the priest was trying to say that’s not true God never leaves.  You may neglect God and try to ignore his presence within yourself and the people around you and in our world but he never leaves you. 

During the Ascension in Matthew Chapter 28:

Jesus says “”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 

Have you ever noticed in some Asian cultures the men and women bow to each other when greeting each other?  That comes from the old idea of the god in me bows to the god in you.  If each one of us held this to be true; that God dwells within us and everyone we meet,  how differently would we treat every person we encounter?  As I have written I have taught my children that God is in their hearts.  It is easy for a child to have faith, they have faith in every word that falls from their parents lips when they are young.  My children, I think, believed at first because I said it was so but with everything they have been taught at Church, the Catholic School they attend and by family members I think the support is overwhelming.  I asked my son once “Do you feel the presence of God with you at all times?”  He said “Not all the time but when I am scared I know he is right next to me.”  My daughter said she knows God is always with her.

            Jesus said it would be true the Holy Spirit would be sent to  be with us until the end of the age.  Most religions hold a belief that the creator is a part of them.  It’s as though the creator put a piece of himself in that person and at some point and time it should be returned back to its origin.  If you open yourself up to this belief this faith, that cannot be proven, your loneliness will not be so lonely.  Your most desperate thoughts will be heard, your cry for help will reach someone’s ears.  Give God that chance to be with you.  Open your heart and let him enter.

 Be Not Afraid

(Bob Dufford, S.J., a Catholic Hymn)

 

You shall cross the barren desert,
but you shall not die of thirst. 
You shall wander far in safety
though you do not know the way. 
You shall speak your words in foreign lands
and all will understand. 
You shall see the face of God and live.

Refrain:
Be not afraid.
I go before you always.
Come follow me,
and I will give you rest. 

If you pass through raging waters
in the sea, you shall not drown.
If you walk amid the burning flames,
you shall not be harmed. 
If you stand before the pow’r of hell
and death is at your side,
know that I am with you through it all. 

Blessed are your poor,
for the kingdom shall be theirs.
Blest are you that weep and mourn,
for one day you shall laugh.
And if wicked men insult and hate you all because of Me,
blessed, blessed are you!

 

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