A SCORCHING EXPERIENCE!

By -
The last couple of weeks have been rough. Things kept going wrong, challenges kept coming and I was continually blindsided by the unexpected. I could name everything, but in the end, what happened doesn't really matter so much. How I coped, does.

I scrambled to find solutions, but the doors kept slamming in my face. Every time I thought I had one problem licked, I got the wind knocked out of me and had to start all over again. So I hung on, asked for help and prayed for the wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit to do God's will and not my own. I hung on tight, because as I've said before, just when you want to let go, that's when the miracle is about to happen.

Walking through the desert of uncertainty is a scorching experience...Feeling alone, is a human weakness...Clinging to the God we cannot see is a test of our faith. I moaned countless times, cried incessantly-slept very little, but in the end-I made it through the darkest hours and into the dawning light.

As a 12 stepper, I could have taken a giant tumble backwards...Multiplying my challenges and making myself miserable. But that's not how I deal with the pain or the problems anymore...As I often tell people...The incredible highs and the incredible lows...Life is a wave of emotions...The skilled ride the waves up and over the bad times, right on into the arms of hope and the serenity that comes with knowing we are being carried by a power greater than any difficulty we may be facing.

The holidays always bring about so many sad and uncomfortable feelings...So many unresolved situations seem to steal our peace. So many times we give in to the replay of old tapes and re-runs that ruin our sanity. But always remember, when you are feeling your lowest, when there is no solution in sight...Remember-there is a God who is watching over you...who is waiting for you to surrender in trust...who is willing to give you everything you need-if you will only ask.

In the end, after all the worrying and the praying, and the desperate feelings of failure...Just remember, as I did, that God is with us...and there is nothing, nothing at all that you cannot overcome with his help. Bank on it! I am!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SUBLIME AUDACITY!

By -
Image
I have all the signs and symptoms of something I just learned about today...Sublime Audacity. That's right...I have the audacity to believe-that anything is possible-anything at all-with God. In fact, I believe that there is one cure for all the world's ills...and that cure rests with -and in God. In a world of material wealth, individual desires and carefully orchestrated managed care...When people search the world over for the answers that never come, the healings that rarely happen and the hope that always gets dashed by the next person...I believe that there is only one steady stream of consciousness that always gets it right...and that is God. I've personally experienced it time and again and every time I look elsewhere or seek some other solution, I always come crawling back to the staying power of my higher power...Because let's face it...Once we have the audacity to tell anyone-anyone at all that God is responsible for all the good in our lives or the Love that ...
Read more

OUR LADY OF JOY, HANCEVILLE ALABAMA

By -
Image
High atop a hill in Hanceville Alabama, broken hearts are being healed and hope is being restored. Our Lady of Joyful Hope is a community of young men who are finding new freedom through a life of authentic truth. Once lost in the darkness of addiction they are now living in the light of Christ who is transforming them from the inside out...And their families, if they are open and willing, are being transformed right alongside them. Recently, I spent three days with this community, listening to the young men, their parents and to the foundress, Mother Elvira, who flew in from Italy for the anointing of the new community house and the celebration that followed. Mother Elvira's life story is on par with Mother Teresa. She is an Italian nun who heard the call from God to snatch souls from Satan by delivering young men and women from the demonic grip of addiction. She gave up everything familiar, walked straight into the wilderness and wound up becoming a living legacy for desperate fa...
Read more

CONFESSIONS OF FATHER JOE BENSON

By -
As we sat in silence, meditating...I nudged my friend Terri, "What do we have to complain about?!" I whispered. There he hung, pain stricken, vulnerable in his nakedness, sharp thorns cutting into his head, pleading eyes fixed on the heavens. What I thought, on God's green earth, do I have to complain about?! That's probably why they do it...place the life like crucifix dead center-above the altar, just above the Blessed Sacrament, right where you can't miss it...just to remind us-things could be worse, but they're destined to get better-if we keep our eyes focused-on the solution. Another friend-likes to remind me-he's not on the cross anymore...So why do we keep him there? Every one's got an opinion, but to tell you the truth, I need to be reminded of the sacrifice...and every painful moment in between. Puts my problems in perspective...helps me see clearly...gives me strength to proceed. We went to first Friday adoration in the upper ninth ward.....
Read more