Have Faith, Believe!

"Free your mind from all that troubles you, God will take care of things. You will be unable to make haste in this (choice) without, so to speak, grieving the heart of God, because He sees that you do not honor Him sufficiently with holy trust. Trust in Him, I beg you, and you will have the fulfillment of what your heart desires."

-- St Vincent de Paul

Yesterday, July 14th, was the feast day of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the Native American who converted to Catholicism (and suffered much for it.) Suffering is not something that God wished for us humans to endure, it came into the world through sin. But I have realized that suffering is an essential part of the Christian journey... suffering, which can easily destroy us, can also make us stronger...

How often have you come to the brink of despair... only to find yourself lifted up and victorious? It is as if, God allowed you to scrape the very bottom, only so that you can realize how very small you are, and need only depend on Him. And when you are finished with one conflict...do you look back and say to yourself, it would have been better for you to never have suffered? Or has the experience left you even more enobled, armed and ready for the conflicts that lay ahead?

St. Teresa of Avila declared it well when she said, "All things will pass, but God alone remains..."

The readings of the Mass for the feast of Bl. Kateri, made a strong impression on me, as I have always lived most of my life in anxiety and fear and worry... In the readings, we get a sense that God is in total control of the journey, and there is really not much we humans can do to shape and form the direction of our lives... the only thing that is asked for us, and that we must do... is to have Faith and Trust in God, because when we fail to have this, we don't make Him very happy... in fact, the only times we witness Jesus disturbed and upset, was when He encountered people with little faith...

I have been slow to learn it... but I see it... trusting in Him, I have found my prayers answered almost immediately. And if the answer is "No," I have found myself better at accepting it...

How wonderful is this grace called Faith... for when you truly believe that God can... God will...

Just wanted to share with you these thoughts...