Filed under: Faith, Ramblings, Random Thoughts, Reflection, Sorrow, worship | Tags: Faith, God, Jesus, Love, passion
I came from a recollection earlier today held at our Catholic community’s headquarters… and coming out of it was just refreshing! What better way to spend Good Friday than to spend it on a short retreat.
So, likewise I share this to you… something to think about for the rest of the Holy Week…
We can only fully comprehend how much God loved us when we learn of His passion.
May we all reflect on Christ’s sufferings… as he was mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, beaten and bloodied and ultimately crucified. May we realize that Jesus not only took on our sins and infirmities but also all our sufferings.
Glory to the Lord… Creator of the Universe… the Alpha and Omega… Ruler of everything seen and unseen.
Filed under: Faith, Prayer, Random Thoughts, stories | Tags: beggar, blessing, blind, Faith, give, God, grace, Jesus, Lord, provision
I was used!!! Yes… indeed, I was. But this particular phrase is more commonly associated with deception and opportunistic agendas conjured by conniving individuals, right? You hear it time and time again… on television, in the movies, all over… ” I was used!”. In fact, it’s even so common that the phrase sounds so cliche!
Okay, let me elaborate on how I was actually “used”…
We Christians (Catholics and otherwise) believe that God constantly presents opportunities for us to be a blessing to others… we just have to be conscious about these chances.
When you ask something of God, provisions or blessings, the Lord will ask of us to be all the more giving. This is totally opposite from what a worldly person would say. Material thinking would tell your better judgement to hold on to what you have and tighten up the pocket.
Just read the bible… Jesus teaches us all throughout the Gospels to do the opposite… “give in order to receive”… “love your enemies”… “when you’re hit on the left cheek, give your right cheek”… it goes on and on… yet the lot of us still refuse to follow.
Why am I talking about this? What has this got to do with me being used?
Well… on our way home late last night, as I was driving, my wife started speaking to the Lord… I just heard her saying, “I love you, Lord…” like a little girl being sweet to a daddy. I asked her why… she said she was asking for provisions since our wallets were almost running on empty. So, I myself engaged in an informal prayer… more like a simple conversation with God. Remember, this was all happening as I was driving home looking for a place to stop by to have a quick dinner.
We passed by a lot of pretty decent fast food restaurants but somehow weren’t attracted to any of them. We were led to a simple open-air restaurant for no reason… so we parked and went in.
As we were eating… we noticed a couple by the corner of the counter near where we were seated. They were blind and drinking sodas. I realized… “Hey, these are the blind beggars that I always encounter on the same street I pass by whenever I head to my community’s headquarters.
My wife and I were so crushed as we saw them obviously hungry and settling for a soda and water. It was all they could afford. We decided to order food for them… it didn’t matter that they didn’t know who it came from as long as they understood that it was a blessing from the Lord and NOT from us. Then we ordered a plate of beef and rice for them… and it touched us all the more when we saw the beggar give thanks to the Lord and prayed before eating. It dawned on me immediately that we were led to that particular place by the Lord to become channels of blessing from God to these needy individuals. We were used by God to bless others.
Truly, the Lord is great! He blesses those in need and at the same time opens our hearts to Him. We ask for blessings so He asks us to be giving to others… and in that way the Lord blesses us back as well.
By ministering to them, we are ministered back by realizing that whatever little we considered to have is still a whole lot when compared to others who have practically nothing… not even their sights.
“Whatever you did for the least of My brothers and sisters, you did for Me.” - Matthew 25:40
It feels great to be used. Praise be to God forever!
