"His disciples asked him,“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him...”"
WHAM. SMACK. BOOM.
What was that you ask? That was a replication of the sound this verse made when hitting me hard when it was read in church this past Sunday. Specifically, the "... it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.." part is what was the cause of this ruckus in my heart.
When the disciples first saw the man they assumed that a condition like this couldn't have come for or be the root of any good, clearly someone in that family must have done something wrong to be cursed in this way. And this is something we all do, too. Many times when something goes wrong the first question is, "why me?" We start evaluating our lives and our past actions and try to figure out where was the grave error that caused God to lash out at us in this way. In that moment, we don't see any good ever coming from the situation.
However, Jesus tells them that is certainly not the case. That through this negative situation, a positive will come, and not just any small positive - Through this, the glory and power of God will be made evident to man.
How awesome is that? God is able to use our trials (and our lives in general) to show just how much He loves His people and how faithful He is to those who are faithful to Him. And even if sometimes we struggle with that faith, He is steadfast.
That being said, the trials we face are still just that - trials. They're going to be difficult. They're going to cause us to feel things we'd rather not feel. They're going to cause us to think about things we rather ignore. And that's okay. Knowing that some good will come from the situation doesn't mean that you can't feel hurt, sad, mad, and all those other sometimes tabooed emotions. What I pray that you get from this verse and this thinking is hope. Hope that things will get better. Hope in knowing that God will use this situation for His glory. And hope that He will make you see His glory and the good coming from the situation as *spoiler alert* He made this blind man see.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. God bless.
"When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It
has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy
him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that they said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”"
Recently we covered this verse in my bible study and I wasn't incredibly moved by it and honestly was a little confused as to why it was even being covered - What did I have in common with a possessed little boy and his despairing father?
However, upon further reflection I began to see connections to my own life and just how much this story actually did relate to me now. The one verse that really stood out to me was when the father told Jesus, "I do believe; help my unbelief!" Take a moment now and think about all those times where you haven't believed. Not believing doesn't mean that you've lost all your faith, but perhaps you spent many weeks worrying about an outcome - In that time, you stopped believing that God has great "plans to prosper you" (Jeremiah 29:11) in the future. Maybe there was a time that you had a big assessment coming up, perhaps an audition, an exam, a work evaluation, and before going in your told yourself "I can't do this"; at that point, you stopped believing in the abilities and capabilities of one of God's most beautiful creations: you.
Everyone has their times of disbelief or times where perhaps they stop believing in just a small part of God (His plan, creation, etc) and it's in those times that we can turn to Him and say "Lord, I do believe in You, help the part of me that doesn't!" and be just as this father was. And a perfect place to turn to Him is in prayer.
I think that was the other reason I came to enjoy this passage - The answer to the problem is right in the passage! Jesus told his disciples that "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer." Although at this point Jesus is speaking of the demon not being able to be driven out by anything but prayer, if we think of our moments of disbelief as reoccurring demons, trying to kill our spirit and muting our mouths to praises to the Lord, it all comes together.
If you're struggling with one of these "demons" I encourage you to spend some time with God in prayer, maybe consider a Jesus Date as I mentioned in a previous blog post, and use the struggle as a chance to grow deeper in your faith. As Jesus told his disciples, these demons can only be driven out and overcome by prayer.
Each of us is like the father and son, combined. We battle our own demons, big or small, and have moments where our faith may waver, but in those times we can always turn to our Father above to help drive out those doubts through prayer.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. God bless!
"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
There's a craze that's been sweeping the nation via tweets, instagrams, and even our everyday talk. It's the "#IDGAF" or "#nof***sgiven" or "no cares given" craze and, frankly, I'm not a fan of it.
I know a lot of people say it as a joke and generally mean it in a lighthearted way, but when you think about what it implies, it's not so light of a subject anymore. When you really think about the message you're sending to others, it may just break your heart.
According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of care is "effort made to do something correctly, safely, or without causing damage". Of this, the part I want to focus on is the last part, without causing damage. It's become the mainstream and cool thing to just 'do you' no matter how it affects others and this phrase embodies and only serves to perpetuate that culture.
But that's not what God wants from us or for us. Yes, God wants us to take care of ourselves, but He also wants for us to care for others. He wants us to look after their best interest as we do our own. Opportunities to do this can present itself in many different ways throughout the day, we just have to be willing to open our eyes and hearts to see them and be always open to God working through us.
So, as you go about your day, I challenge you all to dare to care. Dare to care about a friend and confront them about the choices they're making. Dare to care about the environment and pick up flyers on the floor. Dare to care about the person walking behind you and hold the door open. Dare to smile at the stranger walking towards you. Caring doesn't have to be a grand gesture, in fact, a clever little honey-loving bear once said "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart".
God bless.
"Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy."
I am choosing to write about this openly not because I wish for attention, but because I feel the need to do this in order to help the healing and potentially bring help to others.
As friends started to head back to school and the reality of the end of winter break set in, I began to reflect on everything that had happened this break. There were the happy memories of Christmas celebrations with both family and friends, reunions with old friends and deepening of those relationships, celebrating mass in my home parish once again, and many other smaller moments that I will forever hold in my heart as precious.
However, this break brought one painful event that was a large falling out of sorts with a long time friend and someone I considered my sister. What I expected to be something like our usual arguments where we talk things over and grow in our friendship didn't end up nearly as expected.
After talking to a few friends about the situation, I reflected on my own in one of my "Jesus Dates" and this verse stood out to me. Honestly, right now the situation seems dark. Words were exchanged and things were said that hurt us both and to me, I immediately took that to mean that she didn't care about me - Not now, not last month, not ever.
Once I read this verse, I began to look at everything that occurred in a different fashion. Did what she wrote still hurt? Yes, but it didn't mean that she didn't care or that she meant to hurt me. When tempers and emotions flare it's easy to assume that the person only wants bad for us, but that's not true. After reading this verse, I went back and read the text messages that were exchanged with a different mindset, I went back and tried to understand where she was coming from and took mental notes as to where I could grow. Although I obviously didn't agree with all the things mentioned, there were a few points brought up that I will work on to improve myself for my friends, family, and to just be an all around better person to bring glory to Him.
Before this situation arose, one of the bible verses I decided to focus on for this year was Philippians 3:12-14 which reads,
"It's
not that I've already reached the goal or have already completed the
course. But I run to win that which Jesus Christ has already won for me.
Brothers and sisters, I can't consider myself a winner yet, but I focus
on one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies
ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly
prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us."
Am I the only one who reads that and feels so incredibly empowered?
We can forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead knowing that our wrongdoings are forgiven and that we can continue to strive and run, not just walk, RUN to win and towards that which Jesus Christ has already won for me - Salvation and a lifetime with Him.
With a situation as this one I am hoping that one day the two of us can forgive the earthly words shared, forgetting the past (while still learning from it) and looking forward to what lies ahead for the both of us in Him and His kingdom. But until that moment, I pray for her and her healing. I pray that I can grow from the situation. I pray that one day our paths will cross again. And I pray that she knows His love and mine, always.
God bless.
