I think that we all go through various ups and downs in our lives. There are days when we feel elated and days when we’re down in the dumps… even when we have everything in the world to be thankful for. As a minister, these days aren’t any easier for me than they are for the average person because I too am just an average person who is no better than anyone else on the face of this earth and in fact most definitely far worse than many.
For all my faults though, I do try very hard to remain focused on the task at hand and keep my eyes cast upon our heavenly Father, work hard, and remain full of faith and trust and always obedient to Her will. But some days are harder than others. There are some days and even weeks when I feel full of the Holy Spirit and my heart is light and full of love for mankind. And there are some days and even weeks when my heart is weighted down with worries and anxieties and many not-so-great things of this world – and especially on days when the bad news in the news is only getting worse.
I’m writing this article right now because I’d been talking with a fellow minister when all of a sudden I felt motivated within my heart to write. It’s like a gentle push from behind that you can’t ignore and it has always been for me a key indication that the Holy Spirit is at work. At the same time writing has also always been a way for me to sort things out in my own mind and even to take a load off my shoulders when the load starts to feel a little too heavy. It’s why I journal each night. It’s just something I do in addition to prayer and meditation. Seeing the words on the screen as my fingers fly across the keyboard, or seeing the words trail across the paper as my pen slides over the page… there’s just something about it. I’ve also discovered that it’s a way for Father to speak with my heart and tonight the words come without any difficulty at all.
As a past card toting optimist and wearer of rose colored glasses, I’ve become a realist over the past three plus years. I see the world for what it’s become and what it actually is because my eyes have been opened to truth. Have you noticed? Do you see? People (not just terrorists) are killing one another, children are acting out in unheard of ways, the economy is on the verge of complete and worldwide collapse, people are losing their homes and whole families are resorting to living on the streets, there are natural disasters galore, and animals of all species are suffering and dying. Drug cartels are beheading people in droves; people are being kidnapped, raped, robbed, stabbed, bludgeoned to death and sold into sex slavery. Wars and civil unrest is erupting everywhere including here in the U.S. Food is becoming scarcer and more expensive by the day. Companies are rapidly going out of business or at the very least laying off their employees in record numbers. Our food, water and even the air we breathe is poison to our bodies and people are becoming scared, even desperate and you know what? It’s a heck of a lot to take in let alone wrap your mind around.
Some deal with this by burying their heads in the sand. Not watching the news. Not reading the papers. Not discussing current events. They absorb themselves within a world that seems more in control than it really is. Some watch, read and discuss but maintain the belief that it’s been worse than this in the past therefore, like in the past, it will only get better because after all these things have been going on for what seems like forever – so long that we’ve all come to expect it or even become numb to it. Others simply don’t know what to believe. As a minister these things that are now in the news are things that I’ve known would come for the past three plus years - but it’s still hard to see, and hear, and read.
I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve sat and watched Good Morning America with tears welling up in my throat and my eyes because they’re interviewing someone who has endured a recent tragedy in their life. My heart goes out to all people who experience these things and I always wonder if they turn to Father in faith or if they feel alone and neglected by our God and Creator. I wonder if they realize why things like what they’ve been through happen and if they understand that there is a Spiritual War raging around them and that while the fallout of that war and what happens to the inhabitants of earth is so very unfortunate, I wonder if they comprehend that these things must take place in order for Father’s will to be done and for evil to be once and for all eradicated from the face of the earth and all of creation.
Last night, I saw something that quite literally touched my heart and it made me think about how Father and Her Holy Family interact with mankind. It’s what inspired the writing of this article and I’d like to share it with all of you.
We were about to have our closing prayer of our online Sunday night Bible Study, and I was seated in a chair that faces the dining room area. The dining room light was not on, so that area was quite a bit darker than the rest of the house and from over the top of my computer screen and across the room I saw a large white oval shaped orb of light appear in the center of the room and slowly fade away. As I continued to stare in that direction, I allowed my eyes to relax and in that same spot I saw a large white letter M appear, followed by a large white outline of a heart.
My first thoughts… Michael the Archangel and Love.
My heart swelled with emotion like I hadn’t felt in what seemed like a long time, because I was so buried in the goings on in the world and happenings in my personal life that I too had become somewhat numb and it didn’t feel good at all and in fact it’d been really been bothering me – enough to even keep me up at night with racing thoughts and a furrow between my brows.
And then a complete calmness and peacefulness filled me from within…and it was just…quiet. An utterly complete feeling of peacefulness.
I closed my eyes and took a breath in and focused on our heavenly Father, allowing Her love to enter every crevice of my heart and restore it to where it’d been before I began to feel bogged down and filled with worries and anxieties and fears.
And almost instantaneously… I felt… Loved. Restored. Strengthened. Uplifted.
This was most recent, but there have been many times in which this has happened and in many different ways; via prayer and meditation, in dreams, visions, synchronicities, and even in photographs or just a soft touch of the hand or a few words that flow through the mind. Some have contained warnings that helped to keep me on track, but most have contained messages of love and encouragement from the other side of the veil.
The lesson is this; Father is a God of love. And no matter what occurs in our everyday lives now and in the near future She is always there for us and ready and willing to fill our hearts with love and peacefulness when we need it most. My prayer is that those reading this article remember this. She is and She will continue to bring calamity upon mankind, but She first brought calamity upon the one She loved the most; Her son Christ Jesus… to prove Her love to mankind.
Remember this and know, that when you need it most there are many ways that Father works whether it be via Her Holy Spirit or via Her Holy Family to let you know She’s there, and to give you… the gift of peace. Always be on the lookout for it and when you see it or sense it, be ready to receive it.
"Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.” John 14:27
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John 9:25He answered, "Whether or not He's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!" |