Whom shall I fear, the Lord is near.
Sometimes we don’t speak it enough but I love that God is with us.
On a retreat I heard the phrase
“God is good all the time. All the time God is good.”
Sometimes moments are good, sometimes they are filled with sorrow and grief. My days look like school and family time and normal day to day stuff, singing and music but sometimes they look like sadness and sickness and worry. Sometimes I fall short of the glory of God. Sometimes I fall into the trap of unforgiveness and sorrow. But what a beauty it is to be alive and live for God. What a joy it is to love others.
I think of that For King and Country Song, “For God is with Us.” It’s true. God is with us. Jesus means Emmanuel. What does that mean? It means I can depend on Him and that God came in human form to save the world. It means we can trust Him when we feel like we have nothing and no one else to turn to.
I heard it said that the devil tries to make us feel alone, lonely, and forgotten. But my friend God is there with you. All you need to say is Jesus, I love you and this is what I am going through. First and foremost God is a God so we need to offer Him praise, glory, and respect. But He is also my friend. My brother when I need Him. My strength, my shield.
I urge you to grow your relationship with Christ. Get to know Him. How do we get to know Him better? We spend time with Him. Especially when we are suffering, it is vital to get to know God. It is such a gift to have the God of the universe with us. He is everything and we are nothing.
Listen to songs about Him, read the bible, read books about Him, go to Mass and receive Him in the Eucharist, pray the rosary. There are so many different ways to pray. Relax in His presence. Go to adoration and just sit in His presence. What a mystery that the God of the universe is present in the Eucharist and we can just go and sit and talk to Him. What a beautiful friend He is.
I want you to imagine Jesus with me. I have found contemplative prayer to be amazing. I don’t do it enough but just sit and close your eyes and imagine Jesus. Imagine you are at a peaceful lake or in nature and you imagine Jesus with His beautiful kind eyes sitting beside you. “How are you my child?” He gently asks. And then You open up your heart to Him.
Hey Jesus, I have been dealing with this.
Better yet, when you receive Holy Communion you can do this. And you just share everything. Then listen for what He whispers back to you.
I was reading this book about life after death the other day, the near death experiences that people had and how they came back. All of them reported to seeing Jesus. They said that they felt this immense love and that He was there to meet them. I find that so amazing. You see, Jesus is the one who will be waiting for us when we die. Are we living with that in mind?
There is no greater a man who died for others and who was completely sinless, yet took on the punishment of sin for all humanity. And that was because of love. Love can do amazing things. Love saved you and it saved me. And when we spend time with Jesus, acknowledging His presence with us, we become more like Him, like Love.
He is your shepherd, waiting for you to bring Him closer to His Sacred Heart. Friend all it takes is a little of your time.
You may be hurting. Jesus is the perfect person to run to.
So in this season and the next, when there are millions of things vying for your attention. Relax. Be at peace. And spend the next couple of minutes meditating on His great gift of love. I can’t even imagine what you have been through, we all have our trials. But with Jesus we can get through everything and everything.
What an amazing gift we have.