I have a 40 minute drive to work in the mornings and enjoy the country roads and pray the Rosary. I am often struck by the beauty of nature, the patterned fields and hedgerows, with sheep like white dots on the hillside and pastures with herds of cows and I am in awe of the Creator God that He who made all these things is interested in me! Sometimes when I pray spiritual thoughts come into my head - lovely thoughts that bring me comfort and joy. Yesterday I was thinking of the love of God and the power of His love and the thought came why do I ever worry when He is all-powerful and can do all things and nothing can prevent God from loving me. I sensed God was trying to communicate that I [we] as Christians are untouchables. That no one can rob us of our faith, our hope, our love. That no matter what happens in life, good or bad that God loves us with a perfect love that we need to understand that God is a Father with a Father's heart for us, that if we trust him nothing can or should disturb our faith because 'we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose'. This is a wonderful verse - even if bad things happen and they do God is in control and looking after us. I was thinking that even if I should be thrown in jail for being a Christian or persecuted it would be God's will and he walks with us down every alley way of life [except sin]. I was given great peace by these thoughts - it made my day so much more pleasant and I got a release from all worries. My life has been plagued by worries and insecurities and fears but praying the Rosary and turning to God has set me free from most of these. And I sense God is still working to convince me that I have to fully let go and trust Him. What is trust? It is a child-like understanding that the Father is holding us by the hand and we hold our hand tight to His. Trust is faith in action. Trust will set us free. Trust is believing God's word. Nothing can come between us and the love of God, so when things go 'pear-shaped' we can still pray, 'Jesus I trust in you even though my world is upside down, Jesus I praise and thankyou for the opportunity to trust in you and your word'. Trust can be hard. But I believe in the midst of tribulations and afflictions we show our faith by trusting God to get us through. And we will not be disappointed for we serve an amazing God whose heart burns like the Sun and who wishes to draw us into the furnace of His love.
I think that the greatest threat to the security of our personal faith is not the influences of the world, or other people, but ourselves. If we pray and open ourselves to God's will, we will be taken on a wonderful journey. But we can also choose, as some people do in the world today, to say no, and this is what in effect robs us of our faith. Shane
Nice to see that you admire God's glory in nature, Garabandal! I would be the same; I often pray outdoors, on walks. At home I would take the dogs and head up into the forest. Serenely beautiful. Then there are some who don't see much in nature other than weeds and thistles. We all have different ways of perceiving the beauty of God in our world.
