Choose Hope

Category: Choose Hope

Election 2020

Gosh… im on shaky ground here, as I’ve never wanted to put my prayer time or a Word from the Lord in writing… except in my private prayer journal. Sure, I’ve shared in person with friends and people i pray with and I have shared with you some of the images that the Holy Spirit has shown me when i paint the Saints, but even that is hard… and never in writing. If i could share this anonymously, i would, and i thought about saying… “got this from a friend” even my preference now would be to keep this tucked away, but, we have come to a place and a time when we must be courageous in any way that the Lord would call us. For me, as silly as it sounds here when i write it, it’s sharing these private encounters with the Lord. For who am i, that the Lord would make Himself known to me… to any of us? And yet He does.

God is love. And He loves us each uniquely, with a love that can not be duplicated for another. As His daughter, i want to receive His love so that i can offer it to others.

In sharing the below message, my only desire is to offer the Father’s hope, comfort and peace.

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For weeks, collectively the Holy Spirit has been moving in His people about a “VICTORY”. Many friends and prayer warriors have talked about this, saying “I sense a VICTORY” and I felt it too. In fact, i woke up each morning, as the days drew closer to the election with a victory song in my heart… “I’m gonna see a victory. For the battle belongs to You Lord” . (This song is embedded below) Last week, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “ I finish what I start” and I applied that Word to this victory and believed that it meant the re-election of Trump, which i still hope for very much. I am a Catholic, i am obligated by my beliefs to vote for those who will uphold the sanctity of life and to protect the sacraments, like marriage.

Today, the day after the election, we now are seeing that this may draw out for days, weeks, and even months… I have started to wonder if this victory is much different than what I assumed, and so i asked myself just what would the ultimate victory be and what would it mean to win the war? The answer for us all is to cooperate with God’s grace so that we can overcome the evils of this world and be with God in heaven for eternity.

While in prayer yesterday, I had a strong wave of love come over me, and the Father spoke to my heart about what a great privilege it is to be united with Him in this particular time of salvation history, that He has chosen each and every soul alive today to atone for the sins of mankind and usher in the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who will crush the head of satan.

I recalled this scripture which was the Sept. 20, 2020 gospel reading:

Gospel

MT 20:1-16A

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.’
When those who had started about five o’clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply,
‘My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092020.cfm

My priest that Sunday preached about how many of us would be inclined to groin or complain about the treatment of the landowner, who of course is God, and how it wasn’t fair that the people showing up late receive the same payment. Then Father said, in all of salvation history, WE ARE THOSE PEOPLE, the last to the vineyard. We come late and yet, because of God’s great love and generosity, we receive the same payment. I thought about how the blood of the early martyrs have come down throughout the ages to continue to sanctify us, and how their perseverance has bestowed such incredible grace, and many miracles. And here we are, in this fine hour, late to the party, and God says… “So the last (that’s us) will be first, and the first (the saints) will be last.”

If the church is truly in the time of the crucifixion, and i believe we are, then we are all on the cross. Would now be the time to pull us down? Would God pull us away from our mission? Would we be able to accomplish our mission of atonement and bringing about the Triumph of Our Lady? The mission of Christ Jesus on the cross… the Father’s Beloved Son, was to atone for sin and give the world Our Lady. This is the mission of the Saints in heaven. This is our mission today.

There will be terrifying times in the last days. People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Tim 3:1-4) Oh how we have reached so far beyond this… i don’t have to tell you this. I can’t stand to look at it, yet just today i learned that there are symbols for pedophiles, showing what gender and age child they want to rape.

We must not turn away. We must not withhold our FIATS any longer to the things that the Lord is calling us to. We must stare down our demons, stand in the minority of truth and call persecution and suffer a gift, because it is a gift. This is the sifting and it will hurt. God is making us great saints, and He does not pull us down from our crosses.

Yesterday, my husband said… “just think, if we get 4 more years with Trump, he can hold back communism and the New World Order.” It caused me to pause because I knew there was no more holding back… the time has come for the crucifixion… the purification, the beautiful chastisement, which is our share of the vineyard. Though late, receiving the same reward.

When I woke up the morning, I believed 100% that Trump would be re-elected, that the victory had come. think with me for a second, about when Jesus was on the cross, and satan thought he had won. Was Jesus the hunted or the hunter in that moment? Was He a fish on the line? Well, so satan thought until God snatched the victory from his grip and satan realized he had lost the victory he had int he Garden. God had sent His beloved and He made a way for us again . I remember now the wave of love that washed over me yesterday, and I do believe that God finishes what He starts, that he makes a way for us, parts the seas and always wins!

This is the kind of Father we have, and He has chosen us to help Him save souls, because those who have been rescued, rescue others. so that Our Lady can be true Mother to all mankind, crush the head and bring about a new springtime.

United, let’s follow Our Lord Jesus, and all the saints after Him, to the will of our Father, so we can be with Him in Heaven. That is the ultimate victory.

+JMJ+

Nov. 4, 2020 let us meditate on today’s readings:

Reading 1

PHIL 2:12-18

My beloved, obedient as you have always been,
not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for his good purpose,
works in you both to desire and to work.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life,
so that my boast for the day of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out as a libation
upon the sacrificial service of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.
In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 27:1, 4, 13-14

(1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Alleluia

1 PT 4:14

Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

LK 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”

Here’s that victory song

These 3 Things

Happy New Year! So I’m a little late to the party…how embarrassing.

As 2016 ended, I heard many people say things like…

“I’m so done with 2016!”

“2016 was the worst year I’ve ever had!”

“2016 totally kicked my ass!”

I even heard a cashier at the store exclaim to her customer, “I didn’t have one good thing happen to me in 2016”.

Wow, I just cant help to think that’s some major bad juju to be putting out there!

We are 19 days into 2017 and I have had the opportunity to really reflect on my experiences in 2016 and pray about my journey. Truth be told, 2016 was not my favorite year. It was a difficult year, mixed with some major changes and often times I felt like things were being unearthed, and exhumed…for lack of a better word. I lost friendships, people I loved passed away (some tragically), my husband lost his job, and family members remained estranged. And this is not to mention that the state of our world, especially with the 2016 Election, caused good people to turn against one another. I think it’s safe to say we were all feeling something very raw.

But lets go back to the word UNEARTHED. What an odd way to describe a year! The synonyms are: discover, find, reveal, expose, turn up, uncover, bring to light, ferret out, root up.

And there it is… root up or better still, up root. That’s how I felt. Just when I got comfortable, God would up root me and take me into unchartered territory. I was forced to deal with emotions that had been buried and consequences beyond my control. Every synonym you see that describe unearthed is how I felt throughout the year. And then this came to me in prayer…

Colossians 3 Put On the New Self

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

And there it is. Raised up sounds a lot like up root to me…does it you. Im convinced, because of God’s word, that He wants us all to be ‘raised up’ and be made new in Him. It may not feel good to be exposed to light, after being in the dark, but it’s in our suffering that we come to know Jesus and are able to respond to the suffering of others.

I’ve taken these first 19 days of the new year and ive prayed and reflected. I decided to embrace what God had done throughout my 2016 and He open the door for me to enter anew.

I also did there 3 things…

I wrote a gratitude list of everything I was grateful for in 2016. I came up with 23 things/ people/ and places that blessed me.
I made a list of all of my passions, talents and gifts. I looked at the things I enjoyed as a child, I asked my loved ones what they thought and I prayed about what my gifts were. I wrote down 12, not bad.
Finally, I made a list of things that I needed to let go of. What am I holding onto that prevents me of opening my hands to Christ and put on a new self?

Oh…and I watched Good Will Hunting. LOL. One thing I learned and lived out in 2016 is if you want things to change, change your perspective. You can see many of my blog posts about that very topic. Good Will Hunting is a great example of changing your perspective and accepting the gifts God gave you. It’s about opening up that closed fist and letting God fill it with truth, love and mercy. I’ve learned how to be grateful. I’ve learned to surrender.

Running with the Scissors

Sunshine MW quote with website

This week, I came across this poem from Marianne Williamson and every bit of my heart yelled out “TRUTH”. I read this poem some years ago, but the word TRUTH didn’t come to mind. Maybe the word was bullshit, or lie, or what a load of crap. Regardless, I was not in a place in my life when I could recognize that I had a light and what it would mean if I let it shine.

Even now, when I know that all of us are born with gifts, talents, and “lights”, I sometimes hold back. Why? I could point to many reasons why I hold back…fear that my gifts won’t measure up (to whom I’m not sure), fear that someone will demand something of my gifts and I will be obligated (commitment phob), fear that I will become stifled and unable to produce ( bored and trapped)…ugh! It really doesn’t matter what the fear is telling me because the job of this fear is simply to put out my light. To extinguish the excitement, the courage, the joy, the trust and hold me in a place of stagnation. This fear is the lie that holds us all captive and redirects us from the “Glory of God that is within us”.

So, the image I kept getting in my head all week as I meditated on this poem was a little girl running with scissors. The little girl doesn’t know how dangerous it is to run with scissors, she’s innocent, and she’s not even thinking about the scissors…she’s running ahead to the next paper doll, or snow flake, ready to do what she does…shine.

If you follow me on Facebook or you’re part of my Art and Soul Prompts group, you know that it’s been all about courage and slaying the fear monster this month. You may recognize the above image as our April Soul prompt. if you don’t, be part of the group. I would love to support you along the way.

One last thing, I want to give you a little gift, the above image titled Own Your Light graphic . Print it off and hang it in a place that you will see it first thing in the morning…the mirror, the coffeemaker, the shower door. But don’t just look at it, read the words and believe in Your Light.

Own your light, it’s who you are, a child of God.

Honor the Reflection of Your Journey

In my last post, I shared with you that I had been struggling with negativity and how difficult it was to change my outlook and perspective…in other words, to kick that unwanted house guest in my head right on out the door! When we are struggling with low self esteem, negativity, and/or stress I believe the biggest challenge is to identify and reflect on how and why we are having these feelings, but not go into the rabbit hole of obsessing. Sounds easy, right? It is not easy but it sure is fruitful!

Is it easy to take responsibility for our choices and actions? To take over the plane when we have been flying on auto-pilot for so long. What if we crash? What if we can’t navigate through the storm ahead? What if we let our passengers down? We may not be playing the plane wreak scenarios in our heads, but maybe you’re asking these questions…

What if I fail? What if I’m rejected? What if they see my imperfections?

We all ask these questions! These questions can help us to logically navigate through the storm, right? The concern is when we can’t stop asking these questions after a storm and we are still feeling fear even when the storm has passed, we went down the rabbit hole. What then? Stress, low self esteem, anger, confusion, fear, negativity…you get it and this is where we become stuck on auto pilot again. Better to let that guy handle those things.

It’s easy to not identify or acknowledge our feelings in our world today. We are busy and with all the distractions we can check out on our feelings and check into the TV, internet, work, social media, drinking, eating, etc. and feel like we are accomplishing something. We choose to not honor our feelings and soon our feelings are manifesting themselves in other ways like addictions, overeating, complaining/ negativity, restlessness. obsessiveness, not able to sleep, depression, and fear or lack of peace.

I was in this dark place and I was dwelling on negativity, completely unaware of my feelings of hurt and rejection. So how did I get out of that dark hole? I am not an expert on feelings or anything for that matter, but I can tell you about 4 things that are working for me.

Set aside time for prayer and reflection everyday.
Identify my feelings and acknowledge why I’m feeling that way, then release them.
Intentional thinking.
Attitude of gratitude.

I am going to go into details about these 4 steps in the coming weeks posts. These are steps which you can apply to begin living a life that honors the reflection of your journey. I know that our journeys are hard sometimes, filled with struggles, sorrow, and pain. But know this, we are not defined by our circumstances we are defined by our response to those circumstances and we are defined by God’s love for us. We are ALL precious in the eyes of God, no matter our choices, no matter our mistakes, no matter our circumstances. So let’s honor each and every step on this life journey so that our soul reflects love and truth.

My next post will offer tips on how to make more time for prayer and reflection.

Be gentle on yourself this week!

Fat Tuesday!

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!!
HEE HEE, a little Julian Smith.

I actually like cats, but hate to admit I feel this towards my 3 dogs, husband, and 2 kids at times. Oh lot’s to work on during Lent…

Enjoy your indulgences today! Prepare for tomorrow as we go deeper into prayer, fasting, and alms giving for the next 40 days. Lent is a spiritual journey that takes you right to the foot of the cross and makes you a greater witness to The Passion! Praise God!

During Lent, I will be attempting DAILY POSTS that offer short meditations written by
Daniel L Lowery. I encourage you to go deeper into these meditations by reading more of the Book from God’s Word where these verses are found.

I will also be running posts on CHOOSING HOPE in the coming weeks and have been spending lots of time in prayer over the enslavement that is caused by WORRY.

Walking beside you always, please join me.

“Look at the birds of the air,

that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not worth much more than they?”

Matt 6:26

If you have been here before, you know I’m crazy for birds! Note the new blog background:)

I just enjoy them so much, watching them , listening to them, photographing them.

I can even recognize many of their calls!

God willing, I will live to be the crazy old bird lady!

Last night we had a terrible storm and it poured down rain. The noise kept me up half the night, as the wind and rain hit the side of the house with such fury.

I awoke this morning to see my 11 yr old on the floor curled up in a ball. No room for her in the bed because all three dogs had already found refuge there, under the covers, afraid too from the storm. Many schools were delayed as homes and roads were struck with flooding water.

It was a mess!

BUT…

the first sound I hear, besides the alarm, was the birds chirping outside my window.

After all the wind and beating rain, the birds sang out, happy.

This afternoon, the sun returned, and I captured these shots.

The birds were bathing and playing in my birdbath!!

How can it be that after such a terrible storm, these little guys could be playing and singing like that? Just like nothing happened, not a care in the world!

This scripture came to mind, it was also the reading at church this Sunday.

Where did these little guys go last night…where did they hide to be safe from the weather?

We have all been through storms, days upon weeks where we ask ourselves, “How am I gonna make it through this?!” Unfortunately for many, sometimes those days turn into years and we can become hopeless. Hopeless that the job will never come, the cancer will never heal, the house will never sell, the spouse will never return, the addiction will never stop, the child will never grow! Worry is such a burden to so many of us. It’s that endless voice in our heads that nags and tears at us until we are heaped in the corner, defeated and alone.

Worry is the opposite of TRUST.

It is a lie.

LOOK AT THE BIRDS! His Word tells us to look at them…they do not worry. After the storm they play and sing, as if no storm ever came. Or maybe they are rejoicing in the aftermath of God’s mercy.

I pray that whatever aftermath you are feeling today, good or bad, that you would see God somewhere in it. He is holding you in the palm of His hand, right this minute.

He is your hope, choose Him.

This is the start of a random series of posts called Choose Hope. Please pray with me that God would use our blogs to inspire HOPE in others and the desire to know Him more.

Linking up with my friend Jen at Finding Heaven today!

Thank you and may God Bless you!