Picture of Mount Rainer Picture by Claire Hauge
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Extraordinary Time
R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God: “How tremendous are your deeds!”
R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
Bless our God, you peoples;
loudly sound his praise.
R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue.
R. Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!
For the past few weeks, we have been discussing giving thanks and praise to God for all They do in your life.
This week was interesting because what I thought we would be talking about we’re not.
I thought we would be talking about the response to The Responsorial Response.
As you can see, we will discuss the phrase, “Come and see the works of God.
How can you see the works of God if you are caught up in the “world.”
You can’t!
You can read about God’s works but won’t experience their works.
Last week Steve, who we get together with two to three times a month and who is very actively trying to build a relationship with God, suffered from the same problem I had suffered with over the past seventy years, that being not fully trusting God to take care of him, had an experience we wanted to pass along.
Steve was cooking, and the hot oil he was cooking the meal in splashed out of the pan onto his thumb.
Steve felt sharp pain!
Steve put his hand under cold water and thanked God for the pain a minute later.
Dumb to thank God for the burn, I know, as we have reported in prior blogs.
But wait, the pain disappeared, and Steve was filled with Joy.
Steve e-mailed me to tell me the story, and I reminded Steve that we talked about similar experiences, three to be exact, I had. When we spoke of the three incidents, Steve enjoyed the stories but didn’t fully believe this would happen to him.
Well, I told Steve on the phone he now has a problem.
God took away his pain!
If Steve had thanked God before he put his hand under the cold water, Steve would have had no pain and not left the door open for satan to tell Steve the water took away the pain, not God.
We also failed to remind Steve to occasionally play this experience over in his mind to remind himself that God is indeed active in his life, and when he does this, Steve can again thank God for taking care of him.
Something the Jewish people didn’t do in the Old Testament, which led them to walking around the desert for forty years.
Thanking God all the time is so very important.
It’s important because when something bad happens, you burn your hand, your first reaction should be to thank God for the difficulty, and you then have the power of God on your side.
And
God will take care of you!
I e-mailed Steve what we wrote and asked his permission to print it.
Steve responded:
It looks Fantastic, Fred, and I am flattered that you would include my story in your blog. You hit the nail on the head by very astutely noticing that after I put my thumb in cold water, I said Thank You, Father. satan has tried to take away the credit for the healing from God, but I have stopped him short every time and even laughed at him (Joy)! It’s a great feeling. Thinking about this since our talks and the readings I’ve mentioned, God will challenge me more to live the Faith, be His Messenger, and be a walking, talking example of the Joy that awaits all of us. I can’t wait to see what He asks of me and where it will take Us!! Like you said, life has changed forever!!
I thanked Steve, and he responded:
To my amazement, I forgot to add that I was expecting a second-degree burn, including blistering. There wasn’t any blistering or pain, and the skin wasn’t even pink! I could use my thumb and hand like nothing ever happened!!
It’s interesting how God uses challenging events to grow our relationship with Them.
Come and see the works of God,
If you want to join Team Jesus, try praying. “This is the day the lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”
Sidebar:
Cumberland County Jail last week:
We had eight men at our meeting last week, and I am sad to report none knew the Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit.
They told me they didn’t have the time, the dog ate the sheet we gave them, and they couldn’t memorize nine words.
We all can create excuses for our unwillingness to grow in our relationship with God.
Not one is valid!
Halfway through the meeting, a fight broke out in the pod.
We told the men. “outside of our meeting room; the men were kneeling because the “world” was in a fight. Inside our room, we were sitting because we were in the “Spirit World” and didn’t pose any threat to the pod.
I pray what we said sunk in, and I think maybe it did because one of the men said he would learn the “Nine.”
I, of course, was filled with joy at this statement because if he learns the “Nine” and then tells us, at our next meeting, how his life has changed, maybe the others will follow suit.
Men testifying about changes in their lives because they learned the prayers we suggested and put them into practice encourages others to try a new life.
Last week David reported in a Joy-filled comment how his life has changed, and this week we had Steve’s testimony.
How about YOU?
Living in the “Spirit World” is worth the effort!
Note: I am being operated on August 16, so I will not respond to your comments until after August 19.
Picture:
Picture of Mount Rainer Picture by Claire Hauge
Please keep Snapping!
Several people from foreign countries have asked for my email address, but I am still waiting to hear back. We decided to include my email for your convenience.
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
By sending your picture, you consent to allow us to reprint that picture in our next book, God Thoughts 2023, with your name and any comments in the Blog.
