…Believe that you have it already and it will be yours…

How Blessed am I!

How quickly I forget…

Yesterday I was and still am Very Thankful for all I have been given, but I asked for so much more.

Well, yesterday and today, God has provided me with what I asked. 

He really likes to reinforce that whole ” I tell you, therefore, everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, NJB).

We are all surrounded by Infinite Resources!  We have access to Media, to Churches, to Prayer, to Chapels, to Individuals that can Guide and Inspire us! We just have to be willing to DO something, to Seek it out. 

Many times I think we are very much like the Person in the Flood Joke.

In case you don’t know it, here is one version:

There was a man called him Jim, who lived near a river. Jim was a very religious man.

One day, the river rose over the banks and flooded the town, and Jim was forced to climb onto his porch roof.

While sitting there, a man in a boat comes along and tells Jim to get in the boat with him.

Jim says “No, that’s ok. God will take care of me.”

So, the man in the boat paddles away. The water rises, so Jim climbs onto his roof.

At that time, another boat comes along and the person in that one tells Jim to get in.

Jim replies, “No, that’s ok. God will take care of me.”

The person in the boat then leaves. The water rises even more, and Jim climbs on his chimney.

Then a helicopter comes and lowers a ladder. The woman in the helicopter tells Jim to climb up the ladder and get in.

Jim tells her “That’s ok.”

The woman says “Are you sure?”

Jim says, “Yeah, I’m sure God will take care of me.

Finally, the water rises too high and Jim drowns.

Jim gets up to Heaven and is face-to-face with God.

Jim says to God “You told me you would take care of me! What happened?”

God replied “Well, I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What else did you want?”

What I am trying to get at is that we can’t just be like Jim here and wait for things to fall on our lap, though I believe many times that is precisely what we want.

Well, getting back to what I was originally saying, I sort of went to a few sites that fill me with Knowledge, with Hope and Inspiration.

Allison’s Blog, “Totus Tuus Family & Catholic Home School“ is one of these sites and she, as usual, did not disappoint!

She shared this Post:

Understand the purpose of your life.

C.S. Lewis once said that “Christianity, if false, is of no importance; and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

So, away with “moderate” love for the gospel; 

away with “moderate” love for Jesus Christ. 

Time is too limited, too valuable, too important.

At the end of every day we need to ask ourselves this simple question: I have paid one day of my life to do what I did today. WAS IT WORTH IT?

At the end of Good Friday, Jesus Christ could say “yes.”

How will we answer today?

— Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

How Powerful these words…

But in case I still didn’t get it…

God comes along with this via not only another of my Absolute Favorite Bloggers, Deacon Dodger, and his Blog Καθολικός διάκονος, but through FOOTBALL!!

Yes, FOOTBALL! 

Tell me that this is not Proof Positive that He tries in many and every way possible to get to our Hearts ♥  Thank You, Lord.

Deacon Dodger’s Post provides us, provided me, not just with the Deacon’s Gift  and his Example of Living the Faith, but Deacon Dodger’s Post goes even further and provides a Mainstream, Very Visible, very Known and Hero to many a Man and Boys, Example of how to live Our Faith via the QB for the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow:

If you’re married… and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife ‘I love her’ the day you get married? Or should you tell her every single day when you wake up and every opportunity? And that’s how I feel about my relationship with Jesus Christ is that it is the most important thing in my life. So any time I get an opportunity to tell him that I love him or given an opportunity to shout him out on national TV, I’m gonna take that opportunity. And so I look at it as a relationship that I have with him that I want to give him the honor and glory anytime I have the opportunity. And then right after I give him the honor and glory, I always try to give my teammates the honor and glory. And that’s how it works because Christ comes first in my life, and then my family, and then my teammates. I respect Jake’s opinion, and I really appreciate his compliment of calling me a winner. But I feel like anytime I get the opportunity to give the Lord some praise, he is due for it…

Please do click here to read the entire article.  It is, as Deacon Dodger’s work usually is, Amazing!

I have no excuse to not Stand Up and Voice my Beliefs, I have no excuse to not defend what IS right, not what we want to believe is right.

With examples like these Bloggers and so many more out there, with examples like Father Mario that say it like it is, even if it is Not Nice, ditto for Padre Roman and so many other Men of the Cloth, with examples from our many Martyrs and Saints…

And yes, one can say, as I have many times, but they’re like Holy.  Like, even these Bloggers are Blessed and possess many Gifts from the Holy Spirit and I’m…well, just me…I’m a Sinner.  I’m Broken.  If people knew about some of the things I’ve done, well, I’d be just a Hypocrite.  And Oh So Many “reasons” which are only excuses cloaked in Fear, Shame, Unforgiveness and in my case Scrupulosity even. 

Yeah, we can weasel out of Living our Faith, but think about what that will get us!!

And I don’t know about you…but I kinda don’t want to go in that direction…

Again, if we go back to Deacon Dodger’s example of Tim Tebow, I mean, really think about it.  

Locker Rooms!  Big Tough Guys!  Sports!  TV!  Popularity!  Money!  Fame!

How many more Temptations to stray from Our Lord does a person need?  

And yet, Tebow endures Ridicule and Criticism for his Faith, for his Beliefs.

Here is a Worldly Example for us.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying he is Perfect. 

What I am saying is that he is Modeling for ME Courage, Strength, Resolve, Determination…all things that I asked for yesterday in my Prayer.

Well, here they are.

Thank you, Allison.  Thank You, Deacon Dodger. And Thank you, Tebow, for you are now being singled out via Bruce Arthur from the National Post and others as a Christian Warrior.

Above All, Thank you, Lord! 

And Let the CRUSADES BEGIN!!