Gethsemane

"We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials."

– St. Teresa of Avila

And the forty days begins now...

+AMDG+

Lent is approaching...

I need a place to save these articles. Seven deadly sins...we don't know how easy it is to fall into them...really good read, if you're interested...

Seven Deadly Sins: PRIDE

I especially appreciated this part...

The Virtue: Humility

If we have been honest in answering the questions asked above, we have probably discovered that there is a lot of pride in us. That’s ok, if we’re willing to fix it. So what’s the fix? Humility is the obvious antidote. But how do we attain this humility?

First, we need to understand what humility is and what it isn’t. Some people believe that humility is putting ourselves down: saying that we aren’t smart, or aren’t pretty, or aren’t anything good. This isn’t true. We all need to have a healthy sense of self-esteem and be secure in what God made us and the gifts He has blessed us with. So humility is not thinking less of ourselves. Rather it is thinking thinking less about ourselves. Take the focus off us and put it on somebody else, and we’re on our way to being humble.

Another way towards humility is realizing our dependance on God. Without Him, we are nothing. Sometimes the best among us fail to realize this.

One day while Jesus was talking to a bunch of people He set a little child among them and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The people He was addressing were His apostles! And these words were in response to a question they asked Him: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

We all need more humility. I need more humility. The enemy tempts us to pride in so many different ways and we have to truly be on our guard against it - the father of all sins. Scary.

I also thought this passage was so full of wisdom. Makes a lot of sense...

Adam and Eve would never have made the mistake that they made in Eden if they had gone to God for counsel. Eve may not have been able to stop the dialog that she had with the serpent, but the simple act of going to God and asking Him what He thought about what the serpent said would have saved her a lot of grief. Ditto for Adam. And it wasn’t like they didn’t have access to Him. He walked in the garden of Eden with them!

The more we go to God for counsel the more humble we become. The humbler we get, the more child-like we become. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad the road that leads the destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the path that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Perhaps only children can find it; after all, if the gate is so small, then only they can get through.

+AMDG+

Ask, seek, knock

Driven to absolute frustration, I begged for answers. Consumed by anxiety, I prayed for consolation. God has never failed me, and He pulled through for me during these past two weeks as He always does.

We had a Holy Spirit prayer service in 8th grade Religion yesterday. Some of my kids volunteered to pray over their classmates. Short and simple, yet very powerful. The prayer leaders were touched; the rest of the class felt moved...said it was awesome. They all want to do it again. It was amazing to see this light glowing within them that I hadn't seen before. Better late than never...but compared to my own life's experience, they're way ahead of where I was at their age. Praise God...

Great talks with Gary lately...even if we'd been up until 3 in the morning some days chatting away about life and our relationship, it's been very reassuring...especially since we're facing another huge adjustment in our lives. I'm so thankful that we are able to talk and that he is always extremely understanding of my insecurities and concerns. I love that he is becoming more and more of a best friend. We didn't have a long history together before we got married, but we did have a good friendship starting off. However, it took me a while to get myself to totally open up to him without being afraid of what he would think/say...not because he would react harshly, but because I still needed so much healing to take place inside.

You've brought me so far, Lord. After reading some of my journal entries from 2005, I was so impressed at the progress I've made over the last four years. I had questions about my job...about who I was...about who I'd become...and while the future continues to pose more possibilities, I'm at least able to look back and appreciate where I've been and where You have placed me today.

I want to say so much more, but I think I'll just soak in my heart's gratitude. Thank you so much, dear God, for hearing me and working Your grace and providence in my life.

+AMDG+

Just cut off the dead leaves

About 4 years ago, one of my Kappa sisters gave me a bamboo plant. I told myself that if I could keep it alive, I would be ready to have kids. Why? Because I have successfully almost killed every other plant I have owned, and I figured that it would be quite pitiful if I couldn't maintain a BAMBOO plant.

I'd been doing pretty well with it until last Christmas. We were gone for a couple of weeks and I didn't water it. I don't think I watered it for a month because I was so busy. So there were brown leaves growing out of it. Well...they weren't really growing because the leaves were dead.

I was ready to just let it die.

But I learned from my mom - the gardener - that as long as there were green leaves and the stalks were still alive, all I had to do was cut off the dead leaves and the plant would be fine.

So that's what I did. I cut off the dead leaves. And it's fine.

I was so discouraged by all the brown leaves that I didn't even acknowledge the life still left in my plant. I was totally gonna give up on it. How sad.

Lesson learned: Don't focus on what's going wrong...look for everything that's going right...because it's not over 'til it's over. That's exactly what my bamboo taught me.

Thanks, little bamboo. You've got some years left in you yet. Then maybe I'll upgrade to herbs...hehe =)