General:
- Glory to God in the Highest (published: Tabor Voice, Nov-Dec 2002; Divine Light, Dec 2003)
- Living in the Will of God (published: Tabor Voice, Jan-Feb 2003)
- What we should do this Lent (published: The Examiner, March 2003)
- Lost your reputation? Rejoice! (published: Divine Light, July 2004)
- The Potter & His Clay - A Spiritual Analogy
- Death on an Easter Sunday
- How Jesus saved us from the fire next door
- God isn't deaf
- Get on a Barnabus trip
- A Year Older and a lot less Wise (Part 1 of the Birthday Trilogy)
- He sang to me (Part 2 of the Birthday Trilogy)
- The Value of Intercession (Part 3 of the Birthday Trilogy)
- Do you want a FREE GIFT that can never be taken from you?! (Dec 2003 / Jan 2004)
- Love is in the air... (February 2004)
- Was it worth it all? (March 2004)
- I Confess... (April 2004)
- The Beautiful Blessing of Christian Fellowship! (May 2004)
- Power Evangelize! (June 2004)
- 'Best Friends' till the end (July 2004)
- Family Matters (August 2004)
- Do you know WHY you believe? (September 2004)
- You're going to be let down (October 2004)
- Praying with the Holy Pope (November 2004)
- Hang in there (December 2004) (published: Divine Light, Jan 2005)
- Just like that. And you're gone (January 2005)
- The Divine Lover of My Soul (February 2005)
- Is it ever "too late" to do right? (March 2005)
- To Emmaus, or back again? The choice is yours! (April 2005) (published:Divine Truth, April 2007)
- Bear Much Fruit (May 2005) (published: Divine Light, July 2005)
- Holiness and the Heart of Love (June 2005)
- Spiritual Boot Camp (July 2005)
- Abundant Life! (August 2005)
- Unanswered Prayers? (September 2005)
- Trust in the Lord! (October 2005)
- Persevere! (December 2005)
- New Resolutions this New Year (January 2006)
- 'Having it All' = Having Jesus (February 2006)
- He Understands (April 2006)
- My Invisible Tattoo (September 2006)
- Cardinal Justin Rigali ~ "Glorify God in Your Body" (October 2006)
- A Fattened Calf for me (December 2006)
- How to come out of a Spiritual Downward Spiral - Part 1 (January 2007)
- Jesus is Alive. Need Proof? ( October 2007)
- Biblical Catholics (November 2007)
- Religion or Spirituality? (September 2008)
- Lessons from the strange race between the Tortoise and the Hare (October 2008)
- How to react when Spiritual Leaders fall / backslide: (November 2008)
December 2004
Hang in there...
(published:Divine Light, January 2005)
You are more blessed that you realise (read on to find out why)
The Christmas and upcoming holiday season is often called the Season of spreading cheer & goodwill, the season to be 'jolly'.
Yet that's the exact opposite of what many people do during the holidays. People who are lonely & experiencing family problems feel their loneliness and pain more acutely at the time when commercialization & the media flaunts images of happy families celebrating good times together. Introspection makes many people feel like failures and worthless because they often do not live up to the tasks they set out for themselves to do the previous year. Pressure to look one's best for the invariable parties or to appear successful in front of one's extended family or to provide gifts for everyone is enough to stress out the most calm person.
I once read an email fwd about a woman, who was so stressed out with all her holiday shopping & the fact that her dysfunctional family was all going to be under one roof, out of total exasperation finally exclaimed in a public place; "I wish whoever thought up this holiday suffers and dies" and someone answered her: "Lady, He did". Christ, Who is the real and only "reason for the season" is sidelined or given a back seat or worse still very often left off the bus.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen explains beautifully in his masterpiece book 'Life of Christ', that Christ was the only being (true God and true man) Who was born . to die. He came into the world with the sole motive of dying, to pay the price for our sins, that we may live and have eternal life.
Though Advent is the time we should prepare for the coming of Christ, it is in reality the time we spend preparing for the celebrations for the holidays. Or the time we spend being stressed out, depressed, worried, sad. It is the time we should concentrate on Christ, yet it's the time we spend looking at the negative.
Are you depressed? Are you sad? Are you lonely? Is the pressure getting to you? Are things going so fast from bad to worse that you can't handle things anymore?
If so, then chances are that you have forgotten Christ. Or that you have never met Him. Or that you really don't understand about His ENORMOUS love for you.
The love that accepts you right now as you are, in all your imperfections, in the very same state that you are in (even if it's the state of complete sin!). The love that made Him be born to die for each one of us while we were still sinners. The love that is pure, holy & unconditional.
The ONLY way to be set free from all your problems is to be set free by Jesus "For if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed" John 8:36. Don't resort to all the things that the world tells you to do in order to be happy - instead, resort to Christ.
Here's a list of things to do when the pressure starts getting to you:
• At once cry out to the Lord to save you - "And all those who call upon the Name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved". The fastest, easiest and best prayer is just the single word "Jesus". Make it your prayer right now. Say it - "Jesus".
• Think about just one good thing that the Lord has done for you this year. And give Him thanks and praise for it. It maybe even the simple fact that He's kept you alive for a year.
• Surrender your life to God . Tell the Lord that you are His. After all He did buy us back from death with the heavy price of His Precious Blood. In order to gain the "Abundant Life" that He promises us; all we have to do is Believe in the Lord Jesus and surrender our lives to Him.
• Accept the will of the Lord in your life . Accept the fact that He's totally in control of every situation in your life and He WILL make every situation in your life work out, and not only that, but work out for your good. Sounds impossible? Well, He is the God of the impossible! He CAN and He WILL make a way where there seems to be no way.
When things come to the point that we see no reason to go on living, or that we feel like we'd rather die (and yes, everyone goes through this), that's the time to do the above things. And the Lord WILL send you strength again.
The Lord Jesus, Who will be born again in your heart this Christmas if you invite Him, is waiting outside the door of your heart & with gentlemanly patience, knocking. He loves you enough to have died for you if you were the only person on earth. You are God the Father's "Favorite" child. You are the one sheep that He'll leave the 99 for, to search for you & to bring you back.
He loves you. You are PERFECT in His eyes. Just look into His eyes and see that. And you'll understand why you are more blessed that you'll ever understand.
I pray this prayer & I invite you to say it out aloud with me right now:
"Oh my Holy God, I thank you for the precious, precious gift of the Lord Jesus and the Lord Holy Spirit in my life. I ask You to forgive all my sins for which I am very sorry. And I ask you, to be born in my heart, right now. I surrender my entire life as it is right now, into Your Holy hands. I believe that You love me. I believe that You will sort out everything in my life. I thank You, I praise You, I worship You and You alone. Halleluiah"
May the Love of God the Father, the Hugs of Jesus His Son and the warmth of the Lord God Holy Spirit envelope you & keep you this entire season and New Year to come. Amen,
December 2004
