Southern Maine Veterans Cemetery
Picture by Richard Sawyer
Approximately 1.2 to 1.3 million men and women have lost their lives since the Revolutionary War. (GAI):
America is the home of the free because of the brave.
The Holy Spirit inspires our blog.
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”
Emphasis mine: Luke 17:11-19
A few weeks ago I was in a faith group meeting and the conversation centered for a short time on Hope versus Faith. When we read the readings for today I knew at once what this portion of the blog would be about.
Hope: Definition of Hope (GAI): To wish for a particular event that one considers possible.
Faith: Definition of Faith (GAI): complete trust or confidence in someone or something: Interesting, God is the only one you can have complete Faith in, and God is not mentioned in the definition.
As we have stated in prior blogs I, we have moved from Hope to Faith. I considered what I was praying for possible – a healing, doing a homily at a communion service with no prior preparation on my part, just to mention two hope events.
Hope accepts the request might not be answered, while Faith has confidence the request will be answered maybe not the way or the time I wanted but it WILL be answered.
As I had the healings and gave the homilies, I grew in Faith that God truly has my back, and I kept asking for more.
Why not?
Two weeks ago two readers asked how I grew in Faith, which I have pondered since reading the question.
Years ago I came to the conclusion, The Holy Spirit, that God only wants the best for me.
But,
God‘s best for me might not be the same best as my desire as to what I was asking for.
For example, I prayed for success in my (notice the my) business. I asked God one night driving home, “How come every time we get the business going, it falls apart?”
God answered, “You can’t handle success!” That’s the exact quote.
Well at first I told God He was wrong, but I started thinking (The Holy Spirit) and realized that if we were successful, in fact a couple of times we were, I would throw God under the bus, which I did, and proceed through life alone, which I also did, , until it fell apart again.
Yep, Stupid me!
About this same time I started thanking God for everything in OUR (notice the OUR) life, and as the years rolled by the Thanking process brought me to the realization that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had my back, and I now have FAITH that they HAVE taken care of me and ARE taking care of me.
This process has taken decades as it should, and I now know your faith has saved you.”
This isn’t an “ain’t I great” statement, it’s a realization that I don’t want to live a life anymore without having the Triune God fully in my (now our) life. As we pray in the Our Father Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
And,
Doing the will of my Father keeps me growing in L-J-P.
And
Please NEVER forget, I still mess up, sin – which we have reported, and once I realize this I stop, say I’m sorry, go to confession if the Holy Spirit indicates I should, change, and try to get back to doing what God wants me to do.
Easy!
Prayer:
When satan knocks at your door, Pray: “Jesus for you.”
Sidebar:
This past week was special:
Cumberland County Jail:
We had eight men all who knew the “Nine,” some with a little prompting, but they all knew it. In 30 years we have never had all the men at a particular meeting know the “Nine.”
One man said, “I talked with my mother, and for the first time in 20 years I told her I loved her, and she told me she loved me.” He was blown away, and we suggested his mother really did love him because she could have had an abortion, but instead chose to give birth to a wonderful person. He also realized she was a reflection of Him. He said I Love you first ,and she gave the same response back.
He further told me this week he has called his mother every day since the first call.
And
He is filled with Joy something he had never experienced before. Happiness may be, but now true Joy.
What a difference!
And
We kept telling him to stop smiling, “You’re in jail, and jail isn’t a Joyful place.” Or is it?
He ignored us and kept smiling.
As we reflected on all of this Friday 11/6 I realized he had been in a greater jail – anger- and was now free
If he keeps praying the “Nine,” and saying the prayers we gave him, he can stay out of the anger jail and other jails, and experience a full life in the Triune God.
Hummmmmm who also do you know was set free from anger?
Honor Flight Maine:
I volunteered to work at a Veterans Day gathering at Cabala’s in Scarborough Maine. What will come as a surprise to many who know me is I have been shy about going out and meeting people I didn’t know. In our early married years I let Gail break the ice and then hopped in.
As we wrote in an earlier blog about the Humility Prayer, I had fears, (satan) and this was one of them.
As we drove to the event I prayed, “Your words not mine for your Glory not mine.”
The Holy Spirit told me to grab some brochures and meet and talk with people as they passed by our tent.
We did, notice the we.
And,
In three and a half hours we went through all of the pass out materials that we had, and I was pumped!
And,
I also left praying, “Thank you Father, many times.
Why?
I was pumped at the change in my, now our, personality and I loved the change, would I thank God my Father only once for this change?
Heavens No!
We CELEBRATED!!!.
Please keep snapping and sending pictures!
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
The offer for the cards is sadly for American readers only. The Post office won’t accept foreign stamps.
If you want a copy of the prayers we discuss.
Send an email to: fprince101@gmail.com
Disclaimer:
We decided to share with you that I do use Google AI for spelling, punctuation, and helping me find a Bible verse. BUT we go to the Bible to print out the verse we find. If we do use Google AI it will be noted (GAI). I believe in a while this type of disclaimer will be needed on all created works.
