God is faithful, he is my loving father. He hears my prayers and brings joy to my heart. Today I took a big step and wrote a letter to my mom and my sisters, to let them see many dark places in my soul. I asked for forgiveness and even told them how much I loved them and admired each one of them.
God has his time and he is wise. He knows when things should go quickly and when to take His time.
This time he acted quickly, and inspired my mom with this amazing letter. It has brought so much happiness to my heart!!! He has blessed me with a beautiful example in my mom, and given me encouragement for my future (whatever it may bring).
Each day I trust Him more and more, and feel safe in His wide arms.
Joy!!! I am proud to share this:
Hi Mick!
I`m glad you`re having this nice experience over there, Mick. Now you know what I meant about my wonderful years at St. Olaf. It was like that. Friends. People who understand what you`re talking about. Opportunities to work out your past. Bonding. Discovering what your family really means to you. Setting priorites. Finding out that real people are all around you. It will surely change your life. You will feel like there was time a before and a time after this experience. It`s the best thing that you could have ever done with your time this year. You will never regret it. I really mean it, I relate totally, and I`m so happy for you. It`s kind of funny, but if we didn`t have inside of us all that stuff that we kind of consider the bad stuff, we wouldn`t notice as much when we start to get things straight. It`s a blessing in disguise, I think. I know so many people who didn`t even notice when any kind of a transition took place in their life. When you tell them about your experience, they feel they`ve missed out on something. Yeah, they missed out on the bad stuff!! But the Resurrection would never have come if there hadn`t first been a Passion and all of its suffering. The past is the past, and that`s the best place to keep it, for sure! But feeling like you have been able to work out a few things makes you feel like at least that much bad stuff has been resolved, and isn`t occupying a bunch of space in the dark closets of your mind, and you start to feel peace. You start to feel motivated to move on, construct better relationships, forgive, love, and serve. It`s a very Christian manifestation in our lives to feel something dead come to life in us. That is the love that is real love, not selfish love. It`s the kind that`s contagious, that shines on those around us, that makes us feel rewarded for all we`ve gone through. It`s the action of the Holy Spirit.
God has his time and he is wise. He knows when things should go quickly and when to take His time.
This time he acted quickly, and inspired my mom with this amazing letter. It has brought so much happiness to my heart!!! He has blessed me with a beautiful example in my mom, and given me encouragement for my future (whatever it may bring).
Each day I trust Him more and more, and feel safe in His wide arms.
Joy!!! I am proud to share this:
Hi Mick!
I`m glad you`re having this nice experience over there, Mick. Now you know what I meant about my wonderful years at St. Olaf. It was like that. Friends. People who understand what you`re talking about. Opportunities to work out your past. Bonding. Discovering what your family really means to you. Setting priorites. Finding out that real people are all around you. It will surely change your life. You will feel like there was time a before and a time after this experience. It`s the best thing that you could have ever done with your time this year. You will never regret it. I really mean it, I relate totally, and I`m so happy for you. It`s kind of funny, but if we didn`t have inside of us all that stuff that we kind of consider the bad stuff, we wouldn`t notice as much when we start to get things straight. It`s a blessing in disguise, I think. I know so many people who didn`t even notice when any kind of a transition took place in their life. When you tell them about your experience, they feel they`ve missed out on something. Yeah, they missed out on the bad stuff!! But the Resurrection would never have come if there hadn`t first been a Passion and all of its suffering. The past is the past, and that`s the best place to keep it, for sure! But feeling like you have been able to work out a few things makes you feel like at least that much bad stuff has been resolved, and isn`t occupying a bunch of space in the dark closets of your mind, and you start to feel peace. You start to feel motivated to move on, construct better relationships, forgive, love, and serve. It`s a very Christian manifestation in our lives to feel something dead come to life in us. That is the love that is real love, not selfish love. It`s the kind that`s contagious, that shines on those around us, that makes us feel rewarded for all we`ve gone through. It`s the action of the Holy Spirit.
Believe me, no one could be happier to hear you telling about all these things that have been taking place in your soul than I am. I`ve prayed so much for it, and I feel rewarded too. I knew it would come someday. Isn`t it amazing how important it is to open up to people, and have them open up to you? God speaks to us through the Word of the Bible, but he also speaks through other people when they show love and understanding toward one another. Enjoy the time you have left, and make the best use of it. You`re not a new person, you`re just a person with a new outlook on life. Be sure to thank the good Lord that He let you be one of the lucky people who could perceive the transformation so vividly. Consider it a reward for looking in the right place to find the answers. Everyone has sufferings. It wouldn`t be fair to think that our own are more than anyone else`s. Some people just don`t pray about that, and don`t look for spiritual illumination. They just take it out on others, and feel victimized; something that will never get them anywhere. Because in the end there is nothing more awful than a person who goes around blaming others for what they consider wasn`t fair or beneficial in their life. On the other hand, it`s so inspiring to be around someone who realizes there is a lot more to be thankful for than there isto complain about; someone who knows that nothing comes from us, and that everything comes from God. When you realize that what has happened is that you have been rewarded with a more Christian attitude about your past, and you use your freedom to decide to turn the rest of your life into an act of thanksgiving, you are truly blessed because that is what we are supposed to do with our lives. It´s so easy to let all the truly good things we find in life block the Light of Jesus that wants to shine on us. There are so many good things in life. But if any of those good things gets in the way, we already broke the first Commandment. That is why I am so happy for you. I´m relieved of a suffering of my own too. I knew you had some dark closets in there that needed to be opened to the light, but you had to find the Light on your own. I won`t stop praying for you. I believe a mother`s prayers are very meaningful and effective. I know that many things I want for my children can only come as a result of prayer, and I try to be faithful and diligent in asking for them. Now you can understand better that if you really grow in your ability to let God love you, you will find true happiness. It will become clear that much of what we interpret as suffering is really our own self love clouding our vision. Everything God gives us is good. And we must thank Him for everything. We are the ones who refuse to accept that everything that happens to us or doesn´t happen to us is good. We blind ourselves into a state of resentment. And that resentment is what keeps the Light from coming in, and also from shining out to others. If it wouldn`t be for the dose of God´s love that we willingly accept, we would have nothing worth sharing with others. We can be talented, intelligent, virtuous, charismatic, or just plain cool, but if we think any of that came from us, it`s already worthless. So much of all those good things are wasted by people who just don`t want to acknowledge that their own attributes have been given to them by their Savior as a means to strengthen His Church and to increase the number of believers in His teachings. Not even one split second of our lifetime belongs to us, and not even one cell of our body belongs to us. Not even one good thought or one good action comes from us, but rather all good thoughts and all good actions are a result of God´s love. That doesn´t mean that people who aren´t grateful to God aren´t good or that they don´t do good things. Not at all. It just means that there are only two ways to live life; in awareness of God´s omnipotence, or in blindness and self'-love. We have to accept our grayness, while at the same time dedicating ourselves to becoming more and more subject to God´s presence and less and less enslaved to ourselves. That´s the definition of a saint: the one who never gives up trying to put God first.
That´s why it´s so important to do a housecleaning of your soul like you´re doing. There is no other way to remove all the filth that has accumulated in there because of resentments and selfishness than to let the light in by forgiving and thanking. It´s like the example of the bottle. The only way to get the air out isn´t by blowing or sucking, it´s by filling it with something else. I really believe that is why it`s so necessary for a person to get away and have the opportunity to do all that without having the old program acting on you at the same time. You have a chance to kind of get things straight and get your bearings before returning. Then when you do return, you won`t respond to the old program any more. You will have lots of energy to shine on others, and you will make a difference. You´ll be able to fill the old bottle you come back to, with some of the new things you´ve been getting yours filled with.
That´s great that you get up early and are neat!! Miracles happen all the time!! haha. Grammy and Gramps asked about you. Do you write to them? They would love to hear from you. They are very interested about your experience. I think you should take advantage of the fact that it has been such a positive experience to tell them some of those heavy things you wrote to us about appreciating people and all that, so they can feel happy for you too. They know about all those things too, but maybe you could share some of your light with them. You know what I mean? I think they have changed a lot. But I worry so much that they let themselves get so confused about the Truth. I bet you would be really good at letting some little words from the heart go in through the back door so they can find their way to the control room!
Hang in there, Mick! You´re doing a lot with your life, and if God is good and gives you a long one, you´ve got a long road ahead of you, and a tough mission. Patience every step of the way!! God´s all-knowing hand is writing our life story, and we don´t want to get too much in the way by telling Him how to write it. Even though life gets harder, it seems easier because we let Him get closer.
What did you ever do about the camera idea?
We all miss you bunches and bushels and heaps and truckloads!! God bless you every minute!!
All my love, Ma
That´s great that you get up early and are neat!! Miracles happen all the time!! haha. Grammy and Gramps asked about you. Do you write to them? They would love to hear from you. They are very interested about your experience. I think you should take advantage of the fact that it has been such a positive experience to tell them some of those heavy things you wrote to us about appreciating people and all that, so they can feel happy for you too. They know about all those things too, but maybe you could share some of your light with them. You know what I mean? I think they have changed a lot. But I worry so much that they let themselves get so confused about the Truth. I bet you would be really good at letting some little words from the heart go in through the back door so they can find their way to the control room!
Hang in there, Mick! You´re doing a lot with your life, and if God is good and gives you a long one, you´ve got a long road ahead of you, and a tough mission. Patience every step of the way!! God´s all-knowing hand is writing our life story, and we don´t want to get too much in the way by telling Him how to write it. Even though life gets harder, it seems easier because we let Him get closer.
What did you ever do about the camera idea?
We all miss you bunches and bushels and heaps and truckloads!! God bless you every minute!!
All my love, Ma
