Being given the gift of faith is an amazing blessing. Of course, we have to put in some effort to make sure we don’t forfeit our faith. Things like praying, receiving the sacraments, fulfilling our duties toward the Church and our brothers and sisters, etc. It’s not all that uncommon for any one of us to get a little lax in our devotion. It’s been said that, “God loves us just the way we are, and He loves us too much to let us stay that way.” The Christian life is a journey toward holiness. Have you ever felt that God allowed something(s) to happen in your life to get your attention, and to bring you back into a right focus on Him? It could be an illness, the death of a loved one, an accident, a natural disaster, a failed relationship, losing your job, and so forth. God wants nothing more than for each of us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Therefore, as the Bible tells us, he will admonish and chastise us as necessary, as a form of discipline to make us stronger and to help us persevere in faith. Join us Monday and share your take on this topic.
Take 2 with Jerry & Debbie 
June 23, 2019 at 8:45 am
(My Internet went out when I was sending this message so if you happen to see 2 copies of it, it was a technical issue on my end and not yours.)
Dear Jerry and Debbie,
Greetings!
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
St. Thomas Aquinas
Taken from The Catholic Company website – Morning Offering – June 23rd but I’m sure it’s in some book on St. Thomas Aquinas somewhere.
Have a great show on Monday!
I’ll be praying for you.
Blessings,
Toni in Texas
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June 23, 2019 at 9:18 pm
Dear Jerry and Debbie,
Greetings!
[This is an extremely painful and difficult email for me to write. That’s because for the times I didn’t do what God told me to do, or use the resources He gave me wisely this past year.
I hadn’t planned on making any more comments on Monday’s show topic but after God spoke to me at Mass this morning I knew that I had to share these comments in the hopes that it may help others, and if not , I know that it will help me just in expressing them. So here goes.]
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Almost to the day a year ago I had my future all planned out, without exactly clearing it with God first. I’d asked Him to put a stamp of approval on it though, and that seemed pretty good to me at the time.
I quit my job for another job I’d had somewhat lined up with another company. I decided to go on a 1 week vacation between jobs. Two days after my medical insurance ended and 2 days before I was leaving on a nice vacation I was in a bad car wreak where the other car ran a red light and T-Boned me on the Driver’s side. Even though God protected me from life threatening injuries my car was almost totaled and had to be hauled off. I was hurt and in the ER at the hospital for tests the day before I was supposed to leave on vacation. I went on vacation as the lodgings and other, were not refundable, this late in the game.
Even though I was in pain the whole trip God did bless me with a nice vacation for the most part.
So I come back from a vacation trip to get ready to start the new job and due to a change in management, as best I could tell, my new job was pulled and never reposted to this day.
So now I’m recovering from car wreak injures, no medical insurance, no car, no new job, and $5 in savings. I had a lot of questions for God! Mainly why would He let all this happen to me! It was like Ricky Ricardo, telling Lucy, “You’ve got some splaining to do…”, as I wondered what God was up to in my life.
For the past year I’ve been unemployed, and all that has involved, God never did explain to me, and He never really had to, what was going on until today, in Mass, and by then I’d quit asking. He told me that He has been preparing me for something, but He didn’t say what. I’m good with that, and I will follow wherever He leads me this time.
Thinking back on my “Extended Vacation”, as I call it, hadn’t God been doing things in my life that needed to be done. YES, YES He had. I had lots of time to focus more on my relationship with God, and to realize how little time I had been giving Him. I had time to go from, “God, I’ve got this covered ” attitude, and pride I’m sure, to God, tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. Well, okay, so I don’t seem to argue it and question it anymore like I once did!
Many other wonderful changes have occurred in me and God has shown me things I would not have otherwise learned, since I was too busy to listen to Him, or take the time to really see or do.
During this past year at times I didn’t handle things, or situations, well at all. However, I can say this time off has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. And a far as how I got by this past year, God took care of everything in His timing, and through both miraculous and ordinary means, He has fully provided for me, and then some.
God has provided for me in every way and I have had thousands of dollars come in to where I have money in the bank, and can also share my blessings with others.
What a God we have, and yes, God will do things to get our attention and make us better than we were before, and I’m proof of that!
Blessings,
Toni in Texas 🙂
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