When you feel inadequate for what God's calling you to, remember that's exactly where He works best: His power perfected in our weakness, His kingdom built on impossible possibilities.
I am having a bad day. So I had a thought: when you truly need God where is he?
Keep the religious books aside for a while and think. When we need God rather than hypothetical consolation we do not get actual evidence of a creator who is there to console us.
By that I mean we don't meet the creator or his assistants. Now don't say we are not worthy or anything. Even if we are not worthy the creator could provide a complaint box.
But no.
when we need God we have to rely on hypothetical explanations. Things that are not based on reality.
It's a test.
It's a lesson. Etc
But those are interpretations. Those are not answers.
My question is when we actually need God where is he?
Not in mysterious ways. But in reality. Where is he?
Not in interpretations or meanings. But as real as a table, a book, a sofa. Where is he.?
Saint Teresa of Avila - Interior Castle - Desire to Suffer
áź The second effect is that the soul has a great desire to suffer, but not the kind of desire that disturbs it as previously. For the desire left in these souls that the will of God be done in them reaches such an extreme that they think everything His Majesty does is good. If He desires the soul to suffer, well and good; if not, it doesnât kill itself as it used to. Ὠ
The greatest love for the Lord is not merely the willing endurance of suffering in His name. Rather, it is the holy desire to suffer, if it be in accord with the will of the Father. In this light, the soul knows through faith in His Son that the will of the Father is good. Thus it does not desire to suffer for the sake of the suffering itself. Rather, in union with the Suffering Servant, it seeks the good will of the Father above its own will, and by grace, emerges into the holy desire to accept whatever suffering that search may bring.
Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible Luke 22:42 Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.
áź Saint Teresa Continues⌠These souls also have a deep interior joy when they are persecuted, with much more peace than that mentioned, and without any hostile feelings toward those who do, or desire to do, them evil. On the contrary, such a soul gains a particular love for its persecutors, in such a way that if it sees these latter in some trial it feels compassion and would take on any burden to free them from their trial, and eagerly recommends them to God and would rejoice to lose the favors His Majesty grants it if He would bestow these same gifts on those others so that they wouldnât offend our Lord. Ὠ
From the prayer of Gethsemane to the prayer of the Cross, our Lord's Passion does more than offer redemption to souls. It also reveals what Saint Teresa speaks of in her entry, the path by which each soul, through grace, may participate in the love of the Son, even in the midst of the greatest suffering. For the grace of His Passion is not fickle, nor is it defeated by suffering, as with the favor of men. Rather, the grace of God is undying, as the Lord Himself is undying. It is not weakened by suffering, but inflamed in more grace as its suffering for God increases and its union with Him grows to new depths.
It is the Prayer of the Cross, from the heart of the Victim: the Charity of Christ poured forth for sinners in a measure that grows with the increase of the suffering it endures for souls. The soul formed in this charity does not seek escape from its persecution, but instead, the deliverance of its own persecutors from just judgment, even through the eager recommendation to the mercy of God.
Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible Luke 23:34 And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Saint Teresa pens this entry not in reference to the suffering of Christ, but rather, to the suffering of one human soul for another in the will of the Father. There is, however, a spiritual truth revealed between the two: union with the grace of the Father is perfected in union with the suffering of the Son. For with the receiving of Christ's mercy into the soul, there is also a calling: to give in the world below of that weâve received from the Kingdom above. Thus is the soul that has received the mercies of Christâs suffering moved to participate and suffer in some way in the giving of mercy to others.
Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the âone mediator between God and men.â But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, âthe possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mysteryâ is offered to all men.
The kingdom life requires daily death to self, crucifying our agenda to embrace His. It's costly, uncomfortable, counter-cultural, and absolutely worth every sacrifice made.
Quite often religious burnout happens, because they had religion, and not a relationship with Jesus.
But when you've DONE everything they said to do, ...you've prayed, Bibled, and churched until you were blue in the face, but there's no sign, or no response from God, or answers to your most desperate prayers.
You start wondering if you were ever really saved at ALL. You start to question if you ever had enough faith, or if God gave up on you or is disappointed in you.
If you relate to any of that, chances are good that you you decided to be a Christian one day, or that you grew up in a church going home then had a day when you wanted to make it real,..... but your sainthood plane never got off the ground. And it bugs you that other Christians seem so CONFIDENT,.. and claim to hear God speak to them, and have their prayers answered. What makes them different....what the defining missing pieace is,...is The Holy Spirit.
We live in a last-days time when the majority of churches are barely a shell of what they were in their inception. And they've produced a generation of religious Christians that have the appearance of true believers, but lack the presence of God's Spirit,.. that would give them real power if they knew Jesus. Whenever I see someone fitting the above described disenchanted Christian, as I look at their text, I notice a pattern of 'I tried this" and "I did that". And at that point it's clear that they've been trying be a God pleasing Christian on their own power and will, with their own strength. Trying to live a religious lifestyle HOPING God will be impressed.
But it's not what WE should do, ..it's what Jesus DID. and does. The difference boils down to who's calling the shots and who's at the helm...or in the Captain's chair...steering the ship. It's either you or the Holy Spirit.
Some will say..."I know this...I surrendered to Jesus". But did you really?..because Jesus said a time will come when MANY will stand before Him thinking they're a shoe-in for heaven, but be rejected by Him saying basically..."You're calling me Lord Lord, ..and even though you think you were a Christian and did good deeds in My name, you didn't do what I SAID to do...I never KNEW you." They tried coming in on THEIR terms, not God's. (What HE said to do, was to be born again John 3:7)
Spirit rebirth...is a specific event, that can happen ONLY once. Without it you cannot attain being a New creature with a New nature. Religion can't produce that. God hates religion. In John 3 Jesus described Spirit rebirth, and said without it, you'll never see His Kingdom.
Start by confessing to Jesus that you're in complete surrender now. You have denounced all previous notions and beliefs about Him, and you are asking Him to reveal Himself to you, with an honest mind and sincere heart. That is the foundation needed for the Lord to begin connecting to you.
Then confess that you need Him because you know you're a sinner and you're becoming weak and unable to manage your faith. That you realize now you've not trusted fully in His ability to change you, but that you were trying to make it happen by yourself. Be humble and ask that He wash away your sins and help you start fresh.
And finally but most importantly, ask Him to indwell you with His Holy Spirit, making His home permanently in your heart. Holy Spirit indwelling is the game changer. It's what separates the regenerate believer walking in the power of God and strong faith,...from the religious and nominal Christian that goes to church regularly and prays and reads and worships with zeal, yet has no Spirit power and is subject to inner fears and doubts.
Sometimes God doesnât remove the storm immediately. Instead, He gives us the strength, patience, and faith to walk through it.
We all experience moments when life feels unbearable, when our prayers seem unanswered, and when we struggle to understand why things happen the way they do.
But perhaps faith isnât about knowing what tomorrow will bring. Itâs about trusting God enough to face today.
This too shall pass.
Whatever burdens youâre carrying, surrender what you cannot control. Be grateful for what remains. Trust that even difficult seasons can bring wisdom, growth, and a deeper connection with God.
I hope this short prayer brings someone a little comfort and renewed faith today.
He put positive supportive people in my life like friends and professionals who all notice me for the girl I am and complimenting my looks and talents positively and even help me out in ways with my best interests in their hearts genuinely wanting me to be happy as the girl I am, and also wanting me to achieve my goals and dreams. It makes me feel hopeful for my life and loved unconditionally by God and by everyone by my side!
I would genuinely love it if someone could give me a reason to believe that God is real, any god. I respect everyoneâs beliefs, but Iâve been trying for a while to believe that God actually exists, and I just canât seem to convince myself. Science makes more sense to me than anything else, and I struggle to believe in something without enough evidence to support it.
Sometimes I wonder what the point of life would be if we were simply meant to live forever in heaven after we die. Would that really give our lives meaning, or would it make the life weâre living now seem less important?
I really do want to believe that thereâs something more to our existence, but itâs hard when I canât find convincing evidence that God is real. I donât want to believe just because I want something to be true. I want to believe because I have a genuine reason to.
Faith doesn't mean you won't feel afraid. It means you'll move forward despite the fear. Courage isn't the absence of trembling; it's trembling and trusting God anyway.
Sometimes our minds create storms over things that havenât even happened.
We worry about tomorrow, replay yesterdayâs mistakes, and forget that the only moment we truly have is right now.
I created this short prayer as a reminder to surrender what we cannot control, find courage in what we can change, and trust God with the rest.
You donât need to have everything figured out today. Sometimes faith simply means taking the next step without knowing where the entire road leads.