What are you Thankful For?

            I was thinking about this past weekend and Thanksgiving and given that when I have a choice to write or study for calculus I choose to write, so here are my thoughts. The idea of thanksgiving was not unique to the Pilgrims, Paul wrote about it quite often in several of his letters to the early church. “Praise and Thanksgiving” appears a lot throughout his many letters, but what exactly does that mean?

            Am I to only thank God when good things happen, or am I supposed to thank Him for the bad things too? Think about it, what were you thankful for this year? I realize I am asking more questions than usual, but this is an issue that must be thought out and pondered. When I was on my retreat I realized, for the first time in too long, that I have a lot to be thankful for. Sure, I may have had it rough at times when I was growing up but there are so many blessings that I ignore whether by my greed or my anger.

            I often write about “almost losing one of the most important things in my life.” It was a traumatic experience, but I seem to have ignored the word “almost.” I “almost” lost something that I hold dear. Almost, as in I did not lose it. Almost, as in God blessed me more than He ever could by directly intervening and saving that one thing. In my anger and sadness I forgot what God did in my life; I forgot that I witnessed a true miracle and testament to His greatness.

            Are you in a similar situation? Are you so blinded by anger and what you do not have, that you forget the blessings in your life? If so, I will pray for you and I hope that you will pray for me as well. God is good, and while we may not understand our suffering one thing we can understand is the hope that God gives. God always comes through, He proved that to me at a time that I really needed it. I’ve gone through a rough time, but God has brought me out and shown me His love and given me joy. Once again I can go out into the word and share God’s love, because it takes accepting God’s love to be able to share it.

            I encourage you to take a look at your life, and try to see past the bad. I dare you to count the ways God has blessed you because when you really take a good, long look you will be surprised.

Thanks!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and safe travels. God has blessed me with so much, most of it I never take a moment to realize. Try to spend some time reflecting on just how blessed you are. Often we get so wrapped up in what we don't have, or how much we are hurting that we never take the time to think about how lucky we really are. Right now I'm spending time with a family that loves me and wants to see me succeed. Sure my life has not been easy, but God has blessed me with a lot and I would like to take this time to say "thank you."

Final Prayers for FCA

Final meeting for FCA to get us recognized. God has done such a great work here at Holy Cross and I know that He will continue to provide. God is so good, and His goodness is being revealed to me all the time. Prayers for this meeting are appreciated, and also prayers for the growth of FCA as the year progresses.

I Never Knew How Good He was Until Now

            For the past five years I’ve been writing on this blog about how great God is, how much He helps me in my life, and how important faith is in our lives. For the past year or so I stopped believing in those truths as faithfully as I have in the past. I allowed life to get me down, and instead of getting back up like I always do I just stayed put and didn’t budge. After my retreat (which I am extremely glad I went on) my faith has grown and God has truly done a good work on my heart to shape me to become the man that He wants me to be.

            Simply put, God revealed Himself to me this past weekend. For a long time I’ve been asking God to show me some sort of sign that He is working on me. I asked for a sign so I would know that I’m not alone. God didn’t respond right away though, so I kept on asking. I did not give up completely and I was persistent. These past few weeks have been a miracle: God’s fingerprints have been evident on every facet of my life. He did not give up on me, even though I—in part—gave up on Him.

            It is extremely easy to fall into a trap of neglecting reflection. Here at Holy Cross I often shove my feelings out of the way and focus on schoolwork so I don’t have to think about the tough questions in life. It is easy to focus on my paper due next week and to tell myself that I can attend to my personal feelings at another time. It is no wonder that I found so much trouble reflecting; I had forgotten how to. While on my retreat I had no choice but to reflect, and it was very hard. I had to take a long hard look at my life, and I did not like what I saw. I knew I was angry and farther from God than I’d like, but I did not know why. Well God showed me, and he showed me how to get back to Him.

            If there is any advice I can give from now to the day I die it is this: take time to pause and examine where you are at with others, God, and yourself. You may be surprised by where you are. I took the time to pause and realize that I am truly blessed to have a family that loves me, great friends who care for me, and an incredibly loving and awesome God who is at work on my heart. We had to journal throughout the weekend and one phrase that came up every time is that God’s love is greater than I could ever hope to imagine. It’s nice to know that even when we give up on ourselves, there is a God who never gives up on us. I once prayed that God would work to shape me into the man that I would be for the rest of my life; I think it is safe to say that He is working on me as we speak.

His Goodness is Immeasurable

I am forever grateful to God and His goodness; in my greatest time of need He has been a major force in my life, ever-present and clearly working on my heart. I remember when I lost faith, God spoke to me through a series of authors and mentors. He appeared to me through people who cared and genuinely wanted to see me find the truth in my life. Some may say it was a series of coincidences, but I never believed in coincidences. And so I continue my story: lately God has been speaking to me a great deal, and been a driving force in my return to Him. Just these past two weeks I was requested to meet with my pastor at school, I received a book on reflection, I received kind advice from a nameless stranger, and I am about to go on a retreat with my church. Sure, all of these isolated events could be coincidences—the right things happening at the right times, but I believe they are something more.              

I have not lost faith in God’s goodness and drive to be closer to us. Now I find myself with a choice: I can accept the helping hand given to me, or wallow in my sorrow. I received a book in the mail called A Book of Hours. It is based off of the writings of a monk named Thomas Merton. The big theme of the book is the necessity of reflection and silence. It is only through silence and the stillness of our hearts that we can hear God’s voice. I find it increasingly hard to reflect though; I live in an environment that is constantly buzzing. I sit in my room and hear the noise of the hallway, in the coffee shop and hear people rushing to their classes, and in the library and hear the clacking of keys on keyboards as students frantically type there papers. Where am I to reflect?

 Fortunately I have a retreat this weekend; I did not really want to go on this but am very glad I signed up. I need the time to reflect, the time to look back on the past three months and refocus my attention on God. Even though I gave up on myself, God has not given up on me. It is truly comforting to know that God’s love extends down to the deepest parts of our hearts where we truly need it.

By Faith!

I’ve been thinking about my posts last night—or should I say this morning?—and felt that they directly apply to the study in Hebrews that I am conducting in FCA. This week’s topic is on Hebrews 11. The author writes about faith, and a series of great men who lived by faith and were justified. He starts off with verse 1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We then get a brief history of all the great men of the Old Testament. I thought to myself last night as I jotted down a few notes for the FCA meeting, “I doubt all those men were overjoyed by their situations just as I am mad at mine. Yet they lived by faith and trusted in God and look where they ended up.” It’s true, here I am feeling like I’ve reached the end of my rope, yet if I just hold on to God’s strength I can and will rise up. The writer talks about Noah, Abraham, and Moses. All those guys had an abundance of issues. Noah lost his home and friends. Abraham couldn’t have kids until he was old, and was told to sacrifice one of them to test his faith. Moses was kicked out of his country and commanded to lead the Israelites through the desert for 40 years (which was no easy task in itself). These men didn’t live in the lap of luxury—rather they were shunned by it. No, they went through hardships, many much more severe then mine. Does that belittle my (or your) situation? No, but it shows that the trials we endure have a greater purpose, they are here so that we may grow in faith and live as examples for others, that we too may be men and women of faith. The week is nearly over, but next week try to be a man or woman of faith. Use the bad in your life and turn it to good, glorify God by your actions—you may be surprised by where you end up at the week’s end.

Follow Up to "The Good Kind of Burn"

I wrote this post three years ago during the fall of my junior year of high school:  http://taytaysrandomblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/good-kind-of-burn.html.

It’s a great post, and I recommend reading it. This is not so much shameless self-promotion of earlier posts (this isn’t a sitcom where we repeat episodes after all), instead this is a bit of a follow up. Back then my idea of a situation that demanded perseverance was getting a C- on a unit test. Now, considering everything that has happened since then, that grade is mere child’s play. God sure put me to the test, heck He put me through some major flames. My question (now this analogy only makes sense if you actually read my other post) did I crack in the kiln, or does my glaze now shine bright for all to see. In words not so much induced by tiredness: did I let life get the best of me, or did I persevere and stick it out. My last post (written not more than 10 minutes ago) is about hope, and I cite Hebrews 10:23. Another verse that applies is James 1:2 “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.” Pure joy, really? I went through all that hurt, and you want me to consider it pure joy?! Yes. God cannot control the fact that bad things happen to us, but He can affect the outcomes. Yes bad things happen to me, and even now I feel my strength being used up past it’s limits—but will I use this as an opportunity to glorify my Lord and Savior, or will I give in and allow life to get the best of me? If anything is my goal in life, I want it to be that people can point to me and say “Wow, Tay Tay has a sense of peace about the world no matter what happens. You can really see God working through him.” Paul writes in Philippians (along with James this is one of my favorite books) that he is “in chains for Christ.” We don’t always think about suffering for Christ, but maybe we should start to. Whether you are in a time of peace, or being tested in that kiln right now remember that this very moment is an opportunity to make much of God. Whether we choose to take it is the real question.