Today, the Lord had blessed me and my 40week old baby in my tummy with the words that relieved me of my anxiety and healed me of my impatience. Sharing it to you may have a different impact. I hope it would benefit you one way or another. There were a couple of important reminders for us all this Sunday.
GOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
God's love knows no boundaries, no limits and no preferences. Whichever race you're from, whichever gender you prefer and whatever religion you belong to, God sees us all equally and considers all of us His own children. In line with this, God's form of justice is way beyond ours. We, people tend to see other people in our own perspective, dimensions and definitions. As a very limited human being, we ought to judge our neighbours inconsolably. The gospel this Sunday suggests to quit the habit of being judgemental towards others.
The saddest part to realise is that, all of us believe in God and with that very sense, we use it as an excuse or a license to size up others with what they believe in. There are numerous assaults and maltreatments going in some parts of the middle east just because people don't conform to the religion of the majority. Brutally, they impose punishments that involve (and are not limited to) beheading, torture and mass killings. There are also many gay achievers that get denied of civil rights in terms of being in position politically, academically or in sports, military and even in adopting kids. Why? Because they don't meet the standards and norms of how the bible had set it. Yet blindly, the society accepts battery of women by husbands in India, teenage prostitution, human trafficking and death of innocent people because of ongoing wars in between countries (Flight MH17 where innocent passengers on board all died because of the Ukraine-Russia dispute is a very good example).
But the only important thing for Him is how strong your faith remains despite all of these tribulations. Let's take your own dilemmas into account. Most mature thinking adults would let a challenge go with that much hope as there's another "tomorrow" to look forward to. If their prayers don't get answered today, they wait for the bigger picture. But mostly others would consider God deaf to their prayers, not understanding that they're getting moulded into somebody better while waiting. God delays in giving and granting your desired gifts and supplication. But trust in the promise that no windows will be be closed. This paves the way to the second lesson.
TRUST IN GOD'S PERFECT TIMING
Be faithful to God as God stays faithful of you. In the bible, it talked about a "Canaanite Woman's Faith" and it said:
Mt 15:21-28
21Jesus... withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” 24He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”25But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” 28Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
As it was explained in Church today, Jesus had given the pagan woman a test of faith. He rejected her at first, even labelling her as a "dog" to test how strong her belief in Him as a healer is. Matching Jesus' wit, she professed her faith humbly and admits that she maybe a dog but even dogs wait for scraps from the master's table. How profound is her faith! She loves her daughter so much that even though she is a pagan, her commitment to the Lord's promise is kept intact in her heart. Initially, I was thinking to myself, if that was me, and I get rejected for the first time, I might already be walking away.
So much so, another inspiring story of a woman of great faith is St. Monica, St. Augustine's mother who prayed for her son, St. Augustine to be touched by the Lord. She didn't pray for 3 minutes, 3 hours, 3 days, 3 years but 30 years for this. Her faith did not fail her when St. Augustine got transformed from living viciously and wastefully into following God's teachings and becoming the patron of brewers. He's called so because he had helped a lot of people to cut lose of their damaging vices and habits.
This makes me feel ashamed for feeling so impatient with my pregnancy. I have waited for 9 months for my baby to come and now that the final weeks are here and that all I needed to do was wait for few more days for nature to take its course, I become cranky about it. Almost complaining why I had passed my due date and nothing's happening.
Like how I started, hearing these 2 messages today had relieved me of my anxiety. Sometimes, that many people whose main concern is your welfare, asking about the baby could also be pressuring and stressful to deal with explaining why it had gone overdue. When I, myself don't know why. So, I'll hold on to another week before we see the doctor once again and stay hopeful and prayerful for a smooth and safe delivery.
I am hoping that you'd also be destressed of what bugs you now and that your mind will be full of clarity upon reading this.
God bless you today.
Related posts:
1. The Parable of the Weeds - how God's faith in us is strong and is beyond a human mind's comprehension.
2. Purpose Driven Life - How Temptation Works
3. Where Passion Takes You - God had made these people tools of showing how abundant His grace is.