Advent - Time of Hope

Almost Christmas...but not yet!  Oh yeah it's called Advent.  

This year has been tough, and is actually an understatement.  Not that the ones before were easy - Covid, the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Russia.   Remember? Who can forget, my head is spinning.  But we are not here to talk about Covid, or the beginning of those horrible conflicts that are going on around the world.  We are here to talk about 2024, and how to feel joy regardless of what is going on in your city, your country, the world.  

There is uncertainty and fear for many.  There are horrible situations that you might be going through.  How in the world can we be expected to feel joy?

Well God tells us, in Phillipians 4:8,  that: "in every situation...whatever is:

• True
• Good
• Holy
• Honorable
• Just
• Lovely
• Commendable
• If there is any excellence
• Anything worthy of praise

Think about these things !"

So yes there are terrible things some people are going through - that is a fact.  But if we have to go through something, and there is nothing we can do about it, at least we can mitigate the hardships and the evil we encounter, and we can draw some good and get enough strength and healing to go through it.  

We can always receive grace, we can always receive healing, God always wants to comfort us and draw us close to His Heart.  All we need to do is our part.  So go ahead and think about that list, don't let anyone or anything steal your free will.  There must be something you can think of, something you can hold on to, something you can chose to think about - other than whatever evil is surrounding you. 

 God is ready!  Ready to hold us in His arms, we just have to let Him!  

All we need to do is to use the power of our will.  Control our minds and  not let ourselves sink into the depths of depression. self pity and despair - that will not help.  That will make things worse, it will change us, consume us, finish us!  

Do not let your circumstances take the best of you! 

Rise above, by asking Jesus Christ to come to your aid.  

Even if all you have is a tiny bit of strength use it for the prayer :  Jesus Help me!

He will come right away. 

God promises that when we do our part "and the God of peace will guard our hearts and minds"  He will come to our aid.  He alone knows what we need most.  He will surround us with protection, strength and peace.  

This Advent there is a lot we can do, no matter what our circumstances.  Why?  Because we have the power to pray and God is on our side.  We have the power to offer up our hardships for a greater good to come out of them.  And we have the power to hope in Him who is our Saviour.  He will come, He will help, He will heal.  This Advent chose Hope!

All we have to do is ask, and trust.  

May the God of peace that surpasses all understanding be with you!

Love from miles away

I love every single one of my readers.  Not only I love and appreciate you, but I pray for you often.  I know that"Blogger" has not made it easy for some of you to get in touch with me.  I am writing a quick note to give you an email address, and my Instagram etc, where you can send suggestions, questions, comments or prayer requests.  

My email:  light_in_u@yahoo.com  (Subject: Princess in Overalls)

My Instagram:  Sacred Heart Rosaries (Please Follow Me)

I hope that this is enough for you to be able to contact me in an easier way!  I can't wait to hear from you.  Please check out my book:  "Princess in Overalls"  in AMAZON.COM, and AMAZON.CA.  You can find it by writing the name of the book plus my name next to it in the search bar like this:

Princess in Overalls by Carolina Prada

"Princess in Overalls" is in Kindle as well.

I am also in the process of putting it in Audible so keep your eyes open!

I love this community and can't wait to be more helpful to you and be much more active!

Many blessings from Canada,

Carolina Prada

If We Want Help: We Must Do Our Part!

In life, when we go through trials, often we pray. But often we pray with doubt and fear in our heart. These things are the opposite of faith. How can a prayer without faith be effective? When we pray, we must pray with confidence and know that prayers are always heard.

If the answer that comes back is different from what we expected, it does not mean it is not the right one; it only means that there was a better solution to our problem. It is important for us to give the benefit of the doubt, to recognize the fact that we might not always know what the best outcome for a situation is. After all, there is a chance that there can be moments in our life when we might not know the best road to follow. We should not be stubborn, obstinate or inflexible, stuck to a specific idea. We need to trust and be aware of the fact that everything is perfect because God is in charge of our lives.

We must let things flow, with the certainty that in the process we are learning and growing. We must be confident that our prayers are being heard by a loving Father who would never ignore us and who has promised to give good things to those who ask. He reminds us in Holy Scripture: Would we ever ignore the request of one of our children? Now, if we, who have so many faults and defects, are not able to deny our kids anything, then what are the chances that He will ignore our requests? Think about how God is perfect; He is love Himself. Now think about how He has made us, His children. Think about all His promises and about His amazing love. It is simply impossible that He would ignore our prayers.

Therefore, we need to make sure that we understand and know in our hearts that even though at times it might take longer than expected, and even though from time to time our need might be met in a way less than hoped for or anticipated, our prayers are always answered. When we ask for help, we must do it with the absolute certainty that help will come, and we must know that invariably all things will come to us, with our welfare as a first priority.

Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) If we pay attention to this scripture verse, we will realize that it requires action on our part. We cannot just pray for something to happen. We cannot just wish things were different. We cannot just sit and hope for something to happen. We need to contribute to the miracles in our lives by asking, seeking and knocking. We need to try our best to make things happen. We must take an active role in our lives and be participants in the miracles that we will experience.

We cannot just passively sit and wait and complain about how we pray and pray and hope and hope and nothing changes. We need to be more involved and take responsibility for the direction our life is going. And we must know that through prayer that direction can always change. It is up to us; it is up to God. Let’s learn how to pray and work on improving our relationship with God. Let’s strengthen our faith and work hard at doing our part. And, as St. Paul advises in Romans 8, let’s hope and eagerly wait with perseverance for the best to happen. I guarantee you that then we can never be disappointed, because hope in God does not disappoint. 



Wisdom to contemplate:

“Learn to savor how good the LORD is; happy are those who take refuge in him.” 

(Psalm 34:9)

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.…We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:24-25,28)

“Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

 “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Obstacles to Overcome : Can we survive the pain?

                                        

            I once read in a book that life experiences can be compared to tea: the sweeter it is the more delicious it is, but the more bitter it is the more healthy it is. Easy is not always good for us, and difficult and painful is not necessarily bad. It is marvelous when someone challenges our point of view and points out what is wrong in us. It might be something that we had not found out about ourselves before, and maybe something we wouldn’t have ever found out unless someone told us. We need to try to ignore the tone of voice the person used and not be frightened by the facial expression. We need to look beyond, seeking the lesson life has for us, seeing the opportunity to improve ourselves in every situation.

            The more someone disagrees with us, points out our faults and touches our wounds, the better it is for us! But accepting that is easier said than done. We are also called to love our enemy but it is not an easy thing to do. Loving our enemy is indeed difficult, no matter how the enemy presents itself. It could be a situation, a person or sometimes even our own selves. Dealing with the pain that other people inflict on us is a big challenge. Hypocrisy, betrayal, intrigue and humiliation are not easy things to deal with.

            So, why do people hurt us anyway? Oftentimes, people just have a lot of darkness inside but do not want to face it. They may have a lot of sin in their lives, and this makes them bitter and blind. To face their ugliness hurts their ego, so they live in denial. They find faults in everyone but themselves, they live in conflict with others, and then in their own eyes they don’t look so bad. They justify their actions to themselves and find reasons to fight with others. In this way, they convince their consciences that they are the real victims and are not at fault. They would rather be angry and look at others with disdain than face the fact that they have a defect that they need to change.

            When somebody hurts us, we must make sure we do not hate the person but that we hate the action. It is as if someone has muddy clothes we do not hate the person, but we hate the mud on the clothes. Then, if the person changes clothes (changes his or her attitude or bad behavior) and puts on clean, white clothes, the problem is solved. We need to make an effort to love the person even though we might hate the person’s actions.

             We can pray for the people who have hurt us, so that they may change. Maybe those who have hurt us don’t have a relationship with God. Perhaps they are in the dark, not even aware of their behavior and feeling righteous when they are not. We need to try to have compassion on them because, as Mother Teresa used to say, “You do not know what it feels like to be them!” Then we can pray, “Lord Jesus, bring them to Yourself, change them, save them.”

           It truly makes sense to love our enemy, even though it is hard. Why? Because the more I am challenged to exercise my beliefs, the more I am strengthened in my virtues. How can we ever be sure we are truly kind or patient unless someone challenges our patience? To be more forgiving, we need a situation that calls on us to forgive. To be more humble, we need to welcome situations that will help us to get rid of our pride. What I am trying to say is that in everything God works for our good if we let Him. How do we let Him? By remembering that every situation is an opportunity for me to become a better me!

Wisdom to contemplate:

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)



“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)