I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

“I have found it very important in my own life to try to let go of my wishes and instead to live in hope. I am finding that when I choose to let go of my sometimes petty and superficial wishes and trust that my life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God something really new, something beyond my own expectations begins to happen for me. (Finding My Way Home)” – Henri J.M. Nouwen

What is heaven? It is something we can never quite grasp here on earth. Maybe something we can sense or desire, but never something we can fully imagine or understand.

What is God’s love like? It is something that touches us and changes us, something that moves us far beyond what we thought we’re capable of. It is like the wind that comes and goes where it will, gentle and strong at the same time, giving us life.

All our lives, we have dreamed of many things, we have desired many loves. Quite often though, something touches us that we have not expected at all, and we realize that it is this very thing that we have been looking for all along.

Keep your faith then. Believe even though you cannot see. God moves always, and He always moves out of great power and compassion.

You may not know it now, but He is constantly pursuing you, doing every good thing to draw you closer and give you joy. A joy beyond everything you have ever possessed and beyond all things you could ever hope for.

But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” – 1 Corinthians 2, WEB

“Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?” – Matthew 6:27, WEB

What use is worrying? If things do not turn out according to your desires, can your worrying do anything about it? Or what if things turn out well after all? What if you’ve worried yourself so much only to find out things have turned out far better than you could ever control or imagine them to be?

It is useless to worry. Reserve your strength for far better things like dealing with whatever will happen.

If things do not work out in your favor, you will have no other choice but to accept it and to move on from there. Start over if you must. Cry if the grief is too hard to bear. Do everything that is possible to overcome your troubles and trust in the God who cares for you and watches over you.

If things turn out to be far better than where your own thoughts could ever take you, raise your voice in thanksgiving and praise Him who has made all things beautiful in His time.

“…deeds are done which appear so evil to us and people suffer such terrible evils that it does not seem as though any good will ever come of them; and we consider this, sorrowing and grieving over it so that we cannot find peace in the blessed contemplation of God as we should do; and this is why: our reasoning powers are so blind now, so humble and so simple, that we cannot know the high, marvelous wisdom, the might and the goodness of the Holy Trinity. And this is what he means where he says, ‘You shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well’, as if he said, ‘Pay attention to this now, faithfully and confidently, and at the end of time you will truly see it in the fullness of joy.” – Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

If a person is seeking God, his Beloved is seeking him much more. – St. John of the Cross

But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ – Luke 15, WEBBE

Home. There is no place quite like it, and some of us are blessed to have it or at least to have it in our memory. To others however, it is a place that is yet to be found. And behind all our strivings, all our efforts and wanderings is a secret hope of one day being able to get there.

For where is that place where we might finally be at peace with those who love us? Where is that place where we can finally feel that we belong?

We seek it all our lives but what we do not know is that it has been waiting for us all along. We were the ones who have gone astray as we sought other things that pale in comparison to its warmth. We chased other dwellings wherein we might rest but we have found no rest.

God is our home, our true home. In Him our hearts can rest and find its dwelling. In Him we know we are loved. We are not lost anymore, we are found.

“For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life—pray always, work for others, read the Scriptures—and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair.

Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?” The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God?” And, finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?” God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming