Some thoughts on faith
As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to take some time to reflect upon that meditation that was written by Catherine De Heuck Doherty, or better known simply as Catherine Doherty. I was the featured meditation which appeared in the Magnificat publication last monday and it was on Faith, particularly on having faith at dark times when we can't see ahead and we just need to trust Lord.
The reason the meditation appealed to me so vividly is because as I reflect on my own personal life, I could really relate to what Catherine was writing about. - having faith when you can't even see the road ahead
There was a time I used to be more dependent on my faith than on my ability, especially in my earlier years when I was a greenhorn. My optimism and my faith and trust in our Lord fueled me to just place my hope in him. I remember the days where I wasn't as anxious as I am sometimes these days, where I would just spend more time in prayer and adoration and just really place my hope and trust in God.
I realize that over time, I have found it more difficult to do so. I sometimes wonder then is it any wonder when Christ said that the kingdom of God is for those who have the faith of little children ? Perhaps when I look back in my own life, I realized that over time, I have depended more on myself, and less on Him even though I do make time for my daily prayers and visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
Or perhaps, as Catherine mentions in her reflective meditation, perhaps maybe God is challenging me to walk in faith. I find it quite amusing that when I started HaveFaith , the theme for the website was taken from 2 Corinthians 5:7 - We live by faith and not by sight. Perhaps God is challenging me to trust Him again, perhaps, like the meditation beautifully mentions, all this while I have been seeking god (for the most part of my faith journey) through reason, intellect and discourse and study.
Perhaps maybe God wants to take our relationship further by making me trust in Him faithfully and totally.
The question is....do I want him to do so? Am I going to honestly allow him to take control and allow the Potter to once again examine his clay and shape him according to His plans?
While I am abit hesitant....somewhere deep down (I would like to think it's the Holy Spirit's groaning inside) I keep hearing this question :
What have you got to lose buddy?
Father into your hands I commend my spirit - Luke 23:46
When Faith calls…
Although it was the meditation reading for the last couple of days back, I still found myself, particularly referring back to it over and over again. It's about faith and it was written By Catherine De Heuck Doherty. Will post my thoughts on it later.
"Faith is to believe without understanding, without seeing. God has blessed us with the gift of our intellect, and up to a point we understand many things about ourselves and the world around us. However, when you begin to move deeper into faith, something strange happens.
You have been walking in the sunshine of your intellect. God has helped you and encouraged you to use it. Then, just like in the tropics where there is no twilight and the day becomes night within minutes, so God plunges you into the night. He says, 'Put your head in your heart and believe! For now there is no answer. I am the answer. You won't see me in the dark. You will have to follow me in faith, without knowing. Arise and believe.'
There is a tremendous secret in God's ways of doing things if we do follow him across that dark night of the tropics, of the soul. There will be a moment, maybe just before death, or in the midst of life, or maybe when we are at a very tender age. At this moment he will appear. He will just be there. What you knew by your own intellect has blended together with what was added to you because you believed and walked in the darkness of night. You have entered into the fullness of the kingdom of God even before your death. The kingdom of God is in your midst now
Awesome July
I can't believe how quickly July has gone!! Really, if there has been any month in my life where time flew by ever so rapidly, it would be July 2010! Nevertheless July has been a fantastic month for me. Having just returned from 2 weeks training in June and witness 2 weddings, I gotta say I was eager to start July with a bang, and a "bang" indeed it was for me.
July pretty much kept me busy with work. We had a number of training sessions to concerntrate on, so my first priority was to work on the training materials which required some serious revamping work. I also got a chance to meet up with my intern who will be with the proejct until August. I really thank God for giving me such a good intern. The guy is just awesome!
Also I just learnt that there is a good positibility that I will be returning back to my former project. This is really great news for me as I really felt that we kind left the project in a lurch, and just a couple of weeks back, I heard that the client actually wants the team back to help with the change management aspects of the project! Damn, it really feels good when you actually feel "wanted" by your clients, so yeah I am really happy with this news!
Speaking about hectic work, in the midst of all the busyness, it was really awesome to hear my current client affirm me on my positive outlook and cheerfulness this week. This is actually the first time someone from work has actually complimented me on having a cheerful outlook to life. She actually told my project manager that he should keep me in the current project and that she loves my positive spirit, saying that it's good for the team and it helps the project! Wow, talk about scoring brownie points man! But as always, I really am grateful to God for giving me such a wonderful spirit, a positive spirit which helps others, and not just myself!!
Faith-wise also has been quite an interesting month for me. I finally decided to use the 3Js format, which I learnt from the Padley brothers in Lifeline, and I gotta say, I am really happy I actually did this. I have heard alot of positive feedback from the group leaders who have implemented this into their cell groups. For me personally, I think my favourite point is actually hearing the members share their Jesus moment, and its really interesting to see how they actually need to take time to really think it through. I think this really helps in building the spirituality of the individual, it forces them to just ponder, reflect and articulate their sprirituality to others around them. One of my fellow leaders also pointed out, that it also helps affirm one another and it allows the members to grow spiritually together which I thought was really true as well!
All and all, I am really pleased with the month of July. And I just hope August will be just as aswesome as July!
