Wanted

"God chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in His presence. From eternity He destined us in love to be His adopted sons through Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 1:4-5

There are many people that carry the pain of not being wanted or loved by their parents. Many children are born as "mistakes" and many are abandoned when they're young. A lot of people also grow with the feeling that they're just not good enough and won't amount to anything. My own father was told by his father that he would never be anything special in life. These children grow up feeling neglected and seldom know what real love is or how to express and accept it as adults.

If you carry this pain in your heart, the feeling that you weren't loved enough by a parent or were neglected when you needed them, you must remember one thing, although your parents provided the natural way for you to come into the world, it was God that took His time to think about you, design your life, and plan for you way before the world was even created. God chose you before the creation of the world. You are no accident and although neglect from your parents hurts, you are loved and taken care of by your Father in Heaven. Your life might seem small at times and insignificant, but God Almighty has bigger plans for you. You are special, you are loved and you need to pick up your head and carry on with life knowing that God, your Father, planned for you, created you and will do great things for you, no matter who else doesn't love you or appreciate you.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, it's so hard for me to accept and believe Your love at times, but I know You did in fact choose me. Help me to accept this love and begin to change my heart to let go of the pain I hold inside. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Today

Hey - This is the last email you'll get from me until Sunday. I'll be away at a retreat this weekend and won't be able to write to you.

Here's today's verse:

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." - Psalm 42:2

I was at the mall on Saturday and I went into the Catholic Supply Store to buy a CD of the Rosary. I added it to my iPod so I could meditate on it while on the train. I was listening to it this morning on the LIRR and I had this amazing feeling; I felt like a child in God's arms. That feeling stayed with me as I got into the city and got on the subway on my way to work. When I got out of the subway, I went to a church by my job that I always go into every morning. Today was different though. I felt in a rush to get there and I started to feel like a little girl lost, missing from her parents. I ran up the stairs of the church in a sort of desperation because this strong emotion was beginning to pour out of me and showed itself as tears running down my face. There was this strong desire in me to be in God's presence and the only way I can describe it is as a little child yearning for their parent and finally seeing them in front of them. As I made my way to the front of the church, I was visibly crying, and not just tears at this point but loud sobs, and I'm sure the other people in the church heard/ saw me and wondered what was wrong with me. But nothing at all was wrong; I felt an immense love in my heart and it was my Lord calling me. I yearned to be in His presence like nothing I've felt before and kneeling there before Him gave me such peace.

Maybe some of you have felt this and maybe some of you are far from this, but the truth is that God really draws close to those that draw close to Him. I'm not perfect, far from it, and God has so much work to do in me, but He is good and along my journey He shows me how close He is to me. What I hope for the most is that all of you one day get to feel this. I hope that you continually search for God every day so that you can see how loving He is and how incredibly good He is.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, You are so good to me. You draw me into You and my soul thirsts only for You, to be connected to You. Help me to respond to Your call and bring others to get to know Your love. In Your Name we pray, amen.

You Are Not a Slave

"Then, no more fear: you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you adopted children and every time we cry, 'Abba! Father!' the Spirit assures our spirit that we are children of God." - Romans 8:15-16

Do you have a weakness right now that you feel you can't overcome? Are you tied to something, someone that's not good for you? Maybe you're in a bad relationship or are fighting an addiction, and you can't let go as much as it's hurting you. You, yourself can't let go because your sin is bringing you down. The devil keeps you down by telling you that you are weak and you can't make it through, but stop letting yourself be lied to. You are much stronger than you could ever imagine if you let the truth of God come into your life. You did not receive a weak spirit. You are not a slave to that circumstance or that addiction because YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD and there is no weakness or evil that your Father in Heaven cannot overcome for you if you ask. Do away with the fear! Do away with the self pity because you were meant for much higher things because with love the Lord Almighty has planned to prosper you, fill you with hope and give you a future. So lift up your trembling hands and lift up your eyes to your Father in Heaven. Be confident in His Word and know that He is much bigger, much more powerful than any weakness, any evil, and any negativity that wants to bring you down.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, I lift my eyes up to You because I am Your beloved child. You did not make me a slave to my weaknesses but gave me power to overcome any obstacle in the Name of Jesus Christ. In Your Name we pray, amen.