God's Will Be Done.

No matter what your temperament is our culture is a constant barrier to the most essential relationship in our life.  Before can grow in virtue through self knowledge and deepening our relationships with others, we need to first establish a rhythm in life that allows us to be in relationship with God. Everything about our culture opposes this necessity and the devil takes advantage of it in very subversive and sneaky ways. 

So often what begins as a good intention and even a practice in virtue can quickly transform into a barrier between us and God if we are not careful. I have found that even in my deeply impassioned service to the Lord through the sacrifices associated with my work that it all holds very little value if my marriage or family suffers. 

I have been trying to walk the talk by engaging in the same habits of prayer discussed in earlier posts, so I might better hear God’s voice and know it is my Lord. 

I have always prayed every day, but it is only recently that I have reached a level of metacognition in my prayer life…meaning I am readily noting and aware when I am repeating traditional prayers without thinking deeply about their words, noticing how distractible I am during spontaneous prayer, and quite honestly, thirsting for those moments of deep silence that my son would call “cuddling with Jesus.” 

In the past two weeks, during the period of silence in my blog, I was in my deepest state of prayer since the news that my husband and I had a very slim chance of ever conceiving and a narrow window of time to do so before a hysterectomy would be the chosen outcome for my medical condition. 

Those who are not new to this blog know that we have been blessed with three beautiful boys and we do attribute the conception of our first born to the intercessions of St. Gerard, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and many many prayers offered up for us by loved ones. 

God’s will be done.

I knew it then and I trusted, no matter the outcome. In the matter of procreation, God’s will would be or not be. We simply needed to discern if we would keep trying. It sounds so easy, but our humanity is so fragile and the devil one preys on it.

You see the evil one probably preferred we cave into our helplessness and our grief. By doing so we would cut God’s will out of the picture and what a victory for the opponent. Instead we faithfully decided to bear all disappoint, which could have been debilitating at least for a time, and we continued to play our part to cooperate with God’s will. 

We all know of other serious matters that God’s will is not so black and white. We must have a serious and intentional prayer life to know the will of God. The path that appears to be the most obvious…is not always. 

I am revisiting the autobiography of St. Terese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, and the following statement summarizes my own struggle in the journey toward holiness:

“Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He will us to be.” 

As I wrestle with the discernment process in making life decisions, my goal is to be living intentionally in a way that allows me to hear God’s voice …the humility to seek spiritual direction when I am uncertain …and total trust in God that he loves me so much that so long as I am trying with my whole heart to please Him that He will never abandon me. 

When has God’s will been cloudy in your life? Or, when has it been crystal clear? How do you hear God’s voice amidst all of the other distractions in our day to life?