Devotion for today: Shout it Out!!!

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Getting discouraged in today’s world is easy. We look around us and see attitudes, beliefs and practices turned upside down. Those of us raised on the practice of the “natural law and order” so eloquently discussed by St. Thomas Aquinas find all of this disconcerting. What does God have in mind by allowing the war, hatred, human trafficking, abortion, etc. to exist in the world He created, the world He planned and set into motion based on laws He set in place?

I don’t know. I do know that He can put a stop to the world any time He wishes. In the blink of an eye, in the snap of a finger, the stars fall, the sun plummets to earth and the world is no more. We believe we have such power and authority today. Man feels he no longer needs to believe in God, that he can manage this world on his own, thank you very much. In the blink of an eye, in the snap of a finger….

My friend’s daughter recently had an emergency appendectomy. She is 16 years old, and as I sat with her in the recovery room, she shared with me how suddenly her world had turned upside down. One sharp pain in the side, one long night of agony, and now there would be no beach parties this weekend, no end-of-year school celebrations, no final exams to take. She would be in bed, all plans in the dust. She also mused that she was changed. She had been terrified of her surgery and panicked at the thought of “going under.” Now that she was a veteran of surgery, she felt like a stronger person in many ways, one who was forced to face her fears. In the blink of an eye, in the snap of a finger….

My friend was going to the store to pick up her new curtain order. She was hit head-on by a distracted driver and spent two years in and out of surgery and therapy, getting used to a “new” face, learning to walk again, trying to bend her arms. Before this, she was an avid runner, an active volunteer and event organizer, a true go-getter. Now she is learning how to bend her arm so that she can eat. She is also a powerful prayer warrior and intercessor. In the blink of an eye….

We all have a million stories like these. We all know in the depths of our beings that life is tenuous at best, a crap shoot at worst. And yet we get up every morning and make plans. We have faith that we will get back in bed at night and rise again tomorrow. Why? Because we know that this world is God’s, and that He has faith in us and in it. Just as He could end it all tomorrow, He also believes it is worth keeping. He believes we will do good, bring the faith to others, keep the smiles on faces and the value to life, and bring His people back to Him. In the blink of an eye, in the sharing of our faith, in our hand extended in aide, in the love and joy we emit from our eyes, we can bring God’s people back to Him. We are the feet on the mountain; we are the ones proclaiming peace and good tidings. We know the truth, the truth that will set man free.  Let us shout from the mountaintops: Our God Reigns!!!!!

Thank you to all of you who have stayed with me through these difficult months of change and transition in my life. Along with a sick computer, I have had to admit my mother to a nursing facility and close out her apartment. Things were up and down for awhile, but God prevailed and things are good!! I am going on a pilgrimage to Poland in July and cannot wait to blog about that. I am back!!!

God bless all of you!