No Greater Joy
Standing at the crossroads can be daunting, but help is only a prayer away…
When I was only eleven, my life was changed forever by a severe leg injury. Without reconstructive plastic surgery, I would have been permanently crippled. My admiration for my plastic surgeon fuelled my desire to follow in his footsteps so I could also help people in need. Performing reconstructive surgery in private practice and on medical missions satisfied this desire and I wasn’t keen to give it up as retirement loomed.
Long before I retired, I was already making plans to continue my missionary work and I also planned to volunteer as a hospital chaplain. Unfortunately, the Corona Pandemic threw a wrench in my plans. However, I remembered that Einstein once said, “When you stop learning, you start dying,” so I resolved not to fall into the temptation to become a couch potato.
I decided to take a spiritual guidance course. I soon realized that I had been looking for what I wanted to do, and not what God had in mind for me. Once I understood this, it didn’t take long for Him to answer my prayers for guidance and enlightenment. I received an email from the Sacramento Life Center, looking for a volunteer medical advocate and have been enjoying this work for the past year.
Volunteer medical advocates help out with a number of simple, but important tasks for patients in hospitals. Often, patients are just looking for a non-judgmental ear. Maybe they feel lost and are looking for information on referrals or other services. Sometimes they need some help getting basic baby needs such as diapers, baby wipes, formula, clothes, car seats, stroller, etc. Sometimes, they are simply searching for answers. The confusion and distress that patients experience when these needs aren’t met adds to their pain, and hinders their recovery, so these volunteers have a crucial role.
During my medical career, I had the opportunity to save and transform lives. Being an advocate can be just as rewarding. Sometimes, I meet people who are contemplating abortion. It is amazing what reviewing a little pregnancy physiology can do, especially if they think of the unborn child as a blob of tissue. When the sperm and egg unite, a new life begins. This is one of God’s greatest miracles. Only six weeks after fertilization, the patient can see and hear the unborn child’s heart beating through ultrasound. I show them life-size embryo models, as we marvel over the baby’s growth and development. “WOW, look at his eyes and ears and his little nose and mouth! His hands and feet have tiny little fingers and toes.”
Potentially, I could save three lives in one visit. Conflicted feelings after abortion can lead to suicide or broken relationships. The information and advice I provide, often leads to decisions that lead to life instead of heartbreak and guilt. When an abortion-minded couple comes into the clinic, but leaves having chosen life, I feel warm and bubbly inside. I thank God for His gifts and blessings that have allowed me to do His work.
Dr. Victor M. Nava is a retired Plastic Surgeon with over 40 years of experience. Presently he is a Catechism volunteer teacher. He's also a volunteer Male Advocate at a Pro-life clinic. He lives with his wife, three children and four grandchildren in Roseville, California.
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Anacleto González Flores was born in Mexico in the late 19th century. Inspired by a sermon heard in his childhood, he made daily Mass the most important part of his life. Though he joined the seminary and excelled in academics, on discerning that he was not called into the priesthood, he later entered law school. During the years-long Christian persecution in Mexico, Flores so heroically defended the fundamental rights of Christians that the Holy See awarded him the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for his efforts. As many Mexican Christians courageously gave their lives for their faith, he continued to write against the atrocities and became a prominent leader of the Cristero War. In 1927, he was arrested and cruelly tortured—he was flogged, his feet were cut open with knives, and his shoulder was dislocated. An unfazed Anacleto remained firm in his faith and refused to betray his fellow faithful. As he was shot to death, he openly forgave his killers and died, exclaiming: “I have worked selflessly to defend the cause of Jesus Christ and His Church. You may kill me, but know that this cause will not die with me.” He openly forgave his killers and died, exclaiming: “I die, but God does not die. Long live Christ the King!” After years of living a holy life centered on devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and an exemplary Marian devotion, Flores gave his life to the Lord with three of his fellow faithful. This brave martyr was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, and he was declared the patron of the Mexican laity in 2019.
When a terrible loss led Josh Blakesley into the light, music from his soul became a balm to many bleeding hearts. Growing up in the small town of Alexandria, Josh was a carefree child. He grew up listening to his Dad’s music; two elder sisters with a great music collection was a bonus that nurtured his musical taste. Without professional training or theoretical inputs, in an age with no internet and YouTube, Josh had what he would later call ‘a side entry’ into the world of music. Starting on the drums and simultaneously learning to sing, he was enamored by the likes of Don Henley and Phil Collins, following their legendary works through magazines and books. With his mother, though, Church was a non-negotiable matter. Thanks to her insistence, he went to Mass every Sunday. But he would leave God there and live the rest of his life on a totally different plane. Diving Deeper They met in Spanish class when he was 15, and unlike any other 15-year-old, she took him along to a prayer meeting. This was new and different from anything he had experienced before. Teenagers his age were coming together to worship the Lord. This worship experience was modern and engaging…with music, talks, and skits by people his age! He was intrigued, but he wouldn’t have kept coming back every week if Jenny hadn’t asked him to. Several months later, Jenny was hit by a drunk driver and killed in an accident. Her loss was a huge blow to the entire community. As he struggled with the grief of losing her, it triggered a realization that life here is finite, and there must be purpose in it, a reason that we are living. From that very moment, he began a journey, searching for answers to the questions that fascinated him…‘What is the reason for me? What is the purpose of what I’m doing right now? Why has God put me on this planet? What’s my role while I’m here?’ He started diving more into why we were here on this planet. In realizing that his gifts were from God, and in searching for a purpose in the use of these gifts, he realized that he wanted to give back to God and return the love. A Bolt of Realization He started playing music for Mass and getting involved in the liturgy. As he puts it: “There has been a faith part to my music and a music part to my faith as well. Those are still ingrained. I pray through music a lot”. And it is this experience of prayer that he tries to hand over to his brethren through writing and playing music. The “awesome and overwhelming” experience of leading people into worship and hearing them singing along makes him whisper so often: “The Lord is moving right now, and I don’t have to work.” Bridging the Gap Josh is now a full-time singer, songwriter, producer, music director, husband, and dad. Even while leading the music at Mass every Sunday, Josh knows that Mass can happen without music—what a musician does at Mass doesn’t bring Jesus any greater into the room; He is there regardless. What a musician can do is “elevate the worship of the faithful by bringing some extra beauty through music.” This indeed, is one of his life goals—to try and bridge that gap and bring quality music into the liturgy. But he doesn’t stop there; in addition to adding beauty to the Sacramental experience, he goes another mile to bring God to the people. Right from His Heart As a Catholic musician, Josh writes songs for the Mass and writes from the heart. Sometimes, when it comes out, it might not be out rightly Mass-material, but what comes out is still a tribute to God for the gift of music. He relates that his song Even in This was such an experience right from his heart. The Church community he was part of had just lost a teen, and seeing them go through the pain, the tragedy, and the devastation took him back to his own experience of losing a dear friend in his teenage years. Diving into the pain, he wrote that even in these darkest nights, God is with us. In the ‘valleys of pain’, in the ‘shattered, broken things’, in the ' hurt you cannot hide’ and the ‘fear you cannot fight’, he reassures his listeners that though you cannot see God, “You are not alone.” This is one message Josh wants to repeat to the world: “God is moving with you.”
All that Tom Naemi could think of, day and night, was that he needed to get even with those who put him behind bars. My family immigrated to America from Iraq when I was 11 years old. We started a grocery store and we all worked hard to make it successful. It was a tough environment to grow up in and I didn’t want to be seen as weak, so I never let anyone get the better of me. Though I was going to church regularly with my family and serving on the altar, my real god was money and success. So my family was happy when I married at 19; they hoped I’d settle down. I became a successful businessman, taking over the family grocery store. I thought I was invincible and could get away with anything, especially when I survived being shot at by rivals. When another Chaldean group started another supermarket nearby, the competition became vicious. We weren’t just undercutting each other, we were committing crimes to put each other out of business. I set a fire in their store, but their insurance paid for the repair. I sent them a time bomb, they sent people to kill me. I was furious, and decided to get my revenge once and for all. I was going to kill them; my wife begged me not to but I loaded a 14-foot truck with gasoline and dynamite and drove it toward their building. When I lit the fuse, the whole truck caught fire right away. I was caught in the flames. Just before the truck exploded, I jumped out and rolled in the snow; I couldn’t see. My face, hands, and right ear melted. I ran away down the street and got taken to the hospital. The police came to question me, but my big-shot lawyer told me not to worry. At the last minute though, everything changed, so I left for Iraq. My wife and children followed. After seven months, I quietly came back to San Diego to see my parents. But I still had grudges I wanted to settle, so trouble started again. Crazy Visitors The FBI raided my mom’s house. Although I escaped in the nick of time, I had to leave the country again. As business was going well in Iraq, I decided not to go back to America. Then, my lawyer called and said that if I turned myself in, he’d make a deal to get me a sentence of only 5-8 years. I came back, but I was sent to jail for 60-90 years. On appeal, the time was cut to 15-40 years, which still seemed like forever. As I moved from prison to prison, my reputation for violence preceded me. I often got into brawls with other inmates and people were afraid of me. I still used to go to Church, but I was filled with anger and obsessed with revenge. I had an image stuck in my mind, of walking into my rival’s store, masked, shooting everyone in the store, and walking out. I couldn’t stand it that they were free while I was behind bars. My kids were growing up without me and my wife had divorced me. At my sixth prison in ten years, I met these crazy, holy volunteers, thirteen of them, coming in every week with priests. They were excited about Jesus all the time. They spoke in tongues and talked about miracles and healing. I thought they were crazy, but I appreciated them for coming in. Deacon Ed and his wife Barbara had been doing this for thirteen years. One day, he asked me: “Tom, how is your walk with Jesus?” I told him it was great, but there was only one thing I wanted to do. As I walked away, he called me back, asking: “Are you talking about revenge?” I told him that I simply called it “getting even.” He said: “You don’t know what it means to be a good Christian, do you?” He told me that being a good Christian didn’t just mean worshiping Jesus, it meant loving the Lord and doing everything that Jesus did including forgiving your enemies. “Well”, I said, “That was Jesus; it’s easy for Him, but it’s not easy for me.” Deacon Ed asked me to pray every day: “Lord Jesus, take this anger from me. I ask you to come between me and my enemies, I ask you to help me forgive them and to bless them.” To bless my enemies? No way! But his repeated prompting somehow got to me, and from that day, I started praying about forgiveness and healing. Calling Back For a long time nothing happened. Then, one day, as I was flipping through the channels, I saw this preacher on TV: “Do you know Jesus? Or are you just a Church-goer?” I felt he was talking directly to me. At 10 PM, as the power went out as usual, I sat there on my bunk and told Jesus: “Lord, all my life, I never knew you. I had everything, now I have nothing. Have my life. I give it to you. From now on, you use it for whatever you want. You will probably do a better job of it than I ever did.” I joined Scripture study, and signed up for Life in the Spirit. During Scripture study one day, I saw a vision of Jesus in His glory, and like a laser from Heaven, I felt filled with God’s Love. The Scripture spoke to me, and I discovered my purpose. The Lord started talking to me in dreams and revealed things about people that they had never told anyone else. I started calling them from prison to talk about what the Lord had said, and promised to pray for them. Later, I’d hear about how they’d experienced healing in their lives. On a Mission When I was transferred to another prison, they didn’t have a Catholic service, so I started one and began preaching the Gospel there. We started with 11 members, grew to 58, and more kept joining. Men were getting healed of the wounds that had imprisoned them before they ever got into prison. After 15 years, I returned home on a new mission—Save souls, destroy the enemy. My friends would come home, and find me reading the Scripture for hours. They couldn’t understand what had happened to me. I told them that the old Tom had died. I was a new creation in Christ Jesus, proud to be His follower. I lost a lot of friends but gained a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ. I wanted to work with youth, to deliver them to Jesus so they wouldn’t end up dead or in prison. My cousins thought I had gone mad and told my mother that I would get over it soon enough. But I went on to meet the Bishop, who gave his approval, and I found a priest, Father Caleb, who was ready to work with me on this. Before I went to prison, I had lots of money, I had popularity, and everything had to be my way. I was a perfectionist. In my old days of crime, it was all about me, but after meeting Jesus, I realized that everything in the world was garbage compared to Him. Now, it was all about Jesus, who lives in me. He drives me to do all things, and I can’t do anything without Him. I wrote a book about my experiences to give people hope, not just people in prison, but anyone chained to their sins. We’re always going to have problems, but with His help, we can overcome every obstacle in life. It is only through Christ that we can find true freedom. My Savior lives. He is alive and well. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
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Andrew Byron unfolds the story of the profound experience he had when he called upon the name of Jesus! In December 1996, just two days before Christmas, my life took a devastating turn. My best friend, with whom I had grown up and who was about to become the youngest pilot instructor in Australia, died in a plane crash right in front of his family. I can still remember the feeling when my father informed me about my friend's passing. Although it didn't sink in at first, I remember how I broke down at the funeral. Soon, I became grief-riddled, depressed, and lost all hope. I tried to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, which only led to greater depression, and I became very suicidal. Finally, I felt that the only way to escape the misery in life was to leave home. The U-turn I decided to leave for Queensland, miles away from my home in Tom Price, hoping that I would get a job, probably picking fruit. So, after school, instead of getting off at my stop, I continued my journey and got off at the highway. While hitchhiking along the Pacific Highway, an older man stopped to give me a ride and urged me to call home and inform my parents about my whereabouts. I called home and reached my father, who asked, "What are you doing? Why are you up there?" I said: "I'm leaving home," and he replied that I was breaking his heart. I was so consumed by drugs that I couldn’t grasp how leaving home impacted my parents. When I got back in the car with him, he persuaded me to visit my aunt's house at Old Bar beach. After dropping me off, he left. Although it was cold, I walked to search for my aunt's house. Suddenly, a car pulled over and offered me a ride. They invited me to stay at their home for the night. I was deeply touched by their gesture and chose to join them. At their home, they had a carton of beer, and we began drinking. They said I could live with them if I would sell drugs for them. I agreed and started partying with more drugs and alcohol. But soon, a realization struck me that I had a loving family. I also realized I had just sunk into a worse situation. When I told them that I was going back home, they said I couldn't leave, and if I did, they would have to kill me. They began torturing me with frying pans and steel-capped boots. They stripped me, tied my hands to my ankles, and blindfolded me with my shirt. I was dragged into a car boot. I could feel that my jaw was dislocated, my nose was broken, and I was in tremendous pain. I'd lost a lot of blood. They pulled over the car, and two men dragged me out of the boot. I was pretending to be dead, trying to stay stiff, but as they pulled me out, my elbow bumped into the boot of the car, and they realized I was still alive. They placed a large kitchen knife against my back and started hitting it with a rock. As the knife went up my spine, I felt this was my death; I was dying. They thought I was dead and threw me down the cliff. I was in extreme pain. Though blindfolded, I managed to climb over a big log but ended up in the water. The water was very cold, and as I put my head in, I realized I shouldn't give up. I could feel my breath getting shorter, my body shutting down, and a great darkness coming over me. I knew that I was going to hell. That was a terrifying moment! I cried out to God. He saved me! At that moment, I was enveloped in a sense of peace—an overwhelming warmth. So, I laid in that creek in the cold water in absolute joy, which I've never experienced since. Whenever life gives me trouble now, I always remember that moment. Before I Passed Out When the sun rose, I began climbing the cliff by grabbing saplings. I fell down several times, but eventually, I reached the top of the road. I asked God what to do, and He said: "Go right." So I walked. I don't know how far it was, but I found a Ranger's Cottage. No one was home, so I grabbed a brick and broke the window. I rang Triple Zero*, took a hot bath, and went to the fridge, where there was one beer. I had no idea where I was. I rang Triple Zero again. Looking out the window, I saw the car that had dropped me off the previous night driving past very slowly as if about to turn into the driveway. At that same moment, a police car and an ambulance came up the driveway, causing the car to speed off. The ambulance crew assessed me and said they couldn't transport me by road and would have to get a helicopter, considering my condition. The Westpac rescue helicopter landed, and the pilot got out and asked: "Do you mind if I pray with you?" He laid his hand on my head, and I passed out. It was February 27, 1998; My entire life changed that day. I woke up in the hospital and soon learned that the knife had gone up my spine and came to rest, touching the sheath of the nerve that controls breathing. A surgeon from Sydney had to fly in to remove the knife surgically. Finding My Way Overcoming the greatest chapter in my life, I moved to Sydney in 1999, where I attended the Youth Mission. While being there, I experienced a profound conversion and truly fell in love with Jesus. I laid everything down for Jesus, and again, I was filled with peace. I now realize that whenever any difficult or traumatic situation or circumstance comes up in my life, I recall the thought I had while lying at the bottom of the cliff—just look up and understand that God already knows; He goes before us and has every situation under control. I have to trust Him, and it's a beautiful thing. Later, I moved to Melbourne, where I connected with the Disciples of Jesus. This Covenant Community has been very good for formation. Through the Ministries, I learned the importance of God's armor. In the community, brothers in Christ can lean on one another, share their experiences, and walk the journey together. When I had my addictions to drugs and alcohol, I couldn't escape their grasp over my life. I tried many things, including cutting off friendships and isolating myself, but nothing seemed to work. The only thing that could free me from the addiction was Jesus—trusting Him and allowing Him to enter my life. I love Jesus very dearly. For anyone suffering from addictions, I would say that Jesus is the way. *Triple Zero (000) is the primary national emergency telephone number in Australia.
No trip lasts forever, but how do we convince a child that it is time to let go? I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a while, and out of all the jobs available, I found myself pedicabbing. That's right, I was tasked with bicycling people around the city. Of course, I was in the best shape of my life. I carried numerous people, covering upwards of 100 miles on a weekly basis. I gave rides to celebrities, political figures, conference goers, and the nightlife thrill-seekers. My most memorable fare was an unexpected family just leaving a restaurant. As chance would dictate, I was in the exact vicinity searching for my next customer, and I yelled: "Hey, y'all need a ride?" These two parents were doting on their seven or eight-year-old child. He was celebrating his birthday, and when he saw me, the kid immediately started tugging on his father's arm and pleaded: "Pappa, Momma! Can I please take a ride? Please? Please? Pleeeeeeease?" They both looked at him endearingly and said: "Of course. It's your special day!" Without asking the price, the father asked if I could give them a nice long tour of Uptown Charlotte. Hence, I was tasked with showing them all the spots I could think of that would interest the youngster. We weaved in and out of traffic; I showed them parks, beautifully lit buildings, waterfalls, monuments, and statues…We even stopped to listen to troubadours and watch street artists and magicians. No doubt, this child was having the time of his life. The gentle summer breeze rushed through our hair, and I, too, felt a certain joy knowing I was making this kid's birthday extra special. Hopefully, it would last a lifetime—it certainly has for me. A Life Lesson The trip came to an end, and when it was time to disembark, the kid immediately started to whine and plead: "No! Pappa! I'm having so much fun. I don't want it to end. Please, let's continue!" I definitely hear the hint of a tantrum as I start to see tears well up in this kid's eyes. I simultaneously see the father beginning to worry. After such a wonderful evening and giving his son all he asked for, would he also be forced to play the ‘bad guy?’ I am now convinced the Holy Spirit inspired me to intervene, not because I was trying to give grand advice or bestow memorable life lessons. In fact, my motivation was that I saw an opportunity to be well-tipped for all my efforts. I now see that what was said paved the way for me to learn a much more important lesson—a lesson God is trying to teach us all. Turning around in my seat and smiling, I said to the kid: "Thank you so much for sharing your special day with me! I was privileged to make this day so special for you. I can honestly say I had just as much fun giving the ride as you probably had taking it. But what makes this experience so special is that it can't last forever. If all great things never ended, this experience would no longer be extraordinary; there would be nothing to compare to this exciting activity. But now that it's over, I hope you take this experience and treasure it forever." The father smiled at me and said: "Thank you." He was undoubtedly relieved that his son no longer showed signs of throwing a tantrum. In fact, the kid did something I thought was even more shocking. He grabbed his father's hand, looked up at him, and said: "You're right, Pappa! It's time to go home. Thank you." Twelve years later, I realized that what I said to the kid was nothing compared to the lesson I was to learn from the response he gave his father. The world provides an array of thrills, experiences, and distractions. Some bring joy, while others just give the illusion of such. I had a great life as defined by the masses: I ended up going on to have a promising career, and I traveled the world and continued to enjoy worldly (often sinful) things. In short, I refused to get off the perpetual exciting ride. But even when I was most estranged from the faith, the Holy Spirit was still working, paving the way for when finally God said: "It's time to disembark." I now realize that, like this kid, my response needs to be to grab God's hand and say: " You're right Pappa! It's time to go home."
Untold graces and miracles are available to those who practice surrender. I frequently tell my friends about ‘surrender,’ but I receive this question in return: "What does surrendering look like in reality? Am I supposed to ignore the dirty diaper?" The short answer is no! Clean the baby and toss the diaper. Each moment in our lives is a gift from God. Every second is pregnant with possibilities. I can surrender my exhaustion, frustration, joy, or confusion by giving God access. In doing so, I am letting Him determine solutions. I use my freedom to yield to the One with a better plan. How do I know it is better? Because He is the Alpha and the Omega. Although we each have various challenges, the same principles apply. The answer lies in our perspective. Essential to surrender is how we look at any given situation. For instance, I can either go: "Why does the baby always wait until I am ready to leave the house to dirty her diapers?” or instead, be more positive: "That was a close call. I'm happy it happened at home." The latter isn't always my first thought, but I'm making progress. Assuming that various people and situations are specifically intended to frustrate me makes me a target. Pay attention to your perspective. How do you react when something or someone upsets you? Do you feel personally attacked? A positive way to combat that is to flip it around. God has a different plan for me today. Shifting from a target mentality to a recipient of God's grace is all in one’s perspective. Crosses of Our Own Making Being a recipient allows me to receive invitations from God throughout the day. I can freely agree or refuse to be His instrument in any situation. It's letting God's Will be accomplished through my yes. In this, I imitate the Master and grow in virtue. Can you begin to see how surrender works? How much of the anxiety and fear that we experience is self-imposed? I once read that many of the crosses we carry are of our own making. Talk about self-defeating. Thinking that we are obliged to handle everything independently is one way we have unnecessary crosses. Do I see it as another dreary diaper change? Or do I see it as an honor to be able to help my daughter, who cannot help herself? We can practice surrender in small and inconsequential ways, thus growing in holiness. The other segment of surrendering comes from allowing yourself to become a gift from God. Our yes to the Lord through our surrender will enable Him to position us as His instruments in each circumstance. I cannot begin to share how often this happens to me. In giving my yes, I know without a doubt that God will provide. And boy, does He! I am continually surprised by the words coming from my mouth (or written on the page). Repeatedly, it is spot-on. God knows. I do not. The One Who Knows Surrendering frees me from having to solve every problem or carry its weight. I am free to be used by the Almighty in His redemptive work. It allows God to be Father, Savior, Healer, and Sanctifier in and through me. In this way, I become a gift to someone else. It's a win-win! In this little way, I get to participate in his salvific work while He does all the heavy lifting. Those people and that situation are precisely where I am supposed to be because, where I am, there is the Trinity for whom nothing is impossible. "No action, however insignificant, if accepted and performed as coming from God's hand, and in conformity with His will, is anything other than redemptive and a sharing in the great work of salvation begun by Christ's Passion." (He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek) Who is the perfect example of surrender? Our Blessed Mother. She showed us how to surrender in her fiat: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) At the Cross, she was not angry, spiteful, cursing, or asking why, nor was she a passive doormat. Instead, Mary simply stood there, giving her fiat in quiet surrender to God. It is a process of letting go, not into thin air, but into the hands of our Father. When I look back on my own experiences, in those moments of helplessness when life threw me on the asphalt, crushed me on the ice, or shattered the silence as each son shared yet another loss of their little one…Knowing why didn't make it any better. These are the times of surrender and fiats. It is not quitting, rolling over, or giving up. It is handling our problems in confidence and surrendering them to the One who knows the next perfect step. Let it be, Lord, I trust in you. Lord, I give You every moment of my day and access to everything in my life. I welcome Your solutions. I am precisely where You want me to be right now. Pray the Surrender Novena: shalomtidings.org/prayer_categories/novenas-to-our-lord
How can your peace be restored when facing the challenges in life? Sewing is one of my favorite hobbies. I especially enjoy putting together pieces of fabric to create quilt tops. One particular design of mine is called a ‘Crazy Quilt.’ It consists of sewing random scraps, of otherwise useless pieces of fabric, together in such a way that it resembles a mosaic pattern. One day, when working on Crazy Quilt blocks, it occurred to me that each block resembled broken pieces of pottery that, when put together, recreated its own beautiful pattern. It also reminded me that sometimes life can feel like it’s broken into pieces, yet in the Potter’s hands, God can reconstruct those pieces into a new life. God is the source of all peace, but concupiscence caused by original sin can result in God’s peace within us being severed by challenges, temptations, or sin that draw us away from Him. Severed peace makes life feel broken and without purpose. But there is hope, for there’s always hope in God. The Book of Genesis, when read through God’s lens, is clearly the most wonderful love story—our love story with Him. Throughout the creation passages in Scripture, God remarked that everything He created was good. However, on the sixth day, when God created mankind, He said: “It was very good!” Why ‘very good?’ Simply because God created us in His image of goodness so He could love us and be loved in return. A Gentle Reminder All mankind was meant to love completely and live in peace under His protection. However, humanity, through Adam and Eve, chose to challenge God’s goodness, disobeying Him and thereby stepping out of His protection and peace when they chose to believe Satan (the Prince of Lies) over God. Their unfortunate choice, called ‘original sin,’ resulted in the shattering of their peace through the challenges, temptation, and sins that entered outside of God’s protection. His peace had been broken. God is good and He loves us, so He didn’t leave us this way. The Bible’s entire Old Testament details centuries of His efforts to re-establish the relationship He had with us in the Garden of Eden. However, as He was trying to get our attention, the Prince of Lies began to confuse mankind through temptations that led to more sin, pulling humanity further from God. Not to worry though, for Saint Paul reminded us that ‘God is for us’ and that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39) How? Because God came for us Himself. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”(John 3:16) It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have a say when the choice was made to commit original sin, but we can reverse the outcome of that sin by choosing to accept and follow Jesus, the Son of God, who is the Prince of Peace(Isaiah 9:6). He wants to lead us back to the Father in Heaven, but often, getting to Him is difficult when we have to step over all the painful broken pieces in our lives. Remember, Scripture is His love story to us. He knows our struggles and assures us that He is our refuge and our strength. Back to the Crazy Quilt It’s amazing when the numerous fabrics, patterns, and colors of a Crazy Quilt that are stitched together somehow blend to create a beautiful quilt top. Scripture reveals that God’s pretty crafty too. Not only is He a potter (Isaiah 64:8), but also He knits (Psalm 139:13), and I like to think He even sews. I wonder if He might see mankind as His own ‘Crazy Quilt’ creation. Although not His original design, we’re a collection of broken pieces all put back together again; He has recreated us, for “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”(2 Corinthians 5:17) So, when challenges, temptations, or sin are severing the peace within us, let this inherent thought bring you comfort: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”(Romans 8:28) What’s that purpose again? God created us in His image of goodness so He could love us and be loved in return. Is there anything better than a warm quilt and a wonderful love story with a happy ending?
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