3 March 2021

My heart is heavy. Many tears came to my eyes as I read the hundreds and hundreds of prayer requests that have come in. How many tears has Our Lord shed for humanity over the centuries? In Scripture Jesus was always compelled by compassion to reach out to us. He has not changed in this.

Many cry out for help in relationships. Help between husbands and wives, between sons and daughters and parents, between brothers and sisters, between work colleagues. So much strife, unhappiness, unforgiveness, hatred.

Sometimes it is abuse of one to another, of the strong demeaning the weak. Addictions of things like alcohol, drugs, and pornography that lead to wrong, sinful living. Sometimes just bad habits of all of ours come to the fore, being proud and not backing down even when we are wrong. Not being patient or understanding of different personalities, different cultures, different races, just different upbringing. Our OWN SELFISH needs being number ONE! It’s all about ME.

And I am not foreign to this sinful nature. None of us are.

I’ve often wondered if I would be so brave as to leave church one day just as it is beginning and leave the altar of God to go and reconcile myself with my sister, who I had an argument with a few days before. Jesus teaches us:

²³ So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

Matt 5:23-24 NRSV

I have done this with Bruce, my husband, in that I turned to him at the beginning of Mass and asked his forgiveness for something we had argued about earlier that morning. I needed to own up to the part I played in that argument, in the raised voices and feeling of disunity that the words had caused.

I was not put to shame, like how the enemy would treat me, but I felt convicted to fix my part. As much as I could do. To change my heart and mind towards Bruce. To ask God the Grace to change. To repent.

For I need to change my behaviour and actions, but it goes far beyond that. ‘Repent’ in Greek, means to go beyond the mind that you have.

Jesus urges us to change the way of knowing, the way of perceiving and grasping reality, our mode of seeing. For we are challenged to see with HIS Kingdom EYES, and HEART.

Many of these prayer requests are from people who want restoration, want reconciliation, a new start. But the recipients are not responding in a good way, or in a way that even opens the situation up for reconciliation.

So sometimes all we can do is fix our part. And then pray.

Pray that God will soften the other person’s heart. That the Holy Spirit will convict them and invite them with His help to change. That the Lord will open their eyes like He did Saul, the Apostle.

Pray that we may continue to have loving soft hearts towards them and not fall into the trap of treating them like they treat us.

Remind yourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to Grace us with reminders to TREAT THEM as YOU would like to be TREATED.

And so I pray for myself. I pray for all those with needs. All those who have asked for prayers. And I will continue to pray and to invite God into my Life – for I am far from perfect.

Will you join me in praying for all relationships, especially those who acknowledge they need help?

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Who do you need to reconcile with? Do you need to leave your gift at the altar to reconcile first?

Do you need to ask the Holy Spirit to give you a soft heart for those who don’t accept your desire to reconcile?

Will you pray for the needs of others?