Matthew 5:3

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

How blessed we are that God will welcome us into the promised land even if we are not as rich in our faith as He would like us to be.  I love how loving and forgiving our God is.  This scripture gives me hope.  Hope that even if there are times in my life when I am doubting God and His awesome plan for me, that He won't just cast me aside as a sinner unworthy of Him.  There is always time to come back.

Jesus spoke these words to His disciples for them to pass on after He was gone.  He never wanted us to lose hope.  How many times have you gotten down on yourself for making a poor choice and figured, "Well, I've screwed that up so I guess it's never going to happen."  It doesn't really matter what the "it" is, in our faith, this is never the case.  We can never screw up so badly that God won't welcome us back with open arms. 

I know this from my own personal faith journey.  I wanted to create my own path, be my own source of grace.  I wanted things to go according to my plan and didn't give much thought to what His plan was.  I attended church because my husband wanted us to go.  I didn't have any particulars feelings about my faith, neither love nor hate, I was simply there.  When I lost three pregnancies in 12 months, my indifference turned to hate and I was angry with God.  I abandoned my faith because I felt abandoned by Him.  My story of return is another post but slowly I returned to the faith, dipping my toe in at first and carefully immersing myself until I was filled with the Holy Spirit.

While I was pregnant with my first son I had what I consider to be first true confession.  I cried to the priest and poured out my soul desperate to be forgiven and scared that he would consider me to be a lost cause.  That my sins had been to much for God to bear.  With his response to my confession, I wept even more.  I wept tears of thankfulness that God still loved me and still wanted me in His Church.  Father told me my feelings were natural and ok and that God understands.  That God is strong enough to handle our angriest feelings. 

The parable of the prodigal son proves to us that it is never too late.  So if you don't feel like you pleased Him how you wanted to today, don't give up.  Tomorrow is a new day and there is time to repent and return to Jesus Christ, our Savior.  There is also time for others you know who have walked away from the faith so don't give up on them either.  Pray for them!  Pray that they hear His voice calling them back and be their gentle reminder that they are never too far away to turn back to the faith.

Thanks for reading!

Busy Mommy Blogger