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 GOD HAS MARKED SPECIAL PLACES FOR YOU, NO MATTER HOW 'BAD' AT TIMES THINGS SEEM

However "badly" you think things are going -- however much everything seems to be against you, however desperate you may even feel at times -- just remember that God has His favor marked for you at points in the foundation of time.

Special places. Special graces.

We heard a preacher say this the other day: The Lord has good things in store for you. There is always reason for hope. It's only a matter of time until your "time," your moment, your stop on the train, comes. Matters will always improve -- even soar -- if you move forward, if you forgive, and if you persevere!

There are seasons of trial and seasons of reward and what we have to do is make sure we're ready spiritually and physically when the opportunities for reward -- when His favor -- are upon us.

Call it the "hour of visitation." Or look at it like station stops on a train: If you're not paying attention, if your head is buried in woe, if you're going too fast -- if you decided to take the express instead of the local -- you may miss the place where God wants you to step off and receive Him.

Are you ready for His Visitation? Have you corrected whatever may have contributed to the last trial? Do you pray enough? Are you moving forward in His trust or repeating mistakes and burying your head?

Don't let the landscape blur past you!

There are new seasons and there is the wind of God and like a bird we must be ready to glide when His wind of renewal comes.

Listen for the breeze. Listen for the rustle of limbs. That means prayer. We listen in prayer. We listen during the Eucharist. We hear best after Confession.

Have you prayed to break inner bondages?

God has named each of us in a way that is different from any other person and we have to remember not to let the ride of life discourage us, not to let life change our routes.

Or change our "names."

Don't let problems re-invent you. Don't let yourself be defined by trials. Don't let troubles throw a virus into your software.

Split through with the Light of Faith.

Be always ready to blossom. God loves you as if you are the only person on earth and if we realize that we receive vast new opportunities.

It all goes to what one preacher calls "anchor" thoughts: These are the foundational first ways we view ourselves (and others). You have to start by realizing that God made you and loves you as if you are the only person on earth no matter what you have done. He knitted you in the womb. He drew the map of your life.

What He seeks is for us to adjust our ways if what we are doing is not according to His Plan for us. Have you gone by His map and software or designed your own? When you have diverged, what have been the consequences?

Failings and discouragement are computer "viruses." What "programs" are you feeding yourself? What thoughts do you allow? Are there too many "pop-ups"? How much do you pray? God can reboot you. If necessary, He can wipe your "hard drive" clean. He wants to design the road path, not you. When we let Him, the vistas open.

If we pray, God will brush away all the cobwebs, the dust, the blindness, and show us who we really are. We will find a place to blossom. Despair becomes faith in His corrective action.

This is exciting because it can occur whether we are young or elderly, in college or a nursing home, rich or "poor." As long as we are alive we have a chance to reach special places He has set for us, even on the deathbed.

Right to the last moment, we have means of receiving His grace. His mercy and opportunity are always there! We can be wiped clean.

How is your "computer" functioning? Is it slow to start up in the morning -- sluggish in the approach to a new day, negative about the next twenty-four hours? Is it overly ambitious? Is it burdened with too many "programs"? Is its hard drive driving too hard (to be someone you are not)?  Is your "GPS" oriented to the points God has designed or are you sitting on an out-of-control express train (with your laptop) because you are in too much of a hurry to listen?

Think positively about your worth as a child of the Lord and He will help you correct what needs to be corrected before you enter His Kingdom. Banish fear, which is a lack of faith. Banish negativity; God is a positive God. Banish judgment: Let God alone judge. Banish jealousy, which is akin to hatred.

Be who you are, appreciate who you are, like who you are, pray for others, and realize that whatever your "walk" of life, you are in God's Plan.

You're on that itinerary.

Find your place! Find your season! Flow with God when His wind is behind you!

Wait, softly, for that breeze; hear the rustle; feel His Breath. Slow down!

It is in that gentleness that you will find His strength and it is on the breeze that you will glide to an appointed place at an appointed time.

[resources: The God of Miracles and Retreat CDs, San Francisco]

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