Written by Sister Lisa Doty on her blog, Nunspeak:
Click here to read the rest of this insightful and profound piece.It seems that of late the Lord has sent a lot more prayer requests my way for
people suffering from serious illnesses and disease, particularly of advanced stages of cancer and lymphoma. I hold them in a particular place in my heart and in my daily prayer; perhaps because I have lost three loved ones to cancer. Perhaps because I also know the power of prayer in having members of my family who are cancer survivors. No matter what the illness, it places the family in the crucible of anguish and uncertainty; wanting to trust in God and hope in him, and at the same time, the waiting gives time for our fears and worries creep up to haunt our faith.
In these very moments where faith is attacked by the violent churning of doubt and questioning, our best defense is the simple utterance (perhaps it takes every drop of energy we have):
“Jesus, I trust in You!”
“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests by made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7
That one’s a bit long for me to remember verbatim, but I have memorized this shorter one from the Prophet Isaiah 26:3:
“You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind rests on You, because he trusts in You.”
Great reminder, but so hard to do when you're going through it. Then again, that is where Faith comes in right? :)
ReplyDeleteIt can be very hard. I had wandered away from my faith, as a teenager, but going through my late husband's death, from cancer and organ failure had a`profound effect on me. He had been terrified, but towards the end, he had this overwhelming sense of peace. It started me back on my road to the faith. Over the past few years, my faith has gotten stronger. One thing I've had to come to terms with is the need to understand that I can't control everything, I must let go and trust in the Lord. It's easier said than done, but I've felt myself inching forward, as I've prayed, meditating on the Sacred Mysteries of Christ's Life, Death and Resurrection as I pray the rosary. A few weeks back, one of the bloggers you link to, Jen, had wriiten a blog article, citing verse from the book of Phillipians and I believe Matthew, and it just resonated, it was what I needed to hear, as I'd been worrying so much over a particular problem.
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