Entrustment to Mary = Seeing God's Love In Every Situation

FYI: Keep in mind that I enjoy cookies - almost to a gluttonous fault.

This summer had me taking a few flights to destinations to be with family for special occasions. When booking my flight for a niece’s wedding I noticed the day I was to return would be my anniversary date for entrusting myself to the Blessed Mother. I had full confidence in booking on that day, knowing she would be treating me to blessed travel.

 

My departure flight was to leave on a Thursday evening having me fly through the night with one connection to change planes in Phoenix. My son-in-law was meeting me there to join my next flight so to surprise my daughter by arriving a day earlier than planned. We were going to surprise my husband too, not telling him he would be picking up both of us.

 

The departure flight was delayed an hour before loading. There had been a maintenance issue which needed paperwork signed. When we loaded the plane, we sat awaiting the FAX for clearance for another hour. As the time ticked on, I realized I would not make my connection. My son-in-law was already in the air heading toward Phoenix. I texted my husband and told him I would be detained and that he was still to go to the airport and pick up our son-in-law the next morning. After I sent the text message I began to cry. Big crocodile tears rolled down my cheeks. I tried to hold it in as a young man sat next to me and I didn’t want him to think I had “lost it”…which I had. I felt great anxiety not knowing what awaited me in Phoenix. Was I to be sleeping in the airport? The airline was not being very comforting in their announcements, and did not say what would happen if anyone missed their connections. In my desperate state, I prayed more out of a sense of duty - acknowledging God’s power, admitting I knew He would take care of me, but I found no real sense of comfort in Blessed Mom’s arms. I tried to get some rest but an uncertainty covered me like a blanket. When the plane landed we were told to go to the airline’s service desk. When I approached the clerk she asked my final destination. I told her, and she looked through a stack of vouchers and found mine. She handed me a set that included a voucher for a hotel room, breakfast, and plane ticket for the following morning. She told me to contact the phone number on the hotel ticket for their shuttle to pick me up. I headed to baggage claim thinking I would be getting my bag, but found out it was kept to be sent to the final destination. When I called the shuttle they told me to look for the van with the big “cookie” on the side. Once I made it to the hotel at 1:30AM, I was greeted with a fresh baked cookie and a room key. I had to smile and sincerely thank God for His loving care, especially seen through the cookies. My fears started to subside as I drifted off to sleep. The next morning I enjoyed a free breakfast buffet, then a shuttle ride to the airport where I had an uneventful flight and was greeted by my son-in-law and my suitcase!

 

My return flight and travel was indeed blessed like I had assumed it would be. So what I learned in this event is I only trust when I think I “deserve” a blessed event, like an anniversary date, or a holy day. This is why I need my entrustment to Blessed Mom so she can be my daily trust, especially during times when my plans are changed, and my schedule is altered. She has to be my belief that in all events God is taking good care of me - even when there are no cookie surprises, He is still managing my affairs with His love and His mercy!

"If we are surprised that God foils our plans and leads us down a different road than the one we imagined, let us recall that it was the same in the life of the Blessed Mother. Mary also thought of her sanctity, her road, her mission differently. The one who gave up motherhood was called to an exceptional and unique motherhood. This call foiled all of her plans."  

Tadeusz Dajczer, The Gift of Faith, 3rd. ed. (Ft. Collins, CO: IAMF, 2012), 116.

 

"In every situation Mary realized the will of God with full inner peace, because she accepted everything with childlike trust."                         

S.C. Biela, In The Arms of Mary, 2nd. ed, rev. (Ft.Collins, CO: IAMF, 2005), 128.

Entrustment To Mary = Acknowledging I Can Do Nothing Without Christ

Humility is so important because God is ready to give everything to a person who credits nothing to himself. If you live in the truth and acknowledge that you can do nothing without Christ, it is as if you are beckoning to Him: Come and live in me. It is only then that Christ comes. Tadeusz Dajczer, The Gift of Faith, 3rd ed. (Ft. Collins, CO. IAMF, 2012), 259-260.

I experienced this message in the above quote just last week. At work we were changing computer programs. We had to load all of our patients' information onto the new program before their appointment times. My coworker and I were working overtime. I really wanted to be a helper to her for I saw she was very stressed by the changeover. I made a decision to input the patients' new ID numbers a certain way. I went to lunch quite proud of myself believing I was such an asset to our office and to her. When I returned, my coworker informed me she had devised a "better" way to input the ID numbers and that was the way we were to do it. My ego was crushed and my pride bruised. I became dejected, but also perturbed that we have to always do it her way. I sulked as I finished my work day. At home I felt depressed thinking maybe I am not cut out for the job after all, for my nerves were fried and I was full of anxiety. Becoming emotional, I offered supplications to God, Jesus, and the Blessed Mother - to rescue me, help me, and comfort me. Then, with bestowed graces, I could look back at the day's happenings and see I had wanted to be in control, and my pride had wanted to be successful. I had not asked for heavenly help during the day as I had wanted to do it all on my own. In my Blessed Mom's arms, WE could stand in the truth admitting who I was and could ask for God's mercy.

 

The next day was a complete turnaround. The office setting was peaceful. I could see that the way my coworker had inputted the numbers was better than mine. I was surprised to have my boss give me my first performance review, and it was very positive. Christ gave me "everything" that day, but only after I admitted I could do nothing without Him. The complete clarity of this event again shows me how much I am loved for the bungler I am. Thanks to my entrustment to my Blessed Mother, God can trust me to see my weaknesses, ask for forgiveness, and with Her pick myself up and begin anew.

 

 

Entrustment to Mary = Be Not Afraid

I have been full of fears my whole life. As a youngster I was afraid of the dark and when going to bed I  would ask my sister if I could put my hand on her bed, or if she would turn and look my way so I could fall asleep. I carried on this way until in Jr. High, when God gave me the grace to recognize that He would take care of me and I need not be afraid but only to entrust my fear of the dark to Him. 

 

As I grew older my fear switched to people. I fear offending others – like not telling my relatives and friends that their lives would be so much easier if they returned to practicing their Catholic faith. I fear conflict with others – like not suggesting to the coaches through the years that Sundays should be a day of rest for our daughter athletes. I fear opposition with others – so I refrain from speaking up for the unborn against abortion. The worse products of these fears are that they lead me to silently deny my God, my Savior and my faith. 

The following quote is from the book, God Alone Suffices, which speaks to this subject, and tells how in reality the only fear I should have is the fear of God. For me it answered my anxieties with common sense truths:

After all, everything depends on our God. Our respect and praise belong only to Him – this is what we call a fear of God. When this fear of God is missing in us, we give an exaggerated value and our praise and respect to less important things – the situations and circumstances that should always be secondary when confronted with the action of God. We are afraid of people and their rules, which in our thinking govern the world, instead of fearing only God, whose will is necessary for all things to happen.

Because of human regard, we become stagnant and discouraged when we are faced with difficulties, circumstances that we consider as unfriendly winds preventing us from achieving our goal. We forget that there are only two scenarios: either God wants these difficulties, for reasons that we do not have to know, or at least He allows them to happen.

Perhaps He allows these difficulties to show us how much we lack faith? Our connections toward people and the different ‘rules of the game’ invented by them is a form of idolatry because we are either too afraid of them, or we adore them without any reservations. In this way we disregard our Almighty God. If our hearts properly feared God, if we sought reliance on our Lord and Creator in every situation, then a certain distance would be generated in us toward the illusory calculations of our minds, which are not enlightened by faith.

S. C. Biela, God Alone Suffices, 3^rd ed. (Ft. Collins, CO: IAMF, 2011), 132. Used with permission.

I seek rescue from my fears through God’s grace and entrustment to the Blessed Mother. When feeling intimidated I remember She holds me in Her arms - and remind myself what She once asked St. Juan Diego:

(c) In the Arms of Mary Foundation 

I believe I will always have a fear of people, for this weakness helps me entrust myself to the Blessed Mother – reminding me that ONLY with Her will I have the proper fear of God; and ONLY with Her can I be a confident believer - who gives less attention to human regard – for She knows that God is in charge and that He is the only One who first and foremost deserves my interest, praise, and respect.

Entrustment to Mary = Finding God's Strength

A priest once gave a conference on the Gospel when Peter first met Christ, after the large catch of fish (see Lk 5:1-11 http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/5). Peter met Christ and immediately experienced all his sinfulness internally. When I embarked on the road of communion of life with Christ through Mary, I started discovering more and more of my sinfulness and weakness. I reacted just like St. Peter and told Jesus to get away from me. I was full of shame. But, I have come to see that St. Peter’s first reaction was wrong (more than once in the Gospel)! Peter’s sinfulness was not an obstacle for Jesus, it was the REASON he was called by Him. Jesus immediately straightened him out, inviting him to catch men not fish. Jesus did not come for the healthy, but for the sick – the sinners! That must mean Jesus came for me.

Often the realization of my sinfulness and weakness of faith paralyzes me. But, the spirituality of communion of life with Christ through Mary is helping me to look at it in a totally different way. The awareness of my weakness and sinfulness can give me the wings for God’s action! This spirituality emphasizes the might of God, recognizing that a person usually only experiences this if he/she first experiences his/her own weakness.  We live in a country that emphasizes “believe in yourself” and “be strong.” This spirituality is teaching me that although I see my weakness, I need to focus more on being in God’s hands, and therefore see HIS strength in me! This strength is not built on my pride, but on the power of God!

Meanwhile, even these joyful lessons can be heard and longed for inside of me, but I still struggle to believe it with all my heart, mind and soul. Therefore, I choose to accept Jesus’ entrustment of me to His mother Mary exactly because of my weak faith! She is transforming me, opening me to believe that I am loved as I am. With Her, I have “HIGH HOPES!”  Praise be to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Welcome!

I would like to introduce you to our new blog – “Because God Loves Me As I Am!”  We were originally going to call it “Because God Loves Me.”  After living with that name for a few days, I was struck by the huge difference it made for me when the simple words “as I am” were added. Before those words were added, I had a sense of overwhelming obligation to match this love – to respond equally, and if I didn’t then there was the potential the love would be taken away. Through faith, I know that God is Love and that His love is unconditional and never-ending, but without the words “as I am” I am still tempted to think “as I will be,” which gives me anxiety.  “As I am” helps me to realize that HIS love is the source of my formation and that His love doesn’t increase or decrease based on my actions. This is so comforting. We unanimously agreed those three words were a must!

Why we thought this blog should exist is so that there would be safe place for those who have discovered either their physical, spiritual or mental weakness.  Perhaps you’ve struggled for years to live up to an image of who you think you should be; or perhaps you have discovered a deep rooted pride inside of you; or you think you’ve committed an unforgivable sin; or perhaps you look around you and see others accomplishing so much, but you feel like you are pulling up the rear; or maybe God has given you a physical disability of some sort and you despise this gift.  OR, perhaps you have come to realize you do not love God as He is.  These discoveries can be very hard and, especially from the spiritual side, we can become overwhelmed…even to the point of depression.   I went down that road! It was so hard for me because I was looking at all my weaknesses in the wrong way...