It is the Lord

     “There is not a moment in which God does not present Himself under the cover of some pain to be endured, of some consolation to be enjoyed, or of some duty to be performed. All that takes place within us, around us, or through us, contains and conceals His divine action. It is really and truly there present, but invisibly present, that we are always surprised and do not recognize His operation until it has ceased. If we could lift the veil, and if we were attentive and watchful God would continually reveal Himself to us, and we should see His divine action in everything that happened to us, and rejoice in it. At each successive occurrence, we should exclaim: ‘It is the Lord,’ and we should accept every fresh circumstance as a gift from God. We should look upon creatures as feeble tools in the hands of an able workman, and should discover easily that nothing was wanting to us, and that the constant providence of God disposed Him to bestow upon us every moment whatever we        required.”                                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                Jean-Pierre de Caussade

     Recognizing God and His actions, always present in our lives, is very difficult for us. We expect or imagine just how He will show His face and often miss Him, because He comes in ways much different than we desired.

     Our plans, ideas and expectations of life, are etched so deeply in stone by our own hand, that when something appears other than we planned, we fail to see God’s hand in it.

     Such was the case for me recently. I was in a dither! I had been praying, hoping and expecting that a certain situation in my life, would proceed in a particular way – a easy, pain free, straightforward way. It was not moving easily at all. In fact, there were moments when I felt as though my plan was dying and was soon to be dead.

     It was becoming apparent to me, that I not only had a specific idea for my plan, but a specific time span as well. I was feeling impatient, anxious and annoyed that things were not going as I had hoped – as I evidently had planned. I have always been like the child in the back seat of a car asking, “when will we be there?” And now was not any different. When I shared this with a friend recently, she told me that I was better than she. She was always yelling from the back, “where are we going?” Although I laughed, I could see some truth about myself in her statement. I wanted to be the one in the driver’s seat. I wanted control where, when and how we were going.

     I felt perplexed! Why wasn’t I faring better? I thought I had grown in this area. I was trying to let God arrange things. I was really trying to hand things over to God. After all, this intention was in my prayers day and night. I had friends praying. But I was not trusting. I felt disappointed with myself. I felt confused! What was I missing? What wasn’t I seeing?

     As I went about cleaning my house, I brought all my confusion and thoughts to Jesus. “Lord, help me to see. What am I missing? Why can’t I trust that You are working things out? Why do I get stuck in my own ideas and expectations and allow this to cloud my vision? Lord Jesus, please help me!”

     As I continued my work in silence, Jesus began to speak to my heart: “You are so much like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They too had their own scenario all played out in their minds. Things did not happen as they thought, so they too were downcast. They had their own agenda and were stuck in their own mindset. Things had worked out just as I had planned. They saw it differently. They were blind. I was right there with them, yet they failed to recognize Me!”
   
“You have done the same thing. I have been walking with you through this entire situation. Because things have gone differently than you think, you fail to see Me. I am faithful. I would never leave you or forsake you. I always want what is best for you. The way I bring about My will, often has obstacles and hardships. But my plan for you is to help you to grow in grace and virtue. I want you to grow in your faith and trust in Me. Abandon your plans and your timeframe. Surrender to Me. Recognize my presence in this and every situation in your life. I am with you always.”

     As Jesus’ words sunk into my mind and heart, I no longer felt alone. I was in the company of the great saints and people who had gone before me, who had also failed to recognize Jesus because they too had certain expectations of their own life events.

     Mary Magdalen – not recognizing Jesus in the Garden because she thought He was dead. The apostles with Christ’s many appearances, where they failed to recognize Him because of their own ideas, fears and hardness of heart, and the disciples, on the road to Emmaus.

     We must look for Jesus, like St. John the beloved disciple, with the eyes of love, and see His presence in each and every situation and say, “It is the Lord!” We must learn to trust that He is journeying with us in joy filled, as well as difficult times. We have to grow to the point of accepting each and every situation as a gift from God, especially when things play out differently than we expected. He is directing and guiding us. We need to become patient with ourselves, remembering that God is not finished with us yet. He did not give up on the apostles, and He will not give up on us either!

     “O my dear, sweet, patient God, thank You for loving us so! Thank you for the way You reveal the truth to each one of us so we may see more clearly. Help us to surrender the areas in our lives that we want to hold on to and control. Help us to instead, sit back and enjoy the journey, assured that You are the navigator. You have Your guiding hand on the wheel, and will give us all that we need to reach our destination – heaven. May we learn to trust You with every fiber of our being. Amen!”

     “No longer will your Teacher hide Himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher. While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears; “This is the way; walk in it,” when you would turn to the right or to the left” (Isaiah 30: 19-21).