Mothers Group Reflection #8: Speaking As God’s Instruments

I was recently meditating on the story of Pentecost and what an amazing day that must have been in the lives of the apostles. I have learned in recent years that it was also the reversal of what God did at the Tower of Babel. At that time, back in Genesis, people were trying to be self-reliant in their desire to stay together and to reach God. They wanted to do for themselves what only God should do, and they were getting a little too big for their britches in their quest to make a name for themselves. God confused their language in order to put a stop to it and prevent worse evils from happening. People scattered about the world and many languages were born that day. Yet, at Pentecost, God had brought about the redemption of mankind through His son Jesus, and now, He allowed the apostles to speak in languages completely unknown to them in order that the gospel message might be proclaimed throughout the entire world. People from all over the world would have been gathered in that one place and heard the story in their own native languages. God was trying to bring unity to the world once again and salvation to all, this time with their dependence being on God, and not on themselves.

I know this may seem a little more suited to the Easter season, but I know everything happens for a reason. As we celebrate Christ the King Sunday this week, the theme of Jesus as Lord of my life has been in my mind and on my heart. Jesus, the One who created the earth and everything in it. Jesus, the One who guides every detail of our lives. Jesus, the One who knows the number of hairs on our heads. While He is our most intimate friend, He is also the sovereign Lord of all.

Lately, I have been challenged on my faith. At first, it made my head spin and it was really starting to stress me out. As we know, it is “faith” for a reason, and although I can’t necessarily prove everything I believe in ways that others can see in black and white, I know the relationship with Christ that is in my heart and I trust that, that my words will somehow be enough, God willing. What I sometimes have to remember is that I am only responsible for myself and to witness to what I do know. He is responsible for the rest.

Something occurred to me late one night as I was praying over the story of Pentecost. Why don’t we simply ask Jesus for the ability to speak the heart languages of those around us, especially when we witness in our faith? I remember reading The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman many years ago, probably during my Protestant days, and I love the premise of the book. We seek to discover the ways that others like to receive love. Many times, we will try to give love to others in the ways that we want to be loved, but if it is not the way that the other person desires to be loved, they will experience it as ignoring their needs. I’ve noticed this trend in many books I’ve read over the past few years. The thing is, while we can seek to discover the love language of others, there are many things we will never know about them in this lifetime. But Jesus does. He knows the intimate, innermost workings of each and every soul and He knows us better than even we know ourselves.

I find that this idea was around long before modern psychology and the smattering of “self-help” books. This theme is in the lives of the saints that came before us, all the way back to the Scriptures. For St. Therese of Lisieux, love was everything. Her only goal in life became to love Christ and others, and to be completely surrendered to Him so that He could love others through her. As St. Paul noted in the book of Romans, we will quickly stumble and fall when trying to keep all the details of the law in our own power as if it all depended on us, but when we surrender to Love, the path to sanctity becomes easier and flows more naturally, as it should. We do this when we die to self, when we place ourselves trustfully into the hands of our Creator and His good plans for our lives. He goes on to say in Galatians 2:20, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

I have been through many phases in my walk with God over the years, years of jubilation, penance, suffering, joy, etc. Right now, it is more a time of quiet and receptiveness. As Jesus is trying to grow my faith, He has asked me in this particular phase to simply rest and let Him do the work. I simply show up, let my needs be known, and wait to see what He will do. It doesn’t mean that I am not active in carrying out the callings He places in my life, but I know that every little thing is ultimately up to Him and He is trying to show me that everything in my life truly comes from His hand. I don’t need to worry and fuss or try to control things. He already has a plan in mind for all that I need.

For example, I was sitting in church one morning awhile back and I remember simply placing my desires before Jesus. I never moved from my pew, but people kept coming to me out of the blue with whatever I needed that day. I have experienced this several times over the past few months. I know this will look different for different people on different days, but at this particular time, Jesus was showing me in a very concrete way to rest completely in Him for the provision of my needs. Nothing came in the way I expected, but He provided for everything. One person came to encourage me to serve when I was struggling with feelings of unworthiness. One came to offer friendship/mentoring. Another came to offer prayers and a hug when I could hardly bear the pain of submitting to God’s will in a difficult situation. Yet another came to offer words of advice and a listening ear. None of these people knew about my prayers on those days. None of them knew that what they brought was exactly what I needed. They just followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and even said as much in some cases.

We aren’t in this alone. We can simply ask our Creator and the Lover of our souls for the words to speak right to the hearts of others. Only He knows what those are, those beautiful words or healing and unity, and we might never even be aware that He is working through us. But none of this happens by chance. It is the fruit of consistent, trustful prayer, as we continue to “ask”, “search” and “knock” (Matthew 7:7 NRSVCE) and trust that Jesus truly is the sovereign King of our lives.

Thoughts for further reflection:

Where do you struggle for the right words in your dealings with others? Can you entrust this situation to Jesus and wait for His timing and words?

Memory Verse for the Week:

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

- Matthew 7:7-12 NRSVCE