Kissed by the Spirit

“Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

John 2:10-11 (RSV)

God seems to show us through scripture that He has a pattern of saving the best for last. The wedding in Cana was the first public miracle that Jesus did, turning water into the finest quality of wine. He did it after regular wine was served. Saving the best wine for last is a characteristic of God, and saving the best for last is a pattern also seen throughout the Old Testament prophet’s writings. 

Each prophet, began their book with stern warnings against sin and impending punishment, but by the end of each book, God calls His people to return, repent and receive restoration. It’s a repeated theme throughout the last pages of the major and minor prophets’ writings. 

In my early ‘mother of twins’ years, my boys took three hour naps every afternoon. Besides catching up on household tasks, I used that time to dig deeper into scripture and found many hidden treasures in God’s word. I am certainly no Bible scholar and am not trying to teach anything new, but it doesn’t take a scholar to read through each of the prophet’s writings, and see a pattern taking place. Each prophet starts out warning of punishment but ends with God’s offer of mercy and restoration.

By now, you may be wondering why  this is even important. I’ve met many people who grew up with a twisted image of God as an angry, punishing judge. It might have been the earliest image projected to them by their parents, church or parochial school teachers. 

If someone heard or read only the beginning of each prophet’s writing, that would be the natural perception to get, but if they read to the end of each book, they’d see an offer of love and redemption. In the last chapters of every prophet’s book, God calls His people back, removing judgement and speaking words of mercy and renewal.

The Old Testament prophets teach us that God’s love never changes. He loves us whether we do things that please Him or grieve Him, as any parent does. He is pleased when we cooperate with Him, but we can never earn His love because His love is unconditional. Matthew West, an award winning Christian songwriter, said it best: ‘I’m not loved because I’m worthy, I’m loved because He’s good.’

The unconditional love of a parent for their children, regardless of their behavior, is proof that God gave us parenthood to teach us more about Himself. 

The last chapter of Zephaniah’s book says that God is in our midst, a mighty savior, who will renew us in His love. The second to last chapter of Isaiah wrote that God exults in His people. The prophet Micah’s later chapters tell us God doesn’t persist in anger forever, but instead delights in mercy.

It’s a repeated pattern that appears  at the end of each prophet’s book, revealing the grace and mercy of a God, who offers love and restoration. God saves the best of His grace, mercy, peace, and love for last. 

Whatever trial we may currently be facing, we can place our hope in God, who saves the best plans for  last. Like the best wine that He presented at the wedding in Cana, in His own timing, we can trust that He will turn water into wine, heal and save according to our long awaited prayers.

Lord, we believe that you are a God who saves the best for last, and we trust you to answer in your perfect timing all our long awaited prayers. Amen

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press ontoward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)

Paul’s letter to the Philippian church is a reminder that we are all in a growth process which is preparing us for heaven. No one has arrived or taken hold of perfect spiritual maturity yet, but we are all pressing toward the same goal, learning as we grow in faith and holiness, day by day through difficult challenges. The goal and prize that we are pursing is to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. 

Paul advises us to forget what lies behind in order to press on. Certain memories need to be let go of, in order to move forward. Holding on to hurtful words or offenses done to us by others, doesn’t help us toward the goal. A speaker once said that to forgive doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free. It frees our memory from storing all the offenses done to us, which replay over and over in our mind. 

It’s why ‘pressing on’ is not a one time act, but a daily action of our choice.

We also have memories of our own regrets, failures and mistakes, that replay in our mind to hinder us. If something cannot be undone, we ask forgiveness, and then we forgive ourselves. If Peter could do it, and Paul advises us to do it, so can we. 

God speaks to us through the words of Paul, to press on, move ahead, learn, grow and overcome, even through the most challenging experiences of our life. The original Greek version of this verse is saying, “Keep your eye on the prize, who is Christ Jesus.” The Greek word skopos means to scope, as in a telescope or a microscope, to focus only on what is essential to see. 

One of the most intense examples of pressing on, with telescope eyes on the prize, is the true story of the Christian singer and songwriter, Steven Curtis Chapman. He and his wife had six children but experienced a family tragedy in 2008, when their five year old daughter died, after her teenage brother accidentally ran her over, in the driveway of their home.

The little sister was so excited to greet her big brother, she took off running down the driveway, before her brother could see her. The family clung to each other and to the Lord, who helped them to cope and press on after such a tragedy. Their family grew closer in that difficult time and got the help needed for their teenage son to move on, one day at a time.

The Chapmans share their story in interviews through various Christian news outlets. Steven and his wife have no profound answers, except knowing personally that God’s grace helps us to press on. They keep their daughter’s memory in their hearts, knowing by faith, they will see her again. Their son is now a husband and father, with children of his own. The Chapman family remains united by a resilient faith in Jesus Christ.

Everyone encounters a time of despair, wondering where God is, but He is right there with us to help us press on and to keep our eyes on Jesus, our prize. The human spirit, by divine grace, can handle even the toughest things in life, through Jesus Christ, who strengthens us. 

Lord, help us to keep our eyes on the prize, knowing by faith that nothing can compare with the glory to be revealed one day. Amen

“Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

1 Chronicles 29:14 (NIV)

I have a trusted auto mechanic, whose shop is walking distance from my home. When I need anything, I can drop my car off and just walk two blocks back to my home. He is honest and reliable, and since he’s close by, he is my source for any car problem.

For several years, I’ve had a playlist of music on my phone that is synced to my car. Every time I turn on my car, my music plays through the car radio, as long as my phone is with me. One day it showed that songs were playing, but no sound was coming out. I adjusted all the knobs on my car, but nothing helped. 

So, without an appointment, my first impulse was to go to my mechanic. I explained my problem and he came out to my car. He tried adjusting the knobs for a moment, then turned to ask for my phone. I gave it to him and he immediately found what was unknown to me, that the volume button was turned all the way down. He turned it up, the music played and I couldn’t have felt more stupid.

I should have known that the phone was the source of my music playlist. The car radio was not the source, my phone was. I was embarrassed but grateful that he was kind enough to help me with something totally unrelated to the mechanics of my car. I thought to myself, there has to be something to learn through this.  The lesson of that day was, 

‘Go to the Source.’

It took a patient auto mechanic to remind me that to hear music in my car, I need to turn up the volume at the source, my phone. God is our source for our wholeness of body, mind, soul and spirit. His voice is always speaking within us, but we have to turn up the volume to hear Him. 

He’s  not likely to speak through the external influences of this world, anymore than my car radio was the source of my music playlist. We all have a volume button within, to turn up and listen for His truth, over all the noise and chatter around us.

I remember the first time in my life when I turned up the volume to listen to God. I was never interested in God until around my first year of college. I took a few philosophy courses that year and was stirred to wonder whether God exists and what the purpose of life is. I can still recall asking myself this specific question, “If there is a God, what does He expect of me?” 

That began my search, and as I turned up my volume button, my heart was opening to the source, the One who made me and knows me best. The more I listened the more signs He gave me. The first answer to my question of what He expected of me, was to receive His forgiveness and His love.

Reading scripture was one way to turn up my volume button. I read that Jesus called Himself the truth, not a truth, but The Truth. I believed and the more I prayed, He started changing me. Prayer is simply talking to God and turning up the volume to hear what He has been saying to us. It makes us less anxious, better at decision making, and lets the Holy Spirit guide and direct us. The best result of prayer is the peace we receive, which surpasses all human understanding.

I saw God in a new way since then. He is not a distant supreme being watching us to find our faults. He is a loving Father who has been calling us all throughout our lives. He always whispers and gestures for us to come closer and remain in His love. 

We have a volume button within us. When we turn it up, we will hear Him inviting us through whatever is currently happening in our life. His presence and His words in scripture are the source of comfort, healing, correction and restoration.

Lord, we pray that we will always turn our volume button up so we can hear you above all the noise and chatter. Amen

“After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely. Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks….

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose.”

Acts 16:23-26 (NET)

Paul and Silas couldn’t have been in a more paralyzing position than  sitting on a cold prison floor, after being beaten, with their hands and feet shackled. 

So what did they do? They prayed and sang praises to God, then God answered with an earthquake that shook the prison, and broke off their shackles. 

Not all shackles are made of iron.  There are invisible shackles like the shackles of spiritual oppression, fear, depression, mental health problems, or various illnesses that physically restrict and disable us.

Paul and Silas were beaten and shackled, but in their discomfort, they still praised God. Scripture calls that a ‘sacrifice of praise.’ 

(Hebrews 13:15)

Their praise got God’s attention, and He shook the earth for them. Praise brought them a joy that could only come from the Lord.

As I was flipping through channels one day, I watched a Christian missionary in Haiti, playing his guitar and singing in an orphanage. The camera focused on one little boy shown below, who was paralyzed with spastic movements, who has been bedridden since birth. 

He couldn’t run and play with the other children or dance to the music like they were, but he was dancing in his spirit. The shackles of paralysis were no match for the joy that the Lord put in that boy’s heart. God was pleased to shine His joy through the least healthiest and most feeble child among all the orphans there. He has a joy that radiates from deep within and shines through his smiling face. It’s a gift from God.

We all need that kind of joy that isn’t dependent on circumstances, good health or material things. Joy arises from gratitude. It’s easy to be joyful when everything is going great but when trouble weighs us down, we feel shackled. Paul and Silas show us that by praising God, He broke off their shackles. The Lord really loves us and inhabits the praises of His people. (Psalm 22:3)

I’ve come to realize that joy is not only a gift from God, but is our gift to God. The Lord and Great Physician, prescribed gratitude as the cure for our anxiety. “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Paul advises us to rewire our thought pattern with gratitude, by taking every thought captive, to the obedience of Christ and His promises.  (2 Corinthians 10:5) 

Paul was saying what a functional MRI and modern science confirms, that we can control our thoughts, and our thoughts do not control us. 

Choosing gratitude transforms the mind and the brain. As we tell God what we are thankful for with our thoughts and words, joy arises within us. These are lessons I am learning on days when I need to overcome a tendency to dwell on the negative. 

Praise and gratitude is the source of joy for a bedridden, paralyzed boy, and it was also the source of joy for Paul and Silas, before God shook the ground and broke off their shackles. We can choose joy by redirecting our thought patterns, and rewire our minds by offering a sacrifice of praise to God. 

Lord, give us a spirit of gratitude and praise so that you will shine through us, as you break all shackles and fill us with joy. Amen

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him.”

Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

I had an embarrassing experience recently at church. I was asked to read the scripture in place of a lector friend, who usually reads on weekdays while I usually read on weekends. 

To clarify, reading on the weekends is a little different than reading on weekdays. The weekday lector reads one scripture plus a Psalm. The weekend lector reads two scriptures, but no Psalm, because a cantor sings the Psalm on weekends.

So the friend asked me to read for her on a Wednesday. When the time came, I walked up to the podium and in front of the weekday morning crowd, I read a very long scripture passage from chapter 34 in the book of Ezekiel. The scripture was not only long, but very intense. It was about how grieved God was because of the bad shepherds, who neglected their sheep. Somehow, as I read the passage, I was feeling all the passion that God felt, and by the time I finished, I started walking back to my seat, forgetting all about the Psalm that was to be read next. 

As I started going to my seat, the priest calmly said, “the Psalm! ”

I thought, what did he just say?

Then he said again, “the Psalm!” Suddenly I stopped, realizing I forgot to read the second reading, which was the Psalm! 

I was so embarrassed and quickly returned to the podium, pulled myself together and carefully read the Psalm.

After I completed the reading and my work was done, I turned, looked at my priest, smiled and nodded, and he returned the smile and nodded back, as if to imply, ‘It’s all good.’

I was relieved that I completed the task, but was still very embarrassed at my error. 

After the service, people came up to me and said they never even noticed that I forgot to read anything, because they were still thinking about the intense first reading about the shepherds not shepherding their sheep. I thank God for such gracious and forgiving people who comforted me while minimizing my senior moment of air headedness. 

Just then, the priest came over to me with arms outstretched, hugging me, saying, “It’s okay, we’re all human.”

I was touched that he went out of his way to extend his grace toward me, especially with a hug. 

The whole thing reminding me that God approaches us the same way. After we fail in some way, He comes to us with open arms, to hug and comfort us in spirit, after our failures or sins. His arms are open toward us, as the priest’s were that day. God offers us so much grace and mercy, if we are only willing to receive it.

Some people may be too focused on their failures, but God always sees our potential for redemption, as the words of a Brandon Lake song : “I see trauma, I see worthless, but You see something You can work with.”🎵🎵🎵

The Lord yearns to work with us, to lift us up after every mistake or failure. He’s far more gracious to us than any human person could be. 

He wants to show us His love and compassion, with arms always open, ready to pour more grace upon us. 

Lord, open our eyes to see how gracious you are towards us even in our failures and mistakes. Your love overcomes all. Amen

“Even darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.”

Psalm 139:12 (NASB)

For God, the darkness and light are alike. He created the sun and moon for us here and now, but the book of Revelation tells us that in heaven there is no need for sun or moon, because Heaven is always brightly lit from the illuminating presence of God. 

We know Jesus is the light of the world, but we have heard it so much that it’s easy to roll right past that phrase and miss a deeper meaning that God is trying to reveal. By calling Himself the light of the world, Jesus shines a light on us in a special way, when we feel like only darkness is surrounding us. Dwelling in darkness means not knowing which way to turn, or the uneasy sense of not knowing what will come next. It’s any experience where we feel like we’re searching for the doorknob in a pitch dark room. 

Jesus called Himself the door as well as the light, because He lights our path and leads us through the door of renewed hope. We can put our trust in Him, as He give us a sign that He is right there, constantly beside us, navigating our way. 

In 2006, I felt privileged to work with a neurosurgeon group of four very brilliant, honest and good men. At that time it was my eighth year of working in surgery as a neurologic monitoring technologist at the hospital I retired from in 2023.

Before going to work, in those days, I used to pray for my coworkers, making a prayer list of doctors and nurses’ names, who were a part of my daily work routine. There were neurosurgical residents who would come and go, months at a time to learn under the instruction and supervision of this team of surgeons. 

I vaguely remember those residents since they would come and go every year. One young man who did his neurosurgery rotation back in 2006, was an excellent resident, spoken well of by all the surgeons. I never thought I would meet that same young resident again, but seventeen years later, he was the neurosurgeon on call for a hospital 20 miles away, where my son’s motorcycle accident happened in 2023.

When I first received the news that Jon was in a serious motorcycle accident on I-94 and suffered a skull fracture with bleeding on both sides of his brain, I headed straight to the hospital, wondering who his surgeon would be. It was an emergency surgery and the neurosurgeon on call that day, was the same man I remembered as a resident back in 2006. He was now an experienced attending physician in a group of his own, practicing at that suburban hospital. 

The surgery took three hours as he carefully removed the blood as well as pieces of bone embedded in his brain matter. Talk about going through the darkness, it felt dark enough when I first received the news, but even darker, while waiting three hours until the surgery finished. The ray of light was in learning who his surgeon was.

When I was introduced briefly before surgery, I recognized his name. My memory went back to those years prior, and I remembered that he was one of their best residents. Now he was the neurosurgeon on call that day, which is no coincidence. In the middle of such a traumatic day, the Lord shined His light through the darkness, as if to say, 

“I am here, it’s all going to be Ok.”

After surgery, the surgeon told me that he was surprised Jon did as well as he did. Due to the severity of his head injury, he wasn’t sure that Jon would make it through surgery. 

For God, there is no darkness, and if we cling to Him, His light pierces the darkness, and gives us a sign that He is with us. That sign came to me in recognizing the surgeon on call that day was the same outstanding resident I knew of seventeen years ago. 

Jon woke up from a coma two weeks later, with reactive pupils and moving  3 out of 4 limbs. He was awake with a tracheostomy to breathe through his neck, was fed through a stomach tube and still unable to walk. It’s been three years since the accident and though it has been a long road of recovery, it is not a dark road. Jesus has been shining His light from the beginning. Today, Jon breathes on his own, walks on his own, feeds himself, nods, smiles, recognizes family photos, enjoys looking at animal and baby videos, and is starting to talk. 

Whatever kind of darkness we may feel like we are in, a small ray of light is trying to shine through, and it gets brighter over time. Jesus is that light as well as the door to our renewed hope. As we invest our trust in Him, we reap the benefit of Him lighting the path that we journey on. We never have to reach out and grasp in the darkness, because He is right there holding our hand all the way.

Lord, help us to know that your light is shining on us, and thank you for being the light of the world, who opens doors that renew our hope through the blood of your cross. Amen

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

I think a lot about our hands and how we use them. A simple wave with a smile can mean so much to a lonely isolated person. We may not heal the sick or raise the dead as the hands of Jesus did, but He still sends us into the world to be His hands, feet and voice, and to do His work which He already prepared us for.

This scripture assures us that God prepared us ‘in advance’ to do good works. That could apply to any type of good work. We might end up in unexpected places or situations, but God prepared us for it in advance to do good wherever He leads us. We attend the church He sent us to, work at the job we were prepared for, and we reside in a neighborhood He meant for us to be in. He gave us the relatives and friends He wants us to have, to help and build each other up.

We not only use our hands, but our feet to go wherever He leads us. We use our voice to pray and speak words of comfort to others, who need to hear what we say. 

Although my husband passed away seven years ago, he left me the gift of his two nieces and a nephew who live only 45 minutes away. They have been like blood relatives to me, and we share holidays and birthdays together. Over the years, my niece Gabrielle and I, share a special bond of faith with reliance on Jesus, as well as a passion for reading scripture. 

Last week Gabrielle was admitted to the hospital, after having severe headaches for a week. An MRI revealed a blood clot in her left internal carotid artery, which is the artery that brings blood flow to the brain. The reason she didn’t have a stroke is because the other arteries brought enough blood flow to her brain in spite of the blockage. God made our bodies pretty amazing in that way, to keep the blood flowing any way possible.

It turned out to be a five day stay in the hospital, to treat her with blood thinners. Her headaches stopped and doctors watched to see if the heparin would do the job without an invasive surgical procedure.

She was admitted to the same hospital that I retired from, and I visited her each day, asking God how I could be His hands, feet, and voice, to help her at this time. She was naturally anxious, knowing that a clot was in such a crucial place. So my hands and feet were used to bring her lunch each day, since she didn’t care for the hospital food. My voice was used to visit and share stories with each other. Then I prayed for her at the end of each visit.

Thanks to the prayers of my friends, as well as her church friends, the repeat MRI showed the clot is decreasing and my niece was discharged yesterday. She did not require an invasive procedure, but is to continue taking blood thinners at home.

We never know ahead of time, what God has in mind when He calls us to be His hands and feet. He prepared us to do the work He calls us to do, which can mean a different thing with each person. For the past five days, all I did was bring lunch and hang out with Gabrielle. We caught up and learned more about each other than we ever did before. 

Sometimes God stops us in our hectic busyness, using unexpected situations to make us rest and just hang out with people. It gave us a chance to catch up, and talk about her childhood, her father who recently passed away, and to share some of our favorite stories with each other.

We know that we are all meant to live one day at a time and to be still and know that God is with us, and yet we move busily through our days, doing so many tasks so that we seldom stop to be still. It takes unexpected circumstances to stop, rest, relax and reminisce with those who are in our lives. Those five days were spent doing simple things, like sitting still and sharing, which was good for both of us. 

Lord, we offer our hands, feet and voice to you, and ask that you give us the grace to be an expression of your stillness and love to others. Amen

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)

When my son woke up from a two week coma after a motorcycle accident in 2023, it was apparent that he was not going to return to his previous residence anytime soon. So as his legal guardian, I notified Leo, his landlord, that Jon was medically unable to fulfill his rental terms, since he was being transferred to a Nursing Home. 

A few relatives gathered to meet me at the residence to help empty it out so that the landlord could rent it to the next tenant. It took a few trips to remove and take what we could, but none of us could take everything. So, I left Leo a voicemail message that we took what we could, and he could do what he wants with the rest. He called me right back and told me that we had to empty his place completely and the floor was to be swept clean within a few days so that he could rent it out.

It was extremely stressful to be under pressure in a landlord dispute, with more serious concerns going on at the time. I had no idea how to meet Leo’s deadline and the relatives advised me to just leave it as is and walk away, since Leo can use Jon’s security deposit for expenses.

The scripture verse today usually is applied to those who turn from unbelief to faith in God, having a total change of heart, but I learned that God can still change hearts, even without them having a life changing conversion to Christ. The Lord can change any heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, and cause one who behaves as an enemy to have a new attitude of grace and mercy. 

I set out by myself one day with a few garbage bags to remove what I could from the residence and leave it clean as Leo demanded. Knowing I could never remove the furniture, I kept asking God what to do about Leo. As I drove to the residence, I asked God to change his heart, unaware that He already did. 

I arrived at Jon’s place and as I opened the door I was shocked. It was completely emptied of all furniture and the floor was swept clean. I later learned that Leo had a ‘change of heart’, and went ahead and emptied it all out, despite his demands two days earlier.

The Lord is truly our Rock, and a stable place of refuge, for when we start feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of life. Jesus heard and answered my prayer. He changed Leo’s heart, from being hard stone to soft flesh, just as today’s scripture describes. It may sound trivial to some, but for me, it was a sign of grace, at a time when one more stressor to deal with, would have been overwhelming. 

Leo’s change of heart was not the usual kind that refers to a conversion of faith, but God can change and soften hearts in other ways too. I hope He continues to change Leo’s heart by leading him to have faith. 

Jesus, whose heart overflows with mercy, puts mercy into the hearts of others. When we see how much the Lord loves us, it gives us more confidence to fully depend on Him in every future dilemma we face.

Lord, we cast our cares upon you, asking you to change the hearts of those we pray for, and we give our hearts to you, our Rock, whose love strengthens us and gives us peace. Amen

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

John 6:9 (NIV)

I want to share an incredibly true story I heard from a priest, Fr. Dan Reehil, who speaks on various talk shows on the EWTN network. He pastors a church in Tennessee, and told a story about a nun he knows personally, who had the privilege and blessing to experience the following miracle. 

It happened in Medjugorje, a Croatian village in the Bosnia Herzegovina area. About ten years ago, her convent was asked to provide a dessert for a barbecue picnic event for 250 orphaned children in the nearby village. Other groups were assigned to bring different foods.

The nun who was asked to shop for the dessert, ordered 250 pudding cups to be delivered, unaware that she mistakenly gave the wrong date for delivery. The children arrived all excited about their picnic, but the nun in charge of dessert realized that she ordered the pudding cups for the wrong date. The only dessert she had was a sample pack of twelve pudding cups.

She frantically went to one of her  older sisters, explaining the crisis. The older sister said something that may have seemed foolish, yet very familiar. She told her to just go and put out the twelve pudding cups that she had.

So, the twelve pudding cups were placed on the dessert table, for two hundred and fifty kids. The nun dreaded watching the first twelve children take a pudding cup, while the rest got nothing. It seemed like a foolish plan, but not any more foolish than Jesus ordering one boy’s lunch to feed a multitude.

Then the nuns prayed and watched  250 children go through that buffet line, and as they came to the dessert table, they each took a pudding cup, and all 250 children ended up with a pudding cup! It was like the gospel miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes.

When the nun told this story to 

Fr. Dan, she emphasized that it wasn’t just the pudding that was multiplied, but it was multiplied in the original plastic cup packaging. He asked her why that is so significant. She said, “We now have all 250 empty cups as evidence of the miracle.”

Those empty cups are kept in the convent as relics of proof that Jesus still multiplies whatever we offer in His name, today. He once said “Let the children come to me,” because He cares about children and their needs, even if it is something that seems trivial or ordinary to us. He made sure that every child got their own pudding cup that day. 

There is a heavenly math that is beyond all logic or understanding, when Jesus takes the least among us or uses our minimal capabilities,  He multiplies it to bless many others. It’s how His kingdom on earth works. He cares about our ordinary wants as well as our heavy hearted urgent needs. Nothing is too ordinary or too heavy for Jesus, who love and cares for us. 

In hearing this story, I realized that I often pray big but expect minimal. The nuns put out the minimal and the Lord answered bigger than they expected, with original packaging and all. When faith is put into action by offering whatever we have, Jesus shows up with His system of heavenly multiplication.

Fr. Dan summed it up by saying that we might have a twelve cup situation in our lives. We may not have enough money, enough patience, enough time, or enough faith for what the next week asks of us, but the Lord is telling us to bring Him our minimal and He will multiply it and make it go farther than we expect.

Lord, thank you for being the same God today that you were years ago. We give you what little we have, and trust that you will multiply it for your glory. Amen

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God…Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Hebrews 4:14,16 (NIV)

It was December of 2023 that I applied for Jon’s disability through a phone conversation with a Social security agent. The next step was to send the application to state headquarters where a case worker would be assigned.

A resident at the Nursing Home used to tell me that no one will get disability without the help of an attorney, and he urged me to get one for Jon. I had little confidence in government systems, since we live in a flawed world, with flawed people who run those systems, but we have a perfect high priest in heaven who told us to come confidently to His throne of grace, in time of need. 

So I put my confidence in God because He still has a few good people inside those bureaucratic institutions, and if we pray, He can send the right person at the right time to help us. This is the story of how Jesus interceded from His throne and did just that.

Jon was assigned a case worker named Katherine at the state headquarters in Springfield. She was kind and diligent, and when she sent a form to the Nursing home to fill out, their answers were too vague and medically inadequate for Jon’s disability to be approved.

Katherine picked up the phone and called the Nursing facility, until she found a person with enough understanding to give her the medical information needed. I thank God for her because a more apathetic person would have let his application go through the system with inadequate information and be denied. 

Katherine assured me that she had all that was needed to get it approved and I would soon hear from the SS office near me. 

Months went by and I never heard anything so in October of 2024, I went to my local Social Security office and learned that Jon’s application was approved but was suspended because they had no information about where to send the money, even though that info was given at the time of application. 

The agent told me that a letter was supposed to be mailed to me, but they were behind in sending out letters. That explained why I was left in limbo for months, so I gave her all the information needed to finish the process and Jon received his first disability check in July of 2025. It took 19 months to move every mountain since beginning the process. 

Dealing with bureaucracies on our own is kind of like finding our way through a black hole, but we have a high priest in heaven, with all authority over this world. He heard my prayers and sent the right person at the right time, to help finish the job. 

We cannot place all confidence in people or government institutions but since our citizenship is in heaven, (Philippians 3:20)

we can put our full confidence in Jesus, the One who sits on the throne, to help us in our time of need.

Lord, our hope and confidence is in you, and we bring our petitions to your throne of grace, trusting in your help in time of need. Amen