Now I See

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Great to be back. Alrighty, this is a quick one. Hold on—here we go!

Gospel Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
“Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

How many miracles does Jesus do—thousands and thousands! But what I love here is this blind man sitting by a tree hearing that Jesus is coming and he just started screaming, “Jesus, Jesus, have pity on me. Save me, help me see, have mercy on me”

People are looking at him saying, “Dude, alright already. You can’t even see you’re sitting over here by a tree. He doesn’t know you’re over here. Be Quiet!”

But he doesn’t. “Jesus, son of David have pity on me.” he continues to shout. And finally, Jesus says, “Come, come here. What do you wish?” He replies, “I want to see?” And BOOM—DONE! And it’s because of the blind man’s faith!

What does that mean?

We can’t just pray when we need something, when we want something or then when we don’t get it on our timeline, we say, “Alright, I’m out. I’m done.” I did that for 42 years, I would just be a one way be ‘asking machine’ to God for a bunch of stuff. “Hey God, can you give me this job? Hey God can I pass this test? Because you know, I was out partying all night. I really can’t tell my dad I failed another course. Hey God, can you help this sick person out? Hey God, help help, help…” But that’s it and He doesn’t hear from me for a year, another six months, whatever.

That is, not faith and a consistent relationship. We put more into our relationships with our family, our husbands, our spouses, or our parents than we do with the one who created us and who is actually going to get us into Heaven if we have faith and build that loving relationship with him.

Have faith that Jesus will do things for you, especially miracles. We see Him all the time. I think I’ve mentioned this before, we have 10,000 saints in the Catholic Church, plus each one of those saints has to perform two miracles, one to be edified to be beatified, and the second one to be canonized. So God works through us, too. We can also be saints and do miracles for people. That’s what happened through Peter when he brought Tabitha back from the dead. There are so many things that can be done with God. We just need to be persistent and continue to build that relationship in prayer.

If you haven’t started, start now, but you have to ask. You have to open up the door and you have to be consistent and persistent and know that what you want may not be what’s good for you.

I remember I was praying like mad when I was early in my faith journey. I had faith. So, here I am sitting in Adoration, praying for days, months for this job. I desperately wanted this job it was a 3-month interview process. About two and a half months in, I felt this calmness from the Lord. I heard Him say, “This job isn’t for you.” After months of sitting in Adoration on my knees, begging for that job as if I would die without it, He gives me this calming peace and then I thought to myself, “This is probably not the right job for me.”

Turns out I did not get that job and hindsight being 20/20, of course, I am so happy that I did not get that job! Even though I prayed and prayed and prayed to get it. God knew it wasn’t right for me and finally told me. I remember telling my husband when I came home from Adoration that day that Jesus said, “This probably isn’t the right thing for you,” and he looked at me almost like I was losing my mind saying, “Are you kidding me? That’s all you’ve obsessed about and talked about and prayed about is getting this job and now you’re cool with it?” I said, “Yeah, I’m more than cool with it. It’s not right for me.”

And when I didn’t get the job, I wasn’t even disappointed, and that is how God works miracles in your life. While I’m not a blind person who can now see, I feel like I am a blind person who can see! I now see how to live my life with Jesus, how to pray, and how to build that relationship and grab His hand and let Him lead me. I can now see I can now hear I can now speak about our faith and it’s amazing and everybody needs this! Everybody needs this!

So be persistent, keep praying, keep asking God to help you with whatever you are struggling with and whatever needs and desires are on your heart. He’s there every second of the day. He knows what’s deep in your heart. You just have to open the door and invite Him.

That’s what you’re supposed to do this week. That is your weekly challenge.

All right. Have a blessed and inspired day. I can’t wait to talk to you next time. Take care.