A few of us went on a silent retreat today, and the topic of the day was Discerning our Vocations. When I first started reflecting, I wasn't sure of wher to start... but after reading some thoughts from Thomas Merton, was instead inspired to write the following prayer. I hope you might find it a useful place if you are ever thinking about your vocation!
Dear God,
Thank you for blessing me so abundantly. Thank you for my faith in You, and allowing me to trust You so completely. Please continue to bless me in this way, and protect me if ever i start to lose this faith in You.
I don't know what You want me to do with my life, but I hope You will continue to reveal this to me. Please continue to inspire me to open myself to You, so that I will be able to tell when You are speaking to me.
Please help me to know myself better: show me my strengths, so that I may continue to use these to do Your will. Please show me my weaknesses, so that I may be aware of them, and learn to love myself in spite of them. Please help me work through the many fears that I may feel as I carry out Your work. Help me to remember that with You behind our backs, nothing is impossible.
Finally, please be with me and inspire me to desire what You desire; to will what You will, so that I may be a true reflection of You in everything I do.
I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and God.
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Hi sweety,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your prayer with us. In response to this, I want to say that I believe we don't have 'weaknesses' in our character because God made us all different. We are all unique seeds and each of us are blessed with our own gifts from God. The idea of weaknesses come from people, the media and culture making us feel inadequte; conditioning us and telling us that we need to live up to their standards to fit in with them. But being a Christian means that we are definitely not going to fit in with the world, we are going to shine the way God has created us. However, I believe weaknesses are related to sins, which Jesus has granted us salvation through deep repentance. As and we repent, God will restore us and grant us a newness in life. Let's focus on being closer to God and further away from this world, loving God passionately the way we do with 'the love of our lives'.
In response to your fears, I challenge you to completely trust in God and "Do not give way to fear" (1 Pet. 3:6). God calls us to ends of the world to do His works. Awaken to the desires of your heart, you are a beautiful Christian woman and don't let anything sway that statement in anyway - you have the power of giving life, through love, from your feminine heart and you are needed in this world. "You have only one life to live. It would be best to live your own." (Captivating by John and Staci Eldridge).
:)
God Bless you! *hugs*
Hi edith,
ReplyDeleteThat's a really lovely prayer!
The last part particularly touched me,
"please be with me and inspire me to desire what You desire; to will what You will, so that I may be a true reflection of You in everything I do." To be true reflections of God, isn't that such a glorious thing that we are called to, made for!
As St Paul puts it in 2 Corinthinas 3:17-18,
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory"
Keep being a great image of God's goodness! =)