“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28-30)
In His Image
Friend, consider the lilies. If God dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor, and He watches over every sparrow, how much more will He clothe you and love you? It can be easy to have worries about what our future may hold, especially while being on the road and away from home, but the Lord reminds us that there is no need to worry. The same God who is taking care of you today is the same God who will take care of you tomorrow and all the days to follow. As people who are created in His image and likeness, how much more does He love us if He takes such precious care for all of creation?
Our Worries
Being on a discipleship team, I often find myself worrying about the future and how I could possibly be able to accomplish certain things. Many times I might ask myself “am I making a difference in this youth’s life?” or “what if this event doesn’t follow through?” and “is the Lord actually working through me in a way that will genuinely impact the youth and this community?” Yes, I have had a number of plans fall through, youth have canceled on me, and I’ve experienced rejections to personal invitations to an event or hangout. As hard as it is, or at least can be, we have to be persistent in our obedience to the will of God. Isn’t it so amazing to think about how God knew from the beginning of time where we would be in our lives right now? We must be confident in His Word and promises, that He will not abandon us, but yet we should abandon ourselves completely to Him.
The Beautiful Hands of Christ
“Our heart is restless until it rests in you” –St. Augustine
I often feel restless in my search for peace, but peace is attainable when we have confident abandonment in our Creator. One of my favorite song lyrics is “my life is in the hands of the Maker of heaven”. It is so beautiful because the Lord’s hands that were pierced at Calvary are the same hands that opened up heaven for us. They are the hands that work in between the priests’ at Mass as he consecrates the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood. If He does all this, why wouldn’t He provide the same for you and I, His beloved children whom He formed in the palms His own hands?
God’s Abundance
The Lord does not wish to give us the bare minimum, but He desires to overflow us with abundance. He, in and of Himself, is enough. We recall in John 10:10 “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Truthfully, His plan is and always will be better than our own.
He Knows What He’s Doing
I never imagined myself taking a year off from college to become a missionary, living with a group of strangers in Illinois, on the opposite side of the country from where I’ve always lived and grown up; but having been on the road for a while now, and with the work that God has done in my life, NET is something I can’t imagine never doing, and I can truly say I don’t regret it one bit. Road grace is real my friends. In our “yes” the Lord can and will do so much through us in ways we least expect, and it is one of the most beautiful things.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Team 13 – Geneva, IL
Carisma, Jordyn, Steven, Hannah, Yuliana, Jeffrey, and David
