Faith of Catholic Woman on Mother Mary Tested

 

A woman left $40,000 worth of coins at the Shrine in Emmitsburg, MD while she took a vacation.  She hid it under the trees but  when she returned she asked the Director of the Shrine if there was anyone who found it.  It was typical for them to receive cash donations from generous faithful.  It did not surprise them at all.

This is an example of  Catholic faith to the Mother of Jesus.  However, for non-believers this is pure fanaticism or ignorance.  Yet, Mother Mary did not forsake her daughter’s trust.  The coins were kept and returned.  You can seldom see this act nowadays.  Yet, this is normal for genuine Catholics to do.

Read the article here on “Mystery Woman Gives $500 Cash to Family in Need”.  It speaks of the same child-like submission and trust that God will provide.

 

BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER: COMMON SENSE APPROACH

This article “Borderline Personality Disorder: 5 Ways to Help a Loved One Heal” is a must read for both borderlines and non-borderlines.  After writing articles on Borderline Personality Disorder for a year, I have realized that I have warned many people already about this disorder.  Even if I was misunderstood by many sufferers of Borderline Personality Disorder, I was hoping one day I will be inspired to write an article to help their loved ones deal with them.

Through Divine Inspiration, I was able to grasp the sufferings of Borderlines.  I have understood the plight of their caregivers and those who loved them on one side and the pain of many Borderlines.  Though the enemy can easily turn around an illness to its advantage, I have realized that the real issue is the “enemy” itself.  There is a spiritual dimension to any illness or disorder.   The enemy can easily use the sufferings of people to tempt them.

I will not convince an atheist and get their approval for this but I firmly believe that non-Borderlines can co-exist with Borderlines if there is a genuine commitment to Divine Healing.  There must be a choice for a Borderline to consider healing and on the other side, a choice for the caregiver to  help the Borderline loved one.

I hope you will enjoy this article.  Click it here.

For my past articles on Borderline Personality Disorder, read here:

Moms with Borderline Personality Disorder

9 Signs Your Girlfriend Might Have Borderline

Personality Disorder (BPD)

5 Powerful Tips to Deal with “I Do Everything in the House” Statements by Your Wife

Mother’s Day and Borderline Personality Disorder:

When Mom’s an Emotional Terrorist

The Scariest Aspect of Borderline Personality

Disorder (BPD)

10 Ways to Handle a Difficult Ex ? Focus on

Borderline Personality Disorder

Trauma in Children

The book “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog” by Bruce Perry is an excellent read to understand trauma in children.  It substantiates several important strategies to healing.  I’d like to make an article on it but basically for my notes the following are what I got from the book:

1.  Healing happens not in therapy but in relationships.  One must strive to put  traumatized children in healthy and loving worlds.  These children must learn to trust again and feel safe.

Read article on“Development Trauma Disorder: Next High Profile Mental Issue”

60 Articles Published

I have published 60 articles to date.  And, I have reached 118, 000 viewers.  I get an average of 500 viewers a day.  Not bad for a mother of 9 children.  Where do I find the time?

I think my project management training has prepared me for this vocation.  I am good at delegating jobs.  However, unlike other people, I know the required specific task to accomplish a certain outcome.  For example, if I want my bathroom cleaned, I break it down to specific modules.  For each module, I identify the tasks involved.  Then, I type it in lightning speed in my iMac.  I print it.  I assign it to the appropriate person.  In my case, I am referring to my children.  They tick off each task that they finish.

In my mind, even before I assign a task, I have a fairly good idea how long each task would take.  So, I have an estimate if they perform well, they can finish it in “x” amount of time.  Yet,  my planning takes into consideration some contingencies.  It includes possible distractions and  low productivity.  So, I always have a plan B and sometimes a plan C.

However, in a typical day, my priority is the education of my children in the home environment.  I make sure that they are on task.  While my 3 year old is sleeping (until 9:30 am), I go my Internet browsing and read emails and do my blogs.  When he wakes up, we eat breakfast and my day never stays the same.  Sometimes, he gets interested in playing that I can steal some time to read.  Other times, I am drawn to my bookshelf and I read while standing up.  Most often, I read books to my toddler.

My children are trained to go to me and log on their attendance sheets for each subject.  I also let them shout what number they are on their math.  I let them read aloud.  I do random checks.

I can always find time to check my emails unless I go into a “cleaning mode” which is not often as I would like.  I can live with a mess until I cannot live with it.  Yet, I take pride in the way I clean if ever I can find the time to do so.  If the kids are diligently studying, the only mess we have in the house is kitchen and the entry way.  Otherwise, the rest of the rooms are in “ok” and acceptable condition.  But, if they are fooling around and I am not fast enough to  catch it because I am busy, then it is a “disaster”.

Well if you have time, please browse my articles at Associated Content, my viewers has made it possible for me to use that income to buy more books for my family.  Read my articles in this link:  here or Mrs. Treasures

 

A Conversion Story – Seventh Day Adventist to Home

I came across this beautiful letter of a Catholic convert and how he was led to the Catholic Church.  He spoke of how he was drawn to go to mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart in Washington, DC and how God revealed Himself.

Sometimes, God will go into the supernatural level to call you.  Many times, He will knock at your door in the human level.  The deciding factor is how open are you going to be in receiving His plan for you.

Dear Jeanette

Dear Jeanette,

My dear sister, it was with sorrow that I missed George’s wedding. I do love you and your little ones, and I hope your trip was relaxing and enjoyable.

As you know, there’s been a dramatic change in my life and this letter is long overdue. Hopefully, in these few short pages, I can express to you the immense transformation I’ve undergone, and the ways the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit have become intimately known to me. You already know the Scriptural and historical reasons for my conversion to Catholicism, so I won’t repeat those. But a true conversion is more than just intellectual; it must also involve the heart. For that reason, I want to tell you how Christ brought me emotionally to His Body, the Catholic Church.

As you know, over the last several years, I found myself unable to worship within the Seventh Day Adventist setting. Their anti-intellectual attitude turned me off, in addition to their pro-choice position on abortion (communicated in the church paper, Review and Harold, October 1992). While I rejected the Adventist faith, I nevertheless loved Jesus very much. My heart ached to go to a church, but I wouldn’t step into a house of worship unless I could be sure they had the full truth. When you worship in a church, you’re endorsing the beliefs of that body, and I couldn’t do that if I wasn’t sure those beliefs were right. Jeanette, I’d cry and cry and beg God to let me know the truth. I’d always pray the Lord’s prayer – sometimes that was all I could pray. In my mind, I imagined Jesus on the cross, and I called out to Him. But I couldn’t go to church, because I didn’t know how to worship this beautiful God as He deserved. (Hear the pain and tears; I’m crying.) I knew Jesus must be worshipped in truth and holiness, but I didn’t know how.

Christ showed me on Christmas Eve, 1992.

 

The intensity of Christ suffering weighed down upon me. As I was filled with love and longing for Jesus, I sensed an intense pain of separation from Him. My heart was overcome with a feeling of impurity and unworthiness. “Oh Lord, cleanse me, purify me, make me worthy!” I cried out. And then He spoke. “That is why I have given the Eucharist.”

As you know, I’ve been studying philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. On the campus of the university sits the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, an enormous and beautiful Catholic church. As Christmas approached, I felt the distinct call within me to spend it at the Shrine. I arrived Christmas Eve to attend the concert and midnight service, but found the church packed with people. There was no seating, so I stood in the back. After a short time, feeling uncomfortable and wanting to get away from the crowds, I wandered around, looking for a quiet corner.

My search took me downstairs, into the empty lower level of the Basilica. There, I found the large crypt church, almost half the size of the huge upper building. I wandered through the dimly lit church, sitting down in the second to last pew. This was what I’d been looking for: a quiet, solemn place in which to pray. Peace and silence surrounded me, and I began to pray fervently for guidance in my spiritual life. I raised my eyes and saw far ahead of me, a silver crucifix, almost hidden in the flickering candlelight. As my gaze settled upon it, the crucifix began to grow. Slowly, slowly, it got larger – appearing to magnify in size and shape. Soon, it’s breadth overwhelmed me, filling my eyes. As it continued to grow, I felt as though I were at the very foot of Christ’s cross. I knelt, head down and eyes closed, but still, the image remained in my sight. I could see nothing but Christ and Him crucified. The intensity of His suffering weighed down upon me. As I was filled with love and longing for Jesus, I sensed an intense pain of separation from Him. My heart was overcome with a feeling of impurity and unworthiness. “Oh Lord, cleanse me, purify me, make me worthy!” I cried out.

And then He spoke.

“That is why I have given the Eucharist.” At these words, the silver crucifix returned to its size and place in the crypt, and my sight returned to normal. I felt both relief and confusion – both a sense of ultimate reality and, later, the unreality and irrationality of the experience. I wasn’t sure just what the Eucharist was, but I knew God was telling me about something I needed desperately to have.

After much prayer, I felt called to describe the experience to a Catholic friend of mine. He outlined the Church teaching regarding Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. His explanation helped me understand what Christ told me in the crypt. We’re purified and made worthy by the Body and Blood of the Lord. My mind flashed to John 6:53: “‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’” The Catholic teaching made perfect sense, and it grew in my heart. I wrote in my journal:

Christ’s love at the cross covers us as with a mantle. We stand accepted by the Father according to Christ’s grace and holiness. By the acceptance of Christ’s sacrificial love on the cross, we grow to stand accepted in purity before God. Forgive my presumption, Oh God! I’m humbled by this very thought and am too impure to express it. This purity isn’t my own, but Christ within working out His will in the purification of my life, that I might stand uncovered before the perfection of God. Purify my soul, my Lord and my God.

Jesus had answered my prayers, Jeanette. He showed me how I could worship Him in spirit and in truth. How could I refuse Him? On April 11, 1993, I entered the Catholic Church, becoming a part of His very Body. Since then, I’ve finally known the joy of God-given worship. My Christ has continued to guide my life, and I will always rejoice in His Presence. Where the Eucharist is, He is. And where He is, I must be.

May God bless you and bring to you love and peace,

 

SOURCE:  http://www.envoymagazine.com/backissues/3.2/story1.html

God Calls Us Not to Be Successful but to be Faithful

Mother Theresa of Calcutta was once asked how she can feel successful when she had just fed a few thousand.  Globally, millions are suffering from poverty yet Mother Theresa tells us ” God did not call us to be successful, but to be faithful.”

As a parent, it is very easy to be frustrated when our children seem to be in eternal bliss in  their uncaring ways – their lying, not doing their chores, constant bickering and the other endless “childish” misbehaviors.  We just want to hold our arms up high and scream “I give up!”

Yes, give up.  But, give it up to God.  When you have done your best for you child and your child continues to err, do not hesitate to bless them and give them up to God.   Put your children in “God’s Hands”.

For articles on raising kids, read the following:

Tips to Handle a Difficult Child

Who Else Wants to See the Pope

Raising Your Teen and What You Want to Avoid

 

 

The Peace that Comes from God

Everyone strives for laughter, joy, a general sense of well-being.  It is as if this is a human tendency.  However, what drives this quest for happiness?  It seems that there is never enough.

God put these feelings in us so we can search Him.  The more you seek God, the greater understanding you will have of God’s ways. Thus, it will bring you so much peace.

You might like to read “How to Overcome Loneliness”

Is your wife being difficult?

Your wife may be suffering not from PMS but a disorder called Premenstrual Dysphoria.  It is very easy to detect but you are too immersed with your own male ego.  She is difficult and you cannot take it.

If a husband would be patient enough to know about Premenstrual Dysphoria, you can deal with your wife when she turns into an emotional monster.

Find out how in my article “Premenstrual Dysphoria:  How to Survive Your Difficult Wife”.

 

Homeschooling is exciting

Homeschooling is keeping me very busy this week.  Coordinating 8 children’s school work is not easy but at least my curriculum makes it less tough.  I am able to focus on researching other educational opportunities for the children like on the job training opportunities, volunteer, museum visits, mountain travel and other things.  I also get distracted reading what my children are reading just to stay ahead of the game.

Check out my articles on homeschooling.

Public School versus Homeschooling:  Which is Better?

A Self-Teaching Method in Homeschooling: Robinson Curriculum

Happy Halloween

My older kids will volunteer this afternoon at around 3:30 in Church.  Then at 6:30 pm, we will all go “Trunk or Treat”.

My kids will be Goliath (6 feet 17 year old teen), David (8 year old boy), St. George the Dragon Slayer, St. Dymphna,  an angel, a cardinal, a knight crusader.

If you are on a budget, the easiest Halloween costume to make is a priest.  You just need a black shirt and a white shirt (with buttons at the back) and a string/sash.

Check out my article “Last Minute Halloween Costumes”.