Right. Think of it as a privilege to suffer this for and with Christ. There's nothing we can feel that He didn't feel during the passion!
I am suffering to get my whole family ++ to heaven. I know and accept this but as things deteriorate, sometimes I can get overwhelmed but ‐ there for the grace of God go I
Me too Sparrow. I dont have a fraction of the cross you are carrying and I get overwhelmed. For me its a temptation to discouragement. I try to offer all of it to the Sacred Heart. Not to waste any of it but on a day by day basis the discouragement is sometimes extremely heavy.
We are at the foot of the cross with Blessed Mother. Sometimes it feels like we are ON the cross with Jesus, sharing in His sufferings. And then we get a respite when He comes to our rescue. Blessed be Jesus Christ, now and forever. He takes care of us as only a tender Shepherd can do.
I am praying for everyone & I'm so sorry for such heavy Crosses & sufferings. We unite them to our Lord's, but our human emotions are natural & we have to deal with emotions we often have to fight. This also becomes exhausting lol. I suppose it's a matter of surrendering those emotions too & God giving us the supernatural grace to endure. The faithful suffer the most & I often cry out to God why, when those that haven't been obedient to God at all are having the best time. It has been a crazy long suffering for the faithful, but I believe it will end soon. I surrender all the children to God, but I also have bouts of anxiety of what is happening to them. I don't have kids, but I'm an Aunty. When I worry God says 'If you want them to be happy, what more will I want for them!' God favours the children, so He will protect them. Things have changed so much from when I was growing up. We don't know why God has allowed all this, yes for His greater good. I wish I could start dancing with joy at how God is going to turn this all around, but for now, I deal with horrible fatigue. Baby steps tho, soon enough we'll be at the top of the mountain enjoying the beautiful view. Even tho it's taken blood, sweat, tears & vommiting to get there lol. If we don't have the strength to climb the mountain anymore- which is the majority of us - God is coming to treat us to Emirates first class champagne on arrive with all the lavish food LOL. He will carry us to our destination, wherever that may be next - for sure some R&R for running this race for toooooooo long. We also get a medal for obedience & suffering for His name. I remember Mark McLean said if we only knew what God is going to do. Mark referred to The Miracle/Era of Peace - we'd all stop working & doing our daily duties. For now, I'm finding distractions & asking God to make me detach from my sufferings & praying hard for others. At times, I try to get excited, I do for a moment, but I feel my mind can't get that far ahead. But, God is such a loving Father, He says 'Girllllll, if only you knew!!' I pray hard for the evildoers, because God is about to right every wrong. The faithful will be rejoicing & we have no idea what will happen to those who are so stinking stubborn to repent & convert. I also think when the time comes for all these calamities God will take away the emotion of fear for the faithful, since we'll be helping others & STILL trying to warn them that it's not too late to fall on their knees & repent & convert.
This is a very amazing testimony. Well worth watching. I watched the first part and have loved it. Anyone who is struggling will appreciate it.
I am sure that God is taking your sufferings and using them for the good of your family. I think the greatest sufferings appear meaningless but it is when they take on meaning that they become easy.
Ive started to write a bit about my accident- not just the physical aspects but the emotional and spiritual parts. It has been a journey of discovery that im still trying to figure out. I dont know where this writing will go... I thougt it might help my children someday. Ive come to see the accident as a great sign of God's love for me. Ive come to see suffering and tge crosses as opportunities- not that I would have picked it but God had a plan in mind for my salvation. Im still working on it but sharing fwiw in hope it might help anyone who is suffering.... Chapter 16 — The Mystery of Mercy There are parts of my story I can explain — the medical facts, the surgeries, the timeline, the physical milestones. But there is another part, a deeper part, that I cannot explain. It is the part that has nothing to do with medicine or willpower or determination. It is the part that belongs entirely to God. It is the mystery of mercy. Mercy is not logical. It does not follow the rules of fairness or balance. It does not wait for apologies or explanations. It does not erase consequences or pretend that harm was small. Mercy is something else entirely — something that comes from beyond us, something that moves through us when we are too broken to resist it. I did not choose mercy. Mercy chose me. When the young woman who hit us stood in the courtroom, trembling, alone, ashamed, I felt something rise in me that was not anger, not bitterness, not the desire for revenge — but compassion. That was not my doing. That was not my nature. That was not the man I had been before the accident. It was grace. Pure grace. Mercy softened my heart long before I understood what was happening. It prepared me for the moment when she said she hoped we would not see her as a monster. And in that moment, I knew — I didn’t. I couldn’t. I saw her as a human being, broken in her own way, loved by God just as I am. Mercy is a mystery because it does not make sense. It is a mystery because it is not earned. It is a mystery because it is not ours to manufacture. It is a mystery because it reveals the heart of God. I have come to believe that mercy is the clearest sign of God’s presence in a wounded world. It is the place where heaven touches earth. It is the place where suffering is transformed, not by erasing it, but by filling it with love. Mercy is what allowed me to forgive. Mercy is what freed me from hatred. Mercy is what healed my heart. Mercy is what allowed me to see the young woman not as the sum of her worst decision, but as someone capable of redemption. And mercy is what continues to shape me. I see it now in the faces of the officers who saved my life. I see it in the hands of the EMS crews who pulled me from the wreckage. I see it in the therapists who coaxed my body back into motion. I see it in the tears of my children. I see it in the quiet strength of Alyce. I see it in the priest who prayed over us. I see it in the doctors who fought for us. I see it in the people who carried us when we could not carry ourselves. Mercy is not a feeling. Mercy is not an idea. Mercy is a person — Jesus Christ — meeting us in our suffering and transforming it from the inside out. I do not understand mercy. But I have lived it. And I know now that mercy is the thread that holds my entire story together. --- Chapter 17 — For Those Who Suffer If you are reading this because you are suffering — physically, emotionally, spiritually, or in ways no one else can see — I want to speak to you directly. Not as someone who has figured everything out, not as someone who has conquered pain, but as someone who has been broken, afraid, and unsure of how to take the next breath. I want to tell you what I learned in the darkest season of my life. You are not alone. Even when it feels like the world has collapsed around you, even when you cannot see a way forward, even when you feel abandoned or forgotten, God is closer than your own breath. I did not always feel Him. I did not always understand Him. But He was there — in the wreckage, in the ICU, in the rehab gym, in the courtroom, in the tears of my children, in the hands of the people who carried me. He is with you too. Suffering does not mean God has turned His face away. Sometimes it is the place where His presence becomes most real. Not because the pain disappears, but because something deeper awakens — a trust that does not depend on understanding, a hope that does not depend on circumstances, a love that does not depend on strength. If you are suffering, I want you to know this: You do not have to be strong. You do not have to pretend. You do not have to carry everything alone. You do not have to understand the “why.” You do not have to fix yourself. Let others carry you. Let grace carry you. Let God carry you. There were days when I could not pray. Days when I could not move. Days when I could not imagine ever feeling whole again. But God met me in those places — not with explanations, but with presence. Not with answers, but with love. If you are suffering, I want to offer you the same hope that sustained me: Your story is not over. Not even close. There is a way through this — not around it, not above it, but through it. And on the other side, you may find a depth you never knew, a tenderness you never expected, a strength that does not come from you but from the One who loves you. I cannot promise that your suffering will disappear. I cannot promise that everything will go back to the way it was. But I can promise this: God wastes nothing. Not your pain. Not your tears. Not your fear. Not your questions. Not your brokenness. He can take what was meant to destroy you and turn it into a place of encounter, a place of healing, a place of transformation. If you are suffering, hold on. If you cannot hold on, let God hold you. If you cannot pray, let others pray for you. If you cannot see the way forward, trust that God is already there. You are loved. You are seen. You are carried. You are not alone. And one day — maybe sooner than you think — you will look back and see that even in the darkest places, God was writing a story of mercy, healing, and grace.
Miker this is so very very powerful. I think you should send a snippet of it to a Catholic publisher--it will be a great grace for others.
Saint Teresa of Avila wrote that there are three graces connected with prayer. The grace of prayer itself.. The grace of understanding prayer. The grace of explaining prayer to others. I suppose the same could be said for trauma or Great Crosses. It is wonderful you can write about all this so soon after. Many, many people never get the grace to understand , never mind write about their crosses. You remind me of something that happened to me the other night just before I went to sleep. Tears were suddenly running down my cheeks like rivers. I can't even recall why, only that it was on account of something that occurred over a half a century ago. But they were healing tears.
This is powerful, thank you for posting it. The mystery of mercy is a dimension of God that you have clearly journeyed into at great depth. Thank you for the gift of relaying your experience.
I totally get this, and appreciate that you were able to share. You have expressed this so beautifully. I especially like the ending about looking back and seeing the mercy of God. I have experienced this, and you have described it with eloquence. While I was going through my darkness, I took a walk in a nearby cemetery almost daily. I visited a tombstone upon which was written: One Day We Will Understand. I felt like Job on the dunghill looking for meaning behind what I was going through. And just recently I have been able to look back and see that God was showing me His tremendous mercy. It’s all beginning to make sense to me now. I owe a tremendous debt to Our Lady of Lourdes, as well. God has shone His Holy Face on you, Mike.
Thanks Ann.... I am putting it in prayer ... in meantime, its helping me and sharing with my kids I think helps them.
The "gift of tears" (donum lacrimarum) is such a profound grace from God! It is a beautiful physical manifestation of a spiritual reality—a heart softened by the Holy Spirit. Such a great gift and grace.
Absolutely.. You'd think if we know to pray, offer these crosses and sufferings for our families or others and try to trust in Jesus, that the temptation to discouragement may be not as frequent because we better understand. Am I wrong in thinking I need to understand why it is so hard for my loved ones? At the same time, I know there's a plan, and that God's ways are not my ways, He is in control, yet I still undergo such terrible dark discouragement.
