Personal Denial

“Trials are nothing else but the forge that purifies the soul of all its imperfections.” St. M. Magdalene de Pazzi

During the Lenten season we are called to deny ourselves, to purify our soul and get closer to God. To see ourselves as we really are; weak, broken, imperfect.

Nobody like trials, we hear about people going through them and we thank God that we are doing fine. But when trials come your way there is no better thing to do but to embrace them. To run from it will only delay the resolution of the same.

Every trial that I have experienced served to forge a new dimension of my spiritual growth. God knows me better than anyone on earth and he knows what I need to get closer to him, but what amazes me is that he manages to bring good out of every bad situation in my life. I might not see it right away but with time and after the scales are lifted from my eyes I’m able to understand that the trial was only a vehicle to transform me and help move forward to do his will in my life and that of others.

Lately I’ve been preocuppied about me and my feelings, so the Lord put before me couple of trials I must endure in order to make me lift my eyes off me and onto others. I’ve been called to be strong and supportive. By giving I won’t worry too much about receiving, and by sacrificing I become stronger to endure pain and suffering. It is all there in front of me, there is no way to avoid it and I must prepare myself spiritually to endure it. I must take the necessary steps to be prepared to make wise decisions.

Right now I feel that I’m the unlikely candidate to handle the situation, but somehow I trust it will be God and not me doing so. I must step aside and let him work through me, it is only then that I’m able to do what he asks me to. If I dare try to do anything on my own I know I will fail, I must lean on him. Surrender, denial, renunciation three words that most people run away from and yet it is the essence to be strong, powerful, influential and transforming with God’s grace.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 we read: And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My stregth is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I’m weak, then I am strong.