God Gracious

The first step in the process of discovering the door is to recognize that we are all to some extent broken. No matter how confident that we are that we have things under control and that we can manage difficulties as they occur, the truth is that none of us is able to perform flawlessly much of the time and each of us needs help more often than we may think.

It was this realization, gained over a lifetime, that helped me to discover the door. I am now 80 years old, but joy and peace continued to illude me until recently. What changed in my life was the recognition that although I have been a Christian for years and am a believer, I hadn’t taken the steps to begin to build an intimate personal relationship with Jesus. I have now taken those steps and joy, and peace are beginning to manifest themselves in my daily life.

The first step in this process was understanding my identity. Many of us are motivated by performance as we seek recognition. God is not moved much by your performance, but he is moved by your faithfulness. Reaching this point in understanding comes about as you recognize that you are a loved daughter or son of the Father and as such are part of God’s family and God applauds the efforts you make to love him no matter the relative success of the mission he has given you.

This realization helped me to relax in my relationship with Jesus, and I gradually began to hear His voice not audibly but rather in various intriguing ways. His communications with me could be by way of a word or an image, a passage from scripture or a thought that conveyed to me how much He loved me or what he had in mind for me in a ministry endeavor. All of this arose from dedicated prayer time of about an hour each morning as I read the Gospel of the day and prayed the mysteries of the rosary. I have been careful to journal my experiences with Him over the last year and have seen my love for him increase as has the product of that love, which is joy and peace. All of this, of course, opens the door not only to joy and peace but also to the values of the Kingdom of God where love, compassion, mercy, humility and trust in God reside. The door might squeak a little as it opens but all of this is a process and we must be careful to be patient as our personal relationship with Jesus develops. As with any relationship, the key to developing that relationship is time and perseverance. We know that Jesus thirsts for the door to open. You just need to tug on it a little and He will do the rest.