Day 5: Meditations on the Joyful Mysteries: The Presentation of the Lord
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God’s greatest gifts, I’ve found, often come to us wrapped in the ugliest, nastiest, smelliest wrapping paper imaginable. They show up on our doorstep, unwelcomed, uninvited, and unwanted. And God looks at us and asks us, “Do you trust me?”
What we say to that question determines the outcome of our lives. It affects the flow of salvation history.
At 23, I found myself drowning in an ocean of financial problems I didn’t know how to solve and didn’t even know if they could be solved. Rather than turning to God for help, I looked at my own limitations. I allowed my hope to be swallowed up in an abyss of my own emptiness.
I stared at a bottle of pills, wondering just how many I’d need to take so I didn’t have to spend another day struggling for everything I got. I thought about my son. Who would care for him without me? I couldn’t think of anyone I’d trust to take over his care for me – not even my husband.
Then came the thought that shook me out of it. “I should just take him with me.” The realization that I considered, even for a moment, taking my own child’s life so horrified me that I snapped out of my despair and made a decision. I didn’t know how long it would take or what I would need to do, but I would find a way to make my son’s life better than mine.
The first Saturday in March of 2019, I awoke from a dream shouting with joy, “I have problems! I have problems!”
God showed me, during that dream, that every problem I faced in the past and knew how to solve could be turned into a profit for today if I found the right person to pitch my solution to. Every problem I didn’t know how to solve yet provided profits for the future.
He assured me I’d never run out of problems, but that was Good News, because it meant I’d never run out of opportunities to profit. The very things that once caused me to fall into a pit of despair so deep I nearly took my own life and my son’s with me now, with God’s help, became causes for an endless celebration once He revealed the gift hidden within them.
According to an article by Dr. Greg Popcak written Thursday, August 21st, 2024 entitled, “How to raise your kids into faithful adults,” recent research shows that only 15% of Catholic kids grow up to be faithful practicing Catholic adults. That’s a problem I can relate to. My son is not practicing his faith right now.
He tells me, “I don’t like how God answers prayers.”
That’s a sentiment I can relate to given my own history. The problem of our children abandoning the faith for the promise of easier solutions promised by the world is a problem that shared by many Catholic parents. It’s also God giving us a precious gift. An opportunity, and a vested interest, in learning how to evangelize for the faith more effectively.
We can’t lecture our adult children into submission. We can’t force them to come back home where they belong. Trying only alienates them further. Like cats, the more we chase after them, the farther and faster they run.
We must find their “tuna” and use it to lure them back home to the Catholic faith. We must show them, as God showed me, how the very things they reject today are God’s most precious gifts. They’re intended to bestow eternal blessings on them and those they love.
Today, before writing this article, I planned out what I wanted to write and how I intended to promote my new blog, Loving Catholicism and the course I created inspired by the lessons God taught me about turning problems into prophets.
When I sat down to write it, though, it didn’t come together the way I hoped. Two and a half hours later, I’d written nothing usable. I slumped into discouragement, feeling defeated.
I chose, however, to turn this moment over to Christ and asked God to show me His perspective on it. YouTube showed me this video by Fr. Mike Schmitz entitled, “Gift and Mystery: Use the Gift.”
I didn’t even get finished watching the video when I realized exactly what God wanted me to understand. This moment of unwelcome, unwanted, unasked for and undesired emotional and physical pain was God’s great gift to me, a reminder of the lesson He taught me years ago.
Your problems give you a common denominator with those you’re trying to reach, whether that’s a wayward child or a discouraged colleague. Put them to use and open up to them about the work God’s done to help you turn those problems into assets rather than liabilities.
Share the journey God’s taken you on to help you unpack His goodness and learn to trust in Him. No, He doesn’t always give you gifts the way you’d like them to be given, but they are always given for your good and His ultimate glory.
One other thing God taught me, long before He showed me the gifts hidden in every problem, is that when I’m facing problems that seem so large and impossible for me to solve, stop and thank Him for those things.
Say thank you for what you don’t want and didn’t ask for because, as it promises us in Romans 8:28, “God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Rest confident knowing that, while it may not be possible for you to see it right now, this unwanted, undesired, unwelcome, and unasked for thing in your life is a great gift that God is trying to give to you.
When we thank Him in advance of our seeing, we demonstrate our faith and confidence in Him, and it pleases Him to help us see the gift sooner. We show that we’re ready to take that next step and become useful instruments in His plans. It also improves our mood and helps us remain secure in His love knowing He will not forget or forsake us.
God’s given you a ton of problems in your life. If we can say to God, "Yes, I do trust you," for each problem that shows up, we will find in them a tool to minister to the people around us. We can use them to reclaim the world for Christ.
Don’t waste the gifts. Don’t waste those problems.
If you’re not sure where to begin, sign up for my free course, Turning Problems into Prophets. It’s a self-paced online course that will train you in the skills needed to turn your past problems into tools for evangelization in the faith using the same skills required to build a successful business.
Award-winning international speaker and author, Brandy M. Miller is a Catholic revert. Raised in a culturally Catholic home, she left the faith at 16 in search of the truth and returned 12 years later when she found it right where she left it. Today, she is convinced that the Catholic Church is the cure to society's ills and is eager to help share the Gospel truth to those who have ears to hear it. When she isn't writing for or about the Catholic Church, she offers her writing talents to Catholics who would like help sharing their witnesses of Christ's work in their lives.
