Opened to Just the Right Hymn

On July 22, 2012, I was attending church with my family.  The music director, Bob Mervak, asked us to open our songbook to page 700 to sing "The Summons".  I was quite surprised that when I opened it at random, I had opened to page 700.  There were no bookmarks or bent pages to lead my fingers there.  Because it was at church, and because I had already spent 15 minutes in a prayerful way, opening myself to the holy spirit and His message to me, I took it as meaningful.  I felt as if the meaning was, "I'm here.  Pay attention to this hymn."...   



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Opened to Just the Right Bible Verse – God’s Forgiveness of our Wrongs

Sometimes when I sit down in a soft chair to settle my world by reading the Bible, I say a quick prayer to the Lord like, “Tell me what I need to hear, Lord”, and open to a page at random.  Today I closed my eyes and thumbed open to Zechariah 1:12-16.  It reads,

Then the angel of the LORD replied, “LORD of hosts, how long will you be without mercy for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that have felt your anger these seventy years?”

To the angel who spoke with me, the LORD replied favorably, with comforting words.
The angel who spoke with me then said to me, Proclaim: Thus says the LORD of hosts:
I am jealous for Jerusalem
and for Zion intensely jealous.
I am consumed with anger
toward the complacent nations;
When I was only a little angry,
they compounded the disaster.
Therefore, thus says the LORD:
I return to Jerusalem in mercy;
my house will be rebuilt there
and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.

The first thing that struck me upon reading this was that it seemed to be the precise sequel in the movie to the prequel from last week’s Sunday reading at church.   How likely is that?  I opened at random!

On March 18, 2012, the official reading of the church was 2 Chron 36:14-16, 19-23.  It’s long, so I’ll summarize.

It was the story of God’s reason for imposing The Exile on Israel and Judah.  God reminded his people of all their hundreds of years of disobeying, despite God sending several prophets to lead them towards God...



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Bible verse directly answered her dead friend's question

During August, I had resolved to read a chapter of John’s gospel a day. On the day I was due to read Chapter 16, a call came telling me one of my most cherished friends had died that afternoon.  As I hung up the phone, I repeated to my husband the question my friend had raised in the course of our last conversation.  “I wonder if all our questions will be answered when we get to heaven,” she had said, “or if we will have no more questions…”

With her words echoing through my thoughts, I went off alone.  I took my bible with me since there was still a chapter of John to read that day.  I spoke to my friend in prayer and wept for the conversations we would never have again.  I wondered if all her questions were answered, now that she was in heaven.  Finally, I opened John’s gospel to where I’d left off the day before and there I read the following verse:

“You are sad for a time, but I will see you again.  Then your hearts will rejoice with a joy no one can take from you. On that day you will have no questions to ask me.”  ...



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Brigid Geroux

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How does Jesus Talk to Us? (#2)

I went to Planet Fitness today to work out my back, since it was sore.  The place was massively crowded with the folks who made New Year resolutions.  A few of them were young ladies in tight outfits.  I say a few because at least half were people out of shape or old like me. Can you guess which exercisers caught my eye the most? 

This is an embarrassing thing to discuss.  Even to a piece of paper.   

There are two camps here.
1.  Men are like that; it's natural.
2.  The Lord does not like even a hint of lust.

I know the truth. It’s been a message He’s been trying to get thru to me since I was in my mid 20’s. I know the truth.  It’s been the one area where I’ve only progressed to a certain point and still hold out from the Lord.

After looking, then refusing to look, looking, then refusing to look, I closed my eyes. Wanted to resist.  I filled my mental space with prayer for friends, relatives, co-workers who have hard situations.  Prayed for one person quickly then another.  Started to relax. 

I wondered to myself, “Lord, I don’t question your way, but I am curious.  Since you can do anything you want with or without human intervention, why ask us to pray for others?”

Once again, the grace of understanding seemed to come. I wish I could remember the exact words, since it’s always so simple and efficient and loving.  But it was something like this: “God is Love. To be a part of the Kingdom of God, you must Love. Prayer is a form of love. You are making a contribution to building the Kingdom when you pray for others. You are displacing selfishness with selflessness. If you catch sight of a woman doing jumping jacks and see her clothed breasts moving, don’t have a selfish thought that pleases only yourself.  Replace it with a loving thought with no lust.

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