Transforming lives

Lay apostles never cease to amaze me.  People involved with this apostolate are moving mountains and transforming lives.  This morning I received an email from my dear sweet friend Crystal at DFOT.  She forwarded me an email from a lay apostle in India, Sunny George.  Sunny introduced the lay apostolate in Manipur, North East India last October to over 2,000 students at Don Bosco College.  Sunny gained firsthand experience of the enemy's spiritual warfare on this trip.  Plagued with acute headaches during his stay, nothing was going to stop him in spreading the messages from heaven.  The headaches subsided when he left Manipur.  This weekend, Sunny will be presenting the lay apostolate to a group of students in Kuttikanam.  Here is his email requesting prayers for this retreat:

"I am so glad to let you know that a weekend event (retreat) has been scheduled for the college students. The program will begin on this coming Friday (24) and will end on Sunday afternoon. The venue is Spirituality Center, Kuttikanam, a two-hour drive from my home. Around 80 students are expected to attend. We have planned to use the messages in the Volumes, especially Two and Six, along with Young Adults booklets for reflection and study. There are much to do in the next couple of days. We need more prayers. I am counting on you and the prayer Warriors in the Apostolate!"

Thank you, Sunny, for your faith and enthusiasm in spreading the messages from heaven!  Prayer warriors, please pray for the success of this retreat (and Sunny's health!).

In the Gospel today Jesus tells His disciples of the great suffering and rejection He is facing in the coming days.  I can imagine the confusion and panic the disciples must have felt hearing Jesus speak these incomprehensible words.  Then Jesus adds that in order to follow Him, they must deny themselves and take up their crosses on a daily basis.  They loved Jesus, so of course they endured any obstacles in their way to follow Him.

In the November 2007 Monthly Message, Jesus comforts by saying:

"My beloved apostle, I understand your struggles. You are becoming holier and yet you do not think you are making progress. Dear one, can you accept that the holier you become, the more holiness you crave? Can you accept that the more you become aware of your own flaws, the more willing you are to accept flaws in others? I am at peace that you are coming to know Me better. Each day brings growth of some kind for you, even if that growth originates in mistakes acknowledged and corrected. I understand you, dear apostle. I know that on some days you are ready for the battle of holiness and that on some days you feel you are not strong enough for the battle. This is what I want to tell you. You rise each day and pledge your allegiance to the Father. This commitment of your day insures that your Father takes you each day in the condition He finds you. Each weakness is used to increase your humility and illuminate for you the path to transformation. Do not become discouraged by the need for improvement. If you but continue on the path you have embarked upon, you will experience greater holiness. It can be no other way because those who pledge allegiance to the Father are cared for in every detail. Our greatest goal for you is holiness because only in holiness will you find peace and joy."

Did you pick up the cross of loneliness today and feel comforted knowing Jesus was by your side?  What about the cross of physical pain?  Did you offer up your suffering for the suffering Jesus endured?  And what about the cross of past mistakes?  Did you let go of them today finding refuge in our Saviors forgiving arms?  Remember, in order to follow Him, we must accept our suffering with the knowledge Jesus is right by our side, in our hearts and ready to comfort us.  All we have to do is pray.  He is waiting for you.

Thank you, Lord, for reminding me to strap on my cross every morning, knowing You are helping me carry the load. 

God bless,

Bonnie