It Matters to God

I love nothing more than a deep convo with a good friend. Inevitably, at some point in the conversation, they’ll share something they’re going through – a suffering in their life, an annoyance at work, a personal situation, or some other difficulty. My response is often, “Ugh, that’s tough. I’ll pray for you!”

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What always strikes me is the response. Quickly, and almost in a panic, they’ll respond: “Oh no, there are so many more important things going on in the world. This doesn’t matter.” But the truth is that it does matter – it matters to God. And so, I will pray for them, and for the situation, because God is always hearing us and responding to us.

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I feel so strongly about this because I have been that friend, the one who shrugs off prayers in the shame of complaining about what seem like small potato problems. And I think sometimes the reason we push away those prayers, the embarrassment we feel when someone offers to “offer it up” for us, comes from our own battle with hope. We struggle to truly believe that God is interested in our little problems. He’s got a whole lot to do – why would He want to get involved in this mess?

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But the truth is that He is already quite involved. He has counted every hair on our heads, He loves us more than we love ourselves. It can be tempting to think our problems or struggles or dreams are too small for Him, but those are precisely the parts of our hearts He wants the most! A good, loving father wants to delight his children – even more so our perfect Father in heaven!

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One of the biggest temptations of the interior life is to fall into a routine, to forget the incredible gift and overwhelming miracle that is communicating with the divine, the Creator of heaven and earth. For any of us who are striving for a consistent prayer practice, I often find that we (read: I) need reminders of God’s nearness and responsiveness.

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God wants to be near to our hearts, He wants to know everything that we are thinking: our worries, fears, dreams, hopes, and longings. He knows everything about us (He created us), but He still desires our invitation to engage with Him in prayer. It delights the Father’s heart when His children approach Him!

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Two prayers that come to mind that help me with this:

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First, one of my favorite lines of the Litany of Trust that I pray over and over: That you always hear me and in your goodness always respond to me, Jesus I trust in you.

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Second, Jesus’ own words when he arrives in Bethany to the news of Lazarus’ passing: “And Jesus raised his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.’” (John 11:41-42)

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Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know you always hear me. Woah, those words cut right to the depths of my heart. It’s a place I ask God daily to help me grow in the trust and confidence that He is always hearing me. And He’s hearing you, too.

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I pray for all of us this week, that we might live in the joyful and hopeful expectation of God’s constant responsiveness to us!

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In Christ,

Jane

What I’m loving lately….

Podcast Episode 97: The three enemies of surrender

• This is the Lent of the Surrender Novena, and we love to see it! Why is it so popular? I think it’s because many of us struggle with three major enemies to surrender: perfectionism, activism, and control. Tune in here on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

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​C’est La Confiance​

Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on St. Therese had me DOWN. Holy moley, it’s good. You could probably read it in 20 minutes but I split it over a few days to really let it marinate. It’s free online, here!

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​St. Joseph Novena​

This started on Sunday, but it’s not to late to catch up. St. Joseph is the patron of work and husbands and we just love him so much. His feast day is March 19 (next Tuesday!). There are many great prayers, here’s one that I love.

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Rita Simmons’ Poem “The Miracle of Belief”

I loved this poem and wanted to share; I think it goes so nicely with the meditation above!