Please God, I know your miracles, and I see your blessings in the lives of those I love, even those who remain distant from you.

Please God, hear my sincere prayers. Please God, save them, deliver them from their struggles. Let rain your blessings.

I do not believe there is punishment in the Kingdom of Heaven. No, there is only change, and change, though we do not always like it, is the greatest evidence of God's design.

God, please deliver those I love from the evil of their own imperfections. Please God, protect them from the sins of others, from selfish intentions and honest mistakes. Please God, forgive them on my grace, because they do not know you, and it is not their fault. Please God, be a Father to them as You are to me, because that is my humble request. Show them Your unconditional love. Save them.

Mistakes

Mistakes. We all make them. In fact, mistakes probably make up the majority of our lives....

but try not to make the same mistake twice...

try to avoid negative patterns of behavior...

Every mistake is an opportunity for growth. However, to grow, you have to overcome your flaws and faults.

Laziness is a cause for mistakes. Pride, envy, gluttony, lust, wrath... all of these are causes of mistakes.

A mistake, in a sense, has less to do with external forces and more to do with our internal qualities. Fix the inside to fix the outside. Try to know yourself. Every mistake you make is a marker of your spiritual path, your progress, and those obstacles that still hinder you.

Remember, we all make mistakes... but with God, all mistakes are turned to blessings. God knows we are flawed. God is that which takes what is random and creates the miraculous. Don't worry too much about previous mistakes... but be sure to put them in God's hands, and all will be made perfect again.

There is no limit to forgiveness. You can ask for it... but you already have it by default. God doesn't blame you for that which is beyond yourself.

In a sense, it should be comforting... and horrifying... to know that the only person you're letting down is your own self.

On Miracles

A miracle is a state of mind.

Why do we not receive miracles? And when we do, why do we doubt what they are?

To receive miracles, to see miracles, to attract miracles into one's life, we must be open, observant, attentive, and patient. We must also begin to see the world differently. We are jaded by what we see every day: a plant, a bus stop, the sky, the ground, our own hands. We see these things and rely on them as physical attributes of our reality, and yet it is rare that we stop and think about them. The more one learns about matter, science, and the make up of reality, the more one sees that just the existence of everything around us is a miracle. Our very lives are miracles. And yet, when we pray, we can't help but doubt God and worry and trouble over our own prayers -- will God grant me what I am asking for? Will God save me from this situation? Will God help me? Will God send me a miracle? If God doesn't answer my prayers the way I want them, does that mean God doesn't exist? Or that God doesn't love me?

It is easy to pass off a miracle as coincidence, just as it is easy to pick only certain "miracles" to pay attention to. We make rules in our minds: its only a miracle if it can't be explained by nature, its only a miracle if it involves saving someone's life, or seeing an angel, or hearing a magical voice, etc. Stop seeing miracles as limited to only certain qualities. God is nature; of course a magical being of light is not going to burst out of thin air and grant you three wishes. God doesn't need to do that. God is the universe, God is the world, God speaks through the world and moves through the world; God doesn't need to break His own laws of nature to bring us miracles. Nature is the miracle. Logic is the miracle.

God wants us to understand Him; that is why God brings us miracles in logical, natural ways. God is saying -- Here I Am. Look No Further. I Am Under Your Two Feet. If God really wanted faith to be confusing and terrifying, God would send down legions of unexplainable blessings that would awe and astound us, and make us feel entirely disconnected from our own Creator. God does not want us to be afraid, but to realize our own relationship and intimate connection to Him. God wants us to discover the presence of God within ourselves and everything around us. That is the reason why we are here.

So when you ask for a miracle, have faith. We are tiny creatures so entangled in this reality that we can't see it for what it is. God is thinking, feeling, and consciously interacting with you every second of every day. Your life is the most intimate journey you will ever have with God, who is sharing your thoughts, your hopes, your dreams and desires. When you ask for a miracle, prepare yourself to receive one by reminding yourself that all miracles come by natural means, and that its okay that miracles are a part of nature, because nature is God.