Focus – The Call of Abraham

Focus – The Call of Abraham

I want to start with a short prayer, please pray along with me for the words I speak today in this focus to be the words of the Holy Spirit, and not my own.  Amen 

A theme that I have been thinking a lot about lately that relates to the passage we are studying today.  The theme is that, we are all called by our Lord, just as Abraham was today and Noah was a few weeks ago.  Through our baptism, we all become sons/daughters of the Lord.  He is calling each one of us to our mission, our personal calling, our part in His grand plan.

The Calling

God made each one of us for a special part in grand plan.  He calls us, and allows us to give him our “yes” or “no.”  He allows us to choose, by free will, if we want to step up to the challenge.  There are many examples of callings in the bible.  Today is the second calling we have studied.  The first being Noah’s call to build the ark.  Noah gave God his yes, and he obediently did the impossible with God’s help.  Noah wasn’t perfect, but God’s plan was.  Noah agreed to cooperate within God’s plan, and in turn he and his family were greatly blessed.  This week we have Abraham.  He is called by the Lord to leave the land of his kinsfolk and travel to an unknown destination.  Because of his love and trust of the Lord, he gives the Lord his yes.  He agrees to the task. 

In my own life, I am being called to be a mother as my vocation.  Not only to my four children, but also to two children that need a mother.  I have accepted this call and I am seeing that if I put my trust in the Lord, he will help and bless me along the way.  As we are blossoming as a blended family, I can see how our yes to this calling is opening up doors (and windows) to help others by our example:  through our neediness, our boldness in sharing our story, and the deepening of our faith, individually and as a family. 

I give the Lord my “yes” everyday!

The Help

So God call us, now what?  We are only humans, how can we do the impossible things he asks of us?  I often have to remember this verse -  Phil 4:13, 19 For You have supplied all my needs according to Your riches in glory and I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me. People often ask how I do you all that I do?  My answer is, through Christ!  It is only through super natural forces that I can achieve anything.  He started helping me before he even called me.

My husband is a cradle Catholic; I attended masses regularly with him for 13 years before I converted as a non-sacramental Catholic.  We baptized all of our children in the church.  Meanwhile, I heavily debated my conversion for years.  That is a story for another day, but I can’t tell you now I think the Lord planned for me to convert before all of our struggles began.  He knew what was to come, and He knew I would need the extra graces of the church, through the sacraments, to make it through the upcoming years.  I converted the year of 2009-2010.  I received the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation on April 3, 2010.  I became pregnant with my fourth child in July 2010, Astara, my oldest niece, came to live with us in September 2010, Liam was born March 9, 2011 (on Ash Wednesday!) and Cheyenne, my younger niece, joined our family in July 2011.  I got baptized, and within a little over a year our family expanded from a family of 5 to a family of 8.  The Lord knew I would need extra graces to achieve my part in His grand plan.

In last week’s study we had a verse that struck me in the area of the Lord’s help.  In Exodus chapter 4, God is calling Moses to lead His people out of Eygpt.  Moses doubts his ability to do the task the Lord is asking him to complete.  The conversation goes like this…”If you please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gives on man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another bling?  It is not I, the Lord? Go, then, it is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say.”  I said this in my last focus; I want to restate it, because it fits perfectly.  He calls us, he listens to our needs, worries, and doubts, and he answers us, and supplies us with all we need to accomplish his work.

I give the Lord my “yes” every day, and he supplies the help!

The Sacrifice

The call is often a cross, it is often full of suffering and challenges.  In my calling, there are many days of challenges.  I want to give up often, and I fall often.  Just like Jesus fell three times on His way to Calvary.  We have to renew our “yes” all of the time because of the suffering.  It is trough suffering that we get the closet to our heavenly father, Jesus, and Our Blessed Mother.  

I give the Lord my “yes” every day, he supplies the help, and I bear the cross.

The Reward 

Sainthood will be our reward.  A perfect world with the Holy Trinity and Our Blessed Mother will be our reward.  Eternal perfect life!  If you have ever read, listened to, or watched: Heaven is for Real, it give a vivid picture of what Heaven is like through the eyes of a child.  There are glimpse of Heaven on earth, I see them occasional when I look at a drawing from Astara’s hand, listening to Cheyenne play her cello, reading a poem that Cora has written, getting a big bear hug from Henry, laughing at one of George’s silly jokes, or seeing my baby boy Liam smile his toothy grin.  In my heart I know this is the God’s calling for my life, and I am an overjoyed that he has trusted these children to me.

Every day, I answer the call; I talk with my Lord, bear the cross he has given me, and hope for the rewards to come in Heaven.