When you’re having a bad day, what’s really going on?
Richard Rohr** tells us the path to God and interior peace is often lined with suffering. He says “people’s willingness to find God in their own struggle with life—and let it change them—is their deepest and truest obedience to God’s eternal will. He notes that “God comes to us disguised as our own life.”
What kind of disguises? The car ahead of us stopped at the green light while the driver texts. The recurring back pain. The whining twelve-year-old. The alcoholic spouse. The pink slip. The dead transmission. The relationships, the bills, the insomnia, the anxiety, and so on. God is present in each situation, prodding us, whispering to us, gently touching our hearts, crying with us, or maybe just quietly watching us with an expression of deep love. In each stressful, painful, or desperate situation, pause and ask: “Where is God hiding? What does He want me to do?” He is always there, just waiting for you to turn to Him and renew your intention to trust Him as you try to do His holy will.
Rohr says it beautifully: “Remember, always remember, that the heartfelt desire to do the will of God is, in fact, the truest will of God. At that point, God has won, and the ego has lost, and your prayer has already been answered.”
SUGGESTIONS:
1. Savor the words: “The intention to do God’s will is the same as doing God’s will.” I don’t know about you, but these words bring me much comfort when I am not clear exactly what God wants me to do.
2. When you are stressed, angered, or irritated by someone or something, STOP, take a slow breath, and think of God—He is nearby in disguise just waiting for you to think of Him. I previously wrote about a go-to prayer that helps me be mindful of God during these moments. Read about it…it may help you as well.
God bless all of you,
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Dr. Donna Chacko promotes health of body, mind, and spirit through her website (serenityandhealth.com), her blog, and programs at her church. She is the author of the award-winning book and Amazon best-seller Pilgrimage: A Doctor’s Healing Journey (Luminare Press, 2021). You can read her full bio here.
*See full Merton Prayer included with my favorite prayers
**Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water, p. 103
P.P.S. See…God likes disguises!
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