Everything Happens For A Reason! 3-30-25

Welcome to the word for the week. Everyone wants to win the game, race, or event. Not everyone wants to put in the time to practice or train. Everyone wants good things to happen to them in life. Not everyone is willing to wait for those things to happen. Everyone can say anything if they choose to. Not everyone can actually do things. The point to all of this is that it is easy to wish for something to happen. It is easy to hope that something happens. It is easy to dream something happens. But, it is not always easy to make something happen. We can be honest in this first paragraph and cut out any of the suspense. It will take God to make everything in your life happen. Now we can go further.

This week is a transition between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter of the year. This is the time to dig even deeper into being consistent in your life. However, you will have to address the things that are a hindrance to you. It is not an accident if you are still struggling with consistency right now. It is not strange if you are trying to figure out what to do about that. We are fighting an enemy that will do everything he can to hinder us and frustrate us. The race is not given to the swift but to the one who can endure. So here are some things to think about. Can you endure waiting? I am talking waiting and it feels like there is not one sound of response coming your way. I am talking about waiting to the point where everything feels empty around you. No, it does not feel good. Yes, it is working for your good.

Your toughest moments in life have also done you some good. The thought of some things you have gone through in your life may still make you feel a certain way but they have worked for your good. Sometimes, we only learn how treacherous some people can be after we have been hurt. Other times we only learn the value of being left alone when we realize it has drawn us closer to God. Suffering is a part of this journey. There are far too many people simply talking about the good and not doing enough to actually try to prepare the people of God for the struggle. This journey will cost you in some way. If you can go through this journey without ever shedding tears, without feeling alone, without worrying about something before you learned to trust God, and without wondering if you are on the right pathway with God then you are not one the right journey. This hurts at times!

I have learned one thing that has helped me countless times and that is to ask God what lesson is coming out of what I go through. Nothing just happens so we have to get to the point where we wake up and learn. Something you are going through today will help either you or someone else down the road. You learn to trust God when you run out of options on what to do. You learned to pray when you had no one else you could talk to about you. Your life changed as you grew from your storms. Your outlook on life finally got in the right place after you made it through what seemed to be impossible. You learned God was a present help when no one else but God could help you. Your storms have birthed strength in you. The dark days made you appreciate the light of Christ. The silence taught you how to hear God’s voice. Some of the things you may wish never happened needed to happen for you to be who you now are. Just think who you might be if God never allowed the weight of those storms to bring pressure in your life. The point this week is to look back over your life, see how far you have made it, and recognize that now is the time to do better with God. Let this second quarter of the year be a turning point for good in you!

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you in His grace,
Bishop Carlos J. Lennon