Luke 17:6 (seeds of faith, spiritual wounds)

Welcome God every morning before your work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com). All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

If you have faith the size of a mustard seed... Luke 17:6

Living Faith snippets: "This exchange between Christ and the apostles resonates like a parent's response to the demands of a willful child. The child pleads, "Give me more," but the patient parent gently counters, "Use what little you already have." Trust coupled with faith encourages our good actions and acknowledges that God retains control of every situation, no matter how overwhelming. Faith is life-giving. The more we rely on it, the more resilient we become. As we grow, we see our own seed, and seek to share the faith with others [healing spiritual wounds]. Merciful and mighty Savior, strengthen my faith." by Phillis Harris-Brooks

Pat nuggets:

* In the Chemists For Christ Bible study last week, we discussed how people often leave Church because they realize that it is filled with sinners. This would be like leaving a hospital because it is filled with sick people. God cleans his fish after he catches them! The Church/hospital comparison is further supported by the medical red cross symbol. With evangelization, we do spiritual buddy care in the field (pray with someone on the spot), help with spiritual surgery (faith community), and sometimes call a spiritual ambulance (pastor, etc)...as we work to heal our own and others sin wounds (self inflicted and by others).

* Stores already have "Holiday" decorations up...which motivated me to put the "Keep Christ in Christmas" magnets back on our cars. As we plan how we will spend money at Christmas, let's remember that St. Nicholas (the real Santa) gave to children and the needy. Just a couple years ago my extended family (parents, 3 brothers, sister in law) decided to only buy Christmas presents for the children in our family. The money we would spend on Christmas presents for each other was combined and given to those in need: troubled teens home (2006), homeless shelter (2007). Although we don't receive as many material Christmas presents, we receive more spiritual Christmas presents!

ProLife news: http://www.lifesitenews.com/

* In response to ProLife setbacks from the election, Joel Cain posed this question, "will we now pray more or less?" The Saints realized that tough times were a blessing because they prayed more and were therefore closer to God.

* According to a recent article, http://www.newsweek.com/id/167211: "While just more than 50 percent of Americans call themselves pro-choice, according to recent polls, just over 40 percent call themselves "pro life"—numbers that have not changed much in a decade. Among the very religious, though, opposition to abortion remains as strong as ever. Seventy percent of evangelicals who go to church weekly or more oppose legalized abortion. For Roman Catholics, the number is 60 percent." Chad Livingston mentioned in his C-O-U-G-A-R-S Daily devotion that "true Christians are in the minority." Are true Christians a subset of the 40% of American that calls themselves ProLife? Christ said the road will be narrow...

Our Prayers: Prayer to End Abortion, chastity, our enemies, our troops, natural disasters, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, loss of loved ones, lack of faith, for President-elect Obama.

* Let's pray that We The People of America (the beacon on the hill) will shine Christ's Light and build a culture of Life. Let's pray for courage to build relationships and talk about ProLife.

* NEW: My brother Joe Castle (medical concern)

Feast Day (St. Leo the Great): http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=299

Faith Quote: "As you grow in relationship with me, what you do will simply reflect who you really are." God speaking in fictional book The Shack by William P. Young

Through Christ for ProLife,
Pat
Phil 4:13

* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml. Reflection on readings at http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that takes our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, judgment, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).

* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might lie as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa.
* Evangelization: Let's make room for non-believers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.
Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!