Who else is waiting for the shepherd, the wonder-worker and name bearer?

Who else is waiting for the shepherd, the wonder-worker and name bearer?

by | Nov 24, 2020 | 10x your Hope

By Jennifer Lindberg

I have some name-calling to do this Thanksgiving.
But they are the sweetest endearments–these names of God that is a family tradition of Thanksgiving.

Breath giver
Shepherd healer
Wood cutter placed on a tree with wounds carved in His side by a lance opening Grace’s to us.
Gift sender both human and divine because Christ’s sacrifice burned me into the palm of His Father’s hands, forever saved, and forever loved.
Echo maker because Christ’s life echoes through the centuries.

Even if we are bruised on the Vine of Life we are still gathered in love. If sin has made us break, has caused strife, and anguish, Christ grafts us back in as the repentant prodigal son or daughter who now mends their ways.
If upcoming family gatherings have you stressed from strife or hurts and tempts you to give vent to name calling, just don’t. Instead, grasp the names that will fill your soul to the brim with hope instead of despair, faith instead of fear, and love instead of strife. God is Immensity as Baruch 3:24 tells us.

Speak words of grace over the “nosy,” aunt, the “critical,” sister, or the “gruff” neighbor because Scripture always gets it right:

I have laid up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you. (Psalms 119:11)

I think words matter because God has names and is called the Word made Flesh. The man-God who gathers you to His heart because with Jesus you are always wanted, needed, and consoled.

You’ve heard it before. Eucharist means Thanksgiving in Greek. Our Eucharist is His body and blood of the bread and the wine, of the Real Presence. If God is for us, who can be against us?
Thankful gets “worded” up this time of year.
But that word embraces so much more. Do we ever thank God for breath, for knowing His voice, for being a sheep to follow the shepherd, for grafting you and pruning you or for the wounds of His that healed a universe?

Mountains may shake and hills fall to the ground
but (God’s) mercy shall not depart from you, or his covenant of peace shall not be removed,
says the LORD, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10

This thanksgiving I will bring out my good shepherd as the infant we are waiting for this Christmas and prepare for this Advent. Around him are names we will pick to pray about and wonder about and try to live this Advent. It is our tradition of Thanksgiving.
We will ask Him to make that gift alive in us, this name of His to help us know Him better, to strengthen our personal relationship with Him. To know someone is to know their name. I want to know God’s names to place in my heart, to whisper His names in the dark to shine the light, to know Him better, to love Him better, and to serve Him better.

Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” (Luke 22:19)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grab the free place cards to start your own tradition of Divine Name Calling. There’s too much other name-calling out there right now. Here is the antidote:
Place cards
Place card2
Place card3

The gift she gave her husband

The gift she gave her husband

by | Nov 18, 2020 | 10x your Hope

By Jennifer Lindberg

He died age 75 after three bouts fighting lymphoma cancer, a strong man battling until he lost the war, the cancer winning by spreading to his lungs. It took ten days and he was gone lightening quick.

He’d never been a believer, but his wife was, devoutly so, Catholic and persevering. She wouldn’t give up even when he scoffed. He had found a worthy wife with a heart full of precious pearls.

She prayed her prayers and said grace before meals– even when her husband ignored those prayers and started eating before she finished them. She kept on, going to Mass alone, and hanging up holy pictures in her home.

He never went to Mass with her one time until they wheeled his casket in front of the altar, the tabernacle shining gold, the crucifix hanging high above, and my friend’s tears glistening with graces of joy through pain.

She won her husband’s soul for Christ by her witness as a woman who fears the Lord and is to be praised. (Proverbs 31:30)
Like the good thief her husband stole heaven
Like the workers who came to the vineyard late, he was paid the same regardless of his wife, who had labored for years with the same pay. She had been first and he had been last. She rejoiced in God’s generosity because toward the end, seeing her pray, he started to wait for her to finish the prayer over the meals. He stopped grumbling about holy pictures, and he told her a deep secret. He was afraid to believe.
He’d denied God for so long wouldn’t he be a hypocrite to say he believed now?
“No,” she assured him. God waits and wants to love you no matter what. It’s a lie to think truth is hypocritical.
A year after his “confession,” he was put on a ventilator and couldn’t talk anymore but his wife knew his heart. A wife doing her husband good. The priest came and baptized and confirmed her husband dear on his hospital bed, anointing his head and hands with oil, tracing the sign of the cross on a suffering man in need of peace. This husband received his viaticum, the Latin word that means provisions for the journey–the journey onward and upward to heaven. The creed lived inside him now: one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
His children didn’t understand. It was a second marriage for both and they questioned the wife, stating their dad never believed. Why now, he didn’t want this, did he? But she knew her husband’s secret. She told these downcast souls of adult children, “this is the gift I can give your father,” she said. “It is my farewell to him.”

She never stopped believing or hoping or loving. She knew God embraces trusting souls.
She never denied the years had been hard in regards to religion but in the end much like St. Monica, who won her husband’s conversion as well, my friend was able to give an eternal gift. God unwraps that gift in his mercy.
It’s a message for everyone who seeks the betterment of others to help them know and love God.
Let’s be real. We all have friends who struggle over religion with their spouse. They might not have realized it would matter as the years went on. My friend didn’t. Yet, she persevered winning baptism for her husband and giving her last good bye to him at the holy Mass. Their unity was different now, spanning the boundary of time and space so he could rest in peace. She never gave up but lifted her hope up to the only One she knew could do anything about it.
St. Faustina says it best:

“Pray as much as you can for the dying. By your entreaties [that is, insistent prayers] obtain for them trust in My mercy, because they have most need of trust, and have it the least. Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moment depends on your prayer. You know the whole abyss of My mercy, so draw upon it for yourself and especially for poor sinners. Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul” (Diary, 1777).

Free prayer for the dying prayer card