Thoughts of Theresa

A while back - A youtuber who I watch quite often did a Q&A session with his friend and one of the questions he was asked was : "Are you religious?". His answer was "No" and after a moment he said with a laugh : "I do think that religious people are much more happier than I am..." a statement that struck me as odd at the time. (his friend agreed with him and they moved on to the next Q. without discussion)  Today, in Jn.1 1:3-4: St.John explains why he is writing his letter - so people would know about Jesus and form a community/ fellowship that is formed in God. And he specifically says "We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete". This statement struck a bell in my brain. I think I understand why the youtuber said that the religious were happier than most people: its because our joys are different from (or at least originate differently from) the joys of other people who don't believe in God. I think, "happiness&qu

THE DANCE OF SPRING The rivers are aflow and the flower beds dance, The birds soar to the heavens - their songs are glad! Men sing songs throughout the land As the earth rejoices at the work of God's hand. Death has departed - life washed and restored Spring has arrived and the earth is aglow! All beings exclaim - they praise and adore The God of heaven - who smiles from his abode. Theresa.V

I have always wondered how God got angry and why his wrath was something we feared. As a child, I was always told that God was someone I could trust and take consolation in. But as I grew up - I heard and read stories of God's wrath and anger. I read about the battles, the great flood, the 10 plagues and also Jesus himself getting angry at the salesmen at the temple, at the disciples for not having enough faith etc. And I asked myself: "How can God - who is so perfect - participate in the act of anger? (an act so horrendous - it is classified by the church as one of the 7 capital sins)? Why should God get angry? Why not just create an angry angel who takes care of all the trouble?" Recently, I feel like I've got a little insight to these questions... 1. Why does God get angry? One can argue that God only gets angry when there is sin involved - He wants us to know that we are wrong, that he despises all evil things. But - we know that's not true or Jesus wouldn'

Recently - every time I seem to slack a little with my prayers or reading, God seems to be sending me gentle mini-reminders(either through a YouTube video, a friend - who never talks about religion asking if I read the bible and family members reminding me of His grace). These small gestures seem coincidental and made me wonder - How many reminders/ signs have I missed or dismissed as coincidence even though it's glaringly obvious that It's from God? I guess this has been a sort of eye opener: its up to us how much to associate as God's work/ doing. The bible does show us that EVERYTHING is from God and yet - I sometimes used to believe that God stopped hearing/ looking at me.  I know now that that isn't true... His graces are still as great and as present as they were before - they are just overshadowed by the "flashiness" of today's world. He's still working wonders and helping us out and guiding us like He did with the Israelites (in Exodus) - we ju