“We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure,
so that we despaired even of life.
Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death,
in order that we would not trust in ourselves,
but in God.”
(2 Corinthians 1:8-9)
Dear Friends –
Many of us have experienced the above words of Saint Paul in some manner or another; when a burden has entered our life that we can’t endure we have cried out to God: “I can’t do this – please help!” We are overwhelmed by a predicament impossible to escape – completely beyond our ability to
control or ignore; thus, endurance is a must we haven’t the strength for, and with physical or emotional death imminent, we will find despair knocking at the door. When you have an intimate history with Almighty God, your first instinct is to seek deliverance through Him who is the only power capable of resolution. Nonbelievers cannot identify with that kind of trust that Christians place in their Heavenly Father, because it is only through experiencing Him that such rigid faith is acquired. Once you have witnessed Divine Intervention in your life, the irrefutable proof that He Is, that makes it inconceivable that you will ever be able to doubt His existence again. But how do we get to that first-time proof for nonbelievers?
Christians are endowed by God with The Holy Spirit at Baptism. That Spirit can lay dormant forever if the recipient doesn’t build up a relationship with God, however, when a friendship is cultivated over the years through prayer and study, Christ comes alive and grows in our being to relive His marvelous abilities. The Son of God is teaching and guiding us each day on how to be sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, to accomplish anything with Their help. Christ is right there, in us, to answer our cry out for strength, courage, perseverance, whatever we need at that moment, for we know He has it all. One of the most important points Christ reiterated throughout 
His ministry was that we were to be childlike, not self-sufficient, but knowingly dependent on a parent. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4). Humility before God is required to acknowledge our insignificance before His Supremacy, implying that He is not a dictator god, but a Heavenly Father of enormous perfect love. Nonbelievers with an enormous ego are too self-reliant to need anyone, especially God, so Divine Intervention is not theirs to experience. And just so, they are the pitiful, cynical, faithless beings, who will eventually succumb to despair, fail miserably in a boast, or end up in total ruination, all because they couldn’t believe in a Supreme Being. Their intellect couldn’t grasp issues of faith, proving Christ’s joy when He declared, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11:25) Humility is the main ingredient in trusting God, and it’s always rewarded.
Once you have complete trust in God, which means you have given Him carte blanche with your life, always watch closely as the episodes of 
your burden unfold for the hand of God taking control. You know He can open and close doors and hearts like no other; you have seen it happen before and you trust it will happen again. No matter how dire the circumstances of your trial, even be it to death, a resurrection to natural or supernatural new life is guaranteed… hold on to that as the pain increases. I know how hard that is to do, but believe it, remember it, and recite it to yourself over and over… new life is coming! As His child, God will not forsake you, but for the nonbeliever, the trial they couldn’t overcome on their own will end in disgraceful death, with no happily-ever-after ending possible for them who reject God. No one can escape the horrible trials that come into everyday lives, especially during the chaotic times of a godless culture… be like Saint Paul… trust not in yourself, but always trust in God Almighty! 
SHAME ON YOU EVILDOERS
DONALD TRUMP, EGOTIST
Last month, in a jaw-dropping announcement by a federal jury, Donald Trump was fined $83 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll. While her original accusation of rape was never proven, Trump was eventually found liable for sexual abuse and defamation against the columnist/author. Carroll testified: "I spent fifty years building a reputation, now I'm known as a liar, a fraud, and a whack job." The jury bought her story and decided to make a historical statement to punish and deter devilish liars. 
Just a few days prior to this announcement, Trump won the New Hampshire primary over Nikki Haley, and his victory speech was a twenty-minute nasty and vindictive tirade against Nikki instead of thanking his supporters and outlining his future plans! In his usual cruel caustic manner, he made no reference to her successful career as his appointed Ambassador to the UN, but implied threats of investigation possible against her for “Not big reasons, little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about.” Trump went after her supporter, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, stating that Sununu “had to be on something” for endorsing her, and the most asinine pettiest of all his remarks was Trump criticizing the dress she wore! Shame On You, Donald Trump. This is grade-school-playground type tormenting… victimization… BULLYING! Such malicious verbiage from a president made me shudder as I thought about all the children hearing these remarks, and being made to think this was proper presidential behavior! NO, it is not children, and to all the world… these are the actions of an egotist… one who makes himself look good at the expense of another. When such a mean-spirited individual consistently has a degrading manner, it’s obvious the Holy Spirit can’t reside in such filth.
Of course, Trump will appeal this verdict, but I wonder in the meantime, if it will stymie his potty mouth for a while. During all his campaigning and his four years in office, it seems no one in his family or inner circle of advisors has ever been able to get him to tone down this vicious rhetoric… thus, we were conditioned to accept rude behavior. An $83 
million reprimand is much more than a slap on the wrist, and I pray to God, it will slow him down at least, and make him think twice before defaming another… who wants four more years of that! He will probably run against Biden again and win this time for people are so disgusted with Biden’s ineptitude and advancing age affecting his performance. So far, Biden’s family and inner circle have been unable to persuade him from running again for his ego, like Trump’s, cannot deny his greatness! Biden boasted of his Catholic faith and then has done nothing but act against it in many circumstances; priests and bishops have openly chastised him for this even threatening excommunication! Shame On You, Joe Biden. Thus, we have two egotists for the voters to select a president from… God help us all!
The saddest part of all this diabolical maneuvering is that I will have to vote for Trump if he is nominated; I am a staunch Republican who believes my dependence is on God, not the government. The Democrats are not as Christian in their thinking and believe the government has ultimate control over everything, which is leading to
socialism, which I absolutely abhor. Trump was a capable president and I do trust he could correct Biden’s horrific mistakes, however, he has a large fan base that admires and relishes his crass, disgraceful language, and that is the saddest commentary of all for he takes that endorsement as fodder to continue agitating discord. Our country is losing its soul because belief in God is dwindling and relativism is rising; immoral behavior is not chastised or punished, but tolerated, and even admired. It seems inconceivable that somewhere in this huge nation of ours, we couldn’t find TWO candidates of good moral character, honor, and integrity… instead, we are given the choice of selecting between the incompetent and the insolent… what a disgraced nation from the loss of God’s graces we have become.
