Take me by the hand

I am starting to stress out.

There is a lot going on, between work, my professional volunteer work, and my parish volunteer work...not to mention Christmas. Then there is the Honduras trip. Starting the process with only four months to do everything is starting to feel like quite a challenge. There have been a couple of times already when I started thinking about what needs to be done and figured out and I could just feel my heart rate picking up.

A few weeks ago I did a witness talk at Mass that touched on my experience in Honduras last year, about how there were days during the planning stage then that I was similarly anxious. Also how during the trip I was so overwhelmed by all that was happening and the decisions that needed to be made. I talked about how at those times I could truly feel God coming and taking hold of my hand and leading me through it.

And so I should not be surprised that when I read the readings for today, right after I was stressing about the trip, here is the first thing I read from Isaiah:

"I am the LORD, your God,
who grasp your right hand;
It is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I will help you.”

So often this is how I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life, that when I look to him for help, God sets before me the exact words, the very person, or precisely the resources I need when I truly need them. After this has happened to me so many times, it puzzles me how I can ever forget it.

And yet I do. Which is why I keep a (growing) collection of quotes and books at my desk to remind me, including the Prayer of St. Teresa, my favorite quote from Jeremiah 29:11-14, and a little section from the Golden Counsels of St. Francis de Sales:

Do not think about what will happen tomorrow, for the same eternal Father who takes care of you today will look out for you tomorrow and always. Either he will keep you from evil or he will give you invincible courage to endure it.

So once again I feel God taking me by the hand, and that is a comforting feeling indeed.