Be All That You Can Be

I don’t know if any of you old enough to recall the Army recruiting campaign that used that slogan for many years, but I sure do!

It occurred to me recently that God wants us to be all that He created us to be. He wants that for each of His children.

Is there anything keeping you from being that child of God that He desires? It’s worth pondering. For many women, I’ve observed over the years, one of the biggest roadblocks in our faith life is fear.

We are afraid for our children’s safety – spiritual and physical, we are afraid for our husbands – their careers and their integrity, we are afraid for ourselves – what if we fail as the wife, mother, daughter, friend, worker in the field – that we are trying to be?

Remember that fear is not of God. He is about strength, and peace, and wisdom, and harmony within ourselves and with the world around us. That’s a harmony and peace we experience even when those we are relating to or our experiences aren’t very peaceful or harmonic.

We find our refuge in Him. It’s in Scripture so believe it!

One of the things I found that assisted me in calming my seemingly endless fears or anxiety is Mothers Prayers. Mothers Prayers is a wonderful movement within the Catholic Church, though it is ecumenical in nature, founded by a woman from Great Britain named Veronica. Veronica was fearful for her grandchildren, who were young at the time, and it was revealed to her that God did not want her to be afraid, but He wanted her to trust Him.

She was to turn to Him, giving her little grandchildren over to Him to care for as He already did. He knew that she needed to be reminded and to ask for His help, to acknowledge her dependence on the Creator of the Universe in all things, especially protecting those little ones about whom she worried.

Fear weakens us, and it weakens our faith. Trusting God with the ones we love most increases our trust in Him in all areas. That’s what Mothers Prayers has taught me. As we learn to trust God more, our relationship with Him deepens.

We are on our way to becoming the person God intended us to be. He is not holding us back; we hold ourselves back by not turning everything over to Him. Start with your kids and see where that leads you. To carry God around inside you, as we all do, becomes more real to us as we depend more on Him and less on ourselves. Let His strength, and His love, and His compassion and mercy, flow through you to everyone you encounter – your family and those you don’t even know. He can do that for you. A simple prayer service, Mothers Prayers, can start you on that path. Be all that you can be!