Are You Empty?

Have you ever sought after something you thought you needed, only to be handed something else that turned out to be what you actually needed, something that was better than what you thought you wanted?

Many years ago, when I was pregnant, I expected that God would give us a baby like everyone else's.  That is what most parents expect and think.  But for us, that's not the way it turned out.  God gave us a baby that would grow with unique challenges. But within and beyond those challenges, we received a great blessing, a blessing greater than we could have ever  imagined or even known to ask for.

I think it is not uncommon for God to surprise us in ways that are outside our expectations.

This happened to a man who approached the apostles (Acts Chapter 3:6), asking for money.  Peter's response to the beggar was,  “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, [rise and] walk.”

Sure enough, the man leapt up and started jumping and praising God!  Where he had asked for alms, he received much more.  People who witnessed it, were "amazed and astonished."

If the beggar would have received the silver or gold that he thought he needed, he would have had to remain at the gate everyday, continuing to beg.  The miracle healing he received not only moved him beyond the need to beg, but it also made him a revelation of the power of God, which had been given to the apostle Peter.

We may not all be given a miraculous healing, nor become such an obvious instrument, but that's not the point. 

As I think about St. Peter, these words from Saint Teresa of Calcutta in Come Be My Light come to mind:

"It is not how much we really "have" to give--but how empty we are--so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us."

You see, Saint Peter was open to God living his life within him.  Also, he was filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in that upper room.  His emptiness and subsequent filling is what opened the space for God to heal the beggar through him.

Do you believe that you, too, are in some way, part of God's plan? 

Are you prepared to become empty so that God has the space to work through you?

What would that look like?

As Saint Teresa said:  

"Accept whatever He gives--and give whatever He takes with a big smile--you belong to Him . . ."

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blogspot.com