Lent starts February 14, and so does the RESCUED Blessed is She Lent devotional. This year, you’ll be receiving an excerpt from the Lent devotional every day in your inbox (in lieu of our regular daily devo). We want to pray with one heart and one mind as the BIS sisterhood. If you prefer to have the book, purchase the 2024 Blessed is She Lent devotional RESCUED right here. Right upon purchase, you’ll receive a link to come into the free Blessed is She app to walk through the Lenten season with us in daily live prayer, small groups, and more. Together let’s look to the Lamb of God who came to rescue each one of us.
When [Jesus] became aware of this he said [ . . . ] ”Do you not yet understand or comprehend?” // Mark 8:17
I don’t get it, I entreated the Lord in prayer. Help me understand?
I had felt Him invite me to ask for healing, despite my fear of more disappointment. I’d prayed the same novena and used the exact healing oil that had worked legitimate miracles in others’ lives. I did everything I was “supposed” to do, but things only got worse, not better.
What am I lacking, Lord? Not enough detachment? Too little faith?
Gently, I felt the Lord speak into my grief. Do you need to understand it? Or can you let Me understand for you?
Gradually, I learned His meaning. My desire to understand was undermined by a temptation to manipulate and control the outcome according to my own will, in response to my own fears. This left little room for His perfect will and zero room for mystery.
The disciples in today’s Gospel (see Mark 8:14-21) leaned on their own understanding to find Christ’s meaning, but their human assumptions simply brought pain and confusion. Their supposed understanding led them away from His heart of love and provision for them, right into forgetfulness and fearful self-sufficiency.
We put a lot of emphasis on our need to know. Yet this curiosity is often a fruit of fear that makes us grasp impatiently for answers and control. In truth, God will reveal what He needs us to know in the fullness of time. Until then, we need to understand far less than we think we do.
God has a plan—a good plan—for our lives.
He deeply desires to rescue us from our desperate “need” to know it all. His provision doesn’t depend on our knowledge or understanding of it. It depends on our willingness to rely on His understanding, that we might receive the fullness of His provision—mystery and all.
This Lent, ask the Lord if He’s inviting you to give up your “need” to know. Beginning tomorrow, for all of Lent, we’re switching our daily email content from our normal devotions based on the daily Mass Scripture readings to selections from our Lent Devotional, Rescued. Join the Blessed is She community as we give God permission to rescue us in our fears, and be carried by His infinite strength.
Megan Hjelmstad is a wife, enthusiastic hockey mom, and Army Veteran living in Denver, CO. In her “spare” time she serves as a Catholic Writer, Speaker, and Women’s Mentor, helping women to embrace their God-given dignity and deepen their prayer relationship with the Lord. She is the author Offer it Up: Discovering the Power and Purpose of Suffering, a writer for SpiritualDirection.com, and a longtime team member of Blessed is She. Megan adores books, sleep, sunshine, and Colorado’s great outdoors almost as much as she adores Jesus in the Eucharist. Learn more at MeganHjelmstad.com.
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