January 29, 2025 // Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Mark 4:1-20

Reflect on the Word// 

I lay back inside the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, one of the multiple treatments of my complex healing protocol, and took a few moments to pray. Will all this be worth something to You, Lord? This healing journey had already taken so much from me and it was taking all my mental, emotional, and physical strength to continue to go back day after day, week after week, appointment after appointment, trusting that these treatments that were making me feel so sick were also eventually making me well.  

Would all this be used to bear fruit? my heart asked the Lord. I thought of the parable of the sower and the seed that falls on the rich soil, praying that something good could come from this season of suffering. Or would the graces hidden within these moments of suffering be eaten up, withered, or choked out by my own inability or refusal to bear this well (see Mark 4:4-9)? Jesus was definitely tilling the soil of my heart and preparing and planting something unseen within me. 

Will all this be fruitful? In that season of full-time treatments, where I was not able to work or continue to move forward in my mission and calling, I often felt worthless and the whole situation meaningless. In faith I prayed,  Father, can You take every pain, every injection, every tear, every IV, every medication, every day, and every moment of mine and really, truly bring about an abundant harvest? I believe You can, Lord. Make my heart the rich soil, Jesus. I surrender this all to You. Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You cause the growth. Thank You that You use my seemingly useless weakness for Your glory. Give me a heart to hear and accept Your Word. 

With Jesus, we can yield a harvest of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. May Jesus make our hearts the rich soil, prepared to hear and accept His Word, so that He can bear great fruit from what may seem to us like futile weakness. United to Jesus, everything can be used for His glory. 

Relate to the Lord // What sufferings can you unite to Jesus today? Ask Him to make them fruitful.