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Author: G. Michaelson

  • 27th February, 2025

    For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

    Jeremiah 29:11

    It is foolish to think that any situation you find yourself in can be more powerful than God. He has the power to help you, but we need to be willing to be helped first.

    When you find yourself in a seemingly desperate situation, kneel down, pray and cry to God. When you are living out the darkest scenarios (whether in reality or in your mind), embrace that darkness, it’s the best time to find your light in prayer.

    Quick personal example

    I started my professional career training to be an air traffic controller. It was a perfect job for me and one that I wanted for a long time. The training is tough, the work is very fast paced and exhausting.

    One day I had a rough hour at work that made me doubt myself. At break time, I went to one of our bedrooms at work (they’re there for night shift) and cried. At that point I thought I won’t get through the training and that my career will be over.

    I was worried because I have a family of my own to support and that is a extremely well paid job I’d be losing. At the time I wasn’t really practicing my Christianity regularly. I was a bad believer and a big sinner, but a believer nonetheless. I knelt down next to the bed and had a very long and emotional prayer.

    I specifically remember asking God:

    “I don’t know if I will make it through the training, I love this job so much and I’d love to keep it so please help me. BUT I love my family more, so if your will is that I don’t do this for a living so be it, so please don’t make my wife and daughter suffer. Just take care of them and I will work whatever job you send my way.

    That is the whole point of this quote, to keep trying to align yourself with a God’s plan for us. I did lose that job about 8-9 months later and I felt awful for a long time. However, I used that to strengthen my faith and relationship to God. Since then my life started to improve and opportunities started coming my way. The type of opportunities that I couldn’t have ever imagined for myself, but God did.

    Conclusion

    Letting go of your view of the future and giving in to God’s plan is one of the hardest things to do. You won’t be perfect in it, you’ll stumble, but remember to stay persistent. God has planned something for you so good that you won’t believe you deserve it.

    Have a lovely Thursday my dear reader and stay tuned. In a few days I’ll publish an article about God’s plan, destiny and our free will.

  • Embracing Children at Church: A Personal Story

    Embracing Children at Church: A Personal Story

    Personal story: Sunday mass

    When my wife and I first started going to church regularly, we would usually leave our daughter with her grandma. That continued until a priest once advised us to try involve our daughter as well. We accepted the challenge, even though our daughter is quite energetic child.

    Most Sundays it was quite hard keeping her calm and being focused on the mass at the same time. I started to question the point of taking a small child to mass. It seemed to only have caused the lack of focus for both of us and people around us.

    Then something beautiful happened a few weeks ago. During the priest’s homily1 my daughter (and some other kids further away) were constantly making some noise. It was not catastrophic, the priest could still be heard easily, but it was enough to make you feel embarrassed. I also felt like I am being rude for not listening to what the priest was saying. Then, just as I was feeling guilty for not being focused on what the priest was saying, he said something I will never forget. He was talking about children in his homily and then concluded:

    “…and as I am talking,every Sunday, I constantly hear cries and laughter of children within the church.”, as he gestures with his hand in my general direction, “But I don’t mind, praise the Lord that that’s the case, for the Church in which you cannot hear baby’s cry is a dead Church.”

    Him saying that made me cry of joy. Honestly I was also a little stunned as to how haven’t I realized that sooner. As he was saying that the bright sunbeam through the blue tinted church window put my face into spotlight. He continued:

    “…and those parents here with kids probably didn’t hear most of the things that were said here today, but it doesn’t matter. You are doing a far greater thing by being focused on your kids then being focused on me. I like that more.”

    After he said that I was really freaked out for a second. That random beam of sunlight focused in my face’s direction and the priest seemingly reading my mind really felt unreal. Tears were running down my blue tinted face and it felt like I was being hugged.

    Conclusion

    You could call it a mere coincidence, but I won’t. That moment proved to me that God is around me and in me. It proved to me that he is listening and understanding. He is always ready to hold me up when I am about to fall.

    1. A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, homilía) is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture,[1] giving the “public explanation of a sacred doctrine” or text. ↩︎

  • 26th February, 2025

    When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

    Isaiah 43:2

    Those who have faith in God and Jesus Christ will be protected and helped when in need.

    I have more than one example of God helping me when I had no more strength to fight. The most recent one was about two weeks ago. Here is the short story what happened:

    Context

    I came home from work and I was exhausted(partly because I haven’t slept well). My wife had some errands to do so I was home alone with my daughter. She just woke up and was full of energy, so much so that I didn’t know how to keep up with her.

    What did I do?

    I dropped to my knees and had one of my purest prayers ever.

    I had prayed my usual prayers (Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary…) and then I usually follow up with a “free speech” prayer. It’s my short statement in which I express my gratefulness for everything God does for me. It’s also a part in which I would talk about what bothers me and with what I need help.

    That day I said something like this:

    “…Please God help me today with my daughter. Give me enough strength and endurance to keep up with her energy until her bedtime. Don’t let her suffer from my lack of attention…

    What was the result?

    The more I was going into it and the more I was speaking from the heart the better I felt. Suddenly I felt a burst of warmth and energy spreading from my chest throughout my body. Once I was done praying, it felt like I just woke up from a long sleep, fully rested and energized.

    Feeling this, I just looked up, thanked God for His miracle, wiped my tears and went on with the day. That day God gave me more than I asked for, because not only was I fully energized with my daughter but I also had the strength to spend some time with my wife later that night.

    Conclusion

    Ask God for help when you need it, but don’t forget to also express your gratefulness for Him. Walk the earth with your faith centered in Him, don’t be ashamed of your fate no matter what and He will protect you.

    Have a lovely Wednesday and if you like what you see come back tomorrow.

  • 25th February, 2025

    It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

    Theodore Roosevelt

    Think about something that you really wanted to have or something that you really wanted to achieve, you did your best but failed nonetheless. That must have felt awful and it might have even felt like you’ve hit rock bottom. Now think about the different time when you also really wanted something but never bothered to pursue that wish or you just plain out convinced yourself that you are not worthy.

    Today’s quote obviously gives a clue to where I’m going with this but I’ll ask the question regardless:

    What feels worse, the feeling of failure or the feeling of regret of not trying?

    Well for me I know it is the latter. No matter how “rock bottomly” failure might feel, at least it gives me one very important thing and that is CLOSURE. It gives me the ability to move on and close that chapter so that I can focus on the new one. It eliminates all of the “What if?” questions.

    Conclusion

    I know none of these quotes can magically change the way you think, you are the only one capable of changing yourself. I do, however, hope that they might spark you into thinking about changing something (if there is a need to).

    Try to go after something that you always wanted, you can always start with something small. You will regret it if you don’t start with anything, and that, my dear reader, will hurt… A LOT.

    Have a lovely Tuesday and come back tomorrow 🙂

  • Economic Depression vs Modern Prosperity: A Reality Check

    Economic Depression vs Modern Prosperity: A Reality Check

    Economic depression vs prosperity

    You certainly heard of The Great depression of 1929.-39. The economy was on its knees. One of the images that is embedded in my memory is from Germany, where a man is seen driving a wheelbarrow filled with cash that was essentially worthless.

    Reading about it you can easily get the impression that it was a really tough time to be alive. Now you suddenly feel really grateful that you live in such prosperous economy. But… is it really so great as we are being told? I see too many people struggling financially today with basic needs that I feel disgusted calling that a prosperous economy.

    Would you believe that it was easier to buy a house in 1929. then today? Back then average wage in US was around $4000 while the average house price was around $6500. That means that you needed less then two years salary to buy a house. Today average wage in US is $65000 and average house price is $356000. Nowadays not even five yearly salaries are enough to buy a house.

    Are we really living better today?

    I can’t move away from my parents with my wife and child, we simply can’t afford it. The prices of groceries are skyrocketing. For the same amount of money, just six years ago I could buy 2-3 weeks of groceries in comparison to today where I can get maybe 1 week. That’s less than half the buying power. In the meantime, wages have gone up maybe 15-20% during this period.

    I think that today’s living conditions (financial) are horrible and it’s only getting worse. Truthfully, I am a little scared.