The Secret to God’s Blessings Is to Receive Them With Empty Hands
“Sometimes, when you lose, you win.” – What Dreams May Come, 1998
Happiness sometimes comes not by holding on or by pursuing it so fiercely, but by letting it go.
We let go of our heartaches so we can be healed. We let go of our anger so we can have peace. We let go of our regrets so we can dream again.
We let go of the people who broke our hearts so we can find those who will truly love us.
We let go of our desire to take revenge so we can allow God to give us the justice we deserve.
We let go before we become empty enough to receive.
We are loved most when we finally learn to give love away.
“There is only one way to force the good God not to judge at all, and that is to present one’s self to Him with empty hands…I tell you that it is enough to recognize one’s nothingness and to abandon one’s self like a child in the arms of God.” — St. Therese of Lisieux
God seeks empty hands
God has not come to seek those who are already full. He came to find those who have nothing more to offer than their poverty. He came to heal the broken, to find the lost, to fill those who thirst for love.
Blessed are they who are empty. They can still be filled. They can cry out for mercy, and they can receive with open arms.
For what do we possess but that which God has given? What good can we do but that which God has blessed?
A space for God
“Blessed are those who hunger…for they shall be filled.” — Matthew 5:6, WEB
When your heart has been left desolate of worldly happiness, it becomes empty enough for the King of Kings to fill.
You have been failed by many lovers and now you stand ready for Him who is Most Compassionate and True.
Your strength has left you, now you can be refreshed with power that knows no end.
Blessed are those who mourn, those who walk the valley of tears and have no one to lean on to when they cry.
Blessed are those whose hearts are broken, who have been failed by those whom they held dearest in their hearts.
Blessed are those who fall and have no more strength to carry on.
Blessed are those who have searched for so long and found nothing in the world to fill the emptiness of their souls.
Blessed are you. Blessed indeed is your sigh!
Blessed are you because there is a God who hears, a God who won’t turn you away when your cry.
Blessed are you, blessed is your sorrow. For it has made way for eternal joys to come and dwell in you!
“Every suffering can be blessed because it hollows out a place in us for God and his comfort, which is infinite joy.” — Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue
When we are full of other things
Oftentimes, we wonder why God hasn’t answered our prayers, why He hasn’t given us what we desire. We were taught that we only need to ask to receive and that we only need to seek to find, but we have asked so many times and sought for so long, but we still fail to find what we were looking for.
Could we have forgotten something else? Could God have forgotten our prayers?
Many times, the answer is not whether God is willing or not to give us what we need, but whether or not we are ready to receive His many blessings.
Could we be asking for all the wrong things that won’t do us any good? Could we be refusing greater blessings because we just couldn’t let go of what we think we want?
“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” — St. Augustine
God is more than willing to give us great things, He desires it for us much more than we could ever desire them for ourselves! But He is waiting for us to open our hands and receive them. He is waiting for us to let go of what little we think we have, so He can bless us with more, to finally be empty enough to be truly full!
A Beggar of Your Love
Light, beauty and virtue — I have no claim over them except that which you have given me.
I came with nothing, and I shall leave with nothing unless you have mercy over me.
I used to think I possess something. I used to think I have some good I could reserve apart from you.
Now I know that apart from you, I die. Apart from you, my life has no meaning at all.
Every good thing I can do I do only because of you, I do only through you. Because you have willed it so.
I am but a mirror waiting for the sun to cast its light upon it. In darkness, no one would even know I’m there.
Love alone has brought me to life, and love alone keeps me.
I have never realized how much love I needed until I saw my own helplessness, until I saw that I am but a beggar of your love.
It is thus when I was poorest that I have been made rich. It was when I was most empty that I have been filled.
Alone I have nothing, but with You, I am satisfied forevermore.
“I am the Lord, your God… Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” — Psalms 81:10, WEB-BE
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“What Can God Do With My Broken Heart?”
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” - Psalm 147:3-4
-When you feel broken
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God bless!