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If you want your dream to be, build it slow and surely. Small beginning, greater and heartfelt work grows purely.

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Welcome. This is David Russell and Your Faith Anew, Daily Reflections Guiding You to Live in the Divine Will. Today's reflection is from the Book of Heaven by the servant of God Luisa Picaretta, july twenty eighth, eighteen ninety nine, volume two. Let us begin in the will and name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, in your divine will, teach us to recognize every circumstance of our lives as an opportunity to love you more completely. When life becomes difficult, grant us the grace not to resist your loving hand, but to welcome your work within us. May every sacrifice, disappointment, and hidden burden become an offering united to Jesus for the salvation of souls and the coming of your kingdom. Give us trusting hearts that choose your will above our own, so that our lives may bring you glory in all things. Amen. A reading from the letter of Saint James, chapter one verses two to four Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph twenty eight forty seven. God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings. There is a certain usefulness to temptation. No one but God knows what our soul has received from him, not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to teach us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations, and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us. As we prepare to listen, let us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how the Lord desires to transform every trial into an opportunity for greater holiness. Louisa writes This morning my adorable Jesus came with an appearance all admirable and mysterious. He was wearing a chain at his neck, hanging over his whole breast. At one end of the chain one could see something like a bow, at the other end something like a quiver full of precious stones and gems, which formed an ornament of the most beautiful sort at the breast of my sweet Jesus. He also had a lance in his hand. While in this appearance he told me The human life is a game. Some play pleasure, some play money, some their own lives, and many other games they play. I too delight in playing with souls. But what are the jokes I make? They are the crosses which I send. If they receive them with resignation and thank me for them, I amuse myself and I play with them, delighting immensely, receiving great honor and glory, and letting them make the greatest gains. As he was saying this, he began to touch me with the lance. All the precious stones that the bow and the quiver contained came out and turned into many crosses and arrows which wounded the creatures. Some of them, but extremely few, rejoiced, kissed them, and thanked him, engaging in a game with Jesus. Others then would take them and throw them in his face. Oh how afflicted Jesus would be left, and what a loss for those souls. Then Jesus added, This is the thirst which I carried out on the cross, which, unable to quench entirely at that time, I delight in continuing to quench in the souls of my dear ones who suffer. So when you suffer, you come to give a refreshment to my thirst. As he came other times, and I prayed him to free the confessor who was suffering, he told me, My daughter, don't you know that the noblest mark I can impress in my dear children is the cross? One of the greatest misconceptions of the spiritual life is that suffering is evidence that God has stepped away from us. Yet throughout Scripture, the lives of the saints, and the teaching of the church, we discover the opposite. God often accomplishes his deepest work where the world sees only hardship. Living in the divine will changes how we measure our lives. Instead of asking, why is this happening to me? We begin asking, Lord, how do you desire to love through this? That single change of perspective transforms discouragement into hope. The cross is never an end in itself. God does not delight in pain. He delights in what His grace can accomplish when a willing soul entrusts everything to him, every inconvenience patiently accepted, every illness offered with love, every misunderstanding forgiven, every hidden sacrifice embraced in union with Christ becomes spiritually fruitful far beyond what we can see. This is why we should never waste a cross. Our instinct is often to remove it immediately or to complain about it. Yet when we surrender it into the divine will, Jesus transforms what appears to be loss into eternal gain. Grace begins flowing not only into our own souls, but also toward countless others whom we may never meet in this life. This does not require extraordinary suffering. Most of us encounter our crosses in ordinary moments interruptions, disappointments, fatigue, family difficulties, financial concerns, aging, or unanswered prayers. These become holy when we stop fighting for control and simply say, Jesus, I trust you. But don't stop there. Actually let Jesus do. That phrase is much more than encouragement. It's a way of living. It means allowing Jesus to think in us, love in us, forgive in us, and offer every circumstance to the Father through his own perfect obedience. When we no longer insist that life unfold according to our plans, we discover the peace that comes from belonging entirely to God. Today, whatever cross comes your way, don't ask whether it's too small or too great. Ask only whether are you willing to place it into the hands of Christ. In the divine will, nothing offered with love is ever insignificant. Every faithful yes becomes another step toward the fulfillment of the prayer we repeat so often. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I enter into your divine will and place before you every burden I carry today. Receive my joys, my disappointments, my labors, and my hidden sacrifices. Transform each one into an act of love for the Father and a blessing for every soul. Teach me not to fear the crosses you permit, but to recognize them as opportunities to grow in holiness and trust. May I never waste the graces you offer through the ordinary events of life. Help me to surrender more completely, to complain less, to love more generously, and always to remember to let Jesus do. May your divine will reign in my heart, my family, and throughout the whole world. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. Until tomorrow, stay in his will, and your faith will be made anew