Are you receiving all that God has for you — and heading toward your destiny? Are you attaining your best moira? Or put another way: What do you expect in life? And the afterlife?

For what you expect is often what you receive.

When you proclaim defeat before even starting, the enemy swarms around you. The devil is attracted to: negativity. If we give hate, we receive hate; if we love, we receive love; if we criticize, we receive criticism; if we lie, we are lied to; if we cheat, we will fall short — be cheated. We reap what we plant. If we fear, we entice situations to make us afraid. “Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil,” says Psalms 37:8.

Only in God’s Mercy are we kept from always reaping the negativity, the unfaithfulness, the poor self-image and dire imaginings for the future that we constantly sow. Fear is potent, the opposite of faith. Fear is a faith that what is bad and undesirable, what’s even tragic, will occur. Do you really want to energize that? Faith, on the other hand, keeps the enemy at bay.

How often God and His angels save us from our own expectations.

“By your words ye are justified,” said Jesus, “and by your words ye are condemned.”

Jesus was speaking of both sin and faith. Only God can help us. But He helps those who — through strong positive will — help themselves. “The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’ ” (Mark 10:26-27). The good in our lives is not from ourselves, but (Romans 8:28) from God. Do we allow it to come forth?

Or do we stymie the Spirit?

Your heart — your intuition — knows. Often, the images in our minds externalize and materialize. Follow your strong hunches for the correct upward path.

When we wish something well, it flourishes, when we see joy, joy comes, when we ignore adversaries, they drop away, while a negative thought darkens the landscape. 

Negativity gathers clouds. It collects a storm. It shows weakness. What is lightning but a negative charge?  Think of it as plus and minus. Plus gives. Plus (+) has energy. Plus looks like a cross. Negative, on the other hand (-), is missing something (the upright) and suctions goodness out of us; for it is a vacuum; it is empty.

It especially vacuums away Grace. This happens because when we’re negative we distance ourselves from what might be called the stream or design, the blueprint, of our lives. God has a perfect pattern for you and speaks to you through right urges and hunches so that you might reach your destiny, the perfect conclusion, to be followed by direct entry into Heaven — desires that are good for you and your eternity (as opposed to the frivolous things we often want, which are earthbound and bind us to them).

It is there — in your “gut” (and heart) — that you find His guidance.

Know thyself, the ancient Greeks said.

Train your first expectation each morning to be a positive one. This sets the tone. Expect miracles of joy, despite any challenges, every day.

Look at challenges as opportunities to show your strength to God. Strength disarms evil. Strength fortifies. Strength is: faith.

[resources: Miracle Hour and A Life of Blessings; retreats: Florida and Louisiana]

Litany of Trust from Sister of Life

written by Sr. Faustina Maria Pia, Sister of Life