Every negative has its positive. This is hard for you to see, and hard for you to believe. Much in life has seemed like an assault to you, the furthest seeming-thing from a blessing. But you do not have to see a turn in your life as blessing in order for it to be one.

Something in life shakes you up. It is always for good reason. Do not think that by using the word "reason" I mean "blame". Not at all. "Reason" here has a meaning that is more like "purpose". You are being pointed in a direction that you might otherwise have missed. You are being fully and lovingly ushered towards Heaven. Life-changing events are meant to be life-changing.

In life, you go one way and you might doggedly keep going that way until something jogged you. This is not to say that something is the matter with the way you have been going. It may be a wonderful way, but now you are being made to turn in another direction, perhaps slightly, perhaps dramatically.

Even if you are made to walk through coals, there is gold among the coals.

Sometimes a change in the course of your life is clearly a lovely miracle, and you are so happy. You have been given a present, and you drop whatever was in your hands, and eagerly accept the gift given to you.

When you name an occurrence a tragedy, you don't want to let go of what was in your hands. Even though the deed is done, you refuse to accept it. Therefore, you object, and you are so unhappy, and sometimes you mutter your objections for a long long time.

Unwanted events are taken personally. "How can this happen to me? And why did it? How can God do this to me!"

I am well aware that there is much in life you don't understand. From your vantage, you cannot. You see through a pinhole. How could you see where a small part fits?

You are often surprised at the inevitabilities of relative life. Rain will fall when you don't want it to. It won't rain when you want it to. Against your will, accidents happen. Despite your demands, people's bodies do not last forever. You build hospitals and are surprised at illness.

The means of change are not predictable, but the fact of change is.

My dear children, what is there to be bitter about? Bitterness is not inevitable. You don't have to choose it.

The strand of life as you experience it on earth is being pulled at every moment.

Remember the story about the oak tree and the willow, and which had the greater strength?

Bend in life and bounce back.

When you grieve for the inevitable, you are bent over and you see only your feet and the ground under them. Stand up and look high.

You are not a preventer of life nor a railer against it.

When you miss something, is it necessary to stretch out your sense of loss or unfairness? What gain is there in moaning as long as you can? Isn't it better to breathe and get on with life?

In the case of loved ones, there will never be another just like the one whose body left. Loved ones are irreplaceable. They loved you in a certain way, and you loved them uniquely as well. But you loved them, and now they have moved on. But you still have your love. There are many remaining on earth who also need your love.

Think of what you can give rather than what you need, and give it. You are on earth for love, not despair. Lift up your head now, My beloved.