Humility is a virtue that might make us feel weak, but it is essential for taming our pride. Showing humility requires the courage to admit that we are lost or in pain and that we need help. God tells us:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This verse speaks not only of God’s love for those who seek Him and belong to Him but also of His faithfulness. Humility is the attitude through which you surrender to God and open your heart, acknowledging that you need Him. This is repentance:

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:4-6).

Today, I thank God for your life because if you have purchased this guide, it is because you wish to return to Him… and to do so, your path must follow the ways of repentance. Did Jesus not say:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2)?

This is a clear invitation to renounce sins by returning to God. In Hebrew, repentance is called TECHOUVA, which literally translates to “Return” in the sense of “turning to God.” Returning through Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is therefore the first step in building an intimate relationship with God:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3).

It’s now your move. To help you become the architect of your own change, I find it useful to shed light on your first steps on the path of repentance, which involves different stages. The first stage of repentance is awareness.

Becoming aware of the faults, mistakes, and sins committed, as well as the pain they have caused, is the best way to turn away from them in the future and avoid repeating them.

While it is true that no one likes to suffer, it is also important to recognize that pain carries hope. Indeed, as you have probably noticed yourself, many people who are far from God in their daily lives suddenly turn to Him in times of health problems or difficulties. They come seeking courage, hope, and comfort.

But as we will see, pain is also the starting point of a process that leads to awareness and, ultimately, to action to put an end to a harmful or problematic situation that quietly destroys us. Let’s remember the story of the prodigal son:

“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’

“So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him” (Luke 15:11-20).

Awareness is like waking up after a long time spent in a semi-conscious state, wandering through life without direction or true emotion, submerged in a deep spiritual apathy that distances us from God’s Word to the point of losing our way. But the pain caused by these wanderings is redemptive.

It brings us back to ourselves and triggers the awareness that leads to repentance. For the prodigal son, it was misery and hunger that brought him to himself (as he thought of his father and his past condition), making him aware of his current situation and leading him to repent and return to his father…

This text is an excerpt from the book “21 DAYS OF WALKING FOR INTIMACY WITH GOD” written by Carmène Robert.

We invite you to read the following article “CONTEMPLATION.”