Humility is a virtue that may make us feel weak but is necessary to suppress our pride. Demonstrating humility requires the courage to acknowledge that we are lost or suffering 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 not only testifies to God’s love for those who seek and belong to Him but also to His faithfulness. Humility is the attitude by which you entrust yourself to God and bow your heart, acknowledging that you need Him. This is repentance:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6)

Today, I thank God for your life because if you have purchased this guide, it means you want to return to Him… and for that, your path must take the ways of repentance. Didn’t Jesus say:

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

This is a clear invitation to renounce your sins by returning to God. Besides, in Hebrew, repentance is called “TESHUVA,” which literally means “Return” in the sense of “turning to God.” Returning through Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is therefore the first thing to do to build a relationship of intimacy with God:

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

Now it’s up to you. To help you become the architect of your own change, awareness seems useful to illuminate your first steps on the path of repentance, which includes the following stages. The first stage of repentance is awareness. Becoming aware of the faults, errors, 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 nonetheless necessary to recognize that pain carries hope. Not only, as you have surely noticed yourself, many people who are very far from God in their daily lives have suddenly drawn closer to Him when faced with a health problem or difficulty in their lives. They seek courage, hope, and comfort from Him. But as we will see now, pain is also the starting point of a process that leads to awareness and then to action, allowing us to put an end to an evil or problematic situation that quietly destroys us.

Let’s remember the story of the prodigal son: “Jesus continued: 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 our lives without destination or true emotion, immersed in a deep spiritual apathy that distances us from the Word of God to the point of getting lost. But the pain caused by these wanderings is salvific. It brings us back to ourselves and triggers the awareness that leads to repentance…

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 “Commitment in the Walk of Intimacy with God.“