YOU ARE LOVED!

Today I decided to pop my Josh Groban "Awake" CD into the car on the way to my first final. I haven't listened to this CD in such a long time, but I immediately went straight to track 2 and listened to the truth that is in this song. "You are Loved." I always imagine this song as if Jesus is singing it. This is something that we all need to be reminded of, myself included. It is something that I forget, something that I struggle to believe sometimes. In a world where suicide rates are increasing, where a young child blames himself for the reason his father walked out, where a man struggles to provide for his family, where a teenage girl starves herself to be 'good enough'...to be loved. Well let me tell you something: YOU ARE LOVED. You have a Father in Heaven who is crazy in love with you, who sent His only Son so that you can be with Him in eternal life forever. Now that is love. But for those moments when we struggle to remember that, well...I'll let Josh take it away from here. He sings it much better than I :)


Be blessed.

Please help!

I am extremely thankful that I live in a community that will give all that they have to help those in need. With that being said, this beautiful family is very dear to my heart and are in need of a lot of assistance! Especially during this holiday season, why not consider sharing your blessings and give a little love to those who may struggle to see the light during such a difficult time. Know that whatever you do on this earth is rewarded in Heaven. Click on the link below for details about the family and how you can help! Be blessed.

http://www.indiegogo.com/partingthewaters?c=home

Be the change you want to see in the world

Lately I have found myself getting angry about seemingly insignificant things. Something small will aggravate me to so much that I literally need to take a personal time out and figure out why the heck I am angry. And then I get more angry that I am angry about nothing! So I though about the things that seem to have set me off: things that are dirty, things that are out of place, unanswered text messages, the toilet paper roll not being re-filled... stupid stuff that shouldn't make me angry. But it does. The big question is WHY??

I realized that because I am such a giving person, that I expect others to do the same and get angry when they don't. Now this is definitely something I need to work on. But just because I go out of my way to do little acts of service for others, doesn't mean they have to...I shouldn't expect that from others, right? WRONG. Now, I should not get angry or upset if my expectations are not met, but I also should definitely not stop expecting people to show common courtesies and maybe a little more than that. I guess my challenge is this: expect greatness. Not only in others, but in yourself. Hold yourself to higher standards. Go out of your way to pick up that little piece of trash, to fold your roommates laundry, to bring a friend some coffee when they're having a rough day at work. Being busy is not an excuse. If you are too busy to do something nice for someone, than you're too busy.

"Do small things with great love"...

and you'd be surprised how much joy that can bring. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I also have a challenge for myself and anyone else having similar struggles: any time I get angry about one of the above stupidities, I am going to do one act of service to counteract that. BUT, I need to make sure I am not doing it out of resentment, otherwise it is meaningless.

Pray for opportunities to love and be loved. Be the change you want to see in the world!

New sisters and weddings

1.I am extremely thankful that one of my best friends is FINALLY married! I know she has waited patiently for this day and I pray that they have a blessed life together. And just look how precious this picture is :)

Amy and Matt on their wedding day!

I was very blessed by their witness of true love and what a real, holy relationship looks like. I learned a lot from them. And I was able to carry up the gifts at their wedding. It was a very special moment!


2. I am also very thankful for my seven new sisters!! Our household is blessed by each and every one of them. I was given the opportunity to lead them in formation before they were inducted and I was humbled and grateful for that gift. Their beautiful hearts continually fill me with such joy :)

3. I am eternally thankful for this guy:

Just a few of the highlights of the past few days. Happy Thursday :)

Gratitude Journal

In one of my Counseling classes, we learned about a technique called the "gratitude journal". This is pretty self-explanatory, but it is used for people who focus too much on the negative in life and not on the good things that happen every day. The goal is for them at the end of every day to write down a few things they were thankful for during that day. I decided that I really loved this idea and want to start doing that more regularly. I think far too often, especially with our nation being in constant struggle, we are tempted to despair or to only focus on the things that are going wrong in our lives. I am definitely guilty of this. This is no way to live! We need to be thankful for the simple pleasures of life and the joy that can be found in every day moments. So my blog might be taking a little spin into a "blessings journal" for a while. Feel free to comment with things that you are thankful for as well and spread the gratitude. We can never be truly happy if we are never thankful :)

Defeat at the Dermatologist...

I was at the Dermatologist the other day for a routine skin check and was also talking about the possibilities of going on Acutane. For those of who you don't know, it is a very strong drug that more or less gets rid of Acne for good once you start using it. Now I don't have a huge acne problem, it is more of an annoyance, so it isn't necessary for me to use Acutane. However, because of how strong the medication is, it will cause huge birth defects if you become pregnant while taking it, so it is REQUIRED that you take birth control while taking this medication. I tried to explain to my dermatologist that I am extremely Catholic and waiting til marriage so the chances of me getting pregnant are slim to none. I thought that would be good enough for me not to have to take birth control. But I was wrong. Now this may not seem like a big deal...if I am not having sex, it is not like the birth control pill would be getting rid of any potential children I have and be acting against my religious beliefs, so what is the issue? The issue is that the government cannot trust women enough to keep their legs closed so it is mandated that we go on the birth control pill before you are allowed to take this medication.

At any rate, I left the doctor's office feeling very annoyed defeated. My promise to abstain was not good enough because unfortunately women cannot be trusted to not have sex. I realize this may irritate people, but this is the reality of the situation. Some may see it as the government being protective and taking care of women, but that is now how I see it. It violates my right to not take the pill and hold myself accountable for my actions.Since when does the government care about the the unborn child in the womb anyways?

Needless to say, I am not taking Acutane. My vanity will have to get over itself :)

Chick-fil-a controversy brings about a renewed hope but also a greater call for action

On August 1, 2012, thousands of people lined up for hours to show their support for Chick-fil-a and traditional marriage (different then hating gay people...just saying) and I have to say that I was blown away by the amount of people present there. With everything that has been going on lately, I had just lost all hope for humanity and the values that our great nation was founded upon. I really was not expected that many people to be there in support of the values that I hold so dear to my heart. I was almost moved to tears to see that we are not alone in this and that there are thousands of others fighting for the same cause. It gave me such joy and a fresh hope! But then I saw someone post this:

"You'd never see that many Christians lined up at a food bank or homeless shelter...and that's something Jesus actually said to do"

and I got really angry. At first I was angry because I was prideful and thinking 'How dare they even bring up what Jesus has said...since when do they even care about Jesus?!? What right do they have to accuse us like that??' But the more I thought about it, the more truth I saw in that unfortunate statement and the more convicted I felt to do something about it. We need to follow the lead of Blessed John Paul II and Mother Theresa and "go out into the streets" and be the hands and feet of Christ. We need to actively and regularly follow His commandments and bring His love to all those we meet. They may always have a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to Christianity, but don't let it be because we aren't doing what we say through Baptism that we are going to do. And this means more than just going to food banks and homeless shelters. It means pursuing a relationship with the Lord and doing our best to proclaim His word to all we meet. It means being on your knees every day begging for the Lord's mercy upon the world. I think it's time that we realize how crucial this time is, and how vital it is that Christians everywhere need to stop hiding who they are. Because by coming out on August 1st to eat at Chick-fil-a, you did more than just eat a sandwich. You showed the world a piece of who you are. Let's not let it stop at that. The world now knows who we are and how much we stand behind our values. As Uncle Ben said in Spiderman 1, "With great power comes great responsibility". We have the responsibility to be authentic Christians and do the Lord's work here on earth. The only Gospel someone may read could be your life. How are you going to live yours?