Prayers

After living in a world that seems to always be filled with violence and unexplainable hateful acts, it's important to remember that there is good in the world. 

That people are inherently, good. 

From people that smile at you on the sidewalk to people that run into an explosion to rescue others. People are good. 

I believe in God and that everything happens for his reasons. It's not our job to try to understand those reasons but to do our best to help others in any way we can. 

As we are, yet again, surrounded by the media coverage of an unexplainable act,

remember to treat others with the love and respect that we all deserve. 

I pray that God will help all of those who were affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy and give them peace in the coming days, weeks, months and years. Help them to know and remember that there is still good in the world. 

Another prayer I found that I thought was fitting... 

Be with me, Lord

O Lord, I am torn up with grief. I know you are there, but I cannot see past my sorrow and tears. Be with me, Lord... guide me through these dark days and bring your light to my life, so that I may see your goodness, even in my mourning.Maureen Pratt

Middle of the Night Phone Calls

Nothing like being jolted from sleep at 12:17 AM thinking there is no way it can be time to wake up yet to realize it's your phone ringing. Phone calls and the middle of the night have never been a combination I enjoy. Typically, they are bad (except the one to tell me my God Child was born - Yay Zoey!).

Last night my stepdad, Dave, called to tell me that he thought my mom had a seizure or something like that and he couldn't get her to wake up. He called the EMT's and luckily she had come to before they arrived but they still took her to the hospital to do a ct scan. I talked to Dave before they took her to the hospital and he said that she was awake and answering all the questions correctly and he would let me know if I should come to the hospital.

She's really good at squinty eyed photos.

I called Seth, who is working out of town, and woke him, which I feel bad doing because again, middle of the night phone calls are scary. I listened to him tell me everything was okay and it probably happened because she had a long day -- The little old lady who she does elder care for passed away which basically means she is out of a job. Plus they just broke ground on their new house. -- After talking to Seth I felt a little better and eventually fell back asleep praying that everything was okay. I got a text at 4:00 in the morning saying she was fine and back home in bed. Thank you, God!

At work this morning I texted to see how she was doing and what the heck happened. Apparently, she took a sleeping pills to help her go to sleep and then woke up because she thought she was going to be sick. On her walk into the bathroom she thinks she fell back asleep and hit her face on the toilet. Ouch. She said she has a fat lip and her teeth hurt. I told her she was lucky she didn't knock her teeth out. Thank goodness it wasn't more serious though.

I'm sure you're probably thinking why the heck didn't I get out of bed and go to the hospital. Who knows. My mom has had this kind of thing (sort of) happen to her probably about 3-4 other times now and when I talked to Dave he seemed to think she was doing okay. Plus I think I was still stuck in the half asleep world where you don't really understand or know what's going on but people are telling you it's okay so you believe them. Fortunately it was, but I still feel kinda guilty for not getting out of my bed. I love you though Mommy and I'm glad you're okay!

Good Friday

Top 10 Tuesday: Lenten Sacrifice

Since Lent has started I decided to come up with a Top 10 list of things to give up/do for lent in case you hadn't started yet.

1. Give up some type of social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest - Even better if you replace these activities with #4:)
2. Stop using the lords name in vain and/or stop using cuss words. 
3. Give up your favorite dessert/snack or treat.
4. Read books, blogs, magazines and newspapers that focus on faith and strengthen your relationship with God. 
5. Go to weekly stations of the cross at your local church if available. 
6. Give up listening to the radio in your car. Replace the silence with religious music or audio books, talk with those riding with you, or spend time talking to God.
7. Focus more on others instead of self by doing daily or weekly random acts of kindness for people. Do these things anonymously if possible.
8. Give up watching TV or even just your favorite TV shows. 
9. Give to the poor in any way you can. Food, clothing or even time. 
10. Spend time daily talking to Jesus. Thank him. Ask him for guidance in something you might be struggling with. Be sure to listen as well.

I wish I could say that I'm doing everything on this list but I am trying to do a couple different things. I have given up pop (aka:soda for those of you that don't know what pop is;) which is super hard for me. I love to have a nice cold caffeinated Pepsi or Dr. Pepper right after lunch in the afternoons to keep me awake. I also love it with popcorn, pizza, Mexican food, at the movies.....you get the idea. Luckily, I love water and Ice Tea as well so I should hopefully survive these 40 days and nights just fine. 

I'm also working on reading several different books that the head LifeNight teacher loaned me over a year ago (yikes). My goal is to return all three after Lent is over. 

Several of the other ideas on the list I'm trying to be more active in but I don't want to try to over commit and then fail. I guess we will just have to wait and see how I do. My goal is to have a deeper understanding of my faith and closer relationship with God. Wish me luck!

Have you decided to give up/do something for lent? What is it?

Why do I believe in God?

(This turned out a little longer than I intended so if you just want to read my reasons skip down to "Here goes...")

I help teach the high school youth group at my church on Wednesday nights. We call it LifeNight. 

Recently, the Youth Group Leader, had a high school science speaker come talk to the students about how our faith can co-exist with evolution. Basically, we can believe in God AND that we, as a species, have evolved over time. These are two different truths in our church and it's okay to believe both because they go hand in hand.

Honestly, this can be a little complicated to wrap your head around both ideas and I know if I even try to explain it I will most likely butcher the facts so I will just move on with my main point of this post. (Maybe in the future I will write another post on this and get some feed back from someone who has a little more authority on the subject than myself.)

This idea of God and Evolution is not the main reason for the post but it's intent is to give you a little background on the evening and how it led into this next question asked of the speaker...

"Why do you believe in God?" 

I was honestly taken a little aback that one of the students would ask our speaker this question considering he had basically just told us that he does believe in God and science and how the two work together. 

Then I realized that the student didn't merely ask, "Do you?" but "WHY do you believe in God?"

This seems like a question that should be so easy to answer but in reality can be very complicated. Our speaker gave a fantastic answer for his reasons Why but even after listening to his answer I kept pondering the question in my own mind. 

"Why do I believe in God?"

Sure I believe in God because that is what I was taught from the moment I was born. I was raised by a family who is Catholic and as a Catholic that's what we do, WE believe in God. 

The prayer, The Apostles Creed, basically spells out our beliefs as Catholics and the first sentence says, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth." 

While it's great to grow up Catholic I definitely think that we need to understand why "We" actually believe what we believe. 

I've put together a short list of reasons why I personally believe in God. While the list may be short, these were all significant moments in my life that strengthened my faith.

Here goes...

I believe in God because my parents tried for over 10 years to have a child (me). At a certain point they opened their hearts to God and decided that maybe he was leading him into having a child another way. On the day my mom received a letter from the Catholic adoption agency telling her they would be able to apply for adoption she tells how she felt filled with the Holy Spirit and at that moment she knew that she was pregnant. A quick test and 9 months later I was born. 

I believe in God because when I was 5 years old I woke up to the sound of an ambulance on the highway. Never before had I said a prayer for the person to whom an ambulance was traveling too, but at that moment I did. Several minutes later my Dad came upstairs to find me awake and tell me that my cousin and best friend, Maria, who was also 5, had just been hit by a car. The ambulance was coming to take her to the hospital. Thankfully she only had a broken collar bone and has since recovered:)

I believe in God because when I was 8 years old my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and survived. She had a mammogram only 1 month before finding a dime sized lump in her breast during a self exam. God gave her the strength to fight cancer and to win!

I believe in God because I met my husband at the age of 14 years old and my life was changed for the better. He is truly my best friend and the most respectful man I have ever met. He is the kind of husband that you would want for your children. It is truly the power of God that made everything align so that I even had the opportunity to meet my husband. One small change in our lives and we may have never met. For this, I am eternally grateful and will share more about some other time. 

I believe in God because when my brother, Joe, was 18 years old he jumped from a car filming a "stunt" and was in a coma with a Traumatic Brain Injury. It was such a serious injury that my parents and I had to meet with people about donating his organs if he, most likely, didn't make it. Later that day I was in the ICU standing next to my brother who had not moved since being brought into the hospital. A priest, who was a great family friend, came in to say a blessing over Joe. In the middle of his prayer I watched Joe move his hand! I believe that God was in that room with us and that He was not yet ready to take Joe into his loving arms in Heaven. God has great plans for Joe here on earth that I will tell you about later. From that moment of prayer and blessing in his ICU hospital room Joe has continued to improve. 

These are only a handful of some of the reasons why I believe in God, the Father Almighty. 

I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason. For God's reasons to be more specific. I no longer try to understand God's plan for me because I know that someday it will be revealed when he is ready. 

At this point in life I am just thankful and content to be in awe of God's power and Grace. 

So, Why do YOU believe in God?

Here's the Apostles Creed in case your interested:)

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.