Perseverance in Hope

There is one thing that I hate. One thing that scares me. One thing that is super hard for me in following God. Well... more than one thing if I am honest. But there is one thing that comes back me a lot!

Perseverance.

I am caught up with all of these thoughts about it. I am close to God for now. But what about tomorrow?  

I have been reading the Bible for now, but what about later on?

Am I going to lose this? How can I keep it up?

Some of these are silly questions. Ones that keep going around in my brain like a happy hamster running on his wheel.

I know those scenarios are not likely to happen. Yet perseverance is still hard for me on a daily basis.

A friend reminded me a few days ago just how long the Jews waited for Jesus to come.

Four thousand years.

One of my favorite songs is a A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. 

A thousand years seems like forever to me. Yet the Jews waited for four times longer than that. Dip into the Old Testament and see the waiting. 

The wandering, the wondering. Even before entering the Promised Land the Jews wandered for 40 years in the desert. 

Like the Jews in the four thousand years before Christ’s birth we have to persevere.

Persevere in that hope that is the longing for Christmas. Embracing the flaws, suffering, loneliness, longing because all of this is to God.

Sometimes you get to Christmas and it seems like the waiting isn't even over yet. The waiting to be healed and transformed. The waiting to be transformed.

When this happens, realize that you are called to wait in hope, in hope for the coming of the kingdom.

A coming that is not even fulfilled by Christmas. We are still waiting in joyful hope for his second coming. 

Persevere in hope.

Be not Afraid! I am praying for you.

~Emily

Enter in

It's Advent! This strange liturgical season squeezed in right before Christmas where we are supposed to be doing a million things. Like buying presents, going holiday shopping, cooking, decorating all things and keeping up with our normal lives!

Buying presents for everyone who you have ever met? (I may exaggerate.)  It can all be exhausting. I know that it often feels like that for me. Honestly I feel much of the time like Advent is just one last thing to do.. Right on top of a high list of expectations and things we really need to do in our lives right now.

Ever since I have started college, Advent has seemed rushed and even panicked.

Here's how it goes for me. 

Advent Week 1

Thanksgiving happens, which is all well and good, time spent with family and friends being grateful. All is great and  then comes Monday. The day after break when essentially all hell breaks loose and you discover that you have approximately 1,00o things to do this week! Plus it's Advent so you know spend a great deal of time feeling guilty about not being Advent-y enough and shopping because it's Cyber Monday and we all need a jump start on the 1,000 presents to buy.

This week you have just started is also the last week of classes so you can be prepared to be swept away  by classes, projects, and things you forgot to do until the very last minute.

Advent Week 2.

Then finals week comes and you barely manage to pray on Sunday. You subsist more off of coffee than anything else. You eat, sleep ( a little), and dream class notes and exam taking.

Advent Week 3

You arrive home the next week exhausted and promptly sleep/watch Christmas movies for the next three days. Plus go to a few Christmas parties your parents dragged you too. Not to mention-it's the pink week of Advent which means joy and quite realistically the only joy you can imagine is your pillow. Besides the fact that you still have not even thought about Advent or done anything about it because exhaustion has set in. 

I hope I am the only one who experiences this beautiful season in this magical way (sarcasm intended. ) But I know that is not the truth. The hustle and bustle, the business that accompanies all of this can drag us down.  Our expectations and the Target website failing to respond can get to us.

Which is why I am going to enter in. To enter into the crazy, the stressed, the mess. I am not going to wish it all to go away. Often I think, if only this were different, if my life were different I could enter in more fully to Advent. 

Only that is not true. It's my life. I will still have the same life 10 years from now because I am still me.

So I am going to enter in, and I am going to ask the Lord to enter into it all with me. To enter in with me to the stress, the websites that refuse to respond, the exams that have to be taken, the shopping that needs to be done. I am going to get the important things done but I am not going to do them alone. I am going to enter into it all with the Lord. To have him help me everyday because no matter what season it is, He is and always will be my lifeline.

I am going to enter into the mystery, that is the here and now, the today. I am going to enter into this season and savor all of it. I am going to enter in with the Lord.

If two minutes in the Bible is all the time I can spend while trying to get it all done then I will enter fully into those two minutes. 

Be not Afraid!

-Emily

Biblical resources

I just came across this awesome video!

How to get through the Bible in just one hour.

Bible in an hour.

If you have the time click on over or save it for later.

It is well worth a watch.

Be not Afraid.
~Emily

5 Awkward Things About the Bible

Some fun Bible facts for you!

...or really just Five Awkward Things About the Bible! Enjoy.

Do you have any favorite Biblical YouTube channels? I think I need to find some more. :)


You are so loved.
-Emily

All Things Work for Good

"For we know that all things work for good for those who love God who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

This verse is one of the hardest to accept and to believe.

All things.


It does not say that some things work for good. That I could believe quite easily. But this means that the messy works for good.

That my brokenness works for good.

That my struggles work for good.

That my weakness works for good.


All things. That includes those parts of my life and of me that I like the very least. The things about myself that I do not love.

God uses it all for good.

The good, the bad, the ugly, the messy. He uses all of it for good and there is nothing you and I can do to change that if we let Him have it all..

He will use your struggle and your failure, your doubt and your fear, your insecurity and your insincerity.

He uses all of it.


This verse then, as hard as it is to believe, is what I turn to in tough moments..

Because no matter what the struggle, even when I do not know how, I do know that he WILL use it for good.

This is one of those verses to write out on a notecard. To put it somewhere you look often, to read it over and over again. So in tough moments, the words will come back to you.

"For we know that all things work for good for those who love God who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28


Be not Afraid.
~ Emily

Heroes

 

There is not a single person who aspires to mediocrity. 

Not one. 

Every person aspires to greatness. 

Think back to when you were younger. I'm talking about 5 or 6 years old. What did you want to be when you grew up? 

A firefighter. A teacher. A pro-football player. An astronaut. A movie star. The list goes on. For my little sister, the current career of choice is a policewoman. 

When we were little kids, regardless of how we wanted to do it, we all wanted to be the same thing. 

We all wanted to be great. We wanted to be the best. We wanted to be the ones who overcame adversity and became what we were meant to be, the ones who did something worthwhile.

We wanted to be heroes. 

There is a desire inside all of us to be more than we are. To be part of something bigger. To go against the tide and be extraordinary. 

And that only applies to our careers, right? To the things of the world. No way that could have anything to do with our faith...right? 

Wrong.


Dictionary.com defines a hero as "a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities".

Most of the time this brings to mind knights in shining armor in a land far away, battling fire-breathing dragons. Nice, but not immediately applicable in our lives. Because of this we tend to write off the whole idea of heroism and say there's little room for it in the modern world.

But it's not true. The world needs heroes as much as it ever will. The Church needs heroes as much as it ever has.


Heroism is absolutely applicable to our faith; in fact, it's essential. What is more noble than Christ's cause? What is more courageous than to go against the societal norm for His sake? What takes more bravery than to lay down your life for another?

As Christians, this is exactly what God asks of us.


Jesus isn't really Mr. Popular right now. Look around. Everywhere we look, virtue is ridiculed, goodness is mocked, and truth is silenced. It's an "every man for himself" world.

Everywhere we look, we see the fruit of this terrible seed. We see hunger, we see hurt, we see hopelessness.

But what if it wasn't "every man for himself"? What if it was every man for Him?

What if a radical group of people decided not to be afraid anymore? What if they decided that what the world had to offer them was just not good enough and that everyone deserves something more than the lies it tries to force on us? What if they died to their pride to be truly alive in humility? What if they chose to let their own desires waste away and strove to meet the needs of others? What if they committed the equivalent of social suicide by committing themselves to a life in Christ? What if they laid their lives down in that way?

The results would be unbelievable.

Hunger would be met, hurt would be healed, and hope would be restored.  

If we took the time to be the hands, feet, and voice of Christ in a world that so badly needs Him, we would start to see Heaven on Earth. Not because of us, but because of Him in us.


There's a quote that I love. Mark Hart, a popular speaker and prolific author, once said something along the lines of, "'Thy kingdom come' means my kingdom go." It couldn't be more true.


If we want the world to change, we have to change the world. Just a heads up, the world is not going to like it, and that means it's not going to like us. We will be hated, and shunned, and ridiculed. And that's okay. Heroism thrives in the face of adversity. And if we need anymore convincing:

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10

I'm convinced.


It's up to us. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be hard, and it's going to be uncomfortable. But as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said, "You were not made for comfort; you were made for greatness."

You were made to be a hero.

Peace be with you.
Caitlin

No One Wants to Be Paralyzed

There are certain Bible passages that I tend to go to a lot.

One of these is the story of the man who is paralyzed and his friends let him down through the roof into a crowded place where Jesus heals him.

I have put myself in this Bible passage multiple times. For this one I like to really use Ignatian Contemplation.

I can see the crowds. I can hear Jesus preaching. I am on top of the roof and it is really hot outside.

Put yourself in that situation. Right now. Practice using Ignatian Contemplation with this passage before you read any further. Mark 2.

Smell the smells, drink it in, soak in the moment.


After reading this passage through many times over a period of several months, someone asked me...

"Who were you?" 

"Were you the paralytic?"

Then I realized that in all that reading of this passage, I had always put myself in as one of the people on the roof. I was always the one lowering my freind down so they could recieve healing.

I was never the one recieving healing. Never, not once.


Then, I realized that I didn't want to be the person on the mat.

As a person, I want to help others. I want others to receive healing. I want others to become better. I want my friends to reach their fullest potential. As a serious empath, I feel when my friends are suffering and I want them to be healed.

I have struggles like everyone. I have areas where I desperately need healing. I know about these areas and yet I had never put myself in the story as a the person on the mat.


I need healing and I know that, but I do not want to be the person who is broken. None of us do. We shrink away from our own brokenness. I would rather tell you about all the struggles I have had. Not the struggles that I have now.

I am relatively comfortable telling you I used to have a eating disorder. Telling you I suffer from anxiety and depression now is another story however.


We do not want to be in need of healing so we pretend we are not. Even to ourselves.

I would love to tell you about the healing I have received, how I am all better.

But that is not the truth.


The truth is that as humans we are scared of vulnerability. We are scared of being hurt. We are scared of showing someone else our gaping wounds. We are scared of showing our brokenness.

I do not want to admit my own brokenness, my own need of healing. That is why I never put myself as the man on the mat. I'd rather just pretend that I'm just fine and go on lying to myself, my friends, and even God.

Only the truth is that He knows.


No matter how much I pretend that I do not need healing, that I am totally fine, He knows. God knows how much I need his healing.

He knows and all He wants to do is heal me. He wants me to be the man on the mat.


I know all of this and yet I am not healed. I do not know how or when he wants to heal me. I do know that he has given me my struggles for a reason, so that I can help others.

I do know that God knows my struggle and more than anything else He wants to be with me in my struggle. He just wants me to acknowledge that I am hurting so I can acknowledge just how much He desperately wants to be with me in my struggle.

I do not know the mind of the Healer or the ways that He works. But I do know that He is with me, by my side every step of the way.


I was talking to a friend about all my struggles one day and he told me, "It might not feel like this, but God is closer to you now than ever before."


So... when you feel like the man on the mat, remember that.

God is closer to you now than ever before.


Be not Afraid.
~Emily

Band-aids

"I'm okay. I'm getting better."

I can't even count how many times I've said this over the past year and a half, but I could probably count on one hand the number of times it's been true.

I have had scrupulosity for the last two years. When a person is scrupulous, they see sin where there is no sin. Everyday is a battle against yourself, fighting invisible monsters and waging impossible wars. It completely takes over your life.

My scrupulosity is heavily based in another issue I have: OCD. I've had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since I was six, but in ninth grade the scrupulosity started. In order to get rid of it, I have to deal with the OCD.


This means therapy. Which is long and hard and scary. It's a painful process, and I'm not excited about it.

I'm so not excited about it that I'd almost rather continue coping with everything just the way it is. I'd rather keep on keeping on with my head down and my heart closed and continue hurting, just so I don't have to face it.

It's like putting a band-aid on your scraped knee while you're bleeding to death from a wound in your side.


I think we all do this in some way or another. It's a cultural epidemic. We ignore the responsibilities that keep piling up in favor of mindless occupations which do nothing to enrich our lives. We drink cups upon cups of coffee instead of going to sleep a little earlier. We bury our faces in our phones rather than speak to the person directly across from us because it might just be uncomfortable.

In an even more dangerous way, we do this with our souls. We drown out the whispers of our conscience with the noise of the world. We rationalize our sins so we don't have to abandon them. We avoid prayer like the plague and then wonder why we're miserable.

We treat the symptom, not the cause. We're putting band-aids on our hearts, and it's killing us.


Jesus doesn't do band-aids. He does healing. The Bible is full of stories of how He stopped the hurting and slayed the demons. Everywhere He went, He healed, and He healed completely.

He didn't tell the blind men, "You'll kind of, sort of think you can see." He didn't tell the lepers, "You'll be clean for a while, but the sores will  come back when you let your guard down.". He didn't tell the lame, "You don't get to walk, but you can hop on one foot if you tug on your left ear."

He told them their sins we're forgiven and they were made whole.

Jesus doesn't do delusions. He doesn't do temporary fixes, and He doesn't do conditions. He does real, total, generous renewal.

Go read John 11:1-44. What more proof do we need that Jesus can tackle all our bumps and bruises? He raised a dead man! Surely He can bring us back to life as well.


So, we have two options when it comes to how to deal with our wounds. We can either keep putting on the band-aids and hoping they'll go numb, or we can give them to Jesus and let them go away.

A band-aid is a short-term solution. Believing that somehow it's going to take care of something that truly needs stitches is believing in a lie. It's a rip off that eventually will need to be ripped off. And that will probably hurt more than healing ever would.

Jesus won't heal you halfway. He'll make you new. That doesn't necessarily mean you won't have to do anything, but it does mean you'll never have to do it alone.


Therapy is long and hard and scary. It's a painful process and that's okay. It's what Jesus wants to use to heal me, and ready or not, it's time to let Him. The band-aid's coming off.


What about you? Where are you covering up your problems instead of confronting them? What are you hiding from your Healer because your embarrassed or scared or think you can handle it? You wouldn't try and set a broken bone yourself. Don't try to mend your broken heart.


Peace be with you.
Caitlin

Not Ashamed

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek.^" Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel.

These were the words that stuck out to me and I wondered what they meant. That sounds silly, juvenile even. But what do those words mean?

What do those words mean to me?

 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel.

What does this mean for me in my life? It does not mean that I run around with my Bible all the time trying to get people to read it. (Well that's kinda exactly what I do with this project, but people choose to read it, so that's different.)

Talking about the Bible is one thing that I do on here, for one simple reason: I feel called to talk about and share the Bible in this way with all of you.

In my (non-virtual) life however, not being ashamed of the Gospel more often than not means not being ashamed to live it out.


We notice how people live, more than we care or even notice what they have to say.  Still we look at how they live and their lives scream volumes.

I want to live the Gospel out. I do not want to even have to talk about it using words or at least not explicitly.

I think we all know the over-quoted line often attributed St. Francis.

"Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words."

St. Francis got what it means to not be ashamed of the Bible and he preached the Gospel with his life, with the very way he lived and breathed.


So how do we do that? How do we live the Gospel in our day to day lives?

The way we live the Gospel is first to immerse ourselves in it. To read it. To spend time in the Word not just occasionally but on a daily basis.

I know just how hard this can be. I get distracted or busy. I  try to have a Bible time everyday; actually it is a Bible and coffee time first thing in the morning.

(Full disclosure: Sometimes I totally miss this or forget. Well, I forget the Bible part... but not the coffee part...)

When I do read the Bible, sometimes nothing hits. Nothing really stands out. Most days though, I read it and one part just jumps out at me.

One verse hits me. I try to take that verse, whatever it is, throughout my day. I try to have that verse influence my day and the way that I live.


To live the Gospel, to let your life be a living proof of the Gospel... that is living the Gospel and not being ashamed to do it.

It is less about telling others what to do and more about showing it. It has a lot more to do with living it out. When you make a habit of reading the Bible, even when nothing about it stands out to you, you will stand out to others.


Let your own life be a witness to the truth of the Gospel.

Do not just read it, live it.

Be not ashamed of the Gospel.

Be not Afraid,
-Emily

Choosing Love

I don't always want to be holy.


I don't think anybody does ALL the time. Everyone has days, minutes, moments where they'd rather not do the right thing. It's hard, it's painful, and it's just not always fun.


I struggle a lot with feelings. I allow them to dictate my thoughts and moods in a ridiculous way. I allow them to tell me who I am, even when they're lying.

There are days when I simply don't feel like being holy. I feel like walking away and doing what I want. I feel like it's all for nothing, that it's not worth it and I'm wasting my time. There are days when I feel like God's not there, and if He is He doesn't care. Sometimes I feel like He's not fair and it's His fault and I don't want anything to do with Him.

And sometimes that's okay.


It's okay to feel like that. It's okay to struggle with your faith and to wonder why you even bother.

It's okay to feel like walking away; it's not okay to do it.


One time, in the middle of one of these moments in my life, one of my youth leaders said this to me:

"Faith is not about feelings; it's about fidelity."
 

It's so true. Just because I don't feel like being a good person every waking moment doesn't mean I'm a bad person. At the end of the day, it all boils down to a single resolution...

I decide to be holy.

 

It's a decision, not a feeling. It comes down to choice, not chance. It's up to me and no one else and I choose good.
 

I choose life and love and joy and gentleness and courage and constancy and I choose Him. I choose Jesus.

 

There will be days we don't feel like being holy, and there will be a time when we have to decide if that's enough. Is a fickle, fleeting feeling enough to draw me away from Love Itself?

 

And it's not a one time thing. It's something we ought to ask ourselves in the midst of every trial and temptation. I think if we phrased it to ourselves like that we'd sin a lot less frequently. Is a moment of pleasure worth an eternity of joy? Is this enough to exchange for the Lord of the Universe?

 

Hint: The answer is NO.

 

We all have a choice to make. We can choose apathy, and we can choose skepticism. We can choose the easy way out. But we can also choose Love. I know what I want. What about you?

 

Peace be with you.

Caitlin



Being the Samaritan Woman

I happen to love the woman in the Bible. There are a lot of reasons for that, one of them being that I am a woman and another being that there are not a lot of women in the Bible so I pay special attention to the ones that are.

Each woman in the Bible has a special message, so I listen to each one individually.

One of my favorite of all the woman in the Bible however is the Samaritan woman, commonly known as the Woman at the Well. (John 4:1-42)

Read the Bible passage first! You can find it here: John 4


This woman is a Samaritan. If you know the story of the Good Samaritan and the history behind it, then you're well aware that the Samaritans don't have many friends outside their community. But this woman is an outcast within her community.

How do we know this? Well, most women would have gone to the well in the early morning or later evening, when it wasn't as hot outside, but not this woman. When she comes to the well, it is at the hottest part of the day, alone. She came at the time when she knew no one else would be there; she didn't want to see them, or they didn't want to see her. Either way, we know she's not part of the group.

So here is this woman: a Samaritan, outcast from the world and even from her own people.

I imagine that she felt like the lowest of the low. She is the one that no one wants to talk to at all. She is the one who is spurned.

If I were her, I would feel pretty low.


Who knows how many times the woman walked the hot and dusty roads to a from the well alone? Today is different. Jesus is here, and he asks her for a drink. Then He talks to her and she talks back all about the water and living water (which quite honestly must have sounded like nonsense.)

But this man is talking to her. She is the woman who no decent man would speak too, but there doesn't seem to be anything seedy about Jesus. I'm sure the poor woman was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Which it does.

Because then things get personal.

"Jesus said to her, 'Go call your husband and come back.' The woman answered and said to him, 'I do not have a husband.' Jesus answered her, 'You are right in saying "I do not have a husband." For you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.'"
John 4:16-18


Jesus knows her. This strange man, a Jew no less, knows things about her. He knows what she has done and He knows how her life has played out. He knows her struggles and her fears. He knows the hidden burdens that she carries. And He looks at her with love. All I can think when I read this passage is I want to see the eyes of Jesus look at me with such love. 

Jesus has just told this woman everything that she has done wrong. He tells her he knows about all of her sin. That doesn't sound very loving to us. We live in a culture that refuses to believe right and wrong even exist, so to us, Jesus sounds like He's being anything but loving.

There are no words where Jesus says "You are loved by the Father", none of that. He simply talks to her. Still, I know that He must also be looking at her with eyes full of the love that he has for her, because nothing else could explain what she does next.

"The woman left her water jar and went into town and said to the people, 'Come see the man who told me everything that I have done.'" John 4:29


We have all done things we are not proud off, some a long time ago, some as recently as yesterday. This woman has been living a life of sin for years...and Someone knows.

Someone knows about all of her sin and all of her mess. He knows. . . and she wants everyone to meet Him?

It's like if I ran into a stranger at Starbucks who started to list all the bad things I had done in my life...

That conversation would be awkward...and at the end of it I would be trying to get away as fast as possible and never go back ever again.. (Even though fall and pumpkin spice lattes are coming. )

Yet this woman turns around and tells everyone. Come meet this man! Based on our modern day methods of communication, that would be like tweeting it, taking a selfie with this man and instagramming it and of course posting it on Facebook...

Can you believe that status?... (complete with selfie):

"Hey look me and the awesome man who told me everything that I have ever done wrong."

Awkward.

This is why I know that when Jesus looked at her, He looked at her with eyes full of love.

She did not want to run away. She did not want to hide. She felt loved and she felt forgiven. She turned around and (at the expense of everyone knowing all she had done) she wanted everyone else to know the love of Jesus. That's what love does; that's what conversion does.


So often, I am the Woman at the Well. I get mired in sin and I let it consume me. I focus on how bad I am. The things I have done. The mistakes I have made. I forget about the love of a Savior which can take it all away. When the woman got that chance, she jumped on it; I forget that I can do that.


The woman was not prepared for the saving encounter at the well. She just wanted to get her water and leave.

Then Jesus stopped her. He looked at her and He saw her. He saw her not for what she had done but for who she was.

That is the reason she turned around and wanted everyone to know. She had been seen for who she was as a person: intimately loved by God.


All that woman did was let herself be open to the love of God. That is it. She opened herself to the transforming power of God's love and He changed her.

This is a lesson for me, and probably for you too. Don't stay mired in your sin or in your muck. Don't stay mired in all the ways you feel inadequate or useless. Don't focus on what you can do for God.

Just let him love you. Just let him love you.


That is why I go back to this Bible passage a lot. I need to be reminded of the love of God, the love of someone who sees all my mess and sin and loves me anyway.

He's one whose love can transform my life.





Be not afraid!
-Emily

Focus

It was the second day of school and I was already behind. I think it ought to go without saying that I am not optimistic for the remainder of my senior year.

I knew it would be like this. I knew that eventually the excitement of a new schedule and the interest in new classes would fade away and the real work would begin.

I just didn't know it would be like this. I didn't know I'd last less than 48 hours before I had to catch up on my assignments.

Though you know, judging by the sporadic nature of my posts, that I'm hardly good at time management!


I really thought this year would be different. I really thought this year, I'm going to stick with it and organize myself so that I'm not drowning in loose leaf, and this year I'm going to be on top of things.

Bang goes that theory.


I wonder why it's always like this for me. I mean really, it's not like I try to get behind. I'm doing my best! So maybe I sleep in a little later in the morning, and yeah, maybe I should get myself put together before noon every once and a while. It's not like it's affecting my work! Just because I take Netflix breaks doesn't mean I have less time for reading, and...

Wait...oh, I see.


Focus. That all too elusive concept. It's nearly impossible for me to focus on any one thing, and I couldn't multitask if you offered me a million dollars.

That's why I'm a terrible driver. :)

But it's also why I'm a distracted student. I have a hard time paying attention to the task at hand. My mind is always going a million miles an hour, but never about schoolwork. It's difficult to keep from chasing rabbits and stick to the path.


On Sunday, the homily (sermon) was about just that: focus. It reminded me of how important it is to focus on God, and let everything else flow from that.

If I'm focused on God and what He wants from me, then I am automatically more inclined to be focused on the important things in life. I will be able to prioritize and can be fully aware of what I'm doing. That doesn't rule out Netflix; it just means that when I do watch Netflix I'm not doing so to the neglect of more important things. This focus not only improves the quality of my work but also the quality of my leisure, so Netflix becomes all the more awesome.

I was so excited about this idea of focus. I was sure I could do this.


Enter Monday, the first day of school.

Not. Focused.

Now, I have two options. Either I can descend into the depths of self-pity because I mean really, I couldn't focus for two days...or, I could look and see what the Bible says about focus.

I've tried the pity thing before, so let's try the Bible.

Let your eyes look straight ahead and your gaze be focused forward.

Proverbs 4:25

 

Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace, imparting the word of truth without deviation.

2 Timothy 2:15

 

Entrust your works to the Lord, and your plans shall succeed.

Proverbs 16:3

 

 

 

And I'm sure that's just the beginning.

God has an incredible plan for our lives. In order for us to live them, we have to focus on His voice, focus on the task at hand, and focus on the final destination. For many of us, that unfortunately means focusing on our homework.


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go start my school day. Not that I was putting it off by writing a blog post or anything like that. :)





Peace be with you.
Caitlin

Salvation History Bible Saga

Since we all love Youtube, I love finding videos that are actually applicable to the Bible and then sharing them with you.

This is a ridiculous video that has a timeline for all of Salvation history. It's pretty spectacular.

It's kind of long but totally worth a watch at least once... or twice. :)


Enjoy Salvation History Bible Saga. :)


Because we all need something to spice up our Friday. 




Be not Afraid.
~Emily

Ignatian Contemplation

There are two main ways to study or enter into Scripture. One is Lectio Divina, and the other is Ignatian Contemplation.

This is the way that I am not as familiar with, although this project should change that. Therefore, I found a wonderful website to explain it. It explains it way better than I ever could.

Ignatian Contemplation

Basically, you're placing yourself into the Bible story. You imagine what it's like to actually be there. How cool is that?


What do you think? Have you tried Ignatian Contemplation?

You are so loved.
~Emily

10 Minutes

I want to issue a challenge. One that I am sure to fail at more times than I will ever care to admit. But that is why it is called a challenge.

First I have a few questions...


How much time do you actually spend on Facebook everyday?

How much time did you spend on Pinterest today?

Not to forget, Buzzfeed, Twitter, Instagram and my personal favorite: Netflix.

Think about it for a moment. Think about all the time we spend wasting time.


I know we have busy lives. I have one. We have days where we go, go, go and we feel that we never have a minute to spare.

The days when that line at Starbucks is just way too long because we have so much to do! (First world problems much?)

We all have busy lives.


Yet somehow we usually make time for social media. I know you do it. At least I do. :)

With all the busy-ness and noise, we let God take the back seat. Yes, we do. You know we do.


So I am issuing a challenge.

Spend 10 minutes reading the Bible each day. Just ten minutes. Try to make it a daily habit.

That's it. It's simple.

We all have ten minutes. Let's spend those ten minutes in the Bible.


I said simple. I didn't say easy. Making any kind of good habit is usually hard, but it's totally worth it.
Here's a little bit of advice to help you get started. In most cases, it helps when setting goals to have a specific time to do something. For me, that is going to be the morning. I always have coffee in the morning, so now I am going to try to wake up a little bit earlier to have coffee with Jesus, in His Book.

And for the days when I wake up late, I can always spend ten minutes reading the Bible before I fall asleep.


I hope you choose to take this challenge. I promise the Lord will blow you away with what He has to say to you when you open His Book and listen. It's well worth the time. What better way to spend ten minutes?

Be not Afraid.
~Emily

Does It Matter?

A few weeks ago, in anticipation of the upcoming school year, I was doing research about the best ways to study and learn.

What I found overwhelmingly (using a search engine and Netflix) is that we remember what matters to us personally.

And it made so much sense.


There are things I remember so well, defining moments in my life that I will never forget. I remember exact words that were once said that changed my life.

I remember them because they matter to me, personally.


So a few months into this project, I wanted to go back to the purpose.

Why the Bible Freaks?


The answer is very simple. Because we want the Bible to matter to us personally. The Bible is not just words to read and then forget about. It is not just words on a page.

But if  we're not paying attention, we can let it be. We can read the Bible and totally let it pass us by. We can read the Bible everyday and never really "get" it.

The Bible has a message for you and me and it needs to matter to each one of us personally.


My greatest fear with this project is that you will just read our reflections and posts, without letting it affect you and without engaging the Bible in a real way.

My greatest prayer for this project is just the opposite: that it will help you to see how the Bible applies to you personally.

This project calls me to search, to pray, to deepen my faith, and to dive into Scripture. It invites me to take a look and see what God is doing in my life and to see what messages He has for me. That's what I want it to do for you.


I find myself in the Bible more often than I would like to admit. I find myself in the Prodigal Son, and I find myself in the Woman at the Well. I see myself in them and I see my mess, but more importantly I see God's love. I see a love so great it gave everything for me...and then He wrote it down.

I don't want the Bible to be just words on a page, not for me or for you. I want it to become alive in your life. I want your life and mine to be a reflection of the living Word.

Because these words were not just meant to be written or read; they were meant to be lived!


So live it. Start right now. Take some time to think about if the Bible does matter to you personally. If so, why? If not, why not? And do you want it to? Because it can.

The Bible is God speaking to us. The God of the universe is talking to us! He's been waiting for all eternity for you to take the time to listen, and if you're anything like me, you spend more time on Facebook than reading the Bible.

Take the time now. Pick up your Bible and find yourself in the greatest love story ever told. Listen to the God of the universe tell you just how much He cares, and let it matter.

Let it matter to you. Personally.



Be not Afraid.
~Emily

Sparrow

When I was younger, we had a bird feeder in our backyard. I remember looking out the window, hoping beyond hope that maybe today there would be a bluebird or a red-winged blackbird. Unfortunately, it was usually just grackles and mourning doves.

I did develop a fondness for the white-throated sparrow though. It might not be a bluebird, but it has one of the most beautiful songs, and I loved when the tiny thing would show up for a quick bite to eat at our seeded buffet. It was more than welcome to displace the boohooing pigeons and the grouchy grackles. 

The bird feeder is gone now, and I don't see sparrows much anymore, but they left a lasting impression upon me. Apparently God's has a soft spot for them too, because he mentions them a good bit in the Bible. I just came across this passage.


Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7


I love this so much. It's one of those passages that settles my heart and fills me with contentment and peace. There's so much good in two short little verses.

First things first, let's talk about the birds. Sparrows are teeny tiny, and apparently they weren't very valuable. 5 for 2, that's quite the deal. Even still, Jesus says that God hasn't forgotten a single one; He sees them all, and he cares for them. Regardless of how small or insignificant they seem to us, God must think they're pretty cool to pay so much attention to them.

So then what about the things in your life that seem small or insignificant? What about the test you need to pass or the ankle you twisted? God cares about those too. Don't hesitate to bring the little things to God in prayer. Don't hold onto them because you think God doesn't want to be bothered.


Seriously, God "bothered" to count the hairs on your head! Think about that. On average, we have 100,000 strands of hair. God counted each and every one, He knows the exact number.

But that's not the most incredible thing. Jesus says that even the hairs on your head have been counted. EVEN! Think about what that means. If God took the time to go through the imaginably tedious task of numbering the thousands of hairs on your head, if he made the effort to know about that, what other things do you think he knows? Obviously God knows everything, but the point that Jesus is making is that He wants to know. He cares about you, about all of you. He knows and cares about every broken bone, every missing tooth, and every. last. detested. pimple. He knows about every broken heart, every single tear, and every shattered dream. Every fear, every joy, He knows and cares about your deepest struggles and your greatest desires. Nothing is too small to escape God's notice or too big to resist His love.


So as Jesus says, do not be afraid! God is on your side. You are worth more than many sparrows.


Peace be with you.
~ Caitlin

Be a Kid, Be Not Afraid

"My only criticism of you is that you need to learn to be a kid, to soak in the moment. To live in the moment."

My employer told me that. Think about that for a moment: my employer!

It's true. Not being able to be a kid is a weakness of mine. It is partly personality. I am always trying to get things done. I have goals, dreams and I am insanely driven.
 

So like any responsible person who was told they needed to be more of a kid, I started to think about kids, especially in how that relates to being a child of God.


First of all, kids think in a totally different manner than how I think, but they fascinate me. One of the things about them that fascinates me is how they live. They have no worries, no fears.

Most of all though, they are not afraid to fail.

Kids are not afraid to fail. Think about that for a moment.

What would you do if you were not afraid to fail?

A lot of things.


Kids are willing to try anything because they are not afraid to fail. Kids have an ability to live fearlessly because they are not afraid to fail.


Me, on the other hand, I live in the adult world where failure seems like the worst possible outcome ever. This makes me afraid, especially afraid to fail.

This fear leaves me stunted. Stuck.


Like the Taylor Swift song Fearless reminds me, kids are fearless. But why?


They are fearless because they know they are loved and they know that their worth is not dependent on what they do.

Pope St. John Paul II is widely known for saying "Be not afraid." There's  a good reason for that.  "Be not afraid." is one of the most often repeated verses in the Bible. (Be not Afraid)

Over and over again. "Be not afraid." Genesis 15:1

John Paul II also said, “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son…”  I think there is a connection here.

Kids can be fearless because they don't find their worth in what they do. But neither should we. We can truly live out the phrase "Be not afraid." when we know that we are more than our failures.


So what does it mean to be a kid? What does it mean to be a child of God? It means not being afraid to fail.

It means not being afraid to go outside of your comfort zone. It means putting yourself out there. It means listening to the Lord and spending time with him, because kids don't have schedules. Then it means going out and not being afraid to tell others.

The Lord asks us to do a lot of things, if we listen to him. Things that are scary. But the Lord is calling you to be like a child, asking you to trust Him as a child trusts and to "Be not afraid."


You are so loved.
-Emily

 

{This is part two of about being like a child. Part 1 Be like a child}

Sinners All

Hey, guess what? You...are a sinner.

Don't be offended, I'm not singling you out. I'm just restating what the Bible has been telling us for centuries.

"...all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

We're all...sinners.


While that's not something we should ever be comfortable with, it is something we need to be aware of and something we need to come to terms with.

That might sound like apathy. Under NO circumstances should it be taken that way. Sin is a terrible thing. It separates us from God and goes against everything He has ordained for us. It is never okay. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and that is not something for you to EVER take lightly. I am certainly not saying that you should.

What I am saying, is that we need to accept that we're not perfect. It's important for us to admit that we mess up. In order for us to be reconciled with God and allow Him to work in us, we have to acknowledge that there's work to do.


Failure to accept and acknowledge that you are not perfect will inevitably result in one of two problems.


Problem #1- I can do no wrong.

One possible consequence of refusing to accept your sinful nature is denial of it. In this scenario, one becomes exceedingly prideful. While she knows deep down that she's flawed, she can't bring herself to come to terms with it, and so she carries on as though she is incapable of error.

This is obviously detrimental. Pride is the root of all evil, the parent of every other vice. It robs us of the ability to grow spiritually because we are unable to see where we need to grow, and so it prevents God from using us to the fullest extent.



Problem #2- I can do no right.

This is the opposite extreme. In this case, far from denying his sin, one becomes obsessed with it, focusing exclusively on what he's done wrong. He is so distraught over his sin that he doesn't trust he can be forgiven. He can't accept the fact that he (like everyone else) is a sinner, and eventually is so preoccupied with his faults that he is tempted to despair.

The problem in this situation is that it displays a pride all its own. In dwelling so much on what he's done, the sinner takes his focus away from the most important thing in all of history: what He's done. He turns his attention so far inwards and so dramatically onto his shortcomings that He won't look at the God who took it all away, and who promises to take it away all over again each time we ask Him.


The Solution

Basically, at this point, I've given a pretty depressing generalization of how messed up we all are. But never fear! There's hope!

Let's take a look at Romans 3:23, the verse in the beginning of this post, in context.


"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

     What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Are we then annulling the law by this faith? Of course not! On the contrary, we are supporting the law." Romans 3:21-31


That's a lot. Why don't we have St. John the Apostle sum it up for us?


"If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing." 1 John 1:9 


How amazing is that?! We're all sinners, but we can all be set free!

We can't earn this freedom. This is why the "I can do no wrong" approach is so messed up. Nothing we do, nothing we can accomplish can save us from ourselves. Only God can do that. We need Him to rescue us.

And He will! He will because He has, once and for all on the cross. He will because He's going to, as soon as we ask Him to take away our sin and our guilt. As soon as we acknowledge (or confess) that we've wronged Him, the minute we tell Him we're sorry, that's the moment He reaches out into the chaos we've created and calms the sea.

That's why "I can do no right" doesn't work either. We have to trust that He is Who He says He is and He will do what He says He'll do. Trusting Him means letting go of the guilt and the shame and placing it all in His nail-scarred hands. It means throwing all our fears and our temptations into His arms, and going forward in joy with the honest intention to "go and sin no more". (John 8:11)


So that's the answer. Pray for the grace to be able to say, "Lord, I'm a sinner. I have wronged your most precious and sacred heart. I am so sorry. Please take it all away. Make me a new creation and replace my shame with the peace of your Love. Give me the strength never to turn away from you again. Thank you for your mercy, Lord. Help me to love you. Amen."


I will be the first to admit that I struggle with accepting my sinful nature. I frequently fall into both of the problems described above, most often the second. In fact, that's what inspired this post; my own inability to deal with my imperfections. That's why I will be the first to pray that prayer. I hope you will too.


Yes, you're a sinner. No, you're not alone. Run to Jesus; He will set you free.


Peace be with you.
~ Caitlin