Living Now

  I am notorious for looking toward (and obsessing over) the future and what exactly God has planned for me and WHAT IS IT ALREADY I'M TIRED OF NOT KNOWING WHERE I'M GOING!!!! See? I was in Daily Mass today and this thought kinda washed over me.

  I am wasting the life I am living now by thinking about my future all the time.

  That isn't an exaggeration, either. This past week has been really rough because I've spent literally almost every waking moment thinking about the future God has in store for me and how I have no idea what that is or where I'm headed. It leads to some really depressing days, let me tell you! It has attempted to ruin (and at times has ruined) the experiences I'm currently part of. For example, yesterday was a glorious day. The weather was very warm for Midwestern October, I went to my brother's football game, my godson/almost 2 year old brother was being uncharacteristically well-behaved, one of my closest friends called me out of the blue just to talk, and it was my Confirmation anniversary. The day was essentially ruined by myself and the ever-present thoughts of the future. I wanted to be alone most of the day and I walked around feeling all depressed. And for what? Nothing.

  God absolutely does not want His Plans for our future to consume our lives. He wants us to be happy where we are at this very moment because this is exactly where He wants us. Given the fact that God is God, we aren't going to figure out the future, anyway, so we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride. That does not mean, however, that we just sit on our butts all day and suddenly Pier Giorgio Frassati, I mean, Prince Charming, I mean, Future Husband, will show up at our door. Nor does it mean that our career path will magically appear in the form of a random job offer personally carried by an owl (sorry for the HP reference, couldn't resist) will get dropped into our lap. Nope.

  God needs us to just do life to the best of our ability and our future will fall into place.

  I will be the first to tell you that this is much easier said than done. Every day we must give our lives, including our futures, to God and trust Him to lead us in the right direction. And He will. He always does. The thoughts of what career you want someday and daydreaming about that cute guy at Daily Mass becoming your husband will still pop up and that is totally okay! You just can't obsess about it. Letting these thoughts distract you from life on a regular basis is a problem. Pray constantly for the gift of self-control and for guidance. God holds you and your future in His hands. Trust in the Lord always! He loves you and will lead you to where you are supposed to go.

  Just grab His hand.

Confident in College?

  AHHHHH!!!!! I can hardly believe that I'll be starting college in less than 48 hours!!! That is so crazy. I feel as though a new chapter in my life is starting, and in many ways that is very true. But like in any book, things will carry over into this next chapter. My family and home (I will be commuting to school from where I've lived my whole life), my personality, and most importantly, my faith.
  Nowadays it's super hard to be confidently Catholic, especially in the late teen/early adult years when we're still trying to find ourselves. I would argue that school settings are some of the hardest places to enact and live out our faith because of "science" and "free thinking" that is all too often encouraged incorrectly. I'm kind of scared to be heading off to college because I don't know exactly what it will be like, who I will be meeting, and what sorts of challenges I will be facing. I know two things for certain though (and these will be true for every single Catholic college student):

               1. My faith will be tested immensely. I know this as surely as I know my name. Satan prowls around campuses and wants to see us fall. I will have my work cut out for me not only in my classwork, but also being an example of faith to my classmates and professors. College is notorious for introducing faith-filled people to all sorts of worldly ways of thinking, especially in the theistic context. Catholics have a really hard time of it. We're the outsiders. Most people won't agree with us, and we might get persecuted for it. It won't be easy, but I'm not worried because of the other thing I'm certain of.

                2. God is on my side. I know this MORE surely than I know my name. When God and faith are involved, He will always be on our side as long as our goal is to serve Him and follow Him in everything we do. That includes college and everything that goes with it.  The straight and narrow path has never been easy, but it will always be worth every step.

  So this post is basically encouraging you to stay confident in your faith even when the circumstances don't want to allow it. It will  be impossible to do it on our own, but God will be with you every step of the way! Draw your strength from Him, put on your spiritual armor, and have a great year in school!

Radical Love

   Okay y'all (yes, I will say ''y'all'', I'm from Iowa), the women from Confidently Catholic had the amazing opportunity to see Catholic Christian singer/songwriter Matt Maher in concert this weekend! We had a blast and also got struck by God through the words Matt sang and spoke to us, and we want to share that with you!

  What struck me most during the concert was the idea of us as Catholics being called to a radical love. I had heard that sentiment many times and it interested me, but nothing ever really stuck. When Matt Maher talked about it, though, I saw it totally differently. See, radical love isn't just the kind of love that sends people out to be foreign missionaries, it's the love that we are called to share with our friends and family here at home. Radical love is what brought Jesus down to Earth and radical love is what led Jesus to lay down His life for us on the cross. Now I'm not saying to go crucify yourself to show your love for the people in your life, in fact I'm gonna go ahead and take it upon myself to tell you not to. The reason the love we're called to is radical is that our world and culture we live in doesn't consider pure, holy love to be of any value and to even be looked at as strange, thereby deeming it radical whenever someone lives that love out in their life. In other words, real love isn't looked at as love by the world, so it's weird, or radical, by the world's standards.

  Matt Maher said, "We're called to a radical love...people want that." And they do! No matter how much the world wants to defy this type of love, it desperately wants it. No person on Earth is made for a superficial love. All of our hearts desire more. Radical love is what our hearts want and ultimately, it's the only sort of love that will make us truly happy. God's love for us is totally radical. Being filled with His love allows us to reciprocate it to others and leads us to do extraordinary things!

  If God is for us, then who can be against us? If we are filled with His love, nothing can stand in our way!

  As Catholics, our very nature is to defy how the secular culture says we should live. It says love is selfish and requires looking toward yourself and what's best for you. Radical Christlike love is selfless, giving, and always wants the best for the other person. The world's version of love leaves us empty, whereas God's radical love leaves us full, OVERFLOWING, actually. A radical love like that is meant to be shared.

Give it to God

Soooooo when I started brainstorming about what to write for this post I was in the middle of a pretty rotten day and my post was essentially going to be a pity party for me. I was super tired, got up late, felt like nothing was quite right all day and finally tonight I was at a gathering of friends where I was not feeling accepted at all. It was sort of the last straw, and I was like, "God, what's the deal here? Why are these people not liking me when I've tried so hard for so long to be accepted by them?" It was rough. On my way home, I realized something that in the back of my mind I knew was the problem.

 I didn't give God my life through prayer today.

 Recently, I created a solid prayer life and my world has drastically changed since then. Whenever I don't pray, my whole day is off and I feel like everybody is against me. That's what the deal was today. I hadn't really prayed hard core the last couple days, just meal prayers and bedtime prayer. Today was the culmination of a lack of prayer, a lack of aligning myself with Our Lord.

  I'm a total country girl. I feel God the most when I'm on the farm and am one with nature. Tonight there is a meteor shower so I went out on our grain bin and just sat looking up at the sky. At the HUGE sky speckled with billions of stars, watching them shoot across the sky (just like in movies, no joke). And I prayed. I knew I would when I went out there and it was the most natural thing in the world. I spent a while venting to God, letting Him see my heart and my pain, and also praising Him for all He has done in my life and what He has made, like the earth and the stars. I almost felt silly talking to the God of the Universe about my life problems when He made the stars I saw and the sky they rest in.

  But here's the thing: God wants to know what's going on in my life and He wants to help me through it. He wants to do the same for you, too! Your problems are different than mine because we're unique, but God knows exactly how to handle all of them. He knows where our lives are headed, and His plans for our lives are so incredible! Looking up and seeing the stars in their perfect places is an incredible witness to God's power and creativity. If He can do that with balls of burning gas, HOW MUCH MORE He can do with US and our future!!! He only asks that we let Him in so He can get to work. I'm so excited to see where He leads me through my life. The only thing you and I have to do is let God handle it all and follow Him wherever He leads!

YOLO

Lots of people use “YOLO” as an excuse to party, get drunk, and hook up.  Those aren’t good reasons to use YOLO.  Think about it; we do only live once, but after that you will get judged by our Creator on how we lived.  We got put on this earth to glorify God, being made in His image.  God doesn’t get drunk, lie, steal, cheat, backstab, or hook up.  So why does our culture say it’s okay?  Fact is, that stuff isn’t okay.  If you died today, where would you go?  2 choices—Heaven or Hell.  You choose your destination.  Don’t believe me? Read the Bible.  Say you’re a hung over 17 year old who gets shot and killed.  When you go to talk to the Big Man Upstairs, what’re you going to say to Him?  “Come on, God. I was just having some fun. YOLO?” And give Him your best smile and wink.  Not gonna fly.

                Just because you accept Him as your Savior doesn’t mean you can screw off and not be a good person for the rest of your life.  You gotta live for Him.  Everything you do, say, and think.  Nobody’s perfect; I sin, you sin, we all sin, but you still have to try to live for Him, give it your all.  Your ALL.  Not your “after school” all or your “when I’m sober” all. Your whole life all.

                Oh, but your friends don’t think it’s cool to be the “good girl” or the “good boy”. SO WHAT!  I’d rather be the odd one out now and go to Heaven than be the popular kid because I’m bad.  It’s worth it in the end.

I’m not judging, because who am I to judge?  I have neither the power nor the authority.  However, it is my responsibility and yours to get to Heaven and help others get there, too.  To feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, and bury the dead.  To counsel the doubtful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses willingly, comfort the afflicted, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, and pray for the living and the dead.     **Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy**

THAT’S YOLO.

The Gift

    The gift of womanhood is often unrecognized. We don't realize the beauty of our bodies goes beyond what's on the outside. Our ability to carry children is incredible; to have someone else depend solely on you is something men cannot ever experience. Though this gift is painful physically, we embrace it. Every month God reminds us of it. Our mood swings are a sign that we feel more deeply and more totally than men, and we understand emotions more clearly.
     On the outside, we are also amazing. Our heart beats right below the place where our children receive something to keep them living. Life and life; coincidence? I don't think so.
 Why do you think that guys look at us differently than they do their friends? Because we, obviously, are more beautiful than they are. In creation, women were made last, and we save the best for last, so it only makes sense.
     That said, our bodies are undeniably a gift, which is why we must dress modestly. Just as you wrap a present so it is not seen or revealed, so must we also do with our bodies. A gift for one person; our husband. If that gift is opened too early, it loses some of its shine; its power. It's not as special. Women are treasures to be protected, taken extra special care of, and loved gently. So respect our gift of many parts, and embrace all that you are, because womanhood is amazing. :)

Drenched in His Mercy

     Christ's boundless mercy is certainly evident all around me. We all know the story of the sinful woman who washes Jesus' feet with her hair, anoints them with oil, and is forgiven. (It's so beautiful if you don't know it, Luke 7:36-50!) But recently, upon reading and reflecting with this scripture, I was moved to go to Reconciliation. After Reconciliation, I read it again and placed myself in the role of the sinful woman. What courage she had to go to a pharisee's house where she knew she would be judged, all to see Jesus and seek his forgiveness and healing. The beauty of the feeling of forgiveness. There are so many parallels that can be drawn here to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It takes so much courage to walk into the confessional just so see the priest in persona christi (aka JESUS) all to receive His forgiveness and healing and feel joy of being forgiven!
     This mercy always reminds me of the pouring rain. I attend a Catholic high school and when I was a freshman, my favorite theology teacher shared this with me. It is an image that will never leave my mind.  One day she was talking to her mom and sitting on their front porch while looking out at the pouring rain. As the rain was crashing down all around them, her mother commented, "It's like God's mercy."
     The point is that Jesus is freely giving us his mercy, all we have to do is go out into it and get DRENCHED! Dance in the rain spreading the joy that comes from receiving it. And like the rain, God's mercy removes every stain, tear, and bruise that the devil inflicts on us. In His mercy, we are truly free to live!