Sunday, January 23, 2011

Blessings From God!

Never before last night have I seen the hand of God work in a random situation so perfectly.

I ended up pretty far from home, in a room full of holy women friends of mine, talking and waiting for Derek to pick me up. (Yes, Derek is the guy!) We had agreed to meet up for a drink but then my plans changed but he still wanted to meet me.

He came into the house and impressed everyone pretty quickly. We went to the Brew Pub up the road from my friend's. There was nowhere to sit at the bar so I asked if he wanted to come back to the house. He said no, we should just give this a try. So he went off to order drinks and I grabbed a great table. A couple of people came up and asked if they could just sit with us since there were no other seats and Derek said sure.

The guy then opens his mouth and says something I could never have imagined: "Are you  here for the Hope for Haiti event?"

Me: "No, we just randomly met up and came here...what is this about?"

He then shared that he's been going to Haiti for 8 years and I shared that I had just been. It was beautiful. The whole night was a fundraiser for this organization and Mission to Haiti...they just built an orphanage for saving kids from child slavery! This man introduced me to the woman who leads the organization. They showed a video...it was just wonderful.

They were Christian too so it was just beautiful because we were able to discuss Haiti and Jesus which are pretty inseparable topics anyhow!

Dear Jesus, I ask that you bless all missions to Haiti that seek to improve the quality of life and respect the dignity of the Haitian people! Bless the man and woman we met last night. Bless Derek for his openness and patience while I sat talking to this random man about Haiti all night instead of to him! Thank you for working your plan in my life! Amen!

Friday, January 21, 2011

7 Quick Takes- Friday!

Hey everyone! Been a few weeks since I've done a quick takes and I'm really excited! 
Thanks to Jen for hosting this at her blog! Check it out here!

{1}
Last week, I ordered a book through Yale's Direct Borrow program through the library. It's called The Red Book which is a compilation of most of the writings and personal evalutations of the famous psychologist Carl Jung! I heard about this book (published in 2009) in the fall and wanted to get my hands on it just to see what it was like. It is HUGE. I don't mean massively thick...but if I stood it up on the table, it's about 18 inches tall! The first have are scanned images of his actual writings in German and the paintings/drawings of his. The second half is the translation to English. I feel like I've taken a dive into history. It is amazing.

{2}
I am home from work today so I opened it up and started reading..."But the spirit of the depths said: "No one can or should halt sacrifice. Sacrifice is not destruction, sacrifice is the foundation stone of what is to come...Have you not had monasteries? Have not countless thousands gone into the desert? You should carry the monastery in yourself. The desert is within you...if you were fettered to the world of this time with iron, the call of the des rt would break all chains..."

{3}
And a page later..."Give humanity dignity, and trust that life will find the better way"
If that isn't a good March for Life sign, I don't know what is!

{4}
In other news, the predicted snowfall for Hartford County in my state for the entire season was 24"...and as of last night (before it started to snow) the total snowfall was 52". Now that we've filled quite more than our predicted amount, I would appreciate not one more speck of snow until next winter. If my car warns me of "low traction" one more time, I might just not leave my house until Spring!

{5}
In good news: Only taking one online class right now has allowed me to get my social life back! Monday I had a date, Tuesday and last night I got to walk over to my friends to see her/her husband and their baby, and Wednesday I went to another friend's house. It feels so good to be social with people other than classmates and professors. Plus it's a lot less stressful!

{6}
I have gotten back into journaling...you know, actually writing with a pen in a little notebook about spiritual matters or other things? Yea, that! And I forgot how much I had loved it! It really is like therapy for me. There are just some things that are so private that you can't talk out with anyone...so a helpful tool for me is to write to God about it. If you haven't ever done it, I encourage it! It leaves you open to be completely honest with yourself and God. It also helps you work through some things in your head!

{7}
My friend and I had a glass of wine last night. Just like journaling, wine with friends is extremely therapuetic. If you don't do this at all, you should. We are going to try to make it a monthly event for us! We laughed like we haven't laughed together in a long time and both of us needed it so badly.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Catechism

This week I decided to invite the person I met over for dinner.

I had some major cleaning to do because I still had my Christmas decorations up, and hadn't really been home long enough for a good clean in quite a while. In place of my Manger, I decided to keep that my little sacred space. I have my crucifix hanging there on the wall, so it fits. I put out my St. John Bosco and Mary Help of Christians statues, my Bible, and my Catechism. On the bottom shelf of that table, I put another Bible and my journal. The goal was that I will spend more time reading both since they are right there in my face.

Well, said person came for dinner...and after dinner and a game of Monopoly, I came out of the bathroom to find him reading my Catechism. You may be thinking, "so what? It was just out there."

I was mostly shocked because it can be an intimidating book for most Catholics, and he is Baptist. I'm glad he felt it inviting to take a look. I took note of what page he was looking at (not sure if he truly was reading it) but was glad to see it was this part of the prologue:

"The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love" (CCC 25, quoting Roman Catechism, Preface, 10; cf. 1 Cor 13:8)

After he left, we were texting and I began to journal for the first time since April. I am very grateful that this new...friendship...is seeming to direct my heart more and more towards God.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Skirts/Dresses

Never before in my life have I heard more about the debate on skirts vs. pants than since I've started blogging.

Personally, I never knew there was such a debate about it. I never really gave much thought to it...I have heard many times that skirts are more modest.

Here's my problem: Not all the time are skirts more modest. For instance, I work in a professional arena...I've tried to convince people that wearing scrubs would be the best (because I can get them a little baggy without being messy, and they can be modest), but that didn't work. So here's my problem with skirts:

1: I have to shave
2: Wearing stockings
3. Uncomfortable waistbands
4. Most professional attire skirts are very fitted/tailored not loose or flowing

If I could find a place to get stylish/professional long skirts with elastic waistbands, I'd be all set...and if they were cheap, I'd replace my whole wardrobe and never wear pants again! Of course, I love my pants...mostly because I like to sit comfortably "indian style" or with my feet up outside of work, but with long and non-fitted skirts, I can work that out just fine.

Any suggestions on where to find good priced, professional, comfortable skirts? Even online?

Thursday, January 6, 2011

For Real, Lord?

If you know me personally, you know that overall, 2010 was not what one would call an outstanding year. While I have plenty to be thankful for, it was a year of continual bad news. This news was mostly regarding the health of multiple family members. Now, all of them (except one) are on the mend or better.

I posted yesterday or the day before about feeling like this year really is going to be different, new.

Today, I felt like God just confirmed that in so many ways.

I have never felt this way in the beginning of a year before. I have this feeling in my gut that somehow, this year, is going to be different. I feel like I’m getting a fresh new start.

Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a random increase in young, attractive men in the building I work in! Plus I have “met” someone (online, and I gave him my cell phone # this week, going well so far). I’m taking it ridiculously slow just to be cautious because I know my heart can’t handle more than that. There is a good chance I will be seeing a college friend (household sister) from California this weekend because she’s traveling to the East Coast for a wedding. I am hoping to be getting a new job (Prayers please).

And to top it all off today, I saw an old co-worker who had retired in the summer. She was bringing a family member in for an appointment. We got to talking and I asked how her husband was doing. “Oh he’s good…he’s doing a prison ministry now…”, she told me. I said, “wow, that’s always been something I wanted to get involved in…” and then the icing on the cake, “yea, he’s doing it with teens between the age of 16-18 (I think that was the max age I can’t remember now) and they have a retreat coming up soon and then they mentor each kid for a year or until they are released…”

Needless to say, I will be e-mailing her tomorrow to get more details and sign up for this ministry. Here is how I know God is ordaining this year to be a great one:

1. I have been dying to get back into youth ministry lately.

2. I have always wanted to be involved with prison ministry.

3. Mentoring teens for a committed amount of time to help them change their lives...um…Hi, remember, I’m about to finish my BA in psych!

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for knowing and granting so many of my dreams and desires! You truly are an awesome God! Amen!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Blog? Oh yea!

Hi there!

What a whirlwind. So much has happened in the past 2 weeks that I feel like I am a different person. Is that even possible? I barely even noticed until just now.

New things are happening...including me getting used to not going to school 3 nights a week. I have seen so many people...some of them more than one time in one week. I realized that school really did own my life this past semester and I am enjoying getting it (my life) back.

Both of my classes this spring are online so I can continue to get used to this free time.

Plus going to confession the week before Christmas was a huge blessing also. The holidays were smaller than usual and work was different during our "break"...and today going back to the regular working schedule was an entirely different world because so much is changing there too.

With all of this change, for the first time ever, I really feel like it is a new year. A time for a fresh start where anything can happen.

"So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come."
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17~

I don't think I have ever felt so connected to this Bible verse...well not since making my Emmaus in 2000. I know and am finally ready to move onto more of what God is calling me to this year with a renewed spirit and conviction. I can't wait to see what each day brings!