Life As I Know It

A lot of you may know I think about a lot of things and my mind races pretty much all day.  It wanders and often thinks about things a little too deeply.. Some things hit me hard and I just cant seem to stop thinking about them.  That has seemed to happen to me this past week.  Not in a bad way at all but man I just couldnt shut my mind off.  Life has really taught me a lot this past week.

I woke up last Friday July 20, and found out about the movie massacre that happened in Colorado.  The week before my God Mom lost a great friend to an alcohol addiction.  And two days after the shooting I found out horrible news that a dear friend of mine lost her husband in a lightening storm.  These things all hit pretty quickly and made me think a lot about life.  I began to pray and reflect on the lives of my loved ones around me including my own life.  
When I found out about the shooting in Colorado I was very saddened.  All those innocent people lost their lives because someone wanted attention.  It hurts me and saddens me that someone who needs that much help doesnt find it until its too late and until many innocent lives are taken away from this world.  Mom's wont be able to take their daughters out shopping, Dad's wont be able to walk their baby girls down the isle for their wedding day, Husbands/Wives are left behind with a love that can never return.  All these relationships and many more were ruined all because this guy needed some attention and felt lost.  Who knows what was really going on in his head, but the fact is he killed people and doesnt seem to feel much remorse about it.  He took so many things away from this world because he was selfish.  I mean dont people that do this ever think about other lives? Other people? Dont they ever wonder what their Moms would do without them?  No! They dont, and that is the problem.  He didnt think about the future and how people would feel, or what he was taking away from this world.   

I went to church today and our priest talked about the suffering that the world, the nation and even just individuals are facing on a day to day basis.  We are all going through some sort of suffering whether its losing someone close to us in a shooting, an accident, or even just because their time here was up and God needed them.  The truth is we all feel it and we are all affected by it.  Its what we do with it that matters.  You can pretty much turn on the news, read the newspaper, open a magazine and get pretty depressed with whats going on in the world out there.  But why should we get depressed from it?  Ya, sure for some things we should be depressed.. but we are still here on this earth for a reason.  We need to make the difference these people werent able to make.  We need to live in their name and remember life is just a short time down here.  We need to make the best of it.  God gave us this life and we should live it and enjoy it.  Pray for the innocent lives James Holmes took away from this world and their loved ones, pray for their families who are suffering right now, pray for families suffering from accidental deaths.  Pray for everyone out there who might be going through a tough time, pray for the troops who fight for our country every day and their families who sacrifice their time with their loved ones to let them fight for us.  There are so many people out there suffering over many different reasons, but one thing I witness to be true is that prayer and support helps more than we will ever know.  Just watching a friend go through it has taught me so much! Just one simple prayer can warm their hearts for a minute and give them hope that everything is going to be ok.  And if just one prayer can do that then what can many do?  A whole lot more than that! God is on our side, he gave us this life.  So pray for the ones who are suffering so we can lift them up and become the One Nation Under God that we say we are.

This life, as I know it, is pretty dang amazing!! I am so blessed with loved ones around me all the time!! I have awesome friends and a family that is always there for me when I ask them to be, and even when I dont ask them to be.  I am one lucky girl!!  And for all these blessings in my life I thank God! He has always been there for me and knows just what I need in my life.  God is great and life is good!! AMEN!!

A Thorn in My Side

I finally was able to attend church again yesterday.  After a few weeks of not being able to go it was much needed.  However Alexa and I did feel a little rusty.. but we did good and as usual I got some good advice to my life.  I just have to confess that I am so blessed and I am so glad my parents raised me Catholic.  So many times my faith has pulled me through so many things and I can honestly say if I didnt attend church as much as I do I wouldnt be where I am today.  I go to church and feel like my life gets figured out there. God is amazing and I would be lost without him in my life!! But anyways..

Everybody in this life has thorns in their sides.  Whether it be a burden that stays with us: maybe not being able to forgive someone maybe an inner struggle we hold within ourselves, maybe a fight we have had with friends or family members or maybe just the simple bad things that happen to us on a daily basis. I have held many thorns in my side over many different reasons.  Right now I hold the thorn of my future in my side.  I worry about where I will be in one year, I worry about ending my college career in hopes for a good future but in the failure of where my college life has lead me.  Having been on probation and getting off I am still graduating from this amazing college.  While that feels like a huge accomplishment it also hurts my chances at the future I once wanted so bad.  I will continue to hold this thorn in my side for this year and it will continue to hurt here and there, but it is going to push me to be a better person and hopefully make it possible for me to do whatever God has planned out for me.  I look back to my past and realize I have had pains like these before and I have gotten through them.  I have only gotten through them by praying, attending church, and listening to God.  My Faith has gotten me through these hard times, and it has never failed me.  My parents raised me with the most important thing I will carry with me through my life and thats my faith.  I would be lost without it.  These thorns that stick with us will only go away through our very own faith.  The thing I havent really thought about is that it is OUR faith, no one elses.  Each of our faiths are different from anyone else's.  Not everyone gets something from attending church like I do, but maybe they get something more from just being outside talking to God or in some other way.  They are still experiencing the same Faith just in a different way.  Faith is believing something is there and knowing that this thorn in our side is soon going to go away because of the power of God.  I believe God is there for me, I pray to him for healing because I know the miracles he once performed and I know he will not let me suffer. These thorns are positive things in our lives.  We suffer through them because they are the pain that Jesus once felt, and we dont feel as hurt as he did because he saves us from that kind of pain.  They are put in our lives to challenge us and make us better human beings.  We have seen many people get through their thorns and heal from them.  I am not going to get through this thorn by attending church or by praying for the answer but more from listening to God and knowing that my faith will carry me through.  I have faith that God will help me through, he will grab my hand and walk with me, he will talk to me and pick me up.  My very own faith is what is going to get this thorn out of my side and I cannot wait to see where it leads me.  I cannot wait for the next thorn in my side because I know I grow so much from all of them.