Answer to: "Why is it so important to pray?"

Hello everyone.  Thanks for reading

Today's topic is prayer.

Now, this comes to me at a somewhat challenging time for those in Northwestern Minnesota.

Lord, please heal all those who are hurting from the flooding that has occurred, and help them to find the grace and strength they need in you.  Amen.

So, that was a prayer.

Anything can be a prayer, as long as you are not being offensive.

And that's the hard part, how do we pray when you can do it so many ways, and will it ever come true?

I heard a great talk from one of my friends this past week, about how prayers weren't coming true for her.

She was praying for this guy to like her, and to take her to prom, and it didn't work out.

Therefore, she turned to God in anger, and asked why He did this to her.

In doing this, she realized that God does not answer every prayer in the way she wants.  She did not get the guy, yet she has moved on and grown a lot from that experience. 

He does things on His own time, and only He knows what is right for us.

If He answered our every prayer the way we wanted, and our lives were perfect, would we continue to need Him?

No.

So, prayer is not always answered in the way we want.  Then why should we even bother?

God loves us.  He loves us so much, He gave His son for us.  Read the quote at the top of this page.

That is so much love, and it doesn't even stop there!

I believe that prayer is important because, although God knows everything about us, even our thoughts, He wants us to show Him what we want.

Does that make sense?

We should make the effort to tell Him what we want in our lives, for we do not know what we need.

Only God knows what we need:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

-Proverbs 3:5-6

And if He chooses a different path for us, and does not answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered, who knows what will happen?

For we do not, and He does.

Here's some amazing scripture from the letter to James:

"Are any among you suffering?  They should pray.  Are any cheerful?  They should sing songs of praise.  Are any among you sick?  They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."

-James 5:13-16

God, bless the readers of this message with what they need, not what they desire.

Your witness in Christ,

Emily

Answer to: "What does it mean to be forgiven by God? (Are there still consequences for my sin?)"

Hello everyone.  Thanks for reading :)

Sorry about my extended leave of absence.  Who knew college life was so busy?  I apparently was unaware.

Today's topic is forgiveness, not an easy thing for many people to talk about.

Let's break this question into two parts.

The first question:  What does it mean to be forgiven by God?

Well, to answer literally, it means that God has forgiven you. 

However, I am assuming the writer of this question was asking something along the lines of, How are we forgiven by God?

Well, that's a bit more complicated.

God forgives us through his son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins.

However, it isn't just that simple.

There is a forgiveness process.

The first step is Contrition, or being sorry for your sins.  This is not just pretending, or faking, you are truly sorry for what you did.

The second step is Confession, or saying your sins and naming them out loud.  This is actually saying you are sorry.

The third step is Penance, or acting differently.  Once you are truly sorry and have said it out loud, you need to try to act differently.

The fourth step is Absolution, or forgiveness.  This is when the complete and total forgiveness plays a part.

Ironically, those four steps are also the steps of the sacrament of Reconciliation (here).

Neat, huh?

So, once this process is completed, you are forgiven.

Try using this process also when forgiving someone else, which God calls us to do no matter what:

Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?  As many as seven times?"  Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:21-22

Now, Jesus does not mean that you should count how many times you have forgiven people, and when you get to 77 to stop.  He means that you should ALWAYS forgive others.

Sometimes this is really hard, and sometimes not so hard. 

But strive to forgive others in your life.

Well, that's all for now.

Hopefully, I will write again soon.

In the meantime, if you are bored, read through the book of Acts.  It's great stuff, I just read it recently.

Your Witness in Christ,

Emily

Thanks!

This post is somewhat boring, sorry!

It's just a large THANKS for reading and sending me emails and commenting and all those great things.

See, once I get sent questions, I can write more!

So send me more questions, and comment, and do all those wonderful things!

I have been super busy, so sorry about not writing lately, but I will try to soon!

In fact, I will write as soon as I get a topic.

So thanks so much for walking your faith journey with me.

You all (y'all) rock!

Keep it real.

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily

Proverbs 11: Something to think about this Christmas

Hello everyone!  Thanks for reading : )

Today's post is a special post that I decided to write in spirit of the Christmas season.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Have you ever read part of the Proverbs section in the Bible?  It is super hard to read straight through, trust me, I have tried.  But if you read it in small spurts, it is amazing!

The other day, I did a form of Bible reading that I love:  Opening the Bible to a random page and reading it.

And I came upon Proverbs 11.  I will type it out for you here, so you can read it in the version I did.  I will space out the verses as well.

1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.

The righteousness of the upright saves them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their schemes.

Whenthe wicked die, their hope perishes, and the expectation of the godless comes to nothing.

The righteous are delivered from trouble, and the wicked get into it instead.

With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent.

A gossip who goes about telling secrets, but one who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a confidence.

Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance o counselors there is safety.

15 To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so.

A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame.  The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches.

Those who are kind reward themselves, but the cruel do themselves harm.

The wicked earn no real gain, but those who sow righteousness get a true reward.

Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but whoever pursues evil will die.

20 Crooked minds are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape. 

Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.

The desire of the righteous ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked in wrath. 

Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. 

25 A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water. 

The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it. 

Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.

Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.

If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

END

This says a whole lot. 

Do not be prideful or have a large excess of money. 

The righteous are those who will be saved. 

Do not put down others or gossip. 

Be trustworthy and kind. 

Pursue righteousness, not wickedness. 

Give to others.

Let's all learn a lot from this passage this Christmas season, and live our lives as Christ desires us to.

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily

My Faith Story

Hello everyone!  Thanks for reading :)

As you can see there's a slightly new layout, due to a request that I put up more Bible verses.

The ones shown are some of my favorites, and I will add to the list as I find more favorites!

Ok, so to my faith story.

I have been asked by some why I have decided to write this blog in the first place.

A short, abridged version of why this blog exists is written on one of my first blogs here.

However, I was asked for a full version of it, so here it is:

My spiritual journey has taken many different twists and turns.  I was raised Roman Catholic as a child, but when I got into late elementary school, things started changing.  My parents did not want to go to Mass anymore, so we just didn’t go.  We were “Christmas and Easter” Catholics for a while.  It really made me not like church, so I usually brought a book to read during Mass.  I still went to faith formation classes, but I did not like going.  I thought that church was boring and not worth my time.  I was definitely wrong.

In 9^th grade, everyone who is to be confirmed performs in “Passion Play”.  The play was like 3 hours long and performed during Lent.  I was not looking forward to that either.  I received a small part and was glad.  During the middle of that experience, my friend asked if I would like to go on a youth group retreat with her.  I didn’t really want to go, but she convinced me.  That was the start of my newfound faith life.

I was so moved by what I learned on that trip.  I met some good role models who helped me learn more about my faith.  I learned that church can be fun and full of intense emotions.  I was hooked on youth group after that.  I went to every single event they had planned, and made a lot of new friends.  I was glad to be in the “Passion Play”, and it was a great experience for me.  It felt great to be part of a group that shares my faith stance, and I made lots of great friends that year.

Getting back into the swing of going to church was really hard.  First of all, I didn’t know what to say at certain times during Mass, or why things happened the way they did.  It was really difficult to follow others and try to understand what they were saying.  Fortunately, there was a teaching Mass one night that I went to where I figured out what was going on.

After that, I experienced Confirmation.  It was so awesome to take part in such a cool Sacrament.  That same year, my youth group traveled to Missouri to take part in a youth conference with 3,000 other teens.  That weekend was filled with intense moments for me.  We had Eucharistic Adoration, Mass, and lots of praise and worship singing.  It made me feel so empowered.  I also experienced the Sacrament of Reconciliation after more than 5 years of not having received it.  I felt so free and relieved after it was over.

I went on a bunch of other events, and still had a great faith life.  One of those events was a mission trip.  My church traveled down to Miacatlan, Mexico, a small town outside Cuernavaca, to help at an orphanage.  We were not doing any hard labor, which was nice.  Our job was to love the kids and teach them about God through bible school.  We sang songs with the kids and did crafts.  We also read them a Bible story every day.  Even though we didn’t understand the words that were coming out of their mouths, we could just look in their eyes and see the love they were trying to express.  At the end of that week, it was really hard to say goodbye to them.

That same summer, our church switched from being a Benedictine parish to an Archdiocesan parish.  It was really sad to say goodbye to the Benedictines after having them around for 150 years.  However, I was hoping that I would be able to go here for college and be blessed with the Benedictine spirit again.

This last summer, we went to Missouri again, and my faith life grew even more intense (this is where that first blog comes in).  There were so many great speakers there that I just fell in love with the faith again.  I felt like I was renewing my faith.  Everyone at the conference was called to be a witness in Christ, to explain His love to other people.  I have been doing that ever since.  People love to ask me questions about Catholicism and question my beliefs through email.  I love researching more into my faith and explaining it to them.  This has helped me strengthen my faith because I am finding out more about other faiths at the same time and seeing how mine differs.

My family has not really been involved in my faith life recently.  Sure, they used to drive me to church for faith formation, but that is pretty much all they have done lately.  They are still “Christmas and Easter” Catholics, but a lot of people are at our church.  It sort of makes me feel sad because there is so much to do at our church and with the faith, but they don’t like to talk about it.  I have been told many times not to push anyone into the faith, so I usually just go with my sister to church.

I believe that my value system supports my faith stance, but also flows from it.  Whenever I encounter a moral decision/viewpoint that I must make, I consider my faith as one of the key parts to my decision.  It also works out that everything I believe coincides with the Catholic Church’s teaching.  There are still times when I’m not sure what I believe, and in those moments I rely on the Catholic Church’s views to help support my decision.

However, my journey has just begun.  I still feel like I am fairly new to the faith and all it has to offer.  In my future, I plan on being a youth minister and helping others with their faith lives.  I also hope to have a blog to answer people’s questions about faith because explaining it to someone really helps.  However, that is in the future.  Right now, I just need to live out my faith day by day.

Sidenote: This was written for my theology class, so the last couple sentences might not make the most sense.

I hope that you guys understand what I have been through now and see where I am coming from.  If you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to post a comment on this blog or go here and I will get back to you.

Take some time to praise God today, amid this chaotic season of joy.

Your Sister and Witness in Christ,

Emily