Be aggressive..Be Be agressive!!

Hello there

Again I am super horrible about posting on this thing. It is one of the many things I plan to work on as the second semester of my life as a missionary comes rolling around.

Tons of things have been happening here in Auburn...especially the fact that Auburn finally got the memo that it was November and the weather is suppose to be cold. I finally got to walk out of my door all bundled up!

This weekend was wonderful! My lovely teammates and I went to Statesbooro, Georgia for a gathering of all of the missionaries in the southern region. Let me just tell you...we got ourselves a crazy group of people that the Lord has called to evangelize the south!! I don't think I stopped laughing the entire weekend.

The Lord really rejuvenated and refreshed me through the words and presence of my fellow missionaries. There was also a great priest who gave us a few talks and really ministered to us the whole weekend. I came back with many things on my mind and many things I wanted to work on improving.

One thing he said that really stuck out to me was about being bold in our missionary work. He gave a mediation on a story in 1 Samuel about Jonathan and the Philistines. He explained how Jonathan was agressive in his attack. He told his armor-bearer that basically we are going to attack unless God stops us. The priest told us that normally we have the opposite position. We sit back and wait...if God shows me this I will do this...if this happens I will do that. We are more passive with our decisions for God. The priest said basically to GO FOR IT unless God stops you. Now he did make the point that this should not be a test of God. We should not go and do all of these things and abuse God's power or stop to listen to his voice. We must first have the inclination to do something, trust that it is God's will and then move forward, asking the Lord to stop our efforts if they are not his will.

This really moved me because..... well I am typically a passive person. I am no Martha...I am a Mary all the way. Being a missionary has challenged me so much in this area, but I know that I must continue to grow in it. I must be bold for the Kingdom of God. He has called me to be a worker in his vineyard, and I long more then anything else to be with every human person in heaven. I can't wait!!!

PS - Being a missionary has helped me sympathize with men and their role. I feel like I am constantly asking women on dates haha. I get this pity feeling in my stomach and this nervousness to put myself out there for rejection haha. It is so funny the amount of text messages and phone calls I make saying, "I would love to get coffee or lunch just to get to know you a little better." Hahaha it makes me laugh everytime!!

As you can tell..I am in a silly mood...sorry bloggers!

Psalm 73

This Psalm got me through the day today and I wanted to share it with yall

Psalm 73: 21-28

Since my heart was embittered
and my soul deeply wounded,

I was stupid and could not understand;
I was like a brute beast in your presence.

Yet I am always with you;
you take hold of my right hand.

With your counsel you guide me,
and at the end recieve me with honor.

Whom else have I in the heavens?
None beside you delights me on earth.

Though my flesh and my heart fail,
God is the ROCK of my heart, my portion forever.

But those who are far from you perish;
you destroy those unfaithful to you.

As for me, to be near God is my good,
to make the Lord God my refuge.
I shall declare all your works
in the gates of daughter Zion.

Amen

A few updates

So, I am officially HORRIBLE at writing blog posts. It seems as though I have all of these ideas and thoughts to write down and not enough time to write them down in. Don't worry though! I am not giving up! I will persevere and make this thing happen. I am using my wonderful brother as inspiration.

A few things for now.....

1. This weekend is our big retreat here at Auburn called Pan y Vino. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pray for the students going. There is about 63 of them. Almost all of my freshmen Bible Study is going..Please keep them in prayer. I just love them so much and I know the Lord has amazing things waiting for them this weekend.

2. I am so unbelievably proud of my brother. He is and will always be my inspiration for holiness. It is amazing how much you can love someone when he is your biological brother and best friend. Thank you Kyle for your Yes to Christ......You are going to be an amazing Priest of the Church soon.

3. I am eternally grateful to Christ for calling me to be a FOCUS missionary.

Until next time....which I promise will be sooner then later!!

Love and prayers

The Pope on Evangelization of Culture

This is a quote from Pope Benedict XVI's homily to the Scottish Church in Glasgow earlier today.

The evangelization of culture is all the more important in our times, when a “dictatorship of relativism” threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man’s nature, his destiny and his ultimate good. There are some who now seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatize it or even to paint it as a threat to equality and liberty. Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect, leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister. For this reason I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum. Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in a jungle of self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility. Do not be afraid to take up this service to your brothers and sisters, and to the future of your beloved nation.

The Holy Father is speaking to the Scots, but it is just as pertinent to us in the US.  This evangelization begins  in our hearts.  We must die to the self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms that are projected onto us by media and our secular education system.  Live a life of the sacraments.  Live a life absorbed in shadow of the cross.  It is then that we will fulfill our baptismal call and evangelize this culture which is ruled by a dictatorship of relativism.

"The Lord himself will fight for you" - Exodus 14:14

"What he wants from us first of all is not a technically correct performance, but our heart" - Peter Kreeft

Before I left New Orleans, I was having some girl time with a few wonderful women. We were just talking about various things...the usual topics, but also so much more. It reminded me of the moment when Elizabeth and Mary met, and the holy children in their wombs leapt for joy. These women and I were sharing in the joy of the Lord. We were delighting in the Presence of God that dwelt in each of us.

We got on the topic of what each of us were going to be doing with the next few years of our lives. One of the women simply said, "You know someone asked me what I was going to do with my life and I responded that I am trying to figure out what God wants....and then I thought wait...that is a lie...I know what God wants....He just wants my heart."........I sat stunned. It was one of those moments where beauty..where light just penetrates your heart in a deep way.

I have made it my life's goal to figure out what God wants of me, and all he wants put simply is my heart. I was overwhelemed by the truth in this. If I could give God my heart..all of it...at every moment...then we would be so closely united that his thoughts were my thoughts and my thoughts were his thoughts. Complete Union. Now I know that this is not wholly possible until heaven because I am a sinful person, but this statement can dramatically change your life. It is slowly changing mine.

Every morning I wake up and I am overwhelmed by everything I have to do..everything I don't know how to do...everything that could go wrong...everything that could go right. Then I go to prayer and I let Jesus fight for my heart. I try with my feeble will to give him all of it....and that is sufficient.

That is what will evangelize this campus. That is what will change the lives of those around me. That is what will sanctify this world.....If I..If we...every day fight to give our whole heart to Christ.

.Follow Me

May all Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

"Follow me".......Christ says these two words and just like that his disciples leave everything. Everytime I would read those passages in Scripture, I always thought I would NEVER be able to do that. Just two words..and I would go into the unknown, the uncomfortable, the unplanned, the unseen. I just couldn't do...In my head I would always complain to Christ and say "if you ever did that to me, you would have to give me a little bit more, some kind of floorplan, some kind of understanding about what was to happen. Or else..I would be the apostle still standing on the boat with my net saying, "I think I"ll just catch some fish. I know how to do that."

Yet, here I am in Auburn, AL.

In the beginning of this year, the Lord said "Follow me" and I did!! I really did it! I flew all the way to Annapolis, Maryland to interview to be a missionary with an organization called FOCUS. I knew nothing but what the website said about the organization, I knew not one person, I had no idea how to be a missionary, and I went! To this day, I am amazed at the way the Lord brings us beyond ourselves. His grace and his love can change the hardest of hearts.

I was eventually offered a position on staff. My life as a FOCUS missionary started at training in Champaign, IL. It was such a wonderful experience. The Holy Spirit is doing amazing things through the willing hearts of his children in FOCUS. It is the New Evangelization at work, and I feel so blessed to have been called to take part in it.

Now, I have officially started my second week here at Auburn (which is the university to which I have been assigned). It has been a crazy whirlwind! I have met SOO many people and have already grown to love this place. While I do occasionally have the homesick pains, it has helped me to understand what Christ means when he says, "Take up your cross, and follow me." Leaving home...the place I love..the people I love..my safe place..is my cross and sacrifice made for the salvation of not only myself but for others. For Christ left the home of heaven to dwell with us. I have left my home to dwell with the students of Auburn!!

Pray for me Please. Everyday I feel like a little kid on his first day of school, not sure what to do..what to expect..how to act..who to talk to, but SOO excited about every new thing.

Please know of my continued prayers for you.

"Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word." Luke 1: 38