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My 2015 theme is:
Walk upon the water...

This coming year is going to be full changes, challenges, and tests . There will be times when I'm in a I'm in a storm and terrified of what will happen. But Jesus will call out "Don't be afraid. Take courage. I am here!"

 With trust I will hopefully step my foot into the unknown and have faith that He will be holding my hand and guiding me back to the shore.

This is my year to walk on the water. This song will be on repeat.

What I really want in 2015:
-To break out of my comfort zone
-To grow in the virtue of charity
-Learn to make French Macaroons

What I really need in 2015 is:
-To finish high school
- To cherish each moment
-To join a dance club

What I will share in 2015 is:
- Send more snail mail "just because"
- Try to meet new people everywhere I go

In 2015 I will succeed at:
-Embracing new possibilities
-Organization
-The winged eyeliner

Hello 2015

14 Lessons in 2014

 

2014 is a year that I would never trade. It is a year that will bring to tears when I think about it. I guess that means it was a good year. Here is why...

I. What you put into life is what you will get out of it.

II. Love deeply.

III. Friends are invaluable. I have gained new friendships + cultivated old ones. Both I hope to have in my life for many years to come.

IV. God lets you go through a storm to come out with a new insight to life. He has surely shone this to me these past few months as I start the whole college process.

V. Try to understand the persons circumstances instead of judging them.

VI. Even though you have always loved the idea of something and have always thought that is where you're suppose to be, doesn't actually mean that is HIS will for you. He has definitely taken me by surprise with this one...

VII. Hanging out with people who people who are complete opposites of you is not always a bad thing. I have learned a lot about this this year and continue too.

VIII. Following #7 is that hanging out with holy people is not a bad thing either. You just have to find your balance between the two and have an open heart to both.

IX. Homeless people are humans too. Ever since volunteering at a soup kitchen since October I have taken away many messages from it. Many times they are Jesus disguised, sometimes we don't always see that because we blind ourselves from seeing it.

X. I have a very bright future and will make my mark on the world somehow. My SAT score is not the end of my life. I will still wake up tomorrow with many dreams and opportunities even if I didn't get that perfect score.

XI. Cherish each moment and opportunity because you don't know if you'll get it back.

XII. Even though it hurts to say goodbye to someone who has had a great impact on my spiritual well-being I have to trust that we were only suppose to cross paths for a short time.

XIII. Theology of the Body is mind-blowing!!! Seriously, you need to take a TOB class! No wonder he's a saint. #boyfriendinheaven

XIV. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."-Aristotle

2014, you've been real. 2015, I can't wait to see what joys, struggles, pain, memories, and friends you bring.♥

My Sisters the Saints // Book Review

 

Number of Pages: 240
ISBN: 978-0-7704-3651-3  

Released: September 23, 2014

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 // Book Synopsis //

A poignant and powerful spiritual memoir about how the lives of the saints changed the life of a modern woman.In My Sisters the Saints, author Colleen Carroll Campbell blends her personal narrative of spiritual seeking, trials, stumbles, and breakthroughs with the stories of six women saints who profoundly changed her life: Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Faustina of Poland, Edith Stein of Germany, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Mary of Nazareth. Drawing upon the rich writings and examples of these extraordinary women, the author reveals Christianity's liberating power for women and the relevance of the saints to the lives of contemporary Christians.

// My Review //

This is one book that I will read more then once in my lifetime. I loved reading this powerful memoir because it made me stop and think about my role in society as a Catholic woman, and also hearing about her struggle between motherhood and being a woman in the workforce. I have to admit that there were a few times when I teared up because the author was pouring her heart out to the reader.


I love the straightforward approach that the author used when incorporating the lives of the six female saints into her own life. You can truly feel the genuineness about her relationship with the saints and it makes you want to cultivate that same relationship in your own life. I highly recommend this spiritual read to all woman with one instruction: read it with an open heart.

 About the Author:
Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, print and broadcast journalist, and former presidential speechwriter. She writes an op-ed column on religion, politics, and women's issues for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, blogs on those subjects for The New York Times and The Washington Post; comments about them on such networks as FOX News, CNN, and PBS; and discusses them as host of Faith & Culture, a weekly television and radio show that airs internationally on EWTN, the world's largest religious network, and on Sirius Satellite and Relevant Radio. A former speechwriter to President George W. Bush and the author of The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy, Campbell contributes frequently to national publications and speaks to audiences across America. Her website is www.colleen-campbell.com.

 I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Stillness...

Black and white photo's draw you into a calming, beautiful, yet mysterious world.

They present an unknown stillness. 

They hold a mystery and we have to solve it, in other words we have to find the color.

Find the hidden little things.

Find the joy in sorrows.

Find the innocence in the wordly.

Find the peace in chaos.

Find the beauty in the unshapely.

We find all of this when we first find HIM.

Find the Christ Child in every crevasse of our life.

Find the Christ Child in every face we encounter.

Find the Christ Child in our daily chores.

Find the Christ Child in our studies.

Find the Christ Child in our prayers.

“We must confess that we all have need of silence (stillness), filled with the presence of him who is adored.  This is what man needs today; he is often unable to be silent for fear of meeting himself, of feeling the emptiness that asks itself about meaning; man who deafens himself with noise.”

-St. John Paul II in 1995 Apostolic Letter, Orientale Lumen