Forgiveness talk relived...

I read Philemon this morning and it reminded me of you guys. I don't know if you guys remember my story about the person that sexually abused me when I was younger or not but over Thanksgiing I saw this person for the first time in 5 years. I know that I forgave him this summer with the power Christ gave me to forgive but it was another thing to walk up to him and talk with him in complete forgiveness. The Lord was so good though, I was able to walk up to him and give him a big hug and I truly felt Christ giving me love and forgiveness for him. It was really cool. This morning in Philemon reminded me of this. I hope you all are having a wonderful break!

Sharing your faith

Hey Quest! I meant to tell you this a while ago, but I'm just now getting around to it...it's been a pretty busy first semester of school! But now we're all on break! Woooo get excited! (:

So, way back in October my class and I went on a retreat to a camp near our school. One of the priests from our diocese came with us, and later, I told him about my key and the story behind it. He was amazed, and immediately he said he was going to tell his school and his parish about my key. And, just a few weeks ago, I saw this priest again, and he told me that he has never told so many people a single story before! Can you imagine how many people have heard it by now! I don't know about you, but I think the fact that so many people know is just unbelievable. And pretty much every person in my grade at my high school knows the story as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is just how important it is not only for you to simply live your faith by yourself, but for you to share it with everyone in whatever way you can. I shared my faith and my story with that priest, and he shared it with his family and friends, and now so many people are probably inspired by God's grace and compassion in that situation. And of course I'm not just talking about people with keys around their necks everyday who need to share their faith. You really don't have to have something like that to teach people about their faith, but it's definitely helpful! Everyone should try to make that their new, lifelong goal. Trust me, it takes courage and wisdom, but know that God will always be there to help you through. You'll notice that He will give you that courage and that wisdom to share your faith with more people in your life. It's truly a blessing! Right now, I'm working on sharing my faith with my dad, brother, and sister...like I said, it's challenging, but it's definitely worth it, and I'm not giving up!

I hope you all have a great Christmas!
-Haley

falling in love

i love evi's post below. christ IS strong when we are weak. and guys, we are always, always, always going to be weak. we are always going to fall short. so instead of seeing God as this almighty being in the sky that will strike you down and be sad if you don't take up your cross daily and follow Him, be disappointed that you didn't open your bible for a few days/weeks/months now...He doesn't care. He just wants you to come to Him, open arms. I encourage you to let yourself fall in love with the lover of our souls. We were bought with a heavy price--and all He expects in return is LOVE.

To be weak, is for Christ's power to be made perfect

hey quest
i haven't posted in too long, say, 3 months? yeah, too long.
actually, i have a long story that came about recently that's relevant..so if you're dying to hear it ask me but basically i want to encourage all of you with this passage about how Paul had some ailment from satan that he prayed the Lord would take away, but ended up finding contentment in it when the Lord spoke to him of His power and grace...
2nd Corinthians 7-10:
So to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

basically, i love every one of you and hope you remember that in your weaknesses, Christ's power is made perfect, so don't be afraid to have weaknesses- nobody's perfect-it's fine to aim for it, but His grace brings Him glory!

prayer

my prayer for you all and myself is that:
-we will take the readings we have been studying and apply them to our lives
-that God's living, breathing, active Word will become flesh in our lives
-that the apostles and martyrs we are reading about become examples of how we should live like Christ
-that the boldness these people have will be found in us, that we will have boldness to proclaim our LIVES for Christ
-that you realize that God loves you not in SPITE of your sin, but in the MIDST of your sin...He loves us imperfect sinners, He loves us as we are, He delights in our joy
-to live is CHRIST and to die is GAIN...this is what Paul writes in Philippians. I think we forget the first part, that to live a Christian life does not mean that we are dead while we are living, but that we are CHRIST while we are living.

i love you all.

Amazing Chastity Talk!

Hey Quest! First, I just want to say that I'm so happy that the blog is alive again! It's great to see some more people posting on here. Keep it up! (:

So I go to Catholic school, and we have religion class every other day. And for our religion homework we had to listen to this chastity talk by a guy named Jason Evert. It's so good! If you find some extra time this weekend or this week, I encourage you to listen to it. It's about an hour long talk, but Jason's really funny and easy to listen to, and he gets the message across perfectly. Here's how to listen to his talk if you're interested: go to www.chastity.com/node/442, scroll down to the "Romance without Regret" section and click on whatever talk you want to listen to (since I'm Catholic, our school had us listen to the Catholic High School talk). So if you get a chance and you want to learn more about the kind of stuff that goes along with chastity...listen to his talk! It's really good!

Have a good weekend!
-Haley