Megan's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Hand"

Doin' way too much thinkin'
And it's tearing me apart

My mind always tends to jump to worst case scenario - to the point where I'm occasionally too embarrased to tell people what I'm actually worried about. So I keep it inside, letting it brew - thinking about all the possibilities of everything that could happen.

And exactly as this song says - it tears me apart. When you live in fear of things not going the right way, when you only think of the negative, life really isn't fun.

Once again, I'm reminded to put my trust in God - to not do too much thinking - to realize that He has the final say, and He loves me, and will take care of me.

Chris' prayer: Jars of Clay's "Hand"

I'm doin' way too much thinkin'
And it's tearing me apart

I do a lot of thinking. That's not to say that I'm some kind of intellectual, or exceptionally deep thinker, just that I'm constantly worrying about things. One of the things I seem to constantly worry about is how my faith life is doing. Where am I on that spiritual scale? How well am I doing? How good was my last prayer, or Mass, or adoration experience?

Often times I get so caught up in thinking about how I'm doing that I forget, or lose track of, what I'm doing. How my last adoration experience went has no bearing on this one. The distractions I had during my last prayer can be absent in this prayer– if I choose to not think about them, if I choose to be present in the moment.

I think this is where a lot of my spiritual depressions lie– when I'm not able to let this prayer be this prayer and not the last prayer.


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Jen's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Hand"

I'm doin' way too much thinkin'
And it's tearing me apart
Then I, I feel You reach for me

This has always been my favorite few lines from the song.
I'm a firm believer in thinking things through. I try not to be impulsive about anything unless it's something fun and goofy that I know is okay to try. However, sometimes thinking about things and over analyzing can become a problem in my life. I'm focusing so much on thinking about it, that I'm not actually praying about it. Sometimes I think God is reaching down to me and saying, "Hey Jennifer, come here and just talk to me about it. Then listen to Me. Because I have the answer." And I'm like, "Oh. That's right. My bad."

Jesus, please help me remember that you're always there with the answer, it's just up to me to stop and actually listen.

Katie's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Hand"

About a week or two ago I found the perfect job for me. A youth minister position at a small church that is way cute. It's part time, but that's ok cause I could work at the diocese still instead of trying to find a replacement. And then at the end of summer, my current youth minister will be able to hire me part time at that church. And they are only 10 minutes apart. Everything was just falling into place. Most importantly, I felt that is what God was calling me to, that particular position.

So I sent in my resume, the pastor sent me an email back saying my resume looked "great!" and asking for my references. After I did that, he sent me another email saying "interviews will be held in the near future." That was a week ago, and I still haven't been contacted for an interview. I have since determined they are waiting until the deadline for applications before they do the interviews so they can do them all at once.

But until I found that out, I was freaking out! Every day! Every moment of everyday! Instead of trusting God, I was doin' way too much thinkin'. And it really was tearing me apart. But God is so amazing! He is reaching for me, and telling me everything is going to be ok.

Catie's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Hand"

Will You catch my fall?

I feel like lately my life has been one constant trust fall with God. I have my back to him ready to fall into his arms, but when I'm about ready to do so, I chicken out. I turn my head around and am like, You're really going to catch me right? Or I fall part way and then catch myself out of fear- I try to trust but can't. However, I know from experience that when closing eyes and just falling into God's arms is what works best. No fear, no anxiety, nothing. I know He's not going to drop me, He hasn't yet so why would He start now?