Megan's prayer: Salvador's "Shine"

During senior year of high school, I spent every study hall in the campus ministry office. They had wonderfully comfortable chairs and blankets in case I wanted to fall asleep. Most days I would just hang out, talk with my friend, listen to music, and act like we were doing homework. No one ever bothered us or came to check on us. It was fabulous.

I remember one day that was a little different. As we were minding our own business, Fr. Gahan sat down just to check to see how we were doing. I had known him for years through my home parish, but had never really sat down and talked with him.

That day, he was a man of few words. He had stopped to tell us "thank-you" for being leaders for our school. He then got more personal, and thanked us each individually for a specific thing we brought into the world.

He told my friend that she had a beautiful singing voice. She had recently sung at an all-school mass and surprised everyone because not many people knew that behind her shyness she had a powerful voice.

He then told me that every time he sees me I brighten his day just because I smile at him. Something that I never really thought consciously about doing was brightening his day. From that point on, I couldn't help but smile every time I saw him in the hall. In reality, I tend to smile at most everyone I pass.

Thank you, God, for allowing me to spread your love, to brighten people's day, through something as simple as a passing smile.

Marie's Prayer: Salvador's "Shine"

I’m not the man I was before

Everybody changes more than they can possibly imagine. I never thought that I'd have written a novel or be started on one that is basically my emotions on paper. I never thought of myself as a writer before highschool. I'm not the same person I was even last year. Life experience change people's views on a daily basis. Oddly enough, I wouldn't go back to who I was. Why would you want to undo anything, even bad things, when they have the possibility of making you a better person? Obviously those things happened for a reason. Even if I don't know the reason right now, I know that it was what God meant for me. I just have to remember this on days when I'm particularly down in the dumps, like when my depression acts up. Because if it's meant to be, it's going to happen according to God's will.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Salvador's "Shine"

Another day to celebrate!

This is exactly how I feel about God! This song is so beautiful and captures the feelings of my heart. I just want to praise God! Especially when it is good. I want to be able to show God through myself to others. I am so passionate about God and who He is to me and I so badly want to be able to let that shine through me. The King of Kings is alive in me?? How honoring! Of all of the people that God could use to exhibit His Wonder...He could easily choose people with power, people with influence on a big group as opposed to the few people I see each day; but instead He chooses to use anyone who is willing to let Him!

Lord, Let me be a light for Your Truth!

Chris' prayer: Salvador's "Shine"

Dust, soil, and broken rock. These comprise regolith, which covers the entire surface of the Moon, creating an imperfect, uneven surface. Not exactly the first materials that I would think of when creating a mirror. But nearly every night, we are able to see the Sun's rays reflected in the Moon's surface, bathing the darkness of our world with a soft glow.

Today's song, today's prayer, calls me to be like that Moon. I am reminded that I do not need to be perfect. I do not need to be unbroken. I am still called to reflect God's Love. I am called to bathe the darkness of my world with radiance of God's Love and compassion, to reflect His very nature in everything that I do.

Lord let me shine, shine like the moon
A reflection of You in all that I do

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Catie's prayer: Salvador's "Shine"

A reflection of You in all that I do

This has more or less been my prayer for a while now. I'm tired of things being about me. I want my life to reflect the love God has for all of us, not so I can say oh look how amazing I am, but because that is what each of us is called to. To imitate the love of Christ to each and every person we encounter every day.

I wanna be used to shine for You

I honestly has no idea what God has planned for my life. All I know is that he wants all of me, and everyone else for that matter, to shine for him, so that people make know about God because of us, because of what we say and do.

Megan's prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "Fly"

I'm beginning to feel a meltdown...

Seems to be something that has plagued my life - meltdowns. Sometimes for valid reasons, sometimes for not so valid reasons. But they seem to happen regardless.

But what if I were to just step back, look at my life, and realize that...

...faith heals

All I need is a little faith. Faith in myself.

Chris' prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "Fly"

This is everything I feel, this is everything that seems real

But is it? This is something that I seem to be currently struggling with, or, at the very least, contemplating. Is what I feel actually reality, or are my feelings leading me away from reality? Are my thoughts, my beliefs, real? Are they truth? Are they rooted in something bigger than myself? A friend of mine asked me this question in an email today. His question (below) was made in response to a posting I made on my personal blog.

Is your belief your "opinion" - or is it based on something bigger than yourself - like the Church or God?

It's a good question. It's a very important question. And one that I'm not sure I have the answer to, yet. I have to hope that my questions are leading me closer to truth, closer to what God wants. But I have be weary about being mislead, about buying into a truth that is anything but. Fortunately, as the comments and emails about my posting show, I'm very blessed to have some people there who care about where my questions are leading me.


iTunes | Lyrics

Marie's Prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "Fly"

This is everything I feel, this is everything that seems real

Right now I am extremely sleep deprived. I haven't slept a good sleep in over a week. So everything I feel right now is right on the surface. I have found that this can be both a good and bad thing. If I feel happy, I tell someone, but if someone's not being nice, I get mad. Oh yes, this has only happened once, but I know I should probably calm down. I find myself in some kind of a dream like state at the present and I am only half aware of what I do. And let me tell you, I don't like it. So now I realize I don't want to be this way when it comes to prayer. I need to be aware of God and what he might be trying to say to me at any time. I also know I cannot go by what seems real if I don't know the whole story. I do not appreciate when others do this and that is why I vow to only act when I know for sure what's going on. This probably won't occur for a while though, because I am not aware right now. But I need to wake up, both physically and spiritually.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "Fly"

I'm inviting you to Fly

Not only does God want my success, but He is actually inviting me to fly with Him and be successful. There is fine line between wanting someone to do well and actually assisting them into getting to that point. And for one of the first times ever, I am thrilled to have the help! Flying is everything I want to do. I want to fly above my problems and have the freedom that I am so looking forward to for school next year!! No pun intended, this song was uplifting.

Catie's prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "Fly"

Gods word will never fail

So many times I forget this. So many times I forget that God will never go back on his word, never go back on his promise, never fail to be there for us. Because so many times I feel like...

I'm beginning to feel a melt down, and the walls are caving in now

It's during these times when I feel like my life is a mess that I forget that God isn't going to let me down and that everything is going to be okay in the end.

So why don't try to open your eyes, and take a look around?

I often remember this during adoration, that I need to open my eyes to see God's love revealed to me, because I'm not going to see it if I'm busy drowning in my own self pity. God's love is all around us, all day, everyday whether we see it or not. So why not open our eyes and our hearts to the amazing, unconditional love God has for us?

Marie's Prayer: Jars of Clay's "Truce"

and i stand here wondering.
and i am waiting

This is precisely what I am doing now. I am waiting for the truth to come out and wondering if everything will be okay in the end. One of my friends has made a decision and now all I have to do is wait and see if the other person will be okay. So I stand and wait. I have to tell you that I hate waiting just like Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride. Waiting makes me anxious and it is never good. Waiting always means that something bad might be about to happen. I just have to give this to God and hope He'll make a choice that is good for not only me, but this other person as well.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Jars of Clay's "Truce"

always almost

this is really how i feel a lot of the time. that i am so close to something...and then it doesn't happen. I feel like so many things are dangled in front of me but never given. in actuality, that isn't so because God has graced me with so many blessings, but for some reason my focus, optimist that i usually am, falls on the things i didn't get. my prayer is for sight, to see the things I have and not the things i don't.

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

Faultless in the eyes that I could never open wide enough to see me through.

Sometimes I wonder how distorted my view of self is. I wonder if I'm seeing the same things that others see in me, or just how different their view is. Would I rate myself better or worse of a person than others would? Where would the discrepancy lie? Would it lie in my thoughts? My actions? My attitude? How does God see me? How could I better reflect the image of Him?


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

Sometimes I find myself getting so tangled up in schoolwork, not being able to see the end, that I stress myself out. Suddenly going to school isn’t about the learning anymore, it’s about the grades, and what those grades mean to my future. I get worked up about a two page paper, thinking that if I don’t do this right, I might screw up my chances of getting a good grade in the class. I forget about the pure joy of learning something new, of using my creativity, of expanding my mind into places I’ve never gone.

I’m “unsatisfied with simple things”

I find myself sometimes having trouble with the simple things in my faith. I worry about whether I am praying right, or if I am making a difference in any of the teens in lifeteen, or if I am truly doing what God wants me to do with my life.

An assignment for one of my classes this semester is to read a handful of children’s books each week and reflect on them. I thought it was a silly assignment to begin with, but I have ended up loving it. It allows me to step back into my childhood and remember the days when things seemed simple, when there was no stress about school, but only excitement in learning new things.

Reading these books has helped me find a new joy in simplicity. Learning shouldn’t be about memorization of theories, it should be about the adventure and excitement of discovering something new. My faith shouldn’t be about stressing over whether I’m doing everything right, it should be about the joy I feel when I am praying to God, singing to God, just sitting there and being with God.

I hope that this sense of joy, excitement, and wonder continues.

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

waiting around for some kind of peace.
hoping you'll find me in my needs

I feel like I spend much of my life doing this. I spend so much of my life just expecting God to come down and fix my restless heart, solve all my problems. But God doesn't work like that. God is always willing to help us with our problems but we have to be the ones to go to him.

Megan's prayer: Mary Mary's "What a Friend"

What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Everything. God doesn't care, God doesn't judge. I can take it all to him. No matter how silly or insignificant it may be, God is there. I am so lucky, so privileged to have that in my life. Although I have amazing family and friends, it's not always easy to carry everything to them, but with God, I have no worries.

Chris' prayer: Mary Mary's "What a Friend"

My favorite professor in college once told me, "You could be giving away gold bricks, but unless people know you're giving them away, you'll be stuck with them." The lesson was on the importance of letting others know what you're offering, in this case, via advertising. I think that same lesson applies to a line in this song.

What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

According to my dictionary, a privilege is "a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people." God has offered no rights, advantages, or immunity that are available only to me. All of His promises, His entire covenant, are offered to every single person. The only privilege is that I know what is being offered. I have been advertised to. I know about the gold bars.

And much like the gold bars, there is immense value in knowing that I can come to God, carrying the weight of my world, and He will take every bit of it away from me.


YouTube | iTunes | Lyrics

Marie's Prayer: Mary Mary's "What a Friend"

True friendship's hard to come by

I totally agree with this statement. I only have a few good friendships, and even those are hard to maintain. Sometimes things come up that are unpredictable and suddenly you know if your friend is a real friend or not. I have to say that my true friends are amazing and listen to me rant as many times as I need to. Sometimes though, I struggle with being a good friend and I have to have a reality check. I ask God today to help me with my friendships and keeping them intact no matter what the circumstance.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Mary Mary's "What a Friend"

Until You I never knew a lifetime guaranteed
Friend could really be my reality

I am very confident in myself and in all of my abilities, with the exception of one or two. One of my insecurities is that I am completely a people-pleaser. I just love seeing people happy and hate to see them upset, especially at me. I know that it is a nice thought but it definitely ends up almost tearing me apart because I am trying so hard to give everyone different things. Along with the territory of people pleaser, comes "friend-pleaser". If my friends aren't happy with me, I'm not happy at all. My other insecurity is reading into things. These two make a truly terrible combination in that reasoning that, I love talking and when my friends aren't talking for whatever reason, I immediately assume I've done something wrong. I've been too clingy, pushed too hard, talked too much, done something, anything to upset them. So I am in a constant battle between my mind, where I am always losing someone, and reality where my friends and I are just fine. I am surrounded by friends, people that care about me, that is. But I somehow always manage to feel lonely when my two closest friends are busy. It really takes a toll on my energy feeling like I have no friends or that I am on the verge of such a thing. More energy convincing myself that I'm not.

When I remember Jesus as a friend, it truly comforts me. Jesus is my Everything - My Redeemer, My Strength, My Courage, My Life. He is so powerful!! So how could He possibly be something as simple as my friend? He has lots of things to do and likes hearing my prayers, no doubt. But how my day was? What boy I like? What dress I want to wear to winter formal? It takes a lot for me to, not realize, but understand how He could care about things like that when I seem to so easily blow Him off. But He does...for whatever the reason, He does. And it's a wonderful thing for me to be able to say, "my best friend is Jesus!...and He always will be."

Catie's prayer: Mary Mary's "What a Friend"

What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

I never thought of prayer as a privilege before- it's always been something that I've taken for granted. I never think about how there are so many people that have never heard of the name of Jesus- that is so hard for me even fathom because I grew up with parents who had faith that went to Church. For it to be any other way is just so weird for me to think about.

Friends with limited warranties, yea-oh
Until You I never knew a lifetime guaranteed
Friend could really be my reality, oh

I never thought of God as a "lifetime guaranteed" but it's true. God doesn't put our salvation to chance. How awesome is that?