My ICE Bag

JIC & ICE ('just in case' and 'in case of emergency' respectfully) are two names for these cases that save the day constantly.

Mine is in this:


I got it in May as a grad gift from a family friend. It was the perfect size for my ICE Bag! I can easily transfer it from backpack to purse and have most everything I could ever need. 

It contains:


-Ulta (Mandarin Mint) hand sanitizer & lotion
-Este Lauder powder
-Oil Absorbing Sheets
-Lip Gloss
-Chapstick
-Mini Mascara
-Miss Dior Cherie Mini Perfume
-Asprin
-Band-Aids
-Hair Ties
-Bobby Pins
-Five Spearmint Gum
-Tide To Go
-Starbucks Ready Brew Via Very Berry Refresher
-Apple Iphone 5 Charger Converter

I cannot tell you how many times this bad boy has saved me from awkward situations.

Do you have a JIC Kit? What do you put in it? Am I forgetting something??

Go.

Go.

The redemption story between God and His people starts with this word. 

12: 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,

    and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

    and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

    and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

    will be blessed through you.”

So Abram went as the Lord had told him."

That isn't an easy request. God asks Abram to leave all security behind and put his trust in Him. Could you do it? Sometimes, like after a retreat or conference, I think I can. Out in nature with the Lord, just the two of us, is perfect. But amid the hustle and bustle of everyday life the doubt starts to creep in. Leave everything? Surely not all of my books, or my shoes, or my school? Not my friends too? It's a heavy request. 

Yet look what God will give Abram if he follows! A great nation, a great name, blessings, children, and the promise of redemption for the entire human race. Seems like a pretty good deal.

So Abram goes. 

And we are still talking about him today! Abram (later Abraham) becomes the patriarch of the Hebrew people. He recieves a call to greatness and responds. 

Brace yourself... we get the same call. "Go and make disciples of all nations" We have to go! We don't necessarily have to leave everything but we are called to lead others to Christ. It's the same call to greatness. It's also just as scary. What if people don't like me? What if they get mad? What if I offend someone? What if I'm not ready? 

There is an answer for that too! Later in Genesis God says to Jacob, Abraham's grandson (who continues the mission): 

"Know that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you" 

We have a helper! We have THE Helper! The Lord is not going to send us somewhere we cannot handle. I love the saying that "The will of God will not send you where the grace of God cannot protect you." So true and so comforting right? The call is scary, there is no doubt about that. But our God is SO MUCH GREATER than our fear. 

Where is He sending you?

Where are you called? 

Are you willing to go??

Whatcha gonna do?

New Week, New Start.

My Theme for this week is definitely "What Am I Going To Do?"

It's inspired by the Francesca Battistelli song "It's Your Life"

This is the moment
It's on the line
Which way you gonna fall?
In the middle between
Wrong and right
But you know after all

It's your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
It's an open door
It's your life

Are you who you always said you would be?
With a sinking feeling in your chest
Always waiting for someone else to fix you
Tell me when did you forget

It's your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
It's an open door

To live the way that you believe
This is your opportunity
To let your life be one that lights the way

It's your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
It's an open door

It's your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
It's an open door
It's your life
It's your life

Songwriter(s):Ian Ashley Eskelin, Francesca Battistelli
Copyright:Word Music Llc, Designer Music, Honest And Popular Songs

It's about the middle of the semester, so there is a crossroad of sorts. Do I keep up with how I lived the beginning of the semester? Do I change it? Do I slack off? Do I work harder? My goal is to continue on with the habits Ive been forming. I hope I don't fall into the procrastination cycle that I typically do. Which probably means I should be studying instead of blogging. Talk to y'all tomorrow! 

My Dream Job

(Written at 4:38 in the morning. Bear with me please.)

"Do y'all believe in soulmates?"

It was that simple question that started a 3 hour long theological conversation tonight at the theatre.

Talk about a redbull for the soul.

Should I have been in bed? Probably.

Should I have been studying? Sure.

Should I have abstained from devoring around 30 lifesaver mints as we chatted? My dentist probably would have liked that.

But I wouldn't have changed a thing.

We spanned about every single controversial topic possible. My friend (with whom I had never spoken like this to might I add) and I shared viewpoints, debated philosophies, asked questions, and attempted to find truth.

It was so invigorating! Talking about our awesome God and how much He loves us is fantastic. It's all that is worth talking about in my opinion. So to spend time with a friend doing just that is priceless.

I want to do that for a living. I want to talk about Jesus and the Lord and the Church and Truth and Love and Justice. I want to speak to people about faith and hope and reason. I don't know how to get there, but I am going to keep learning about God and wait for Him to show me where to go.

Dear Lord,

Show me the path that I should walk. For to You I entrust my life.

Amen.

Ash Wednesday

Today marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. We remember Jesus's 40 days in the desert, and prepare for Easter.

Typically Catholics will go to Mass and receive ashes in the shape of the cross on their foreheads. I've done this my entire life, and for the last 12 years it was a special Mass done at the beginning of the school day. This is the first year that I went on my own (at a glorious 7 AM) and the first time that I haven't been surrounded by others with ashes too. I sometimes forget that I am not at St- Agnes anymore. Some of the funnier comments:

"Oh my gosh your face!"

"You have some dirt on your forehead."

and my favorite

"Yea I didn't want to ask because I thought it was a bruise and I didn't want to be rude"

Tee hee that one gave me a chuckle.

Ashes are made from the leftover palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday (more on that feast day in a month) and are a symbol of the fact that we come from dust and from dust we shall return. We remember that we take nothing from this life but our relationship with God. It is all that matters. The ashes are an outward sign of that inward disposition.

The 40 days leading up to Easter challenge us to prepare our hearts for the Lord and repent of our sins. Lots of people give things up for Lent, to get rid of vices, curb desires, or sacrifice. Father in his homily today talked about how we start out with a clean room but it gets cluttered and messy by the end of it. So what to we do? We declutter and start again. It is the same idea with Lent. We get rid of the things that have been pulling our focus away from what really matters. We declutter our hearts and recharge.

In previous years I have given up Coke, TV, cherry tomatoes (my favorite ever.), Facebook, secular music, etc. This year I am renewing some old promises and adding some new ones. I know that if I write them down here then they are concrete and in stone. It will keep me accountable!

Old: Facebook (takes away my dependency for social media as a means of distraction)
New: Instagram (I check instagram over 10 times away. It has gotten ridiculous.)

New: Starbucks & Common Grounds (I spend too much money here when I have coffee in my dorm room. The money can be put to better use! I am curious to see how much money I will save)

Old: Secular Music (this one is tricky because I cannot exactly force everyone around me to do this as well. So this one only applies to when I am by myself. I've done it for the past 2 years and it is such a recharge.)

Those are my resolutions! Are you giving something up? Do you celebrate Lent?

Vive la Papa!

The grey weather outside is the perfect backdrop for some very somber news: Pope Benedict is resigning.

I must admit I didn't even know this was possible due to the fact that the last time a Pope abdicated was to end the Great Western Schism, sort of an extenuating circumstance. It was also 700 years ago, so not exactly on the forefront of everyone's minds either.

The Pope stated that “before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise.” 

:(

But even though the primary response is one of sadness, I have been thinking about the good side of things. This stemmed from reading this article about the resignation in a historical context. First, the Pope has not died! He is still present and able to help guide the next Pope into office. Second, what a model of humility to recognize his weaknesses and step down from one of the most powerful offices in the world. 

I don't quite understand everything, but I do know that God's hand is in this and so we can have faith in the plan. 

Vive la Papa
Thank you Pope Benedict

We are praying for you!

*Updates*

Updates*

It's been far too long I know. I hope every single one of y'all's lives are going smashingly! Mine is pretty peachy I have to say. I have slowly but surely grown more disciplined. 

IT. ROCKS. 

What I did at the beginning of the semester is write out all of the things that I wanted to be disciplined in and how to accomplish them.

Here is the list:

1) Do well in school and not get overwhelmed- work on HW every night. Try to get everything done for the week the weekend before. 

2) Get a decent amount of sleep a night- be in bed by 12. Make sure I manage my time well so I don't have last minute things to do.

3) Exercise every day- couch to 5K running plan 

4) Blog regularly- plan out posts & write them a week in advance 

Those are the important ones. So what I have been doing to implement them is add in a new one each week. I started with school, then sleep, and so on. This is my week for blogging. I don't know if I am quite ready to blog as regularly as I did last semester but I am going to try. I also think I am going to try to change things up a bit. 

I know I will be writing a lot on SEEK and what I learned there. Topics include relativism (grr.), meekness, relationships, and setting the world on fire. 

I want to bake more regularly. Prepare for my pie recipe and the PERFECT chocolate chip cookie.

Crafting will return! I have been painting more and will most likely attempt a game day dress within the next week or two. 

While I haven't been slackin on the outfits recently, they haven't been all that special. I still don't wear t-shirts and shorts to class, but the jeans and sweater combo is practically my uniform. Whoops. I will try to cure that as it gets warmer.

Please bear with me as I try to sort this new life of mine out. Still working on that excellence!! 

Wish me luck :)