The Lost Series - Bible Study ReCap

Hello - happy Saturday!

I am so excited to be joining Heart of Mary Women's Fellowship's FIRST link up party! #HOMWFhearttoheart Here is the link to the Link up party - grab your cup of coffee :)

If you are visiting from the HOMWF site - HELLO! If you aren't, you should go check them out.

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For the past two weeks I've been studying Luke 15: 1-32 with HOMWF. It's called the Lost series: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (story of the prodigal son).

Though there was so much that I learned, two ideas stood out to me.

Right off the bat, in vs. 2 it says "This man [Jesus] welcomes sinners and eats with them." Just last Sunday we learned from Ezekiel 33 & Matthew 18:15-20 that we too are called to be watchmen of the house, to love everyone, and that we will be the ones held responsible for the sins of others if we didn't attempt to share the Truth with them. It is through meeting sinners where they were at that Jesus was able to love them and convert them. We are called to this same method. With Pope Francis especially, there has been an energized push for a "new evangelization". Namely, it's to meet people where they are at, to love them where they are at, and welcome them home. We aren't supposed to sit on our high horse, soap box, in our wood polished pew pointing fingers and naming names. We're called to go out into the streets, or the store, or the park, or the food bank, or anywhere that they are. We know who they are: it's not everyone that we meet. Rather, it's the people God puts in out path, family or friends or strangers, and through following the prompting of the Spirit, we will be able to evangelize.

The second part that really stood out was the reference verse Luke 19:10. In fact, it stood out to me so much, that I drew it out (what I do as part of my prayer meditation).

Praise be to You, God! For coming after me when I am lost. When I am lost because of doubt, because of sin, because of stubbornness, because of pride. Thank you for searching me out and seeing so much value in me to come after me. 

It is still so impressive to me that God would be willing to seek ME out. Yea, I call my self catholic. Yea, some people would say that I've been found, or saved, or more correctly - being saved. My Shephard comes to seek me out & to save me. I am human. I am a sinner. Even though I say I follow the Catholic faith, I get lost. All. The. Time. Thank goodness, I have a God that runs after me.

But you better believe that He's running after you too! He wants to meet you where you're at. Wherever you are in life, He wants to meet you where you are, hold you, love on you, bring you home, keep you safe. We just have to want to be found.

xo,

Can you bear your heart with us?

Good morning Sisters! It's a beautiful Saturday - I'm sitting here in front of my laptop enjoying my homemade almond milk latte, trying to ignore the plethora of toddler toys glittered on the carpet, jealous of my ministry sisters at a California chapter getting to listen to a Catholic big-wig coming to speak the next couple of hours. The Husband is next to me on his iPhone, absentmindedly skimming through Facebook and IMBD. The baby is finally napping.

This healthy jealousy rouses a question in me - how do we promote a more active, encouraging online community on the HeartofMaryWF.com site?

Since creating the website just a short 32 days ago - it has boomed into an extraordinary life-filled, life-giving ministry. There's so much on there - bible study, devotion, encouragement to participate more fully in our Catholic faith, support to fall more in love with God, artfully beautifully, feminine  smart phone screen savers, Instagram posts - but I feel as though something more is missing. Our sisters are reading (I see the blog statistics growing each day). But what is it?? What's the missing link?

As I Google today, prayerfully going through different search engine entry options, it hits me: We are reading the devotions, but we are not responding to them. We are listening to the devotions, but we are not vocalizing our hearts. We are not utilizing this online community to its potential.

We are a community. An assembly of Sisters. We must encourage one another. We must also be vulnerable. This is a big, big request Sisters. Can you bear your heart with us? Can you encourage your Sisters online? When we read a study or a devotion - we do nothing with it, we benefit nothing from it, if we do not express our hearts and what we learn from it. This could be within the quiet personal writings of a prayer journal. It could be sharing your heart over coffee with a dear friend. But it can also be in an online setting. Your Sisters are going through similar things as you. You can bless them by sharing with them how our amazing, just God is loving on you. You are not alone. We are not alone. Do not stay away from your assembly. We need encouragement from each other.

xo,

The Proper Functioning of Each Part

Guys. Big News.

I'm the designer and a writing contributor for an online Catholic women's ministry.

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.

It's for real. And I can hardly believe it; or that God would ask this of me; or that He would give me the skills to pull this off. Ok, the last part is believable, because - IT'S GOD. He can give me whatever gifts He wants. Someone recently said to me that I am very lucky that God has already revealed what my gifts are and how He is calling me to build up His kingdom.

Have you ever read the first part of Nehemiah, chapter 3? It's called the "List of Workers". It lists a name of a person, the section of the wall of Jerusalem they were in charge of, and the task that they completed. It's quite a dry read, if you take it at face value. In the midst of these numerous names and numerous gates, the people and their task seem to get lost in the bigger picture. They are all building up this wall. They are all a son of someone, and a son of someone. They all have weird names to our modern minds and that doesn't help them stand out either. They seem to fade into the back, unimportant to the real story.

"The Spring Gate was repaired by Shallum, son of Colhozeh, leader of the district of Mizpah; he rebuilt it, roofed it over, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. He also repaired the wall of the Aqueduct Pool near the king's garden as far as the steps that lead down from the City of David." - Neh 3:15

Want to know something about Shallum? He was listed in this "List of Workers" almost at the end. We have to read through 15 previous verses of people building something, just to get to poor Shallum. By the time we get to him, our eyes are probably skimming and our minds are elsewhere. We really aren't absorbing God's Word and what He wants to bless us with. But poor Shallum was not poor at all! I don't know about his financial state, I have no clue. But Shallum was asked to repair a gate & the pool next to it. However this wasn't just any pool. This pool is later called the Pool of Siloam. In John 9 we read that this is where Jesus asked a blind man to go, to wash clay off of his eyes.

"...and said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see." - John 9:7

Shallum didn't know that the work he was doing would provide a platform for Jesus to perform a miracle. Shallum didn't know that the efforts he made would not only be important in his current day, but in future days to come. Shallum didn't know that his little yes would allow God make BIG blessings later.

I have always loved creating sites. Facebook pages have been created for every place of business I've worked at.  I, absurdly, have 5 blogs. (4 aren't active - I just liked creating them.) I enjoy starting people up on social media. I'm an Instagram junkie and a Twitter stalker. I also love writing. I actually became giddy in college when term papers were assigned; and the more pages the better. One of my favorite classes was about writing and we spent the entire quarter dissecting the book "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. (Yes, there was an entire chapter dedicated to the "dash". And yes - I understand I might have a problem). But how amazing that God has blessed me, and at such a young age (under 30, but very close), to provide an outlet to serve Him, utilizing all the gifts He has given to me and to recognize this. I never thought site creation and writing are kingdom-building gifts! Who knew? God knew!!

I got to create this site guys:

And I get to write for it. [[Insert giddy giggles here.]]

It's a Catholic women's ministry, founded in 2009. It has now expanded to an online forum and will provide bible studies starting August 2nd, 2014!!

Please join me and the other women, as we dive into God's Word together as sisters.

Jump into God's Word - hear His whispers of loving, merciful, grace-filled, healing, bless-filled words that He has for you. And His Mother will carry you to Him. She's really good at that - especially when we don't know how to walk. Just ask her.

"...from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body's growth and builds itself up in love." - Eph 4:16

xo,