Saturday, July 28, 2012

Oh no! She's up!

"Be the woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says, 'Oh no! She's up!'"

That is my goal. This past week I was on a mission trip in South Carolina. I'm was so excited for a couple reasons: one, I love helping people, It's the best way to let Christ shine through us; two, the program is amazing, singing, jumping up and down, and praising God is such an amazing experience and it feels so great to give everything to God; three, I will be away from home, this probably doesn't seem like much, but I break out of my shell more when I'm away.

Throughout the week crews were working in nursing homes, ophanages, ranches, houses, etc.. This is one of the many opportunities God has given me to share His love and to use the gifts He gave me.


While we were there we were looking for God Sightings. A God Sighting is when you see God's love shine through someone, something, and action, etc. I had two God sightings that will really stick with me. The first God Sighting I had was when we were working at a Restore Habitat for Humanity store. I was hanging clothes on hangers and the lady who worked there was saying how it is really sad when people can't even afford clothes at Goodwill. She said that people come to their store when that happens. She said one day a woman came in and all she had was $2 and they were able to get her a whole outfit and send her away with a smile.

My second God Sighting during the week was on our last day working. That day we went to a pastor's house. He had been sick all week, was still sick, and needed someone to mow his lawn and weed wack for him. After we had finished we went in to tell him we were finished and the adult in my crew (who is also a pastor) went over to him and held his hand as he prayer over him. It was a very powerful experience for me and it was almost as if Jesus was right there with him, healing him. :)


My reason for adding my God Sightings into this blog post is tp show you that God Sightings can be anything. It can be as simple as picking up trash. Most people when they think of God Sightings they think of a burning bush. Yes, that would be a God Sighting, but it doesn't have to be something so obvious. usually God works through the simple things in life.

I pray most days. I've prayed with people before. I've prayed over people before. And I've been prayed over. Praying is one of those things that is reoccuring, something I'm use to. But, when I saw Dave pray over that man, it was so amazing. I can't even really explain it. I just knew Jesus was there, I could feel Dave's passion for Christ and feel the strength in his prayer.


"Be the woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says, 'Oh no! She's up!'"


That is my goal, and I challenge you to be someone's God sighting.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

“Why is the Catholic Church making such a big deal about the HHS Mandate?”

Probably what you’ve heard when you ask this question is: “The U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation that would force employers, including Catholic institutions, to pay, directly or indirectly, for insurance for sterilization and contraceptives, including abortion-inducing drugs, stands as a religious liberty crisis.” [Quote from the USCCB website]

You might still be thinking “what’s the big deal? What does this have to do with me?” Let me tell you, it has a lot to do with you! The Catholic Church is strictly pro-life, so forcing us to provide insurance for sterilization and contraceptives, including abortion-inducing drugs, is flat out against our religion. It is a violation of our conscience. If you have ever done an examination of conscience before confession, you might have noticed that abortion, birth control, contraception, etc. might have been on that list. Now, I’m not saying that you have to be Catholic to be Pro-Life, but this blog is from a Catholic stand point. What I am trying to get across is that Abortion is wrong, and the HHS Mandate is wrong because it violates our religious freedom which the first amendment has protected us from since 1791.

Here are the results of the poll on abortion, remember these stats are mostly Christian/Catholic views. And this is a combination of the poll on this blog and on Facebook.

   9.09% said: “Abortion is perfectly fine. It's her body; she can do what she wants.” This is not the right answer. It may be her body, but it is also her child. And killing it by having an abortion is in violation of the 5th commandment. Now, some people will say that it’s not a baby yet, that it is a fetus. Think again, a fetus is a baby that is still inside of its mother’s womb. God alone is Lord over life and death; you don’t get to decide who lives and who dies.

      6.06% said: “Abortion is only ok if the girl is raped.” I can see why people would think this, but it is still wrong. The girl may not have intended to have a child yet but, she has one now. If she can’t take care of the baby she could always give it up for adoption. I see where this one is hard and I know it would be hard to go through the pregnancy, but killing an innocent life doesn’t make you childless, it makes you the parent of a dead child. At least with adoption the child is able to live, even if they never meet their father.

     84.85% said: “Abortion is murder.”  Remember this is mostly a Christian and Catholic point of view, but this still makes me happy that almost 85% said that it is murder, because that is exactly what abortion is! Like I said before, only God has the right to decide who gets to live and who dies. God was loving enough to give us free will and there are consequences that come along with bad choices. If you decide to have sex out of marriage, then there are consequences that come with that. So, what gives you the right to decide if the baby lives or dies?


     0% said: “Abortion is ok if the baby has a defect/disease.” I am very happy that no one voted on this one! I’m still going to explain why this is wrong though. “Every person, from the moment of his life in the womb, has an inviolable (sacred) dignity, because from all eternity God willed, loved, created, and redeemed that person and destined him for eternal happiness.” (YOUCAT # 280) God made this child because He loves them. Killing a child with a disease/ medical defect because you think they won’t be happy would be like killing someone who has depression; you can’t decide before the child is even born if they will be happy or not!

God does not make mistakes; He knows each and every one of His children. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” God meant for that child to be born, not for it to be in heaven before it could even have a chance to make a difference in the world.
I’m fighting against abortion and for religious liberty, will you fight with me?