Your T-Shirt Made Me Smile

I attend a Catholic college in picturesque New England, and as I have recently found, there is some religious competition among the girls. Mass attendance, interaction with the religious personnel, proper dress, and acts of evangelization are the main areas open for judgment. Personally, I am in inwardly faithful person and would rather live my faith the way I see fit. This has worked for me and I plan on sticking with it. However, I don't go to Mass every day, I run in spandex, and I'm not posting scripture verses all over my dorm, so I have been viewed as not "Catholic" enough. Due to this, I have been left out of certain activities and judged for the way I dress. I didn't want it to get to me but tonight I was beginning to question myself, wondering about my prayer life, my actions, my clothes and so on. I was getting rather confused with this line of thinking so I prayed and sent a text to the people who know best -- my parents. They helped me through, assuring me that I should keep doing what I'm doing and do it with a smile, not minding what others may think. Taking their uplifting advice I found a few friends and headed out for ice cream. I treated myself to an ice-cream sandwich and sat down to enjoy my wonderful life with God. Amidst this moment a man walked by with a shirt that said, "If you have haters you must be doing something right". I couldn’t help but smile and thank God for his simple ways of letting me know He is with me.

Never Thought This Would Happen

As I put on my spandex and singlet this morning, I turned around and looked in the mirror and smiled real big. Never did I think I would see the day where I was waking up, putting on a college uniform, and heading to another state to run in my first Division II Varsity Cross Country race. Just four years ago I was nervous about joining the high school team but I did and I loved it. After high school ended, I was determined not to run in college. But God had a different plan. His plan is better than anything I could imagine. The best part is that it is still unfolding. :)

Thank you

A new life, a new start, I guess you could call it that. To me it is a little scarier. It is college. The one thing that took over a year and a half to reach and now it is here. I said my goodbyes, and left four days ago to head away from home and attend college. Being simpleminded I thought that goodbyes would be hard but I never expected them to be as hard as they were and still are. I am homesick and miss my family and friends. It hasn't been a comfortable process but I am very happy to know that God has been by my side this whole time. Every time I miss someone God reminds me how great it is that I have so many people to miss. I have people who love me and who I love as well. When I think of it that way I am not so sad. Rather I am glad to know that so many good, kind, wonderful, and loving people are in my life. Thank you Lord for each and every one of them.

Today Is A Day To Be Awesome

Anyone have a recurring monster that haunts you? It is a thought, an action, a mood, that puts a black cloud over your day. It tries to ruin anything and everything that it can. I personally have one, and it is not fun. My bad mood just seems to take over the day. Today is different; today I am standing up to it. I am ready to put up a fight; I am ready to take it down. Today is my day to shine. Push over bad mood monster, you are going down.