Revelations in Email

Revelations come in emails a lot lately. In Reading Proverbs 31 today, I realized God sent me a message to take to heart. If you don't belong to Proverbs 31 newsletter, you have to. It is awesome what I get from those emails. Here was today's message: Sometimes God works in small quiet ways. Other times His actions are up there with the parting of the Red Sea. Whatever way God decides to work, experiencing Him always fills us with inner peace and strength for our journey.


Enjoy the journey,
Noelle:)

Saint Agnes

Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was very young 12 or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century. Various modes of death have been suggested beheading, burning, strangling.

Legend has it she was a beautiful girl whom many young men wanted to marry. Among those she refused, one reported her to the authorities as being a Christian. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. The legend continues that a man who looked upon her lustfully lost his sight and had it restored by her prayer. She was condemned, executed and buried near Rome in a catacomb that eventually was named after her. The daughter of Constantine built a basilica in her honor.

Faith in Difficult Times

Today was the first time in a long time I woke up and took time to smell the flowers and just be with God. This school year has been a trying time for us as a family. My husband and I being unemployed, the diagnosis of my son. I truly felt at the foot of the cross with Jesus. My faith has suffered through it all. But then something happened the last couple of weeks during this New Year, I started praying and being still with God. I listened and just didn't talk like I do incessantly.
I realized many things today as I prayed. God puts crosses in our lives to bring us to the foot of his cross to say, come up here and see what I see. And I cry in what I see. I see souls being lost within our own community, our own families. Today I realized why I am going through these crosses to pray for those souls and to help mine along with it. So in that reality, I realized nothing should be hidden. The truth is all around us if we truly look for it.
So today I have embraced my son's diagnosis of SPD and ADHD, along with the food allergies that make it so difficult for him at times. He embraces it all with a smile and says it is okay Mom, God made me this way to help someone else. He is right. I realized my true talent is writing and God has steered me to write an article about the journey Luke and I are having. There is the job I keep looking for and keep telling God later I can do that. But when I finally surrendered to it, life so much easier and the words they just flow out. God is amazing in all of His Divine Creations in life. Finally, yes I see it all as a journey to God's greater plan for us. Homeschooling has made all of this so much easier for him and I to endure through it all, and God knew that we would travel this journey together. God has blessed us with that too, by all these crosses come in babysteps. He knows how much we can endure, even when we think we can't, we can.
And Yes even unemployment can be a Blessing. I was amazed to realize this today. It has been a Blessing to us as a family. We have gotten closer as a family. My husband has gotten to spend more time with the kids and I. He now understands what we go through day to day. Yes, it has been a financial burden, but there are more important things than just money. Finally surrendered this to God. The journey is not always easy but the treasure at the end of the road is worth it.

God Bless you all in the journeys you travel,
Noelle:)

Book Review: Hunting For God, Fishing for the Lord

I read all of Father Classen's book in reverse order. God always has a plan for that. This should have been the first book, but this is my last. In reading his book, I was going through a spiritual journey. God and Father Classen were traveling with me through this adventure through his book. In his book, Father Classen talks about the encounters he has had with God in the Great Outdoors. He recalls stories from his boyhood past into adulthood, with each one there is a very poignant lesson. As he explains each lesson learned he points out his obstacles and strengths through learning the lesson taught. The one thing that impressed me with this book is the fact he, as priest and an avid, competitive outdoorsman, showed how even he gave into self temptations, but overcame them through God's grace. Through this book, one thing stems out very clearly his search for the truth: The truth of God and in the doctrines we are taught as Catholics. I have enjoyed the three book journey with him. I highly recommend this book for everyone!

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1003011/Hunting-God-Fishing-Lord?sli=1003011


Given book to review for the Catholic Company: http://www.catholiccompany.com/

Happy New Year 2010!

Well I am finally holidayed out. Is that a word? We are back but I have 2 sick kids. One is feeling so much better than the other. So I started to customize and fix up the my blog. In the coming weeks I will be reviewing curriculum that we have used. I am doing this for those who are planning their curriculum's for next year. Let me know how you like it. I am also looking through curriculum. Remember those homeschool conferences are right around the corner. God Bless you all.