Anything but Marriage? (Not Alone Series: Discernment)

Not Alone Series: Discernment

Late to the game, as usual. But I get there, so that counts, right? I missed the "Getting to Know You" portion of this all, so I'll be quick.

I'm Liesl. No longer 16 going on 17. You can read all about me, if you wish. I also like chocolate, sarcasm, and chocolate covered sarcasm. In that order.

Oh, and you should probably know that I really dislike being single - more than when all the chocolate is gone - and I'm also really really terrible at being single, so of course, I love to write about it.

Onward!

Discernment. Way to start us off with a light and easy topic... I'll try to keep it as hot and heavy as possible.

(Although I really think that I'm the last person in the entire world who should be writing about any kind of discernment. If there's one thing I've learned from my spiritual life the past two years, it's that I am completely terrible at discerning God's will. Like fail-tacular. I will pray about something a lot for a long time, do the whole "Thy will be done!" thing, sense that my prayer and certain signs are leading me in a certain direction, jump in wholeheartedly because I'm following God's will, y'all!, and then...

CRASH AND BURN!

To be fair, I haven't completely given up on the latest excursions into God's will-land... but all of that is a not-yet-completed-story for a yet-to-be-determined time.)


Did I just go off on a tangent? That tends to happen. Ever so sorry.

So, discerning my vocation. I suppose it really all started a few years ago, when I began to meet regularly with my spiritual director.

There's one thing you need to know. My spiritual director loves vocations... especially religious vocations. Are you a man? He will ask you every day of your life if you've thought about being a priest. Are you a lady? He may not ask you every day of your life, but he will ask... a lot.

And that was the first time I encountered the "Liesl, have you ever thought about being a nun?" question.

I laughed. Really really hard.

Me?! A nun?! Are you serious?!

When I realized he was serious, I got a little bit defensive.

But I've always wanted to get married and be a mother. Always.

His response: Yea, I always wanted to get married, and see where that got me? It's not a sacrifice if you give up something you don't want.

That's when I pulled out the big guns.

What, so I'm not good enough for a man? I haven't found a guy yet so I should just give up on marriage and run for the religious life?

He assured me that's not what he meant, but he let it go. For then.

After I left that spiritual direction session, I couldn't help but thinking about what he said, and laughing some more. I mean, I'm pretty sure that if I were a nun, I'd be like Maria...

Oh, I'm supposed to be at morning prayer right now? Whoops...

I also have confidence in rain, that spring will come again, and in my complete inability to heel click.

Along with impatience, laziness, sarcasm, mimicking British accents, et al, etc, la dee dah!

You get the idea?

I later told a couple of my very Catholic friends that my priest had dared to suggest that I think about the religious life. I asked them, Me as a nun?! Can you see that at all?

They all said, "Well, yea..."

That shut me up right quick.

After a little bit of thought and a lot of singing The Sound of Music in my head, I realized that I had always assumed that I would get married because that's what I wanted, but I had never really discerned what God wanted for me. I realized that whatever God was calling me to do would make me as happy as I could possibly be here on earth. Why would He call me to something that wouldn't bring me the happiness He created me for?

So I decided I was going to be open to it, whatever "it" was. I kind of informed my spiritual director that I wasn't going to actively pursue any particular vocation for a bit, but I was going to open my heart to be open to any vocation - marriage, single life, or religious life - and let my prayer be that God would place the desire in my heart for what He wanted for me. And for many months, my prayer wholeheartedly became, Thy will be done.

During this time, I met lots of people. Guys. Gals. Married people. Single people. Priests. And nuns. We had some nuns come by our Newman Center every couple of weeks to go to lunch, lead discussions, and just generally hang out. They were young. They were hip. And they were joyful.

I mean, they smiled ALL THE TIME! If they weren't smiling, it was because they were laughing! Which was also a lot! I quickly realized that I enjoyed being around them because they were so happy!

It also didn't take me long to realize that I felt no inclination towards their life. I loved their joy, but I didn't see their joy as someday being my joy. I prayed about it a lot, and asked God to please place a desire for their joy in my heart, if that's where He wanted me to go. But that desire never came, and it still hasn't.

Wuv! Twue wuv!

My prayer during this time especially drew me closer to God, but it also drew me closer to that desire for a husband and children.

Have I had any profound visions of my wedding day during my prayer? No, but God knows that would just be waaaaay too easy for me (right, God? I mean, I could take easy right now...).

Have I met that special man who will someday wait for me at the altar? I don't really know, but if we have met, we definitely haven't fully realized that we've been placed in each others' lives for the very specific purpose of marriage.

Since that time when I was really-super-duper-whatever-you-want-God! open to any vocation, I've had a few moments of very clear consolation towards marriage. You know, no fireworks or neon signs (boy, would that be nice...), but deep senses of peace that could only be from God. And, well, confirmation from my spiritual director, of course.

Like that time where I went on a 5 day silent retreat that was... well, let's just say, quite an experience for me... and my spiritual director and I agreed that we still haven't figured out what God wants for me but we could definitely cross "cloistered nun" off the list.

Or like another time when I very casually mentioned to my spiritual director that I didn't really feel any calling to the religious life, and his response surprised me quite a bit. His words:

Oh, yea, I agree... with your sense of humor, you couldn't be called to anything but marriage.

Um, thanks Father? I'm going to take that as a compliment... and as another little sign among many that I'm discerning the correct-ish vocational path.

So I continue to discern, and I continue to wait - very impatiently, because that's how I roll - and sometimes, I even continue to try to pray "Thy will be done" even when spiritual dry spells or heartbreak stand in my way. I may not be very good at placing complete trust in God, but I know deep down that He won't let me stray too far from the happiness He has planned for me.

Alright... Good Talk: My Experiences with Spiritual Direction (Guest Post by Christina!)

I've written about some of my experiences with spiritual direction before, but I've never really devoted an entire post to the topic. Perhaps I will someday, but until then I am very excited to welcome my first guest post by Christina!

~*~

Hi everybody! My name is Christina, and I blog next door at Reflections of a Catholic in Formation. Liesl asked me to write a post about my experiences with spiritual direction, and I will gladly do so over the next few paragraphs. On we go!

For anyone who is unfamiliar with the concept of spiritual direction and what it’s all about, let me give you the five cent definition. Spiritual direction is when a person meets with a priest/nun/monk/well-formed lay person to talk about their spiritual life. You’ll talk about how you’re praying, how often, what you struggle with, major themes you notice (or they might notice for you), and perhaps a plan for going forward from where you are. It has a great deal to do with self-awareness, but you’ll also be trying to listen for God’s voice or see His hand in your life. Additionally, they’re a fantastic help if you’re discerning your vocation, and that’s where my story starts.

I was away from the Church for most of my high school career, and reverted to the faith shortly before my freshman year of college began. I had a serious conversion of heart on a retreat that September, and threw myself wholeheartedly into the practice of my faith. I was on cloud nine for a while, going to daily Mass, weekly Adoration, and occasionally cutting my math class to have lunch with the missionaries on campus and two very wonderful religious sisters, and I naturally began to think about entering the religious life myself. However, what began as a passing thought quickly became a matter which consumed my prayer completely. After about three weeks of torturous grappling with it, I decided I had to speak to the university’s chaplain.

I went into his office and very nervously told him that I thought God was calling me to the religious life. I don’t recall what he said, but I do remember that he was much too calm for my comfort, seeming almost to take the news in stride as if I’d informed him of what lovely weather we were having. I was upset by his reaction and confused with what this would mean for me. Would I drop out of school to enter a convent? Would I still be called to the religious life if I finished my degree before pursuing it? The chaplain could see how upset I was, and took me into the chapel to talk. He reassured me that if I was actually being called to the religious life, this wasn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful vocation, and the women who are called to it live with extraordinary joy. If I wasn’t being called to religious life, that wasn’t a bad thing, either. Either way, he told me, I should stop trying to actively discern, since I was so new to the faith, and that I should remember that no matter what my vocation ended up being, whatever God called me to would be my happiness (this is one of his favorite things to say).

It was at that point that he recommended that I see him each moth for spiritual direction. Since then, he’s helped me work through some serious issues. When my parents, angered by the change in political views my religious orthodoxy had brought about, pulled me from the Newman Center’s World Youth Day trip and I thought they would force me to spend the next three years at UConn, I was in his office looking for guidance. When I was afraid to go home to my very lax Catholic family for the summer, where I would have none of the support I enjoyed at school, I was talking to him. When I thought once again that I might be called to the religious life, he was counseling me on what to do. When I experienced a sudden and painful spiritual dry spell during my sophomore year, he was helping me work through it. Even working through some very personal issues that affected my spiritual life, I went to the chaplain in spiritual direction.

Of course, I don’t want to give the impression that spiritual directors only help you deal with the tough stuff in your spiritual life. Liesl and I have the same spiritual director, and though he has a unique relationship with each of the people under his direction, he and I have a slightly weirder relationship than most. We make fun of each other a lot, we used to get into a few (lighthearted) physical tussles, and occasionally I will invade his office, take up one of his couches, and we’ll just laugh at the awkward non-sequitur of a situation. We laugh a lot, talk about sports, he’ll occasionally tease me for being a nerd like one of our more recent seminarians, and he’ll guide me through good or emotionally neutral time in my spiritual life, as well. He’ll recommend books I should read or new prayers I could say, either to expand my horizons or to correspond to what’s going on with my prayer life. He’s also my confessor, which helps him and me identify patterns and signs more easily because we see most of what’s going on together, rather than me knowing everything and forgetting to tell him something important or relevant.

Even as a young woman who hasn’t discerned her vocation and doesn’t have a degree yet, I can definitely say that spiritual direction is a tremendous help in my life. It allows me to reorient myself every so often, like a pilot making sure the plane is on course, except with heaven as my destination, it’s not so much about keeping on the only route that will get me there as determining which route God is calling me to take. I imagine that eventually, whether I move away for grad school or work or any other circumstance, I will need to find a new spiritual director. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence, and though I dislike the thought because I also think of mine as a quirky older brother figure, I’m more or less reconciled to the idea that it will happen. In any case, I thank God for my spiritual director and his wise guidance, as well as for allowing me to grow closer to Him through spiritual direction and its fruits.

If you would like to learn more about spiritual direction, you can visit Catholic Spiritual Direction, though you will have to sort through it a little bit, depending on your familiarity with the subject. If you want a spiritual director, ask around with anyone you know who has one. You can also ask any priests or other religious you know to guide you or point you in the right direction for a spiritual director. I hope I’ve helped you all out a little bit by telling the story of my experience with spiritual direction, and I want to thank Liesl for giving me the opportunity to do so. God bless, everyone!

Liesl and Christina met two years ago on the front porch steps of the GW Newman Center, Christina a young freshman and Liesl an old graduate student trying to be welcoming (and not scare people away). Thankfully, Christina kept coming back and the two became friends in real life! Christina is a junior at George Washington University, where she is studying history, how many times you can go to Mass in one day, and wrestling. If you want to contact her, you can find her practically living at the Newman Center during the school year, or you can also reach her through her blog or email at reflecting.catholic@gmail.com.

Tasty Iced Pumpkin Cookies!

I made these cookies for my weekly Bible study snack last night, and they were a hit with most of the Newman Center crowd! Many asked for me to share the recipe, so I thought I would post it here so everyone can enjoy these tasty, but easy to make, treats! I found the original recipe online, but altered it a bit because some of the spices are pretty expensive. Hope you enjoy!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Deliciousness larger than pictured.

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (you can fudge this number to your taste preference)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze Icing:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to this mixture, and beat until creamy. 
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture while mixing. The dough will be thick, but smooth.
5. Drop rounded spoonfuls on a cookie sheet. I just used two spoons to form little cookie lumps.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. (*For the inexperienced baker, try 15 minutes to start - you don't want to over-bake your cookies!)
7. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet or a cooling rack.
8. While the cookies are cooling, make the glaze icing.
Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add additional milk if needed to maintain drizzling consistency, but you shouldn't need this unless you make the icing in advance and store it in the refrigerator.
9. Once the cookies are cool to the touch, use a form to drizzle the glaze on top of the cookies. 
10. Voila! You have a delicious treat with which wow your friends! This recipe makes 36 large cookies, or about 50-60 regular size cookies.

Liesl's Special Trick:

To keep the cookies soft and moist - even after a couple of days - place them in a covered container soon after they have cooled.

For some of my cookies, I let them cool about an hour before drizzling with icing, while I drizzled the icing on straight out of the oven so it had a melted glaze look for other cookies.

After I glazed them, I stored them in a covered container in layers separated by wax paper, refrigerating each layer for a few minutes to cool the glaze so they didn't stick to the paper. Covering the cookies soon while they are still fresh helps them maintain their soft, moist consistency for a couple of days.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#25)

Thanks to Jen for hosting!

1. I GRADUATE THIS WEEKEND!!!! It's kind of hard to believe that I'll officially have a Master's degree. It seems like it's been a long process to get here (which is a long story which never turned into a blog post because it would have ended up being a novel), but I am so glad that I decided to switch from the PhD program and "leave" school early with a Master's. I guess I'll have to change my "About Me" section Sunday afternoon!
2. Now all that's left is to find a job... which has been cause for a lot of stress and anxiety - because not knowing my job situation leads to not knowing about my living situation which leads to not knowing what city or state I'll even be in past August. For someone like me that likes to have control of important situations and plans them out way in advance, it has been a very humbling experience, to say the least. It's definitely driving me to develop a deeper prayer life, that's for sure.
3. Speaking of prayer life, I just finished a novena to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini for help finding a job (she's my confirmation saint and I'm pretty sure she likes me a lot!)... still waiting for all those job opportunities to fall into my lap! No, but in all seriousness, I've come to enjoy praying novenas because, if anything, it keeps me accountable for devoting at least 15 minutes of prayer time in a chapel somewhere each day... but I almost always end up getting to Mass and/or Adoration as well.
4. This weekend is also a tough one because it means a lot of people are leaving town... I've grown really close to three of our FOCUS missionaries - spending lots of late nights laughing, doing crazy wholesome fun things, and having really thought provoking conversations. It will be difficult to not be able to spontaneously meet up with them for a drink and a good conversations anymore. Their friendship has had such a great impact on my life this past year, so I know we will keep in touch, but life will be a bit different without their joyful presence!
5. On Tuesday this past week, our chaplain treated us "seniors" to a day trip to Atlantic City, NJ. So the other senior and I packed up a van with the FOCUS missionaries, our campus minister, and our chaplain and hit the road. It was such a fun and relaxing day to spend on the beach and hanging out with everyone before they leave. We also got to reminisce about all the good memories from this past year... yea it got a little bit sentimental. There are some fun pictures posted here.
6. I'm pretty sure that if there was one prayer engraved on my heart, it would sound like this song:
7. Well, I have a long weekend ahead of me, so I'm going to rest for my seventh quick take! Have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes Friday (#21)

Check out Conversion Diary for more!

1. I feel so absent from blog-world lately... but life has been very busy! I wish it would slow down a bit for Lent, but it doesn't seem like that will happen. The good news is that I am still going to make extra time for extra spiritual workouts this Lenten season, including keeping up on all the good Lent posts all over the internet!
2. Have you seen this series of posts by three young Catholic women? If you haven't, you should go read them now. 
3. Have you left to read them yet?!? Good.
4. I leave tomorrow morning for my alternative spring break trip to Mount Pleasant, SC! Our Newman Center is taking a small group of students to help rebuild homes in the area... as well as explore Charleston and the beach! Should be a fun and humbling week! If you think about it, say some prayers for our group!
5. Have you ever read any of John Donne's poetry? He was a metaphysical poet around the time of Shakespeare, and in addition, he was also insanely in love with his wife (they had 12 children!) and he was a super secret Catholic! Actually, it wasn't so super secret, but because he had an "in" with the king, he managed to keep his head. However, his poetry is laced with Catholicism, love for his wife, and commentary on the amount of power given to the king. He even has a series of Divine Poems and Holy Sonnets, all of which are beautiful. He is one of my favorite poets, and if you are looking for something new to check out, head to his poetry! Some of my personal favorites - The Canonization, A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, and Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud.
6. What are you giving up for Lent? I gave up juice... and I'm on Day 3 and already have struggled. Let's be clear: I drink juice like a toddler with a sippy cup. Juice has it's wonderfulness, such as lots of vitamins and minerals... but it also has lots and lots of sugar. Mmmmm, sugar. Mmmmm, juice.
7. In addition to giving something up, I also try to add extra spiritual workouts to my routine. This Lent, I am reading Pope Benedict XVI's new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, or as I like to call it, Jesus the Sequel. I really enjoyed his first one, although it often went way over my head, it still blew my mind! I am really looking forward to it. Are you adding any reading to your Lenten season?

7 Quick Takes Friday (#16)

You know the drill... CONVERSION DIARY... word.

1. The March for Life this week was fantastic! We had about 40 people from the Newman Center marching, and we ran into so many great groups - seminarians and priests and brothers and nuns and young people and old people... it was great to see so many people out showing our nation that LIFE is something that people care about.
2. Earlier this week, Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary posted about her article in Envoy magazine. I promptly commented that Envoy was at the FOCUS Conference with free copies, and I excitedly picked up one and told all my friends, "I know her!" even though I actually only know her through my addiction to reading her blog. Well, surprise of all surprises, I got an email from her a couple of days later thanking me for my kind words and "awesome" comments... (Insert image of Liesl jumping up and down and getting a bit excited). Jennifer Fulwiler said I leave "awesome" comments. I mean, you have to admit, it's kinda cool. I feel like a famous person emailed me personally. I guess in the Catholic blogosphere, she is kinda famous, so I am legit in my excitement, right?
3. Yes, I just used the word "legit". I'm still in my early-mid-20s, so I'm allowed to say stuff like that.
4. I am a huuuuuge fan of Josh Groban - he is one of the few artists that is 1.65783 billion times better live than on his perfectly tweaked album - but I think this video displays his true talent like I've never seen it before. It's short. Check it out. If you're up with pop culture... you'll get a good laugh. (Warning: Some briefly bleeped language.)
5. I've been getting a lot of traffic lately - which is FANTASTIC!!! If you're new around here, WELCOME! Hope you enjoy my snarky wit and insights into life. If you want to take some time and check out my Getting to Know You page, I'd love to hear more about you! Especially if you have a blog of your own, I would love to check it out... really, I spend way more time than I should looking at blogs. It's an addiction. Maybe someday we'll have support groups - Bloggers Anonymous. It could work.
6. As I mentioned in this novel post, I've pretty much listened to nothing but Audrey Assad's album, The House You're Building, since FOCUS conference. I'm a little bit in love with it. So I'm going to share some more with you. You're welcome.
It's Your Sacred Heart within me beating, Your voice within me singing out for love of You.
7. You know that Olivia Newton John song "Physical"? (OK, side bar - the only way I know this song is because they did a remake on Glee. I wasn't actually born yet when the original was released. I apologize. Although, God already knew who I was!) I've been thinking of doing a remake called "Let's Get Spiritual"... I think it would be a big hit. I imagine my Billboard Top 40 hit as going something like this:

I'm praying all these things that I know you'll hear

Like whispering in Your ear 

I gotta listen closely now 

To learn Your will 

You take me broken, as I am 

Grace abounding freely 

Through the gift of his Sacred Heart 

You breathe into me 

 Let's get spiritual, spiritual 

I wanna get spiritual 

Let's get into spiritual 

Let me hear your Spirit talk, your Spirit talk 

Talk to my heart

          How's that for a spiritual... workout?!? Did you see what I did there? Heheheh.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#12)

1. I know that deep down inside, you think, "Man, I wish Liesl updated more... I just love her quirky thoughts and insights into everything she writes... she must be super cool." Well, worry no longer - at least for this week. I published not one, not two, but THREE whole posts this past week! I know, it was an accomplishment. Check out my post on My Christmas Pet Peeves; Believe, and Be Satisfied; and UN-Planned Parenthood.
2. It's finals week here in GW-land, but it was a pretty relaxed one for me. I had my one and only final on Tuesday and it went much better than expected and then I proctored an exam this morning. So let's be honest... if I'd had a normal finals week, I probably would've updated twice as much as I already did this week. Sorry to disappoint.
3. I went ice skating at the Sculpture Garden on the National Mall last night with a few friends! It was a blast being able to skate in the chilly outdoors. Definitely something I would recommend checking out if you are ever in DC in the winter time!
4. It snowed here in DC this week, which is always fun, but this one was especially fun since it was the first real snowfall of the season. Even more so because people here haven't seen snow before, and it is highly entertaining (if not slightly wet from being pelted by so many snowballs).
5. I'm heading home to Ohio in a few days for the holidays! So excited!
6. Tonight I planned the second graduate student and young professional event at the Newman Center. We are having Adoration for an hour and then heading out to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks! Hopefully it will be fun; I've enjoyed being able to take a planning role to get some events for us "old" folks that hang around.
7. I pulled out the gimp for making lanyards again today... watch out. I tend to go into a lanyard making frenzy whenever this happens! Pictures might follow...

Believe, and Be Satisfied

I was first introduced to Believe, and Be Satisfied on the Women's retreat during my first year at Miami. My friend Caitlin and I were so touched by it, that whenever she or I was feeling particularly down about life or lacking faith in men and/or God, we read it aloud to each other.

We are having all-night Eucharistic Adoration at the Newman Center tonight in honor of finals week, and it was during my hour long marathon (I know, I can't normally sit still for that long... but I made it!) that Believe, and Be Satisfied popped into my head... and as I was reflecting on it, I had one of those mini profound moments of understanding.

Everyone longs to give herself completely to someone, to have a deep soul relationship with another, to be loved thoroughly and exclusively. But God to a Christian says,

"No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled, content with living, loved by Me alone, with giving yourself wholly and completely to Me, with having an intensely personal and unique relationship with Me alone. Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found will you be capable of the perfect human relationship that I have planned for you.

You will never be united to another until you are united with Me, exclusive of anyone or anything else, exclusive of any other desires or longings. I want you to stop planning, stop wishing, and allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing... one that you cannot even imagine. I want you to have the best!

Please allow Me to bring it to you. Just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things. Keep experiencing the satisfaction knowing that I am. Keep listening to and learning the things I tell you. Just wait, that's all.

Don't be anxious. Don't worry. Don't look at the things you think you want. Just keep looking off and away, up to me, or you'll miss what I have to show you. And then, when you're ready, I'll surprise you. With a love far more wonderful than you would ever dream. You see, until you are ready, I am working even at this moment to have both of you ready at the same time. Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me and the life I have prepared for you, you won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with Me. And this is perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love. I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with Me, and to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty, perfection, and love that I offer you with Myself.

Know that I love you completely, for I am God. Believe, and be satisfied." 

It's the last line in particular that has always resonated with me. I guess because it's always touched me in such a deep way, I've never really taken the time to think about what it actually means. The believe part seems simple - believe in God and His plan for your life - but the be satisfied part has always left me with a "feel good" feeling and has, up until now, escaped my deep thoughts. I had always connected it with the believe part (which it should be), but in the sense that I should believe in God's plan for me, and be satisfied with this plan. However, as I was reflecting on this in Adoration tonight, I got the feeling that I was being led to a deeper understanding with it.

WHAM. Ton of bricks. 

Alright, not really... I wish, then it would be simple. But it was profound in a miniature scale. Be satisfied doesn't just mean being satisfied with God's plan for me, it means being satisfied with God. It goes along with a lot of what I've been reading, studying, and reflecting on recently in terms of being single and discerning my path in life, and I've come to realize in the past few weeks that I cannot find satisfaction in anyone or anything but God alone. Only He can satisfy me. Society teaches us to seek that satisfaction in other places - career, money, family, friends, a spouse - but the Truth is that only God can give us that satisfaction for which we long. I've been getting this idea through all of the readings and videos and talks I've encountered the past few weeks, but it wasn't until Adoration tonight - when I was fully and completely in the presence of the Lord - that I truly started to understand that be satisfied means being satisfied with Him and Him alone. Yes, He is shaping and molding us in our spiritual growth for whatever our vocation is in life, but He is also working within our hearts so that we can experience what He offers us - a perfect love. As beautiful as the gift of marriage and family are, and as they are given to exemplify His love for us, these gifts are not where the satisfaction is to be found... it is in seeking God through these earthly gifts where we encounter the real treasure - being satisfied.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#9)

Check out Conversion Diary - it's a great blog!

1. This year at the Newman Center, we have brought in four FOCUS missionaries (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) to go out and spread some Catholic love to the students on campus. Let's just say that they are pretty amazing. Already they've brought a few people back to the Church and got about 50-100 people to come to our weekly Tuesday Night Mass and Dinner. Pray that their work continues to bring people closer to God!
2. Speaking of Tuesday Night Dinner, I am feeding the flocks next week with some delicious marzetti. It will be tasty, but it also remains to be seen if I will survive the evening after cooking for about 100 people...
.......
3. What do you say to someone who is doubting his or her Catholic faith...?
4. I know that constant prayer is the first and most important step...
5. But I also feeling like talking with a person about specific doctrines and the beauties of the faith should help as well...
6. If anyone has any insight from their own personal experience, I would appreciate it.
7. I suppose this is a lesson in trusting God. Let the learning begin.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#5)

Click the picture to head over to Conversion Diary!

1. I missed Quick Takes last Friday... whoops! It was just a busy week!
2. The trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiered this week. This is just too much excitement for me!
3. This week, we had a good-bye barbecue for our campus minister at the Newman Center. It is sad to see her leave as she is such a fun person to be around and great person to talk with about almost anything, but hopefully she will still be in the area! Pray that she will have a safe trip wherever she heads next in life!
4. I scored my first run of the season this past week in softball... and it was stealing home, which let's just say doesn't happen too often with me!
5. Check out two great posts on the Eucharist this week here and here.
6. This was another busy week for me, but I am enjoying being busy! This week, I got to work in the lab, read lots of articles, go to a fun Bible Study session, bake and decorate a cake, have Jocelyn over for a slumber party, hang out with some good friends, win 2 softball games, play putt-putt (and not come in last place!), go to the batting cages, get in some more softball practice with a couple of friends, watch some baseball games on TV, cook dinner for more people than just myself, take 2 bubble baths, and enjoy this gorgeous weather. I would say that was a successful week.
7. Happy 4th of July! Hope you are celebrating with family, friends, good food, good memories, fireworks, parades, and good music!
I thank God for my life And for the stars and stripes May freedom forever fly Let it ring Salute the ones who died And the ones that gave their lives So we don't have to sacrifice All the things we love...

7 Quick Takes Friday (#3)

1. Since I installed the Feedjit on my blog, I’ve noticed some people other than myself are appearing on my blog! Welcome, hope you’re enjoying what you’re reading! If you have a few minutes and want to introduce yourself, I would love to get to know you!
2. This is my science geek-out moment for the week… I just finished reading Solar by Ian McEwan, his latest work of fiction - he is one of my favorite authors if you are looking for a good read this summer. The novel follows the life of a Nobel prize physicist who is past his prime... but it talks about a research project he "discovered" later in his career that has the concept of using solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used as a fuel source. His novel is so well researched - the science is pretty sound - but I was just so fascinated because I spent a semester researching these "solar fuel cells" for my senior capstone for my bachelor's degree. It was completely amazing to be a reading a novel that detailed a subject area with which I was familiar. I sort of wish he cited his sources, as I would love to see if he read literature from Dr. Harry Gray or Dr. Dan Nocera - two of the big researchers at Caltech and MIT, respectively, that have been great pioneers in this work. I can only imagine that he had to have stumbled upon their work, but I am intrigued. And if you geek out about stuff this kind of stuff like I do, be sure to check out this video and this video. 
3. I had my first softball game this week - it is so good to be back on the field after 5 years of not playing! My batting game was, well, non-existent, but I rocked in the field - 8 outs! That’s pretty cool. My hand now has a nice, swollen purple bruise on it though - the girls on my team don’t mess around with throwing the ball. Wham. Ouch.
4. I have had something going on EVERY NIGHT this week… but I am not complaining. Something that I struggled with moving here was finding things to do and people to talk to - I can be a pretty shy person at first - so it is very nice to have so much going on and feel like I have people I can call up just to hang out or get some food.
5. One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh fruit! I am pretty convinced that I have an addiction to sugar - I just HAVE to have it - but I love getting my sugar fix through strawberries or grapes or cherries or mangoes or… you get the idea. I’m eating cherries as I am writing this. Delicious.
6. I am going out tonight with some friends from the Newman Center - we are going to a place that has country line dancing and karaoke. Should be really interesting. I tend to go weak in the knees for country boys... there's just something about those cowboy hats and boots combined with that cute southern drawl!
7. I went to Eucharistic Adoration THREE times since last Friday. I feel pretty spiritually rejuvenated! I especially enjoy all-night adoration - there is something about sitting with Jesus at 1 AM that I just find so peaceful. What’s something that brings peace into your everyday life?