Wrong Words Wednesday

I have always been a better “writer” than a talker. I suppose that it is the drafting and revision process that I like about writing or that saves me from myself and an abundance of emotions that take over when forced to talk.

My favorite authors and singers (songwriters, really?) have a way with words. They have a way of putting something – a feeling, describing a situation – that I can identify with, usually in a way that opens my eyes to some part of the feeling or situation that I had not considered before.

So tonight when Uncle Kracker’s Follow Me came on the radio the first verse spoke to me…

You don't know how you met me 
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye 
All you know is when im with you I make you free 
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea 

Don’t you think God might say something like that? At least that is how I feel about God…especially being raised in faith. I can pinpoint times in my life that pushed my faith to the brink or that God caught me as a was falling, or times that strengthened my faith or affirmed my faith, but not a precise moment when I first knew or began knowing God.

And God does make me free…Granted the rest of the song is a little creepy and not like God at all, but those lines say something to me, for me…and I suppose about me. Maybe that I have a lot to learn about God…and about me…

Made of Monday....

Made of Monday

Faith:

Photo taken by FA-tography by Faith and Aubrianah

I am blessed to have been raised in a faith-filled family.  It is only in the past year or so that it has really sunk in that not everyone has that.  My family is Catholic and I am thankful for my private, Catholic education. I was surrounded by families who made raising their children in the way of Christ a priority. We worshiped and celebrated with an extended family of friends and relations. I went on to public high school where I met other kids – amazingly they were mainly Christian and those who were not were Jewish. Then we moved and I was part of an ecumenical (Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian and Presbyterian) youth group that traveled sharing the Gospel through musical and theatrical performance. Even in college, I found myself amongst a group of friends who all attended church together. Granted none were perfect and my faith has not always been as deep or as hungry as it is today, but it never really occurred to me that there were people who did not believe in God or his son Jesus…or the Gospel.  I know this is the case, I have seen it, but it never really sunk in until we started at
a
new church in January and I was getting to know one of the ladies while hanging out with my baby in the nursery…we were talking about family and I said that there was such darkness in one part of the family and she asked if they were believers and it struck me like lightening…NO! No – that person did not believe! ( I have a theory on this, but that is for another day…)

I guess all of this is to say that the experience of being raised to believe, to have faith and to worship and give praise to God is a blessing and something that makes me who I am. I have recently met a wonderful group of believers that have an amazing way of speaking about their faith. That is something I don’t have…I feel like I have learned a little Spanish from the Mexican restaurant menu and I have found myself in room of people who are bilingual. I feel it, but I don’t always know how to say it. I look forward to learning the language better…until then it is in my heart and hopefully my work.

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