The Sassy Girl's Guide to....

So I'm driving to work today listening to yet another roommate mix cd (we have one for every emotion and sentiment, if you couldn't tell). This one was made for me after we attended YET ANOTHER wedding and it was a compilation of songs from the drive up mixed in with some sassiness to sustain us 'til the next one.

I was realizing that I'm in a very different place than I was a year ago when this cd was made and that's GOOD. If you've been reading my facebook statuses, tweets, and various other forms of social networking, you've perhaps noticed I'm trying to be positive these days.

Nothing's really changed since that time of the wedding last year- I'm in the same job, still single, still living with the same girls- but I have a routine, I've got some of my 'swag' back....I've got HOPE, kids.

This doesn't mean my trust is perfect, but I am recognizing my sources for hope. I have my time in prayer that gives me hope. I have God's Word and Sacraments that give me hope. I have my friends and family who give me hope (which, I should say, I really realized at my cousin's wedding this past weekend. AS much as I may complain about weddings, I will go ahead and admit there is something hopeful about seeing two people make a life commitment to each other. They have so much hope in entering into their marriage, you can't help but have hope for them and for yourself. I think it's even more visible and tangible when you see it in your family. I can't wait to see it at my sister's wedding in- SHOOT- about TWO WEEKS!!!).

Grad school is also giving me hope- a sense of purpose. But in reading Cardinal Van Thuan's 'Testimony of Hope' (I told you that man's got hope all over the place) we have to be careful (at least I do!) of not putting our hope in the WORKS of God, but IN GOD.

Does that make sense? I think for the past year that was my problem. I wanted to trust and hope in the WORKS of God. As Cardinal Van Thuan mentions, his pastoral ministry to the people of his diocese, for example. We can't put trust in that work. We have to trust GOD Himself.

We choose GOD first, not His Works. The works come after. For instance, when I had my little conversion in high school, I was choosing God Himself. I had not experienced all the work He would do in my life- the ministry, the traveling, the convent. I didn't choose to follow Him because of all that. I just chose to turn to HIM.

And arguably, He chooses US first, anyways! We just need to choose Him back.

All this hoping has also inspired me to pursue more my desire to share these works of the Lord and the Lord with others. Of course I have to be focused on just sharing Him first. But if it's His Will, I would LOVE to write a book, or two, or three eventually.

I'm thinking a series like, 'The Sassy Girl's Guide to...' Scripture. Weddings. Pop culture. Catholicsm. I've got big plans. And I know God does too. I pray that they are one in the same. That we are one in the same.

But perhaps be on the lookout for the 'Sassy Girl's Guide' series in a Christian/Catholic bookstore near you soon ;) I'd love your feedback/ thoughts on how to make this happen! I probably should finish grad school first. Author's bios always look better when the have those degrees and initials after their names...no?

United in Hope,
Peace,
Julia