Concerning Discerning

So exhausted tonight, and lacking motivation. 😴 Had a great couple of weeks, but now getting weighed down by the busyness of life again. Trying not to! But life is full of ups and downs, and I can't expect it to be perfect all the time cause otherwise I'd be in Heaven! I've got a little longer to wait for that yet. 😅 I just finished reading 'The Alchemist' (the graphic novel version not the actual book). I'd never heard of it before now, but it has so many great life lessons and quotes. It's not a Christian book, but the author Paul Coelho was raised Catholic, and had a 'spiritual awakening' while walking the Camino de Santiago, which inspired him to finally become an author. You can learn a little more about him here . Here's some of the quotes that stood out to me and why - I might not completely understand what the author was meaning, but this is me putting a Catholic spin on things. Skip to the end for some real life application, if you get...

My week has been pretty amazing!  I had a lot on, and had a little panic last week when I looked ahead and became overwhelmed and brought into the lie that it was not possible to get through it all! Things like: Catch ups with Sr Marie, Sr Rachel and Sr Therese Running 30min Staff PLD  Prepping + running a second and third Sacramental Session My parents birthdays School Assumption Mass music Running a Life Teen night Relief teaching flute Stress + lack of sleep + cold = a weak mess. One morning I literally lay in a ball on the ground not wanting to face the day.  Then I said 'OK God - you have to motivate me today. I don't want to move. You need to be the strength for both of us today. Motivate me to move!'  And I got up, went to work, and had a surprisingly good day! All it took was surrendering and then actually acting - getting up off the ground and doing something. I guess I was kinda like a puppet in God's hands that day (not in a creepy or over-controlling kind...

Second Mansions:   Practice of Prayer   Three Main Takeaways:   A soul residing here is driven by a hope of moving further, as they become better at  recognising  the Lord’s voice, who ceaselessly calls them closer  [oops almost made a typo...He doesn’t call them ‘closet,’ He calls them ‘closer!’)    Here, the devil puts up a fight, trying to make the soul turn back. The soul can combat this by reflecting on and resting in God our Lover, who truly does give us everything we could ever need.    Pray, have faith and trust in Him, no matter how fruitless it may seem.  Persevere .      A soul residing here:  Has started practicing prayer and  realises  they  must  move on to further Mansions, but is not yet free of temptation, or determined enough to avoid occasions to sin.    To progress:  Pray and trust in the mercy of God. Practice noticing and combating the  devil's ...