I play a lot of instruments including guitar, bass, piano, and more. This year I am the Central Illinois District Student Leader! I love to sing, especially byzantine chant. I am majoring in Speech and Hearing Sciences with double concentrations in neuroscience of communication and speech-language pathology. I am freshman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Lord was there, is there, and always will be there. When school gets hard or we hit a road block. Always remember our heavenly Father is ever present with us. I challenge you all to think of who Christ is to you. He walked on water! Parted the Red Sea! He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Psalm 135 has to be one of the coolest passages, going back and forth as to how the Lord has shown mercy but isn’t “tame”. He is God, and “his mercy endures forever” (Psalm 135), and He is the One “who struck Egypt with their first born…who divided the Red Sea in two parts…who struck down great kings…it is He that remembered us in our low estate” (Psalm 135). He tells Lucy that Aslan is not tame, but he is good. Lucy is in awe of him and exclaims that she can’t believe he is a tame lion. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lucy is talking to Mr. Our loving God will never turn His back on us. Christ is also in each and every one of us. To be spat on, lashed, to wear a crown of thorns, to have people telling you to save yourself, and to be betrayed by the one you love is not what I call the best day ever. During Holy Week it is hard not to be moved by how much abuse Christ endured. “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). The coolest thing about Christ is that He always knows what we are going through. He will never turn His back on us because He loves us. Being able to talk to Him and knowing how much He cares for me is such a comforting thing. I came to realize that the Lord is my best friend. I knew that the Lord heard me, being able to tell Him my thoughts and feelings was so comforting. When I prayed, it wasn’t necessarily like all my problems were solved, but there was a sense of relief. I got into the habit of praying when I did things that, when times of struggle came I would immediately pray. I didn’t know what to say all the time, so a lot of it was the Jesus prayer. So, I started praying, honestly just talking to God.
One thing I found, was that my knots wouldn’t turn out unless I was praying while making them. It is still to this day one of my favorite things to do.
#Father simon says how to
These “coping skills” would work for a period of time, and to an extent, but they never made me feel truly better.Ī few years ago, I learned how to make prayer ropes. We tried so many things like writing, playing music, writing music, running, and taking my dogs on walks (my personal favorite). People would always tell me to use coping skills. I have had a few roadblocks in my life, as I’m sure we all have. I try to find different things that fill the space a little bit but are inevitably the wrong puzzle pieces.
In my day to day life I tend to forget this. I was once told that our hearts were a puzzle with a missing piece, and the only way that piece could be filled was with Christ. So, thinking of Simon, I would like to share who Christ is to me.
How cool would it be to have the Lord tell you that we were the rock He wants to build His church on, and yet we are all called to be that rock. When Jesus heard this, He calls Simon Peter his rock, and declares that on that rock He will build His church. Simon says, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). My favorite part of this verse is how Simon Peter responds. Our theme for OCF this year is “Who do you say that I am” (Matthew 16:15).
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