FAITH

hello there, new friend!

I have posted a page about my beliefs- I hope you will take a moment to read it as well.  But here is how I ended up at the beliefs I have.

When I was in fourth grade in north Georgia, my family and I began to attend a church planted there by the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.  I loved it.  I loved the friends I made there (some I still have to this day), and I loved attending.  I started going to youth in sixth grade, and went every week through twelfth grade.  I went on every retreat offered, barring major circumstances, and even sacrificed leadership positions in high school band for it (okay, this was a huge deal at the time).  But no matter.  This church was very important to me, and still is.  It's where I "nailed down" my Salvation.  It's where I learned to pray.  It's where I learned that choosing what is important to me is okay.  It's where I found my basic understanding of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and everything they have done for me... before I ever had the consciousness to find them.  What beauty, what glory.

In high school, I began praying before I performed solos on my clarinet.  This calmed my [major] nerves about performance, especially in an audition setting.  To this day I pray when my anxiety level rises, and my prayers frequently relieve the stress.  This was a major turning point for me in my prayer life.  Prayer moved from quiet hours alone to every day life.  That was so good to learn.

When I went to college at LSU, I was so lonely.  I was the only person from my high school to attend, and I'd left my immediate family 8 hours behind.  I called my mom and dad all. the. time.  Needless to say, this was not a plausible way to continue living.  My mom coached me into being more prayerful, and indeed, it was the action and attitude I needed to become settled in my new life outside of my family unit.  I furthered my pursuit of prayer, both inside and outside of quiet hours, by praying as I walked around campus, and journaling in the Quad and on the Parade Grounds.  I found a church home that accepted me, and my heart was much more settled.

Fast forward seven years... I have graduated from LSU.  I held leadership positions at the Wesley Foundation there, my church home, all the while prayerfully considering every major decision I came across, and venting to God my frustrations/celebrating to Him my joys all the while.  I prayerfully came to the decision to pursue nursing as a career, which I am currently halfway through attaining.  I pray all the time for relief from anxiety and stress, the two major components of the nursing school "package" they don't always tell you about.  I have prayed over every single test I have taken here.  I have found friends and a boyfriend I never expected to find during this pursuit.  I chalk it all up to prayer, because through it, my heart continues to settle.

I chose to write a blog with a prayer a day because, as I hope it is obvious to you, I love to pray.  I love its benefits and its comforts.  Most of all, I love the closeness it provides me to my God.  I love it.

As much as I respect and love prayer, my school life and the pursuit of friendship and relationships with my family and boyfriend, I have pulled away from it.  I decided to write the blog based on prayer because a) I have been wanting to write a blog for awhile :) and b) I wanted a way to pray every day that was beyond my prayer journal, my walking-around prayers, and my church prayers.  I wanted to reach out to pray for big things and for little things.  I wanted it to be between me and God...and between me and you.  I hope my prayers show you something new about prayer, about my God, about yourself, possibly?  [I feel daring to even mention it.]  I hope my prayers remind me what I love so much about it, and pull me back into the prayerful life.

So much love to you.