Moving Mountains

     No, I'm talking about the 40 Bag Challenge!  This has nothing to do with home organizing ~ and everything to do with FAITH!
     Freckles' Little Flowers Club began yesterday.  It is similar to Girl Scouts and it is Catholic! :)  They learn virtues and how to put them into practice and all along this journey, they earn flower patches.  Just like playing an instrument or sport, we must  practice to gain strength in any area.  We can't just think about being virtuous, we must exercise virtues in our lives to master them.

     Our first virtue: FAITH.  Why is faith important?  Because it gives us strength when there are troubles.  Faith keeps us believing in something even when we cannot see it.  So although I may not be able to "see" God ~ just as I cannot "see" air ~ I feel the affects of both.  I believe.  Peter believed and walked on water! 

     Having faith the "size of a mustard seed" was discussed.  

     Matthew 17:20-21  And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.  ["But his kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."]  

      I shared with the girls that my cross of Smiley's death feels like a mountain on my back.  I am too weak to go anywhere with that burden ~ but with FAITH, I have the "confident assurance concerning what [I] hope for, and  conviction about things [I] do not see." Hebrews 11:1  

     My faith is truly an answer to my prayers ~ it didn't just sudddenly appear.  I saw the beautiful faith lived sincerely through people I admired and I longed to know that same faith.  Eleven years ago I learned how to pray the rosary and reverted to Mother Church.  Receiving the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession regularly, praying, fasting, and "offering up" are the tickets needed for a successful journey.  I don't take my faith for granted and I know I have to exercise it to keep it strong. 

     What are you doing to strengthen your faith?