Let’s take it back to the basics. My goal with this blog is to spread faith. I especially want to help those who aren’t necessarily connected to God right now, or perhaps never have been, understand how they can be. I know that by reading my posts it can seem intimidating or maybe like you just don’t relate at all, but I feel it is important to tell you my back story on religion and faith.
Growing up I was brought up as Catholic. My Father’s parents were Sicilian and Polish and my Mother’s Irish and Austrian and they were both born and raised in New York. They were brought up as Catholic and that’s how they raised my sister’s and me. We followed the typical sacraments including Baptism, Reconciliation, and Confirmation. We attended Church on Sundays and we were enrolled in CCD or Sunday School. I am beyond grateful for my parents’ concerted effort to teach us faith, but I will admit that I did not personally connect to any of these things. My connection to God came from what my parents taught me. Their continual references to how to be a good person, take the high road, be kind to others, and mention of God’s presence in my life is ultimately what fostered my connection to God throughout the years. Let me preface this all by pointing out that I am NOT perfect. I have made many mistakes, poor decisions, not always taken the high road, and I have done things that have hurt others. However, even though I have done all of these things, I have always had a heart for being better. Our relationship with God is so much more personal than even religion can make it seem. In my personal opinion and from personal experience, you don’t need to attend Church or do any of these rituals to be loved and communicated with by God. I fear so many don’t feel connected or worthy or feel like they even know what to do because they don’t connect with Religion.
I am here to tell you that you don’t need to follow any one Religion to have a relationship with God. Growing up I did not read the Bible and I still have only read a little bit. I actually had to go and buy one about a month ago, because I have never even owned a Bible. I felt so funny asking a friend if I can buy a Bible at the bookstore. I wasn’t even sure where they were sold or if there was a certain version I was supposed to buy! Well, I am here to report that you can find them on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble! When I bought mine I was actually headed to Barnes & Noble for a different book and when I found it I looked at it and I just put it down and felt a nudge to go find a Bible. I was overwhelmed looking at about 100 options and they had different versions mixed in. I decided to just pick one that felt right and that’s what I did! I actually love the way my Bible looks and feels and it makes me more likely to go grab it now. It’s great to have a Bible on hand, however I also have something called The Bible App on my phone which has made it super easy to access from wherever I am. The Bible App also has built in programs you can do that guide you no matter how experienced or inexperienced you are with the Bible. I recommend starting with the program called “How to Pray”. For 21 days it gives you a few minutes worth of reading about how to pray. Now, that may seem silly to some people, but it’s beneficial for everyone! It’s important to know that there is no wrong or right way to pray and this program helps to explain that. It also incorporates little excerpts of scripture into each day that relates to the topic. This helped me ease into reading the scripture, because it can be really daunting if you’re not familiar with it. Trust me, if you do this program that takes only a couple minutes of your day, you will already begin to feel more connected!
I feel like it’s so important to take the complexity out of God. I believe that over the years the rhetoric and worldly conditioning have distanced many of us from God and it really does not need to be this way. God is within all of us at all times and it is just a matter of taking a little time out of our busy lives to recognize it! Let me tell you about how my awakening happened. Over the last few years I have felt distant from God. I would randomly notice it, but never took much time to address it. Well, when Covid hit the news feed, I began hitting my knees to the ground and praying. This is metaphorical of course, you do NOT need to kneel to pray! (some people may say “well, duh!” But there are some of us that need to hear these things!). I was filled with fear from the News and the chatter and the unknown of what was to come. My son was 6 months old at the time and we had just gotten past the flu season and my fear of him getting RSV all winter. For those of you that don’t know, RSV is a common virus in kids and when infants get it they often need to be hospitalized and so this was just a normal new mom fear of mine prior to Covid. I had just returned back to work and my son was new to his daycare. There was so much happening at once! So I didn’t have anywhere else to turn for answers to my fears other than to God. This was a major blessing in disguise. I know I am not the only one as I have met many people who did the same exact thing over the last year! So I prayed to God to protect my family and to keep us healthy and safe. I prayed for my husband’s small businesses to be protected and for him to remain healthy despite having to continue his work in person. At the end of every prayer, I asked God how I could help others during this time.
One thing you will learn if you take that “How to Pray” course is that you won’t always get immediate answers to your prayers and it is important to remain consistent and persistent. Well, I was consistent and by the grace of God we were protected and remained healthy and while my husband’s businesses had to take a slight hit, he was able to adapt and adjust and maintain. I still wasn’t sure how I could help others though. It was hard enough for me to help myself at the time, but I continued to pray for that guidance as well. About three months in God began to show me things about our world that I basically just never knew. It completely jarred my perception and hit me like a ton of bricks. As difficult as this time was for me, I knew in my heart that this was from God and that he would be using me as a vehicle to help others. I began to speak fearlessly online about what I had learned and while it didn’t jive with political correctness or popular opinion, I was persecuted. I have never been one to put myself too far out there or do things that others would judge me for, but when you get direction from God you know in your heart that you must follow through. I know this part of the story might feel vague, but the point is not in the details, it is in the lesson. I prayed and I was delivered something I did not expect. Similarly, I did not expect at this point to be writing about my experiences with God. I did not expect to be sharing them here to an audience beyond my closest confidants. I did not expect to be someone that could help others in this way, but I am grateful that I can and I will do whatever I can to help others even if at the expense of my comfort.
So, what are some simple ways to begin getting connected now? I came across a Youtube video that helped me a lot in understanding how to spend time with God. Melody Alisa describes 5 simple ways to spend time with God. Here are the ones that I took away and began practicing!
- Reading the bible. She is the one that told me about The Bible App, which is a great easy way to get started!
- Listening to worship music. This was new to me too and I expected worship music to be really cheesy and not something I would enjoy. But actually it’s really great and uplifting and I love to play it in the house in the mornings to get the day started off great. Here is a list of some of my current favorites.
Rattle – Elevation Worship
Graves into Gardens – Elevation Worship
Way Maker – Leeland
The Blessing – Elevation Worship - Prioritizing time with God. For me this is making sure I take quiet time for myself and pray. Many people are into Meditation right now. Practice meditating on a prayer! The other thing I really enjoy doing is listening to sermons. This helps me understand the scripture, because it is new to me! I came across Pastor Steven Furtick with Elevation Church on YouTube and I think he is really amazing at making the scripture relatable to the current times. They post excerpts from his sermons with a clear title as to what it’s about so you can just choose what God is pulling you towards that day! There are no coincidences, so no matter what you will get the message that is meant for you!
I hope that this post provided you with some easy and relatable ways to walk in more faith today than you might have yesterday.
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