Pope Francis: A life of radical love

Because of the fact that today is the day one of my most favorite people on the planet was born, I knew I had to write a blog post about how amazing of a person Pope Francis is. I don't even know where to begin because I love every single thing about him. Pope Francis is one of the most humble, loving servants of the Lord the world has ever had the chance to know. He never for a second is thinking about himself, but rather he always has his focus on others and satisfying their needs before his own. When I look at Pope Francis I see the kind of person we are all called to be. We are all called to be lights to this world and to love all the people around us in every way possible. We are called to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, leaving no person left to care for themselves. We are called to live a life of radical love for the sake of the gospel and to proclaim the news to every corner of the world. Pope Francis is the epitome of what it means to be humble. Without hesitation he goes and seeks the neediest person he can find and brings him into his home like he is no different than one of us. He goes out into the streets with no protection at all to bring healing to the brokenhearted and the suffering. His every action is done out of compassion and I think we all have something to learn from this amazing man. He teaches us what being joyful truly means. He has made us believe the incredible truth that we are all called to be saints and to live a life of holiness.  Pope Francis has been a light to all the nations since the day he was declared Pope of the entire Catholic church. I fell in love with him the minute I began to see all the good he is doing for this pain-stricken world. He has brought so many people back to their faith and has made huge bounds in growing the catholic church family. I truly believe that if more people were like Pope Francis the world would be a better place. Through him, we have to come to realize what it means to truly be a disciple of the Lord and to keep God at the center of every aspect of our lives. He has taught us to extend a hand to the needy and to love everyone around us the same. Pope Francis calls us all to be brave and to give of ourselves to other people. He also tells us to be joyful and to live a life of happiness with the Lord. He once said:

"Love is the measure of faith."

Pope Franci teaches us to love with all we have. Our love shows how deep our faith in God is. Pope Francis teaches us to be brave and to answer the deep cries of the poor and the suffering and to share in the joy of the Lord with them. Pope Francis is my hero and is someone I believe we should all look up to. He is the perfect example of what living a life for Christ looks like and his life is truly one worth imitating. He teaches us to let ourselves be consumed in radical faith and to radiate our light wherever we go. May we always look to him in our desperate search to be more than just mediocre Christians. Happy 78th birthday to the greatest human being, Pope Francis!

Restoring Joy

Yesterday was one of those moments where I knew I had fallen right on my face and God saw it all. Since being accepted for The World Race, sadly my real purpose and why I was doing it all slowly began to trickle away as the daunting task of raising money entered the scene. I knew that this was something that happened to a lot of people but I assured myself before I started the whole process that I wouldn't be one of those people. Yet here I was. I was at the point where I wasn't allowing God into the situation like I knew I was supposed to rather I was just trying to do it all on my own and for my glory. I was spending hours and hours writing letters and talking to people about it in hopes that they would support me financially but I didn't allow them to see the utter joy and love I had for the program. It became all about the money and how I was going to fundraise and this and that until I had lost sight of the why. Why I was even fundraising. Why I was going to giving up nine months of my life to go serve. It had all faded away once I began fundraising because the amount of money I had to raise seemed too big for me not to constantly be worrying about it. But with my loss of my purpose and why I was doing it all also went the joy I felt for it. I had let this huge price tag on the trip overcome my happiness and turn it all into a chore instead of embracing the process. But then God brought me today. Yesterday He showed me that joy and that fire I had when I first started the program, before all the money. He showed me the true passion I have for this mission and WHY I am doing it all. He reminded me that service is where my heart belongs and where I am feeling called to go. Just with a little help from something else, God was able to fully bring back all the joy and the excitement of the new adventure I am about to embark on. My t-shirt design had just been finished and although I was a little skeptical if anyone would even buy it, there went God again with his awesome plans. Within minutes I was receiving tons of text and comments on instagram telling me what sizes people wanted and how excited they were for me and my trip. But this was only the beginning of my restored joy. Later on in the night, I recieved a text from a very sweet friend of mine and this only added to the immense joy I was already feeling. He told me how proud and excited he was of me and how good the work I'm doing will be for the Lord and his Kingdom. He told me how we are called to share the good news and be a light to others and told me that is exactly what I am doing. My heart was overflowing with happiness. It was in that moment that I began to remember it all. I began to remember all the joy I felt when the journey first started and I got the call that I had been accepted on The World Race. And slowly but surely I began to remember the true purpose for doing all this; to love people. I had gotten so caught up in the financial part of it that I had forgotten to see how my heart was changing and growing towards this mission. I think it is easy to get caught up in the moment and to lose sight of what is really important. I'm so thankful for a God that knows exactly what I need when I need it and who loves me unconditionally even when I fall flat on my face. I know falling again towards only making money and having myself all funded may be inevitable, but I now know how easy it is to get sucked into that mentality and I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back to being in a state where I forget what its all for and why I am even raising this money and the first place. I now know that this is a hard journey, raising funds, but it is one that can bring me closer to God than I ever have before and restore my faith and trust in him. In the end, I know God is going to provide if this is where he wants me to be next year. So for right now, I'm remaining in that truth and letting myself feel the pure joy of it all.