tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24415762.post4294901490866467029..comments2023-11-05T02:13:37.607-06:00Comments on lemmondrops: friday five:: looking back, looking forwardEmiliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186651382354924497noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24415762.post-17157242606396607952007-07-26T15:34:00.000-05:002007-07-26T15:34:00.000-05:001. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in y...1. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in your journey of faith. THAT'S TOUGH - I DON'T KNOW IF I'VE HAD ACTUAL MOMENTS - JUST AN ONGOING FAITH SINCE CHILDHOOD. THIS FAITH HASN'T ALWAYS BEEN STRONG - IN FACT, I'M REALLY NOT SURE I BELIEVE IN GOD. I FIND THIS NON-BELIEF EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTING; I DESPISE THE IDEA OF NO GOD. BUT MY EXPERIENCES AND INFLUENCES TELL ME THAT IT MAY BE A REALISTIC FACT.<BR/><BR/>2. Do you have a current vision / dream for your work/ family/ministry?<BR/>I'M PROUD OF HOW MY SISTERS HAVE ALL, IN THEIR OWN WAY AND OWN TIME, HAVE COME BACK TO THE LORD. MY DREAM IS TO SEE THEIR FAITH CONTINUE. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS STRANGE IN LIGHT OF MY ANSWER TO #1; IT'S A STRANGENESS I CAN'T REALLY EXPLAIN.<BR/><BR/>3.Money is no object and so you will.....<BR/>QUIT WORKING AND SPEND MY TIME IMPROVING MY VIOLIN SKILLS.<BR/><BR/>4. How do you see your way through the disappointments? What keeps you going? ANTIDEPRESSANTS. NOTHING ELSE SEEMS TO WORK. I DON'T HAVE A STRONG SUPPORT GROUP. CHEMICALS SEEM TO DO THE TRICK.<BR/><BR/>5. How important are your roots? I'M VERY PROUD OF OUR GERMAN ROOTS. OUR LAST NAME, "AST," MEANS "TREE BRANCH."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24415762.post-3081435794286347992007-07-20T11:45:00.000-05:002007-07-20T11:45:00.000-05:001. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in y...1. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in your journey of faith<BR/>The summer I graduated from college I went to church a few times with my family and found out about a new Catholic young adults group in the Portland area and I went to its first Theology on Tap series. That was for me was the sip that made me realize how spiritually thirsty I really was, and so my journey started toward healing and growth. I chose to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation the next spring and I have not looked back since. <BR/>After that, however, the deepest point of awakening for me so far was one night I was so angry about something that was going on, which sparked more anger about other bigger-picture things, that I hurled all my Bibles and Rosaries against my bedroom wall in an apartment I shared with a girlfriend, leaving a mark that was still there when we moved out. I cried and fought with God but eventually left to visit a friend at her house. But before I left I picked up the items and put them back where they were on my shelf, feeling bad but not ready to completely atone for mistreatment of holy objects like that. I was numb but knew later when I prayed about that incident that he wasn't angry for it, but that he lead my like a loving parent to a deeper spiritual level, as if turning to him with all vulnerability and honesty after an incident like that was a rite of passage. <BR/><BR/><BR/>2. Do you have a current vision / dream for your work/ family/ministry?<BR/>To live as an example of my faith so that more and more people open up to their inner spirituality and realize that organized religion is not as bad as people say it is.<BR/><BR/>3.Money is no object and so you will.....<BR/>Take my parents around Europe and North America and hire an in-home aid to take care of my brothers while they're gone. I will also help my siblings with what they want and give to the church that has lost so much $ from these priest sex abuse scandals. Then for myself, I would buy a home, new car and top-quality wardrobe basics that are otherwise too expensive for me to afford, but would be a worthwhile investment.<BR/><BR/>4. How do you see your way through the disappointments? What keeps you going?<BR/>True friends, and my faith. There is a song that says "there is beauty in the breakdown," and I really believe God thinks we are beutiful no matter what stage of breakdown we are in, and he is closest to us when we feel the most isolated and angry at him. <BR/><BR/>5. How important are your roots?<BR/>Nothing is more important than roots and my German heritage! Our ancestors left their livelihood in Decatur County, Ind., traveled the Oregon trail and settled outside Portland. I am a fourth generation Oregonian and I don't know many others here who are. My dream is to one day drive around Decatur County and find some old genes, and also the Alcase Larain (sp?) area between France and Germany, where more ancestors came from.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com