Cathryn's Blog

Hey everyone! It has been quite a while since I have updated my blog, it has been a busy summer! Between getting a job, playing the band, and yes of course, swimming at the pool, I am not on the computer all that much. Right now it is 1am, and I am exhausted, but I wanted to give you just a little update on my life right now. This summer has been a challenging one for me, I must admit. God is stretching and growing me in more ways than one, and I am learning more and more to just rest in Him, find peace in Him, and allow Him to take control over the things in my life. It’s a hard thing, and I’m wrestling with letting things go. I know it’s not something that will happen overnight, but by God’s grace, I know He will give me the strength to let go, and let God. Just a week ago I was so blessed to be able to share a graduation ceremony/party with my cousin, Laura, and during the ceremony we both shared a few words with our family and friends. I would like to put my speech on here for everybody to read, because it kind of gives you an idea of where I am in my walk with Christ and also what the next year looks like (or what I think it’s going to look like ). Please comment, I would love to hear what you think! God Bless! Cat

Graduation Speech

Phil Vischer, the creator of Big Idea and Veggie Tales, said in a recent interview after losing his multi-million dollar empire, “Whatever you’re dreaming about doing for God, whatever you’re longing for, whatever impact you hope to have, let it go. Kill it. Drop it. And when you’re ready to live your whole life without it, just resting in your relationship with God, then you’re ready to be used by Him.”

So many people have asked me, “So what are you planning on doing now that you’ve graduated? Where are you going to college? What do you want to be?” I think almost everybody that has asked me have all gotten different answers. For over a year now I have been planning, working, doing research on, and stressing over the answers to those questions! And for a while, I thought I had it figured out where I was going, what I was doing, and how long it was going to take me. However, God had different plans for me, and taught me a few things along the way. In Proverbs 3:6, it says, “Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take.”

For a while, I questioned what God’s will was for my life. I wrestled with how I could know, and if making a decision to go to the wrong school would pull me away from God’s will and His blessing over my life. This put so much uneasiness and self-doubt in any decision I was attempting to make, and created many overwhelming and uncertain feelings about the future.

One day when I was doing devotions I came across a verse in 1 Thessalonians that explained exactly what God’s will was for my life, and my perspective on the decisions I had to make was completely changed. The verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:11-18, and it says, “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” I realized that God’s will for me was to live a righteous and holy life, and that whatever decision I made, as long as it lined up morally to His word, God would use it to bring glory to His name. Do I know what I would like the next 4 or 5 years to look like? Yes. But like the quote said earlier, my desire is to just rest in my relationship with God, and allow Him to use me however He sees fit, trusting that He knows the desires of my heart, and will put my desires in line with His perfect plan for my life. Over the past few years, He has been teaching me to trust Him completely, be patient, and to turn off the noise of this world and listen to His still and small voice directing me throughout this time of change and decisions.

Thank you all, so much, for coming to celebrate this occasion with Laura and me! This is such a special day, and all of you being here has made it even more special, that we get to celebrate it with our closest and best friends!

Thank you to my parents for raising me in a Godly home, and teaching me to love Jesus Christ with my whole heart and serve Him with my life. Thank you for encouraging me and always being there for me! And especially to my mom, for spending much of your energy and time to school me for 12 years! You educated me in history, science, english, and math (which, by the way, I am still a bit sore over the fact that I begged for YEARS to switch curriculums, convinced that the Saxon’s goal was to fail every person to use their math, finally switching in my senior year, and finding out that my 12 year old sister gets to switch in 7^th grade! But, that’s for another time…). Even more than that, though, you taught me with your life how to model Christ’s love to others, and that is something that I will take with me always!

I am so blessed to have Godly mentors (some of which I call my “second parents”) in my life that encourage me, love me, pray with me and for me, and are there for me 24/7. I always have a blast with them, and I love and appreciate them more than they could ever know!

I am very happy to be sharing this day with not only my cousin, but my best friend, and while it is hard in that, she leaves in the fall, and I’m going to miss her so much, I know that no matter how far apart we may be physically, we will always be a tight knit pair!

So what am I doing this fall? I will be attending Luzerne County Community College, taking general courses, and Lord willing, next year attending Greenville College in Illinois for Music Performance and Worship Arts. While that is my ideal situation, I am surrendering all to Jesus Christ and allowing Him to move and direct me wherever He desires. I am resting in my relationship with Him, trusting that He will use me in His ideal situation for me, in His timing, and for His glory.

Wow! It has been too long! My life has been so busy! Between finishing up my first semester in college, going to Disney for a week (a very unexpected and huge blessing!), getting my wisdom teeth out, and going to Washington, D.C. w/ my grandparents and 2 cousins, it’s been a crazy couple of months, but oh so fun! While I don’t have much time, I just wanted to let you in on some things that I’ve been learning the past few months. It seems like the theme of my life has been patience, trust, and confidence. Patience in waiting to hear back from colleges, job opportunities, and on God to lead me to what I need to do next. Trust that God will provide in every circumstance, and that He knows what’s ahead, even if I don’t. And confidence that He is holding me, and my family, and everything that is uncertain in our lives right now. I don’t have any of these things down pat at all… But, everyday is a new day, and a chance to work on the things that I am lacking in. Trust is the huge thing. I feel like I am constantly questioning, “Why this, God? Why us, God? Why now, God? When, God??” What a great thing to know that even while we may be in question, God never questions a thing. He knows, He sees, He’s got it all under control. Now if only we could completely and utterly believe this without a doubt. If only I could completely and utterly believe this w/out a doubt. Thankfully God never gives up on us, even when we may doubt!

This is just going to be a short one, but just had to kinda let you know what the past few days of my life have been like. On thursday, I received a grade back from my professor, and the 3 page essay I had written on the benefits of exercise had been graded with an F. Needless to say, I was frustrated, angry, disappointed with myself, and feeling like a failure. Writing is definitely not my strong point, but to be graded with an F was something that had never happened to me before, and I was so upset with myself. After I had worked for days gathering info, hours editing and proofreading, I got an F! How did that happen?? I emailed my professor, asking him to please explain why, and to give me another chance. After that, I just needed some time out, so I ran some errands in town, then stopped by some close friends’ house to drop off a bag…. and ended up staying an hour, just pouring out my frustrations, how I was feeling defeated, and that I was tired of school and just wanted to quit. Well, I got many hard and firm things said to me, but it all made sense, no matter how much I didn’t want to hear it, and it got me thinking.

When I got home, I was still kind of in that, “I’m such a failure, can’t do anything right” thinking mode… I ate dinner with my family, then my cousin came over to work on homework with me. As I was sitting at my computer, I checked my emails to see if I had gotten anything back from my professor. When I saw I had, I have to admit I was nervous, yet at the same time didn’t even care, I was just so done. I opened the email, and not only was it my professor telling me why he failed me, but also telling me how to fix it, giving me a second chance, AND canceling another paper for me so that we could work things out with this past paper. This is not the first time he has done that either. I don’t know why God has given me grace like that in this area of my life, especially after all the complaining and frustration and dislike that I have had about all this, but He has, and I was so convicted. All that to say, every time I come to a place where I am struggling, frustrated, angry, feeling like a failure, etc… God always shows me in a mighty way how blessed I am. I have the best mentors/friends in the world who were honest with me, and I love them so much and thank God for them everyday! I have amazing family that does the same, I have professors in school who have given me second chances more than once, and everyday God continues to add to that list. He is good!

Hey everyone! Well, it has been a pretty crazy and busy couple of weeks here, but I wanted to give everyone an update on what my life has been like and where I’m headed over the next year, Lord willing. I have been really busy with college, attending our local community college, but I have been wrestling for a while with the decision to go away or not. While the thought excited me in some aspects, in other ways it scared me to death! Leaving everything I know and going to a place that would be strange and new is way out of my comfort zone! But, I know sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zones to stretch us, increase our faith, and cause us to rely solely on Him. That is something that even now, I may be saying that, but it is harder to accept it and truly live out, because honestly, I am having a really hard time with that.

I made the decision this past Saturday, March 13th, that I was going to go away to school this coming fall. This decision took me forever to make, and has been one of the biggest struggles that I have had in the past year. I felt like for a while God had kind of just let me go to make my own decision, and while I was seeking some wisdom and some answers as to what to do, I felt like I was getting no answers at all. I finally decided to apply, knowing that even if I did get accepted it didn’t mean I had to go away THIS year, but I have to admit, the more I think about it, a little bit of excitement is creeping in as I move into a new phase of life. My cousin, who I am very close with, also leaves in the fall, and it was talking to her about her decision and seeing her excited about it that was really the final “come on, you can do this” push that I needed. Plus, I am going to miss her like crazy, and at least if I’m away, I won’t be home thinking about the fact that she’s gone, b/c I’ll be gone too! ;-P

For those of who know me, I am very much a home body! Not necessarily for my home, although that is certainly included too, but for this area, for my incredible church family, and for everything I know to be familiar. This is a big step for me, and I am not really looking forward to having to leave all this for a time, but as many people keep telling me, it’s not for forever, and it is a growing experience for me. If only it could be a growing experience here at home! I am slowly getting used to the idea, but still know it is not going to be easy for me. It is a big change, and I’m not a huge fan of change! Some change is awesome, others, not so much! When I told my little sisters that I was leaving in the fall, the first reaction was tears (which was tough), then later on, my littlest sister Caroline, who just turned 6, decided to lighten my mood a bit. As she walks over to me, her face looking all sad and pouty, she says, “Cat, I know you said you are leaving me, but if you must go…….. Can I have your stuff? Cause you have really cool stuff! And I like your room too!” She is the little drama queen of the family, cute as can be, and man does she know it! SO, needless to say, there are many changes occurring in my life right now, but I am trying to allow God to use these times of uncertainty and question for me as a teaching tool, instead of getting overwhelmed and stressed about it. Easier said than done! However, in this ever changing world of ours, there is one thing that we can take comfort in! Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” How awesome to know that our God is our rock in uncertain and changing times!

Hey everyone! Well, just 2 more weeks until it will finally be spring! On Saturday, our church family had the awesome opportunity to go door to door all throughout the community and put invitations on people’s door knobs, letting them know about our church and the easter drama that we have every year. It was amazing! We used over 3000, and we aren’t done yet! This coming saturday we are going to do it all over again, hitting all the places we didn’t this past weekend. So anyway, saturday was probably the most beautiful day we have had since winter started. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the birds were singing, hoodies were enough to keep us warm, it was great! I love spring, it’s like, a fresh start and a new beginning. I am personally very excited for spring this year, I am ready for the warmth, the sunshine, the flowers! I have even started to get that spring cleaning itch… And because it’s spring break, guess what I’ll be doing for most of the week! Switching the fall/winter clothes with spring/summer, dusting, organizing, and doing a whole lot of running and biking! I love warm weather! Well, I’m off to start my busy day

Verse of the day- “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him Who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:15-16. We are one body of Christ, we need to support and encourage each other, and unconditionally love each other just as Christ does to us.

Well, here we are, a little over a month away from spring, and we FINALLY get our HUGE snow fall! First big snowfall of the season! A tradition in our family is, whenever we have a big snowfall, we walk to breakfast at a little cafe less than a mile from our house and get whatever we want! Unfortunately, the cafe was closed, but we walked to Friendly’s to enjoy some yummy omelets and pancakes! My computer is being wacky on me today and not letting my upload any pics, but I will as soon as possible! After this, the county closed all the roads, so we were literally snowed in. The girls continued playing outside, my cousins came over to hang out with us for a while and watch a movie and play some games, and of course eat lots of yummy food!

Love is the theme of the week, being that Sunday is Valentine’s day! However, God commands that we love all the time, not only showing it with words, but also with actions. Verse of the day: ” Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18. How do you show love? There are 5 different love languages, and some of more dominant for one person than for another, but we can all show love to one another the same way. Whether it be a touch, an affirming word, time spent together, service for someone, or gifts given, all of these ways show that someone was thinking about you, and loves you. Just as Christ has loved us, let us also love one another!

Hello my blogging buddies It has been a very busy and crazy couple of weeks! I started college, I got my license, and I have been spending literally all my time on school and getting our songs concert ready! 3 weeks until the arena! Exciting stuff! Verse of the day, by the way, (and this one I am just picking, even though it’s out of order!)… and it is “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then He said, ‘write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” Revelation 21:5.

Jesus has come to give new life, and make all things knew! That doesn’t mean, all things except for _____ (fill in the blank), it means ALL things, people! EVERYTHING will be made knew, and holy, and right, and pure, and lovely, and beautiful, and perfect! If you’ve never heard the song by Steven Curtis Chapman “All things new” I suggest you listen to it! If you have done something in your past that you regret and feel like God will never be able to forgive you for, know that as long as you have made it right, confessed it to Him and prayed for Him to cleanse you, it is as if it has never happened! He has forgiven you, and forgotten it. He has made you new! He has redeemed, transformed, renewed, and restored you! Thank you Jesus, my chains are gone, I’ve been set free! I hope this has encouraged you today! It sure did, me!

Hey everyone! I found this awesome site that you submit your name into, choose your gender, and it actually personalizes scriptures for you having to do with your identity in Christ! Example: “II Tim. 1:7  Cathryn has been given a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. For God didn’t give  Cathryn a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline.” (see 3rd link below)

How cool is that?! What a great encouragement/reminder of who we, as the children of God, are in Christ! Everyday, from now until I run out of verses, I will be posting verses like these on my facebook, twitter, etc… A new one everyday, as a reminder to me of who Christ has made me! I encourage you to do the same! Starting with the first link I’m attaching to this, and moving down the list from top to bottom! Yes, we will have repeats, but how often we need to be reminded of the same thing over and over for us to finally get it! Thank you Jesus, He never tires of telling us just how much He loves us, no matter how many times we overlook it or ignore it or even forget, Amen? If you are going to do this along w/ me, leave a comment letting me know and I will be praying for you, that God would work through you and that you would never forget your true identity, a child of the King!

http://crossinglouisville.com/2009/05/03/our-identity-in-christ/ … link # 1!

http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm … link # 2!

http://www.personalpromisebible.com/freeinchrist.html … link # 3!

I’m starting with the first link, working my way down that whole list, then moving onto the next link… a new verse everyday! Jesus, help me to realize my true identity lies in what You did for me on the cross, and who that makes me as Your child! I am Accepted, I am Secure, and I am Significant! Amen!

Earlier this afternoon, I was listening to a song called “Voice of a Savior” by Mandisa, and the words in the chorus really struck me. “You and I are not that different, We got a void and we’re just tryin to fill it up, with something that will give just a little peace. All we want is a hand to reach to, open arms that say I love you. We’d give anything to hear the voice of a Savior.” Sometimes, we feel like our lives have something missing, a void that we try to fill with anything but the one thing that will fill it all the way! We try to find it in somebody else, we try to find it in the crowns of victory, we try to find just something that will make our lives feel complete, when in reality, the only place you can find it is in the arms of Jesus. Everybody has a void, a need in their life. Whether it be a Father to love them (Psalm 68:5 “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows- this is God, whose dwelling is Holy.”), someone to hear their cries for help (Psalm 18:6 ” In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears.”), or someone to give them strength to go just one more day (Isaiah 40:29 “He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might, He increases strength”), Jesus is the only one who is all that and more to those of who will call upon His name. What is a void that you are trying to fill in your life without Jesus? We all have something. Next time you feel empty, turn to Jesus, listen to the voice of THE Savior, who will satisfy your every need.

first post … Cat will write more here later … stay tuned!