Rise Up

It would have been so easy to fall into despair in the waning hours of November 6, 2012. Roughly half of the voters in our country did not see the result we had worked so hard to achieve. And big things were at stake. Liberty, truth, values, our American culture. So much disappointment. While half the country was satisfied, it is a large half that is suffering the defeat.

Yes, it would have been simple, and understandable to throw up our hands and then mope about for the foreseeable future. So much death, misery, abuse of life, people without work, heat and food. But that is not the path I am called to. I cannot surrender and sink into the mire of confusion that is this Culture of Death. Those who have heard His call cannot abandon the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We have been lied to. There is not the possibility of finding what we seek through many ways. Nor can we find it by rewriting the definitions of things that humanity has known for millennium. And there is nothing, certainly not our selfish need for convenience, that is more important on Earth than Life. So I am not  giving up the fight.

It certainly would be foolish to just roll over and play dead. God expects more of me because He has way more than I can envision planned! This is time for greatness. As we enter more deeply into this dark time in American history, I am reminded of the Dark Ages. The time of disease, economic struggle, wars, and great human suffering certainly was one of the worst times in human history. How did God address it? He raised up great saints. Saints like Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas came out of the Dark Ages and humanity is all the better for it. I believe that God is preparing among us saints who will be the likes of those great men and women of God.

Who are these saints in the making? Who is God calling to inspire anew His people? Who will the Holy Spirit move among to help renew the face of the Earth? If not you, who? If not now, when? This is the acceptable time! The Lord has declared a year of favor for Him. It is now that we must be fierce in the battle, for it belongs to Him!

Saints, now is your time to rise up. Be not afraid. Be bold in faith. He is King!

The Pen Is Heavier Than The Sword

What does a prayer warrior princess look like these days? Weary and stubborn. She's a bit mysterious, too.

It has been several months since I started this blog and then proceeded to not do something with it. I must admit I am disappointed in myself. It's not that I've lost the war or that I have turned in my sword. Rather it is just that I got derailed and have decided that one of the best ways to get back to winning the battles at hand is to address the fiercest battles.

One of the hardest battles I fight, and one that I like to participate in the most is the battle of writing. Writing is one of the most difficult and joyful tasks I've ever undertaken. I love to create something out of nothing with words, but the older I get, the longer I wield the pen, the harder the psychological warfare is with writing. As a young writer there were no voices that told me I could not create the worlds I saw, speak for the characters I knew, or plot the adventures I craved. I had no internal doubts. But the older I get the more I hear the "no, you can't"s whispering in my ear. The more I hold on to the dream of my novel being completed the more I come across obstacles that seek to prevent it.

It's a virtual mine field out there! Perhaps those fields were already planted with the dangers and I was just standing on the sidelines before. Maybe it is now that I am venturing out more regularly that I come across them more. Earlier this summer I came across my number one writing enemy, the insidious Fried Disk. For the umpteenth time, I lost data that I had not yet backed up. Fortunately I have been able to retrieve emails and hard copies that contain lost work. All that I have yet to locate is Chapter 10 (Ironically titled "Homework") and a portion of 11. I think I am winning that battle, but it sure would be nice if I could have it all back. And if I can discipline myself to finally back up my back ups.

Still, what to do about the lost Chapter 10 is part of the battle. What's the best strategy? I can write about it, search a few more emails for it, just rewrite it, or put it aside for later. I remember a good portion of it, but the thought of recreating it is disheartening. I'd like to move forward through chapter 15, where I last left off. Going back to rewrite that chapter and half seems like declaring "Retreat!" Looking through a few more emails might satisfy my curiosity-- it's possible I emailed it to a friend-- or at least shut that option out of my mind. That strategy, however, means delaying writing. Writers are writers because they write.

But right now the enemy is a tad ahead. I'm writing about writing. That's better than I was doing earlier today. Maybe tonight I will actually win the battle with the page and get a new chapter started, or uncover the lost one. That's my goal anyway.

Oh, and speaking of goals. My battle objective for this novel is to get the first draft completed by the end of the year. There. I wrote that. It's the first time I wrote that goal. May my words ring true. St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers, pray for me. St. Anthony, help me find my words.

Battles For The New Year

Many people start a new year with resolutions. I quit doing that years ago. This year I decided to deliberately engage in battles. Now, I’m not a violent woman but I do believe in declaring war on some things. What’s the point of sharpening one’s weapon, donning the armor, and practicing swordplay if one is not going to enter the theater of war?  All knights train hard with the anticipation of having to actually enter battle. So do prayer warrior princesses.

Like Daniel said in the movie “The Karate Kid”, we train so as not to fight. Being an experienced prayer warrior princess may mean that I am able to avoid many battles because of my training. There are physical, psychological and emotional battles that I have not had to engage in because I was sharp spiritually. Conducting oneself as a woman of grace who cultivates virtues and practices charity towards others does win many friends, but it doesn’t guarantee that everyone and everything cooperates with God’s plan for me. Bl. Mother Theresa was certainly a superior prayer warrior princess, but that didn’t mean that she never had battles to fight. People she was ministering to spit in her face. World leaders criticized her stance on abortion and contraception. She saw extreme poverty all around her every day. While most people would be quick to recognize her as one of the most loving women of our times, many people did not love her. Her spiritual battles were fierce.

So what makes engaging in battles (be they physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual) different than making resolutions or setting goals for the new year? As a prayer warrior princess I take the battles as they come to me; I don’t go looking for them. Believe me, there are plenty of battles wanting my attention. You could say that I am surrounded, kind of like the scene from “Lord of the Rings: Two Towers” where the Fellowship is surrounded by orcs with their backs to each other. Like them, I am puny in size and strength, but like them I am not alone. There are other prayer warriors that have my back. We never leave a man behind.

2012 has already launched a few attacks. I’m working on staving off the winter blues, so that means regular workouts at the gym. It’s certainly one area where the physical and spiritual battles hit me from both sides. It’s a spiritual and psychological battle to get me to the gym, and a physical battle to push through a reasonable workout that kicks the adrenaline and endorphins in gear, works the heart and still manages to avoid blisters, pulled muscles and injuries.

I’m looking for new work. What a battle that is! Mostly it is a battle to believe that God will show me what is the right thing to do. It’s about believing in myself and in Him. I don’t know why this has been so hard lately. The hardest part is letting go of the idea that I have to find a needle in a haystack. It’s not about me—I have to do my job, which is apply and put myself out there. But it really is all about Him putting things together. St. Joseph and St. Anthony coach me through this.

And then there is the financial battle. That’s basically a game I play of challenging myself to see how little money I can live on. It’s time to get leaner. St. Francis and Lady Poverty will help me out with this one.

Of course there is the battle with the apartment. It’s in a constant state of purge, and we have little skirmishes now and then. Admittedly, I could use some help on this.

And then the battle with the body, which is so tied to the soul: how to get enough sleep, eat more healthily, and not spend money I don’t have. It’s all tied together. If the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, as scripture tells us, then the Holy Spirit is my guide on this battlefront.

And of course there is the battle to write. Picking up the pen is like picking up a sword, and sometimes it is just as heavy. Slicing through all kinds of ideas, characters, emotions and building new worlds is a battle. It takes courage to write, and I often find it hard to summon it these days.

Sounds like a lot of battles, I know. It would be if I went looking for them. But like I said, I don’t go looking for them. I deal with them as they come to me. And I don't have to deal with them alone, as I know many warriors training along side me. The best way to be prepared for all of this is to be dedicated to prayer and be good with God. First things first for the prayer warrior princess. Putting on the armor of God is step one. (Ephesians 6:10) Gotta get prayed up.