Last November before my 20th birthday, I planned on killing myself. I felt I was worth nothing and had no purpose. I didn’t know what to do anymore. I felt as if I were a robot. I was working 80 hours a week and sleeping the rest. I was so lost that I dug myself into a deep well of depression.
Read MoreAt a young age, sporting soccer shorts and a mullet, all I cared about was climbing the next tree and wondering when the new issue of LEGO magazine would arrive at my door. I asked for hot wheels for Christmas and role-played as the boy character for all our childhood adventures. I looked around me, saw my friends and sisters and knew I didn’t fit the mold. My (little) heart ached and wondered, “why am I so different?”, “am I good?”
Read MoreIn times when I can’t find God, I need only search for love. ...Anytime I feel love, or don’t feel love at all, but choose love with my will, God is there in that moment.
Read MoreI had just clicked submit when I saw it: “Catohlic.” I felt like someone had slipped an ice cube down my back. I had misspelled the word Catholic on an application to a graduate program. Not just any graduate program, one to study theology.
Read MoreThe story of Jesus raising Jarius’ daughter from the dead is one I come back to again and again. …How often I’ve been in the shoes of these angry, grieving family members, and how often I’ve been this little girl, pronounced dead to the world.
Read MoreYour identity is not found in your pants size, or the parts you deem imperfect, or in competition with other women, but in being fully known and loved as a daughter of God.
Read MoreFor most of my life, I mistakenly thought that in order to please God, in order to be of any good, I must succeed at everything, and I bent all my energy to achieving my notion of perfection.
Read MoreIf we are all called to be like Christ, that must mean we are also called to be vulnerable and not only that, but to be held by Mary.
Read MoreI cannot remember a time before anxiety. When I was young, everything had to be just right, and I always had to be in control. As I grew older, the prevailing worry was homework - had I done it perfectly? What if I’d missed something? And then more diabolical fears crept in - and I do mean diabolical in the truest sense of the word. I spent years wrestling with crushing, exhausting, terrifying guilt in my spiritual life.
Read MoreThe intricate design of the female reproductive system whether healthy or unhealthy evoked a sense of sheer awe and splendor. Ladies, we are fearfully and wonderfully made created in the beautiful image and likeness of God.
Read MoreWe must not forget that we are body and soul, and our bodies are a gift from God that we must not squander. It would be like if a friend gave you a beautiful plant for your birthday but you neglected it and let it wither.
Read MoreWhen I found out I was pregnant, I was ecstatic, however the realization that I didn’t know “how” to be a mother slowly set in.
Read More“It was an ordinary moment on a mundane day when I realized that the darkness was back. I’d run into a friend who works at my doctor’s office, and as she checked me out, she asked how I was doing. I wanted to simply say, ‘Fine,’ but I couldn’t keep the tears from filling my eyes….”
Read More"At 16-years-old, I was raped by a boy who decided that he could determine my worth. For two and a half years, I plunged into a deep darkness. ...I was ashamed and I remember wondering how the Lord could possibly love me like this…”
Read MoreFor as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be less Asian. Less foreign. Less other. So, I hid. I hid any trace of culture. My senior year of high school, I realized that I hid and ignored my ethnicity so well, that I forgot I was even intentionally hiding it. It became a way of life.
Read More“My mom worked as a banker in Mexico, and we lived a stable life, along with the help and support from family members. Throughout the years, my mom experienced a lot of fear and trauma... Her last experience where she got held at gunpoint, was the last straw…”
Read More“I loved my faith then, and I love it now. I love Truth. But I struggled to reconcile my boldness with the quiet, docile picture of Mary that every song at church seemed to paint. I thought that’s all the Church envisioned for women.”
Read More"With each successive birth however, I struggled to bond with my babies, and I winced at the barrage of opinions coming from social media, 'experts,' and many well-meaning family and friends."
Read More“I would like to share with you, a story of hardship that started when I was a young child, and I have lived with my entire life. In fact, it is a struggle I am dealing with today. It is something I have come to embrace and accept. It's also a challenge and responsibility I have been given to help others who may face isolation, exclusion or loneliness. My hope is that it will inspire you not to give up during the toughest times in your life…”
Read More"But before she becomes a wife and mother, friend and sister, she is first a daughter... Everything she does stems from the truth that she is a daughter unconditionally loved and utterly delighted in."
