Earth to Kasie!

First off, I am incredibly blessed. I know this. Secondly, even knowing this, I worry all the dang time. Ugh. It is starting to annoying me. :)

I got back from District Officer Conference, and my once-a-year-visit to Rock Springs 4-H Camp, this afternoon. Although my personal FFA experience was very jammed pack and very fulfilling, I never had the opportunity to attend DOC until this year. I appreciate the work the State Officers put into this conference very much and had a great time working with our new district officer team. It was fun to experience my "first-time" DOC experience with them as their "first-time" DOC experience as well. And if that last sentence made sense to you, then we can be friends. But really it was a good conference.

Happies o' DOC

- Small size. It is amazing how much different workshops go when the size of a conference is and can be more personable.

-Seeing my students succeed

-Attending my first Exec lol

-Best for Last- A Dr. Seuss theme!!! And yes, I do have to think how to spell Seuss every time I write/type it.

So pretty good stuff. I finally made it home to my house a little after 5. I was starting to worry about some things, life things,  and I really felt I just needed to go to mass. I wasn't able to go this morning because of DOC but I knew that catching a Wichita mass was always an option. I did my magic on masstimes.org and came up with a solution! 7pm mass at the Newman Center- the last mass of the day anywhere in Wichita.

Got there about 40 minutes early and it was a little weird inside. Sort of like 2 churches in one. I would find out later it is because this church gets packed full! So I sat all the way to the side and ended up not really being able to see the priest. But I could still hear him. : )

So here is today's Gospel reading:

Gospel Mt 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon."
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
Jesus' disciples came and asked him,
"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
He said in reply,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me."
He said in reply,
"It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters."
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
"O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish."
And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.

Okay. I admit, at first this really wasn't speaking to me. At all. I wanted something better. I drove all the way to Wichita, not because I am suppose to attend mass but because I needed to attend mass. But then I was beginning to get a little disappointed. Mainly because I wanted Him to make me feel better. 

Then I got delivered a big Earth to Kasie, through the homily. It is pretty much what I needed to hear. Why does this always happen to me? :)

In fact, when I got back out to my car I typed out some quick thoughts about the homily on my notes app on my phone. I wanted to remember them. 

Here is what I typed: 

God doesn't always give us what we want. He gives us what we need. And what we need is eternal salvation. Sometimes what we want, regardless, of how badly we want it, will separate us from Him. How could he possibly give us something that would do that? Even if we pray for it all the time. 

In regards to praying: You don't need to change God's mind. You are the one that needs to let Him change you. However, keep talking to Him. Pray to keep that line of communication open. Have faith that He will provide you with what you NEED.  Get rid of doubt. Put your complete trust in Him.

And like always, it not the fact that I didn't know that stuff. But it is that fact that I needed to hear that again. He knew that and He told me again. Afterall, growing in your faith is a really long process. Never-ending. 

This priest also did an excellent job relating the Gospel reading to those notes. How the women asked Jesus several times to help her daughter. How it may have seemed that Jesus was ignoring her requests. But how she still remained persistant and didn't doubt. Which of course we should replicate in our prayer life. But I just really loved the need vs. want battle he talked about. Very relatable. 

And the best part of this whole story. The priest at the Newman Center (and I didn't catch his name) was the priest that covered for Fr. Mike's vacation at Holy Name, the church I would have attended if not for DOC. I found this out as my new roommate and I were talking about where we went to mass today. :)  I guess God really wanted me to hear that homily one way or another.

Oh and one last thing: My friend Emily, who was also my RCIA sponsor, signed me up for these daily meditations that get sent to my email. Do I do them daily? No, but they are really good when I do read them. Here is a link to today's:

Ask and You Shall Receive

I found the resolution helpful. : )

Oh and for real last thing.....tomorrow we get to celebrate the Assumption of our Momma Mary! : ) Wichita here I come!