Amanda K.

Today, Amanda, who is a Michigan teacher, shares thoughts with us about learning to trust God in a different way, being patient, what blogging does for her, and learning to accept life’s real and difficult moments.

Amanda R.

Inspiring biblical passage of the moment: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plan will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3) I think this is going to be my biggest lesson in 2018. I love doing things on my own. I’m super independent. So, it’s insanely hard for me to give that up to the Lord, trusting that He has bigger and better plans than I could ever imagine. However, that’s what I’m trying to do this year, and I’m really excited to see how it turns out.

Spiritual growth focus at the moment: Having patience. I want everything to happen right away. I can’t wait. So, I think God is teaching me that sometimes it’s necessary. Even though I can’t see why right now, I will in the future. There’s a reason why these things I want aren’t happening, yet. For example, I want so badly to be engaged to my boyfriend of three years, but I also know there’s a reason it hasn’t happened yet. And I can’t wait to see what that reason is one day.

“I also know there’s a reason it hasn’t happened yet. And I can’t wait to see what that reason is one day.”

Profession: Student for one more semester! I’m student-teaching at a middle school, teaching Spanish. I plan to teach middle or high school after this semester, as a Spanish or English teacher. I’d also love to be a full-time blogger, though. So know knows!

A one sentence bio of yourself: I’m Amanda, and I’m a Believer who loves being creative, adventurous and happy.

When did you first encounter God? Probably, when I was born. *laughs* I’ve grown up Catholic my entire life!

What has helped you grow spiritually in this season? Reading the Bible and praying the rosary. Simple, but important.

Just read/currently reading: Currently reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. It’s decent, so far. Faith-wise, though, I’m working through Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left-Out, and Lonely by Lysa TerKeurst. It’s such a great read for anyone who needs a reminder that God loves you.

Top three essentials: God, my phone (although I want to change that), and a smile.

How did God speak to you recently? He speaks to me and through me every time I write a blog post, honestly. I write those posts for other people, but also because it helps me with whatever I’m going through at the time. I just wrote a post about facing uncertainty in life– so can you guess what I’m dealing with! *laughs*

“I write those posts for other people, but also because it helps me with whatever I’m going through at the time.”

Hobby: Hand-lettering! I’ve been trying to teach myself how to do it, recently. Also, I love going to the gym.

Top three practical tips for staying spiritually strong: PRAY. Go to confession/reconciliation. Find a community of people with which you can talk about your faith.

Favorite person in scripture? Ruth. She’s my role model of someone who always seeks the Lord, even when she has no idea what’s in store for her. She is the example of trust and faith.

What do you want people to learn about God when they look at you? That having a relationship with God is never perfect, and no one should ever expect it to be that way. I hope I show that, through what I do because I try to be real with my followers/readers. Real life means there’s hard moments in your faith and in your belief, alongside the good ones.

“Real life means there’s hard moments in your faith and in your belief, alongside the good ones.”

Favorite season? Fall. When you live in Michigan, I don’t think you can choose another answer.

Favorite holiday? Halloween. I love scary things.

A special tradition you and your family engage in or keep: My family and I try and go on a summer vacation to Traverse City, MI once every two years or so (it used to be more). We always stay at the same place on the water, and it’s filled with so many great memories from growing up.

Question you will ask when you get to heaven? I want to know everything about space and how it works. I feel like for as much as we know about it, we still know so little.

Thing you want to raise awareness about: God, honestly. You can never share too much about Him to those around you. Nothing else is more important than Him in this world.

What do you usually do before 9 a.m.? If it’s a work day, I’ll already have gotten up, showered, had breakfast, driven to work and prepped for teaching, by then. If it’s the weekend/a break, I’ll be sleeping!

Define Christianity in a sentence: Christianity is sunshine on a foggy day.

“Christianity is sunshine on a foggy day.”

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