blogkeeping: new year, new look

You may have noticed a few changes to my blog - the color being the most prominent one. I also added a couple of links to the "library" that you should check out: LAmom describes herself as a "Christian pro-life liberal." I so frequently find myself turned off by liberal news and blogs because of their anti-Christian and pro-abortion stances, so it's refreshing to find someone who I agree with on the two issues that really matter to me (God and the sanctity of the life He has created) yet who has a viewpoint in every other respect so different from what I usually read. Her posts are always thoughtful and thought-provoking, and her pro-life worldview so clearly shines through every political stance she writes about.

Yet another stereotype-breaking blog I've added is Dreadnought, a homosexual Catholic trying to live according to the teachings of the Church. With each incredible post, he reveals how this unique perspective has given him a deep insight into the meaning of the surrender and courage required to live the Christian faith and the beauty of God's grace carrying us through it.

~~~~~~~~~ i get turned around ~~~~~~~~~
~~ and i mistake my happiness for blessing ~~

Our world is a world of paradoxes, where truth can be difficult to find, but redemption flows from surprising places. My 24th birthday was at the end of last month, and it got me thinking about the many, many blessings in my life. Am I always happy? ... of course not. The past year has brought me a loneliness unlike anything I had felt before. But as God so often proves, with the other lights dimming around me, I can more clearly see the light that comes from Him, and somehow, even this loneliness seems more beautiful than what I had before, because of who I share it with. When I look past this unhappiness to gaze ahead by the light of the Cross, I see my life filled with blessings that I was blind to until now. With all these blessings in sight, my life is beginning to look pretty rosy. Maybe that's the reason for my new, sunnier color scheme!

Finally, speaking of turning 24...

You Are 31 Years Old

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

What Age Do You Act?