"Prayer... an outburst from the heart... a simple glance darted upwards to Heaven... a cry of gratitude"

My faith being so prominent in my life, and having been from a young age, people at school often ask me about it. How I do believe so strongly? And how do I keep my faith when things aren't going well at all, not just in my own life, but all around me? I know that I am truly blessed to have this faith and feel God so strongly in my life, but also, I know that my faith wouldn't be anything like it is today, without

prayer.

I used to struggle to pray and forget to pray. Sometimes I didn't know what to say to God or I'd rush an Our Father before bed, not thinking about the meaning, simply so that I had prayed. Really, I still hadn't spoken to God at all.

I prayed to God, to help me to pray: to not have prayer as a last minute thought before sleeping at night, but to have God there constantly in my mind through out the day. Every morning, I offer up my day to God; everything that I do, say and think. I think that, however small this prayer, it actually helps me to live better every day, as I remember God in all of my actions, words and thoughts.

"Remember the Lord in everything you do and He will show you the right way"

Proverbs 1: 6

However, I am as guilty as anyone for dedicating a lot of my prayer to asking God for things, as opposed to thanking him for the graces I do have in my life. During Lent, i have made it one of my promises (and being the only one I've kept, having eaten chocolate, used my straighteners and been on facebook), to, at the end of each day, thank God for everything in my life which I take for granted. From having a roof over my head, to waking up to a cup of tea before school.

Although this seems something so simple and obvious, reflecting on what I do have, instead of what I don't, has made me realise just how lucky I am. I've always thanked God for the obvious, my family and friends etc, but looking closer into my own life, I now notice just how many small things make up my life; things in which I am blessed to have.

Especially now, with the media showing footage from the earthquake in Japan, we notice how lucky we are. Praying thanks to God, for what I'm blessed to have, helps me further to pray for others who have much less. Our brothers and sisters across the world who have not a fraction of what we have, yet still carry on with their lives daily.

 

St. Therese



"Prayer is, for me, an outburst from the heart; it is a simple glance darted upwards to Heaven; it is a cry of gratitude and of love in the midst of joy! In a word, it is something exalted, supernatural, which dilates the soul and unites it to God. Sometimes when I find myself spiritually in dryness so great that I cannot produce a single good thought, I recite very slowly a Pater or an Ave Maria; these prayers alone console me, they suffice, they nourish my soul."
- St.Therese

 Praying keeps my faith in God strong, and I think it keeps his faith in me: knowing that I try my best to live as good a Catholic life as I can. This Lent, I definitely think that already I've grown to realise how lucky I am, and I can appreciate the smallest things so much more now, which has inspired me, more than ever before, to help the people who have so much less than me for the rest of Lent, and in my life afterwards.

So this Lent, despite the fact I haven't successfully avoided chocolate, and I have spent hours on facebook instead of doing my coursework, I think that I'm learning things much more valuable, which will stay with me for the duration of Lent, and a long time afterwards.

And tonight when you pray, try and count the amount of things you have to be thankful for, that you may have taken for granted, because I know I always loose count!

This quote helps me to keep thankful and happy every day,
"Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life, in union with Christ Jesus"

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

By Suzy Sankey
Age 16
Studying too much at St.Edmund Arrowsmith RCHS