Faith

J1ST 076: Rise with me through Prayer

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Hey there, friends!

This week the Just One Small Thing Podcast is a challenge for you (and for me!). Since we are in the Easter season I think it is the PERFECT time to take stock of life and our faith life. Have we been moving forward? Do we actually, deeply believe the things we processed during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday? And, perhaps as important as anything, am I committed to prayer?

Because, as I have learned over the last year, it all comes down to prayer.

In the podcast I take you on a bit of a journey of thought with me (hopefully the path isn’t too twisting!). In recent months I have discovered that it ALL COMES DOWN TO PRAYER. I realized this while thinking up (nearly 200 episodes now) the Catholic Sprouts Podcast. When I challenge kids to do something at the end of each episode, it really doesn’t make sense to challenge anything but prayer. I also felt this hit home as I learned about the early Christians and that first Easter Sunday.

And, so, if you feel called to deepen your prayer life…or finally really learn how to pray, I would like to invite you consider joining the PRAYER COURSE from Catholic Sprouts.

The course is open for enrollment right now. In the course you learn Why we need to pray, How to pray, When to pray, and How to combat the struggles we all face with prayer. And not only this, but you will be part of a community of women also learning to deepen their prayer life.

But, I will only be enrolling students this week (ending April 29th, 2019). At that point I will be closing the doors and starting the course.

Think about it, pray about it, and for more details, head here: https://catholicsprouts.com/prayercourse/

When you join the Catholic Sprouts community, you not only will be part of a thriving community of over 11,000 Catholic Parents, but you also will get instant access to the Catholic Family Digital Resource Library. Simply head here to sign up!

https://catholicsprouts.com/catholic-family-resource-library-signup/

Thanks for being here!

Your sister in the small things,

10 Reasons It’s Awesome to Be Catholic

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

It’s time to get excited about our Catholic Faith, because it really is so awesome! There is so much to be excited about with our faith–and the extra bonus is that the more excited we are about our faith, the more our KIDS will fall in love with the faith! So, I hope this video gets you excited. I don’t go into deep detail here, but I do have a free download of all the things I touch on here so you can dig in deeper if you’d like.

Get it here: https://pages.convertkit.com/0d6e06ba…

10 reasons it’s awesome to be Catholic!

1. The Church Teaches with Authority

2. The Pope

3. A Rich History

4. Understanding of True Beauty

5. Mary

6. The Saints

7. Confession

8. Purgatory

9. Theology of the Body

10. Jesus in the Eucharist (MOST IMPORTANT!)

I hope you enjoyed this video, and I would LOVE to hear what you would add to this list! There are so many more things I wish I could have added!!!

Join the Catholic Sprouts Community on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/21255…

Your sister in the small things,

https://youtu.be/mWedwWF1OVM

Understanding the Loving Authority of the Catholic Church

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

The teaching authority of the Catholic Church can be a tricky thing to understand, even for adults, but it is a good and beautiful thing that we need to not only accept but really love and be thankful for! There are so many modern issues that the Bible alone does not address, so we depend on the authority of our Church, set up by Jesus Himself, to answer some of these questions.

The Church has always worked to answer difficult questions and after much discussion, study, and prayer, the Church has taught on those issues with authority.

Some historical examples are that Jesus is fully God AND fully man, as well as the Triune nature of God.

Yes, the Bible is an infallible book, but we are imperfect. Thank goodness we are not left to our own devices while trying to understand what is good and holy in our modern world.

I hope you enjoyed this video and found it helpful!

Join the Catholic Sprouts Community on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/21255…

Your sister in the small things,

https://youtu.be/BUpP0U_rp0g

How to Teach Your Children About Abortion

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

It can be tricky to talk to our children for the first time about Abortion. We might want to avoid the topic, but unfortunately, Abortion is a reality our children will have to live with and they need us to explain this topic to them first, so that they are grounded and truth and love.

In this video I work hard to share ideas for introducing the topic of Abortion to your Catholic Children in a way that is loving, full of mercy and will not rob them of their innocence.

Here are my three simple suggestions:

1. When describing what happens with abortion, be clear without being graphic. All on their own children will find the idea of abortion horrifying because they innately know it is. Also, don’t explain it away or make it “fluffy”.

2. Ground the entire conversation in Mercy and the Nature of God. The last thing we want to do is demonize women who have had an abortion. All too often they are victims as well! Children need to know that God is willing to forgive anyone and He is an ocean of mercy.

3. Finally, encourage children to play an active role in the right to life movement. The most powerful thing they can do is commit to praying daily for the women and babies affected by abortion. They can also give money to pregnancy crisis centers and speak up for life when needed.

I really hope this was helpful and that by watching this video you are encourage to speak about these things with the children in your life!!

Don’t forget to listen to the daily podcast of Catholic Kids:
https://dosmallthingswithlove.com/catholic-sprouts

And, please join us on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2125545047685401/

This video first appeared on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/evmGQQNGsrg

Your sister in the small things,

3 Ideas that will TRANSFORM Your Prayer Life!

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

Ready to have your prayer life utterly transformed? Well, this video will do just that with three (simple) ideas that will transform the way you think, feel, plan and live-out your prayer life. I can’t wait to share these things with you!

As promised, I’d love to give you a free (beautiful!) bookmark to help you pray through scripture with the ancient practice of Lectio Divina. To grab it, just head here: https://pages.convertkit.com/5428892208/322070dc12.

Here is a brief summary of the three ideas that will transform your prayer life:

1. Don’t make prayer more complicated than it is!

Prayer is simply being in the presence of God, and you can do this ANYWHERE, at ANYTIME. Just do it.

2. Prayer should be your #1 priority when you plan your day.

Think of it this way: for daily prayer you have made a daily appointment with God and you should treat that very seriously. Never stand Him up!! There is very very little that is important enough to justify standing up God for your daily time together.

3. Anything (and I mean anything) that stands in the way of you getting time to pray is evil.

The devil will try to distract you with all sorts of good things, but ignore him! He wants to keep you from having a good prayer life because if you do, he won’t be able to tempt you!! He will use “good” things, like laundry and cooking and calling a friend, to keep you from your daily prayer time. Don’t let him win!

I hope you found these ideas helpful and that you really do take the plunge into DAILY, DEDICATED prayer.

Make sure that you are tuning into the DAILY PODCAST FOR CATHOLIC KIDS! https://catholicsprouts.com/catholic-sprouts

Please come and join other lovely Catholic Parents on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2125545047685401/

And, I’d love to connect with you on Instagram!!
https://www.instagram.com/catholicsprouts/

Your sister in the small things,