I See God

How did you see God this week? That question became so important to me this past year. This question was asked of us each week when we attended confirmation. I have always attended church, but looking at my life and answering this question every week, really did strengthen my faith. It helped me to realize God is everywhere and in my everyday life, in both big and small ways. Looking closely at my life and my interactions with others, became more focused on what would God want me to do or what is the most christian way to handle things I am experiencing. This is just one of the examples of how I have grown as a christian during my confirmation time.

My christian faith is not the only part of me that has grown during my faith journey. My leadership and confidence has also grown because of my faith journey. I have made new friends, done things independently, volunteered for new experiences, helped people of all walks of life, brought in new members, tried new things that I would have never seen myself doing and most importantly built both spiritual and loving relationships that I know will last a lifetime.

The support that we get during confirmation is nothing like I expected. Church members spoke to me and were genuinely interested in me. I liked how people would talk to me on Sundays and check in with me on how things were going. They were happy to see me at church events.

Congregational members smiled when I walked in to help work at the sausage supper, they enjoyed talking to me while we worked or walked side by side, they trusted me with jobs while caroling to our homebound families, sent me cards and asked me to come and help with them with their special church projects because they said I would do a good job. It made me feel special, loved and supported.

Confirmation is not a requirement for all people, it’s a requirement for me in our family. But I really got a lot out of it and enjoyed my time with my confirmation class. I feel everyone should go through something like this because it impacts your faith and life in a positive way. My faith journey has made me a stronger person, both faithfully, emotionally, and socially. It taught me to see God in your everyday life and to share that experience with others. So my challenge to those who are reading this is, how did you see God this week?

All through confirmation Pastor Katie Jo has asked everybody where have you seen god this week. So every week we would say where we had seen god. So, I thought and thought and decided to wonder where I have seen God in my life. After thinking about it, I realized that God has given me a wonderful loving family. I was able to meet my mother’s side of my great grandparents but sadly not my dad’s side. Both great grandparents passed away. Even though they have passed, the memories I have made with them is something that will never go away and something I will cherish and remember forever. I remember back when my great grandpa was alive we used to go over to their house for Halloween. When we were there he gave us a bunch of candy, then we would go all over his neighborhood and get a bunch of candy from his neighbors. We also had so much fun playing hide and seek around the house, he’d give us cookies to eat and we would do so much other stuff.

I also had amazing memories with both of my grandparents. The best memories I have with my mom’s side grandparents is the vacation we go on every year. The best memories I have with my dad’s side of grandparents are going to the park and watching a cover band play and eating pizza and enjoying the time we spent with each other. All of these great memories that I have shared with my grandparents and great grandparents have shown me what a loving family I have. These things helped me think about my life to choose which bible verse represents my life which is “surely God is my salvation, I will trust and will not be afraid, for the LORD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.” I trusted in the lord and was not afraid of what he had in store. The lord has given me a loving, wonderful, and amazing family. What this year

has shown me is to trust in the Lord and I have learned to appreciate all that I have and I will not be afraid of what he has in store for me. I have said things about my grandparents and great grandparents but the ones who really helped me and guided me are my parents. They have made me who I am and helped me through loss of family and pets. My mom and dad have shown me new experiences, sports, interests, and more. They have taught me life lessons and made me into the person I am today. I am forever thankful of my family who have given me wonderful memories and even though people don't live on forever the experiences we share do and that is what my faith has shown me. It has shown me to be kind to all and to enjoy the time that we have and to make life the fullest it can be. It made me appreciate the life that I have and the support from all my family.

My “surely God is my salvation, I will trust and will not be afraid, for the LORD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.” This is my bible verse that I choose and the reason I choose it is one of the reasons I am who I am. Every day when I wake up I trust that the test that I'm taking or the things that happen today are good. I trust God to guide me each and every day from when I wake up to when I fall asleep.

God has helped guide me from when I was born to the present day. There have been many people to help me as well, the church helps me, my family helps me, and even my friends have helped through the rough and tough times. God has been there every step of the way, my first sports game at cardinal’s stadium, My first time at church, meeting new people, God has been there every time and will continue to be there everyday.

Going through confirmation has taught me about Jesus and what he has gone through compared to today and about how faith has transformed and are churches beginning. We first learned about the creation story and how he made everything and the difference between New Testament and old. Then we learned about Moses' trouble and the ten commandments. After that we learned about traditions. And through these stories it has taught me that much has not changed between Moses' times and ours. Yes we have made many technological advances but the oppression that Moses’ seen we still see today. Jews aren't oppressed like they were but so many people are people of different races, religions, and sexuality is still going on. What confirmation has taught me is we need to be the change in the world. We need to stand up and fight back against those who oppress just as Jesus did to stand up against the romans. I hope to follow in Jesus' footsteps to stand up for others and make the most of the little time we have on earth.

I saw God a lot this year in little things and big things. I recently had one really big thing happen and I saw God a lot during that time. He was always with me from start to finish, no matter what.

 This year I had surgery on my arm and I saw God a lot during my recovery. He was right there with me from the start. He helped me get through it all and get back to how I was before. I know that God is always with us but during this time I felt that he was with me even more. I was in a cast for only ten days because I was able to recover fast enough to get it off because he was always with me. After that I had my arm in a plastic brace and I started physical therapy. I had to keep this on for a lot longer but I was still able to take it off when I was at home so I could build my strength back up. After about a month of wearing a brace everyday, I was able to go back to the doctor and get more x-rays. 

My x-rays came back normal and I was able to get out of the brace and continue therapy. God was with me through that entire time and has helped me get to where I am now. Now I’m back to playing my sports and my arm gets stronger everyday. This was probably one of the first times that I could really tell that God was with me at all times to help me get through this. Now that I had that experience I can tell that there are many ways that God is always with us. 

God leaves us signs that he is with us all of the time even if we don’t notice. We can feel his presence in nature and even in our own friends and family when our family helps us learn how to do something or when friends help each other with homework. In nature, we can see God in watching animals living all around us. We can also see him in nature in the changing of the seasons and seeing new things every few months. God is with us in our communities when we help each other and even when we just interact with each other. He is also with us in positive and negative ways. Like when a baby is born or when we lose a family member. Even losing a person close to you is a sign that God is there because he’s taking them back with him. When a baby is born I think that’s God showing us a positive new beginning.

I see God in my family and friends a lot when we spend time with each other and help each other when we need it. My family helps each other with things like giving each other rides to where they need to go or helping each other make food. I am very close with a lot of my family so I get to spend a lot of time with them. I see God in them all of the time when we are together. I see God in my friends when we help each other with homework or maybe with other problems that someone is having at school or with something else. 

I think that people helping each other with things they need is a great way to feel the presence of God. I saw this a lot in the service work that I did this past year. I was able to help a lot of people with things that they needed when I did my service work this year. Especially when I helped with the SOS Soup Kitchen and was able to help people in need of a good meal get everything they needed. It was really nice when you would give people food and it would put a big smile on their face and they would thank you for what you’re doing. That was how I knew that I was really helping the people that we were serving. I was also able to help with things around the holidays like getting presents for families that couldn’t afford any for their children. I got presents for them and helped wrap them before they were shipped to the families. It made me feel really good to know that even kids that didn’t have much were at least getting something on Christmas morning. 

I also see God when I play sports. I see him in my teammates working together and having good sportsmanship. I enjoy playing sports and working with a team. There are some sports that I sometimes don’t have a team for, like golf. I really like playing golf because it is something different when you’re out by yourself in nature. I can really see God when I’m playing golf because I’m alone in nature and it’s very quiet and peaceful. Even though I’m not alone in sports like basketball, I can still see God in a lot of things. I see God when I’m working with my team and knowing that it doesn’t matter if we win or lose, it just matters that we tried. God loves us whether we win or lose and he will always be there for us through it all.

One of the reasons that I chose my bible verse was because I thought about God always being there. My verse is “The counsel of the lord stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” Psalm 33:11. This made me think about the fact that he is always there and will be, even after we’re gone. I like how the verse says that his counsel stands forever, which to me shows that no matter what he will always be watching over us. It also says that the thoughts of his heart go to all generations. I think that this shows that he will always be there forever. God will be there for the people that come after us and even after them.

The purpose of this paper is to describe what I have learned this year in confirmation. I have learned a lot during confirmation and I feel as if my faith in God has grown more and more since the year began. Some of the things that I have learned include learning more about God, how to be a better person, how to pray better, and I learned several things about Church traditions and symbols that I did not know before. These confirmation classes have taught me a lot about more things than I knew before. Additionally, there are several things that I discovered that I enjoy while going through the confirmation process.

I have learned a lot about God thanks to the Pastors and the confirmation classes. I have also learned a lot more about how to be a better person. The Wednesday confirmation classes have been helping me be a better person and learn new things about the Church and also God. I have enjoyed going to these classes every Wednesday. Also, since going to worship almost every Sunday, I learned a lot about how to be a better person and also learned a lot more about the Bible and God. 

During the confirmation classes I have learned about how to pray better and the meaning of prayer. During some of our lessons in confirmation,  I have learned some of the different kinds of prayer and how to do them and I think learning about the different types of prayers has helped me understand more about God.  I have liked doing some of the different prayers. I remember that we learned some of these prayers in confirmation. Also, reading some of the Bible during worship and during confirmation has helped me understand the meaning of some of the verses and helped me understand it more in general. I have also learned some of the sins not to do and I think I have been doing better not sinning as much. I have also learned how to ask for forgiveness during prayer. 

There are alot of traditions, symbols, and history  that I learned about.  I have learned about the ten commandments during confirmation and what they mean. I have also learned about the Holy Trinity, which is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I have also learned about communion during worship and its meaning. I have also learned about baptism.  I know that I was baptized. I have seen a new person getting baptized and I now know about it and its meaning. I now know about the different symbols of the cross and that there are many different crosses and that they have different meanings to them. I have also learned some of the different symbols that people used. One of them is drawing what looked like a fish in the sand to see if the other person had the same beliefs. And I know another symbol is a dove.  

I have learned about the Church, its history, and when it was built, which I find interesting.  One thing I find interesting is the history of my family with the Church.  I don't know exactly how long my family has been going to this Church, but I know my dad went to it, and my Grandma went to it and I find those things kind of interesting. 

In addition to learning a lot, I have enjoyed the confirmation process.  I like that all the people in worship on Sundays are really nice and understanding. During confirmation, eating the dinners that people brought has made me more thankful for the things I have and I think since my faith in God has grown I think that doing these things has brought me closer with God and have a better understanding of God.  During the service projects, I enjoyed helping people and working with the other confirmands. At the wurstmart, it was fun working with the other Church members and them being nice to me and helping me.  These service projects have helped me learn more about God and helping people.  Also, when I have been an acolyte during worship I think that I have enjoyed doing it and helping out during worship. When I was a communion helper during worship, I enjoyed doing that and helping some of the Church members out.  I remember during our Christmas party that we had, we played a game and I think that made me and some of the other confirmands connect more with each other and made us interact more with each other. I really enjoyed that Christmas party because I think that the game we played was really fun and that we got to play it with our prayer partners and I just think that the people there had a pretty good time like I did. Also, I think that when Nancy was teaching and writing those things on the board it taught me some things that I didn't know before. 

In conclusion I think that going through confirmation has really helped me learn about God, the Church, and taught me to be a better person.  I want to thank the pastors for teaching me things about our Church and things about God that I didn't know before confirmation. I really just think that since confirmation has started they have been helping me be a better person and taught me a lot more things about God.  All of these things that I have learned have had a great impact on my belief and my faith in God. 

My faith has always felt like a river.  I can always feel its waters rushing through me but it's current ebbs and flows. Like most rivers it didn't appear overnight, it was forged through time. I don't remember exactly when I first felt its prensence,but I can remember when we started going to mass. I was around five when we stepped into my old church for the first time. I remember looking around the church in awe of its pews and high ceilings. Maybe it was there that water began to break through the rocks. I know that when I was young that the current was strong, but I often tested the waters. I wanted to believe in the loving God I heard about in church but I was also looking for concrete proof. I remember sitting alone in my bedroom and setting stuffed animals on my windowsill, and then I would tell myself that I was going to leave and if I came back and the plushies were moved, God must be real. Surprisingly enough God did not decide to make any real mark on my stuffed animals, but he made a mark on me. As I grew up God was always an important part of my life. Even as we faded out of my old church I went to Catholic school so I was surrounded by God's teachings. But I was also surrounded by people who used God's name to support their biases. As I grew up and watched people I love and trusted, teachers,friends,people of my church, use God's word to justify their hatred, I became disheartened. I continued to age and my relationship with God grew even more complicated. I loved God but my faith in him was wavering as I let other people's views influence me. They told me that the God I had always felt deeply connected to would not accept me if I was gay, and as it became increasingly clear that I was, I pulled away completely. I built a dam trying to block God from my life. I decided it was easier to leave it all behind then to hide who I really was, and even though I felt an ache in my heart where my faith had burned brightest, I turned away. But God does not turn away from you even when you turn from him. And I still recognized God everywhere. I saw him in the setting sun as the sky turned pink. I heard him in my parents laugh as they danced through our kitchen. And I felt him in my moments of grief and the moments of joy. I let his waters work their way in my life and as the dam wavered I yearned for a way back to him. And one day God sent me a landline. I was driving home from work last summer, and  I saw a sign outside this church that said All are welcome. I felt a mix of emotions rise in me but I tamped them down. I was terrified of going somewhere new, of rebuilding a faith that I had turned away from, and mostly I was worried that I wouldn't be accepted. So I shook off that spark of hope and drove on. And then only a week later sitting on the floor of my Mom's bedroom my Mom asked me if I had ever heard of St.John's. I looked up at her slightly confused when she explained that she had seen something about them being an open and affirming church, and then we went snooping. We tore through the website on a mission, examining the activities of the church and as we scrolled on I could hear water in my ears. I felt that ache again, that longing to reconnect to God. Like Ruth had to choose to go with Naomi and venture away from her home land, I had a choice to make. My decision was to go with my mother that Sunday into new terriotroy. As we stepped into St.John's I was filled with shaky nerves. As I sat in mass that Sunday I listened to Pastor Jenn welcome the congregation where everyone was " welcome no matter who they were or where they were on God's journey". And in that moment the dam fell to pieces and I was brought to tears as I felt myself relax. That began my  journey to restore my faith. I was shy at first, terrified still that I would be turned away, but instead of being treated like an outsider I was welcomed in. I came into confirmation classes late and two years older than anyone else and I was included without question. Confirmation class quickly became one of the highlights of my week and not just because of the excellent food (Although that certainly was a plus). Every Wednesday night I listened to Pastor Katie Jo and Nancy and our other guests, as we discussed the many aspects of our faith. Every week they started our class with the question "Where did you see God this week?"and that's when I started looking. I began to appreciate those tiny moments in my life where everything fell into place. I started to recognize the many blessings in my every day as a sign of God. I would see him in the echoing music of a concert, or in the flush of my cheeks after laughing with my friends, or in the kindness of a family member. Through Confirmation class we discussed our faith journey's and I realized that God had always been an important part of my life even when I had turned away from him. We spoke of the ways that all of us view God and I realized that I view God as the warm light at the end of the day, washing me in his light. I also learned about God from the people around me, in the way that my pastor's and the other members of this church spoke about him. Another day we talked about all of the different ways that we give offerings and prayers to God, and through that I realized that I gave my offerings to God through my words. Through Confirmation class I found a love for mandalas and praying through colors and focus. Through this congregation I recognized that I felt most connected to God in a community. I feel him most strongly when I am helping others, and in those moments I can hear God's waters rushing through my heart. What I learned most about my faith through confirmation was that it is a journey. I am fording my own river, but I am not alone. When I think of that journey I think of the Ichthys symbol. When Christianity was outlawed, Christians would draw one half of the fish in the sand, and if someone was a Christian they would finish the other half. This was how they found each other when they were lost, this is how they knew they weren't alone. Earlier this year I drew half of the fish in the sand, and this church drew the other half, letting me know I wasn't alone. I will always have to travel on this river but God has sent me St.John's to guide me on the right path,so that no matter what I will always find myself on his waters.

This church means a lot to me because I started going here at a very young age. I was around 18 months old. That means this is the first church that I’ve attended. Also, this is the only church I’ve gone to except for some family events. 

I was baptized at this church. My sister and I were both baptized at the same time. I was three and my sister was pretty little. Both of my godparents were there when we were baptized. This is pretty important to me because one of them had to drive a really long way just to see me get baptized. Also, the person that baptized Laila and I was Pastor Katie Jo.

I started Sunday school when I was three years old. I always liked Sunday school because the people there made it fun. When I was younger, understanding God and the bible were kind of big concepts. I also liked Sunday School because it made understanding God a lot easier.  

I went to Sunday school until just recently. As one of my service projects, I went and helped at Sunday school. I saw how they taught the kids in really simple ways. Though it may be a little too simple for me now, and I’d rather be in worship, it was a pretty big part of my childhood and beginning of faith.

I started confirmation when I was 13 and I’m 14 now. I remember last year when I saw the confirmands reading their speeches I could not wait to start confirmation. Now that I’m in confirmation I really enjoy learning about God. Before confirmation I got bored easily and didn’t listen that much in worship. Now I try to get the most that I can out of worship.

I started confirmation because I wanted to be closer to God. I feel like I have gotten closer to him simply learning about him. When I am struggling, I look to him for help. When I pray, I actually try to make it meaningful instead of just talking about what I'm thankful for and what I want. Confirmation has brought me closer to God than I have ever been before and I think I’m going to keep getting closer to him.

For confirmation I had to choose a verse from the bible to memorize. The one that really stuck out to me was Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. I think this means that as long as you have faith in God you can achieve your goals. I chose this one because I think it applies to me more than all of the other verses that I looked at. 

Another thing I had to do for confirmation was service projects. We had to volunteer for at least 15 things inside or outside of the church. The one I remember most was we learned about foster care. I liked how they shared stories about some kids that they knew that went through foster care. We learned about how we could help kids in foster care by just simply becoming their friend. 

Another service project that I really enjoyed was when I helped in the soup kitchen. We filled boxes with food until we ran out of boxes. The food that we put in boxes was  given to the less fortunate. I just really liked knowing that the food being served was to people in need.

I’m glad that I had to do service projects. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have volunteered for things like that. Even after confirmation, I think I am going to keep volunteering for things. I’m going to keep volunteering because I like knowing when I’m doing something it is helping someone who is in need.

Another one of my favorite parts of confirmation was acolyting. Even though it was a little embarrassing going up in front of everybody I liked it. I liked that I got to light the candles and put them out. Ever since I was little I wanted to be one of the acolytes. 

Once confirmation is over, I won’t be required to do things like service projects or listen to parts of the bible. Even though I won’t have to, I’m still going to. I want to keep doing these things because I want to continue my journey even further with God. I also want to keep learning about him to become closer to him.