This is a post from the faith blog by Junior Grace Kelly. Look for a new post every week on bcflyer.net for her perspective on our faith and the role faith plays in our lives.
Life can change in the blink of an eye. One moment it may seem that your world couldn’t get any better and, in an instant, it can come crashing down. As Christians, we can find hope in knowing that while our lives are a story that is continuously being written, Our Savior is THE constant variable in our lives.
I think it’s safe to say I’ve grown up in a good Christian household. As great as my religious upbringing has been, it’s easy to say I’ve been confused at times, seeing as how my father is Protestant and my mother is Catholic. It all started when my parents met in college. After my parents had been dating for a while, my dad agreed to raise any future kids as Catholics, and they married in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University Of Notre Dame. After they got married, my parents moved here and bought a house in the Maize school district while my mom finished graduate school at Wichita State. Five years later, on the greatest day of their lives, I was born on Sept. 11, 1997.
I grew up attending schools in the Maize district, beginning at Vermillion Primary for kindergarten and first, Maize Central for second through fifth grades, and Maize South Middle for sixth grade. After I finished sixth grade, my parents decided that Maize South didn’t meet the expectations they had for my education and sent me to St. Mark’s School for seventh and eighth grade after seeing statistics claiming to have the best standardized testing scores for area middle schools.
The beginning of that year was hard for me, due to the fact I didn’t have a single friend. I began talking to a girl I had apparently gone to preschool with and who I had also played soccer with and we became best friends. She introduced me to her friends and the rest of middle school was great for me from that point on.
Middle school came to an end and all but two members of the eighth grade class of 2012 went to Andale High School, where I spent my freshman year. I stayed friends with the girls I had met at St. Mark’s and made plenty of new friends as well. I was a straight-A student and made honor roll both semesters at AHS, but I wasn’t challenged and often found that I didn’t have homework or that it was so easy it bored me. During the winter break, I presented my case to my parents and began the process of applying to Bishop Carroll for my sophomore year. I officially found out in the summer that I had been accepted for my sophomore and future years of high school.
While I couldn’t be happier of where I am now, I used to be bothered by constantly moving schools and the uncertainty of my future that came with it. Just like whenever I feel upset, I found comfort in my music, especially that of my favorite Christian artist, Francesca Battistelli.
“Constant,” one of Francesca Battistelli’s songs directly addresses the uncertainty of life. The lyrics read, “I’m just a little bit afraid of where I’m going, and it feels like a hurricane is blowing over… You’re my constant in every moment, constant, You’ve never failed me all my life, You have never left my side You are my constant.” These lyrics made me realize that moving schools is a part of God’s plan for me and that it always has been.
Philippians 4:6-7 reads, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Everything happens for a reason and what keeps me going during hard times is knowing that God is my “constant in every moment.”
Listen to Francesca Battistelli’s song “Constant” by clicking on the link below: