Just Shine On

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This post is the first out of three in a series I call, ‘Come Holy Spirit!’ The title reflects my personal experiences from this past July, which focuses on receiving my Sacrament of Confirmation, and also my experience at CatholicTV as a co-host providing live television coverage of World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  I have 2 hopeful purposes for sharing this piece of my life with you. 

• To express how much it meant to me, to celebrate the beautiful Sacrament of Confirmation, in the hope that those of you who are preparing to make your own Confirmation will appreciate it as much as I do, and understand why it’s such a big step in your journey as a young Catholic!
• To show you that with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can do anything!!!

I hope you enjoy this personal witness series!

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July 20-28, 2013, was probably the biggest, most exciting Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes we have days when we just need to stop and think about everything that God blesses us with everyday. He has, and continues to bless us, so shouldn’t we take time to stop and thank Him? In a second, our whole life can change. Think about this:

“What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”

Kind of scary, right? My point is, sometimes we need to stop asking God for things, and start thanking Him for everything He has already given us.

Thanking God from A to Z, starting now in this list!

Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2006, I have kept a ‘Quote Book’ on and off. If I found a quote in a book, online, in a song, or when someone said something inspiring to me, I would write it down in my notebook. It began as a way for me to practice my cursive writing and memorize some Bible verses in 3rd grade. When I had to pack my belongings to protect them from the construction being done on our house, that notebook sat in a box until 2010, when I rediscovered it. Then, it became a leisurely notebook for me to write quotes in whenever I found one to ‘file away’. (Kind of like a low-tech Pinterest. 😉 ) 

A couple months ago, I was reading through my quote book Read the rest of this entry »

*****Prelude Note: This is a fictional short story I wrote, inspired by a still photo I had seen of a name tag. When searching for an appropriate video to accompany my short written piece, I was blown away to find this song/video that is SO perfectly fitting.  It’s as if they were somehow made for each other. I don’t even know what to think of the that. But I do hope you enjoy both.*****

Name Tags

by Alexis Grace

I stuck my name tag on my shirt.

It had an orange border -my favorite color- and read “Hello, my name is Alexis.” I took a survey of the room full of people, but didn’t recognize one single face. Taking a deep breath, I walked up to a small group of people, and introduced myself. I listened to their chatter for a few minutes, but said little. Apparently, they all knew each other from school, so I couldn’t relate to their conversations. I excused myself, and went in search of a drink.

That’s when I saw Read the rest of this entry »

This past Spring, I went on an amazing retreat with my LifeTeen friends. We were located at a camp with multiple cabins, all kinds of sports fields and courts, a lake with a boat dock, and a balcony on the ‘mess hall’. It was beautiful.

But even more beautiful was how we ended our time at the camp before going to celebrate Mass: we affirmed each other.

While all of our favorite Christian songs played, we each were given a poster to wear on our backs. (I kind of felt like a little turtle walking around.) Once we all chose a marker, (in our favorite colors of course!) we all began to write little messages on each other’s posters. The messages could be a short complement, or a longer note, and they could be signed or anonymous.

I had a blast doing it.

I wrote on all of my friends’ posters, posters of new people I had met, people I didn’t get a chance to meet, and all of the CORE members. Of course, they all wrote on my poster too. After maybe 45 minutes, we were told to find a quiet place and read our posters.

I chose to sit on my cabin’s steps, Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever read the book ‘Maniac Magee’ by Jerry Spinelli?

One of my favorite parts of the story is when Maniac takes on the challenge to untangle Cobble’s Knot. It started out as a baseball-sized, tightly packed, weather-crusted knot. Sounds pretty hard to untangle, right? With patience though, Maniac works until it becomes “a gigantic hairball”. Then, ‘around dinnertime’ he had successfully defeated Cobble’s Knot.

Sometimes, in the course of our life, we can find ourselves in situations that resemble Cobble’s Knot. For a while, it may seem that we won’t be able to untangle it. The mess is too big, and we’ve weaved so many loops to hide the truth.
Let me use a real life example, as somewhat embarrassing as this might be.

When I was 12 Read the rest of this entry »

*FYI: If you have never read “The Summoning of Everyman” (author unknown) I want to let you know that the characters are often named after virtues or objects, similar to Pilgrims’ Progress. Also, any direct quotes from the story will be italicized and bolded.*

‘The Summoning of Everyman’, often shortened to ‘Everyman’, is an allegorical moral play that was written around 1485 A.D.

‘Everyman’ represents all of mankind, in a single character. As a Language Arts assignment, I was directed to read this play. At first, I was not intrigued. I have never been good with the funny word orders and spellings that were used in the Middle Ages. But as the story went on, I realized that ‘Everyman’ had a lot of truth in it, that was a good reminder for me.

When the story starts out, God laments on the fact that Read the rest of this entry »

You may have wondered what the story is behind the name of my blog, Just Shine On.  If so, then you will be happy to know that I’m about to tell you!

Ever since I was little, others have verbally associated me with light and sunshine. The first memory my parents have of this, is when a lady from our church told them that she had enjoyed watching two-year-old me, week after week, and that she thought I had ‘such a sunny disposition’. When I was older, my Gramma would sing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ to me all of the time.  As I grew older still, complete strangers continued to tell my parents about this ‘light’ they say I seem to emit.

I’d be lying, if I said I didn’t I know what this light is in me is, that others are Read the rest of this entry »

Hey everyone, and welcome to my new blog, Just Shine On! I am so excited about this blog, for so many reasons, and I can’t wait to share those reasons with you. But first, I have to back-track a little bit.

I actually have had a blog before. Some of you may have even been to it. It was started when I was 12 years old. Given my young age, that blog was very private. Each post was password protected, and only those who I had given the link to, knew about it. This really limited my audience, but it was a great learning experience and gave me practice in developing my writing skills. Now, I am older, which has opened up so many new windows for me. Like, having a public blog, with a clearer purpose! (And an actual logo, designed by my mother!)

What IS The Purpose?

As of right now, I want to go to college to be a writer and a youth minister, and possibly do some television work. However, I am open to whatever else God’s plans may be for me. I think about things a lot, and I ultimately have a lot to say, that I feel compelled to put out there, and share with other young people. But in the big picture, I want my blog to be an upbeat place, that will, at the same time, present a new way of thinking, for both girls and guys. It is also my hope, that my blog, through the content and resources that will be shared here, will encourage all Christian teenagers to just shine on in the spiritual light of their life, and a place where we can connect, communicate, and support each other as friends. I don’t want to present just my own thoughts though. I would love it if you contributed to this blog as well, whether through comments, or a guest post of your own. If you have an idea, please contact me!

Catholicism is very intertwined with my life, as it is the faith that I embrace and practice. So, in my posts, there will be a lot of references to Catholicism, because it’s the faith that is such a part of who I am. Despite this, I assure you that my posts will be applicable to the lifestyle of all Christian denominations. These are the goals that I hope to accomplish with Just Shine On. (You can read more about the meaning behind the name of this blog in an upcoming post.)

Here’s What to Expect at Just Shine On

As a reader and follower of Just Shine On, you can look forward to many things! For one, you can expect to see this blog grow as I add new things.  My posts will address topics that are relevant in our lives as young Christians living in todays’ society. While I exercise my creative writing, I hope to post short stories inspired by whatever my imagination creates, that will have an encouraging message for you. As I mentioned, I hope to have some guest bloggers, as well as interviews with people who are living their faith in an inspiring way, or have a great message to share with us, as young people growing up in the society that we do. Of course, sometimes I will post an inspirational picture, video, or anything else I may find uplifting, and think you may too. Regardless of the topics, I hope they encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments section, and it would be great if it evolved into some discussion there between us all there sometimes, as well.  Plus, I will also be holding occasional giveaways! So there will be FREE STUFF up for grabs for you! And who knows what other ideas I’ll come up with along the way, as I create a following for Just Shine On. All I know for sure, is that I hope you’ll come along with me, and that YOU bring your friends on over, too!
Let’s raise the roof, and light up this place!

~Alexis Grace

♫ LISTEN/WATCH:  ‘Set the World On Fire”, by Britt Nicole