Since my mom died, my son and his wife have been making a concerted effort to go to Mass with me. I went this afternoon as tomorrow morning I will need to be taking care of my other son’s dog. My son, his wife, and my granddaughter were at church too. It was a blessing to be praying together.
I Found God today praying with family at Mass.
Today a far away friend called who I have known for many years. As we were talking, we decided we met about 20 years ago when my youngest son was about 10. When we would get together at that time, we mostly talked about our kids, our faith and our struggles. Many times we would pray the rosary together – sometimes with another friend, sometimes with a large group of families. It was an incredibly blessed time in my life. Today we talked for about an hour on the phone. We talked about our kids, grandkids, parents, our faith and our struggles. She said she has been praying the rosary for me and my family in particular since my mom died. It was an incredibly blessed day.
I Found God today in a the blessing of a friend.
My grandson and I have been taking turns caring for my son’s dog while he’s away. It has been super hot here and not pleasant at all to walk the dog in the afternoon. Today I decided to take her to a park that I have been to many times. It is a little higher in elevation and has lots of trees. She did a great job riding in my car and sat down in the back seat like she had done it many times before. It was still hot when we left, but was below 90 when we arrived at the shaded dirt parking lot. We had a really nice hike in the woods. The shade and breeze kept it tolerable and we stopped often for water breaks. I was glad she enjoyed it and was so well behaved. And she was pretty tuckered out for the rest of the afternoon. It felt great to get out for a good walk and I loved having a furry companion.
I Found God today enjoying a furry hiking buddy.
I have been talking with a counselor on a regular basis, which I find is very helpful for me to sort out some of the thoughts on my head. Today I talked about how God has always taken care of me. There have been several times in my life when I have faced difficult challenges and situations. But when I have trusted God to take care of things, He always has. And I’m trusting Him now to lead me to the next path that He has for me. When I was driving home from the appointment, I had on the Christian radio station as usual. It seemed that all the songs had that same theme. I felt it was verification from God.
I Found God today remembering how He cares for me.
Our neighbor has been struggling for several weeks now with a severe intestinal infection. She was in the hospital for several days, then sent home to try to get in better shape to have surgery. A couple days ago when I opened the garage, I was surprised to see an ambulance. Our friend was on the stretcher getting loaded into the ambulance. She reached out, so I held her hand and prayed with her briefly before they took her. Yesterday they decided to do the emergency surgery. I heard from her husband today who reported that the surgery was a success and that she is doing amazingly well. There have been probably hundreds of people from all over the world praying for her. I was so grateful to hear of this huge blessing.
I Found God today in a successful surgery for my friend.
Quite a while ago, my son was able to purchase tickets for the Olympics. He and his fiancee left for their big trip a couple days ago. They decided to spend some time in Rome before heading over to Paris for their ticketed events. I knew they were planning on going to Mass at the Vatican. Shortly after I woke up this morning, I received photos from them. I was shocked to see a picture of my son at the lectern in an incredibly beautiful church. Here is his story.
“It was Santo Spirito in Sassia. They do English Mass every Sunday at 9:30 am. They were the only one with English Mass close to the Vatican. About 3 blocks away. A nun (sister of mercy…of course) just came over and asked if we were readers because she needed readers and I said I have been before so she asked if I’d be willing to. I did today’s second reading!”
I did a little research and found that the church had been appointed by St. Pope John Paul II to be the Divine Mercy Spirituality Center and was served by the sisters from the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy. This is the scripture verse my son read:
Eph 4:1-6
“Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
I cried as I thanked God for the incredible blessing He gave to my son and his fiancee.
I Found God today in His gift of allowing my son to be part of a beautiful Mass in an extraordinary place.
Today I watched a video of the talk given by Bishop Baron at the recent Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis. His challenge was for the laity – Catholics who are not religious. He spoke of the responsibility of the ordinary every day Catholics. The first thing he said was,”Your Christianity is not for you – it is for the world.” We are meant to be the light of the world. To do so, we are also meant to live in poverty, chastity, and obedience. In a nutshell, poverty means to be detached from the worldly goods that we think will make us happy. Unfortunately, if we chase after wealth, pleasure, honor or power, it leads to anxiety and we never get enough. Our focus needs to be on God first who promises everlasting wealth. To live in chastity means living your sexuality in a morally and spiritually upright way. To love means to will the good of the other. Lastly, obedience means to put God’s words first. When there are so many voices steering us in so many different directions, we get confused, anxious, and even fearful. Giving space to listen to God and following Him will lead to an amazing and love-filled life. These were all challenging words and ideas, but worth personal examination.
I Found God today in a challenge to live and love closer with God.
A very loving friend of the family helped care for my mom and dad for a very long time. She was also caring for an older gentleman who she and her family brought into their home. He lived with them for many years. Several months ago, he started having more struggles, so our friend needed to spend her time with him. She even helped him pare down his “bucket list” and took him and his friends on adventures. He took a turn for the worse shortly after my mom’s funeral and we learned that he passed away a few days ago. My sister and I wanted to send some flowers to our friend, so I perused the endless possibilities. I kept coming back to the sunflowers, so that’s what I ordered to be delivered to their house. Our friend received them today and thanked us for them. She asked how we knew that sunflowers were the gentleman’s favorite. I responded that I didn’t know, but that’s what touched my heart. Now we know why.
I Found God today led to send a personal gift to a loving friend.
The other day I sent messages to a couple of my mom’s doctors to let them know she had passed away. Yesterday her most recent primary care doctor called me to offer her condolences and check to see how I was doing. Today we received a hand written note from the cardiologist who cared for both my mom and dad for many years. He also offered his sympathy and said he was honored to care for them. I was very surprised to hear from these doctors. I know they are very busy and have such time constraints. It was so thoughtful and meant so much to me that they took the time to reach out.
I Found God today in thoughtful doctors.
Today I met a friend for lunch. Her husband had Parkinson’s disease and passed away not quite a year ago. For several years, we walked the caregiving road together. While our experiences were different, we understood the struggles of caring for a loved one to the end. Now, I guess we’re traveling the grief journey at the same time. Our conversation shifted somewhat, but the understanding, support, and friendship carried on. We talked about unexpected and similar emotions. We laughed, cried, prayed, and hugged. At one point my friend said she doesn’t know how people can deal with the death of a loved one without having faith. I agreed and can’t imagine how difficult that would be. I feel so blessed to have this special woman and relationship in my life.
I Found God today in a supportive, loving relationship.
Still Finding God 