The beads on my rosary turned blue as I prayed with them that night

Mary

Divine Providence prompted me to pick up that bulletin from the kitchen table that morning.

The Lord gave me those words ahead of time because He knew that I needed to know this was truly from Him.

“How much sugar, Lord?”

I sat for a long time in the silence, touching the smooth stone of the floor, profoundly moved that Clare had also sat or knelt in this very place hundreds of years before, spending time praying and being in the presence of our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament…

Each of us has a story. Sometimes we embrace them, and sometimes we hide them.

But we often forget that those around us also have a story…

I didn’t know the Mother of God was actually my Mother, at least not in my heart, although I had certainly been trying to wrap my mind around that.

I now trust the promptings of the Holy Spirit even when, perhaps especially when, it doesn’t seem to make sense. I don’t need to understand all of the details. I just need to do whatever He tells me, in expectant trust, in wonder and awe of what He will do. 

I was never afraid that day... An inexplicable peace had settled over me the whole time, and as we paddled down the river in the rain I was just so happy, so filled with joy even though the rain never let up. I felt completely surrounded by the love of God.