What awaith me, oh Advent?

Wow. It has been way too long since I last updated my blog. The Lord has been doing so much in my life... it would take a novel just to include it all. So much healing, freedom, Holy Spirit power going on. :)

The Lord has called my friends and I to start a prayer group for people our age. It has been a great challenge for me (and others in the group, but I can't speak for their experiences). I have found that the position in which God has placed me, is not a position I would have 'happily' chosen for myself. It is filled with great challenges and struggles. Constant spiritual warfare, plaguing many moments of the day, often stealing peace of mind. What is it exactly, that causes so much strife? FEAR. Fear of love and fear of you, fear of letting go and making mistakes.

Most of us live with some form of fear in our daily lives. So how does one go about dealing with this? There is only one way. Avoid everything you are afraid of, dig a hole, live under a rock, build a bomb shelter... JK!!!

The key is putting your trust in the Lord. This took a great deal of effort, or so it seemed. I thought I had tried everything. However, none of them were working. You know that trick where if you tell yourself something enough times you start to believe it? Yeah... didn't work. Prayer, surrender, submission, begging, pleading... to no avail. Now, this is not a hopeless case, as you may be starting to think. Finally, after all these trials, I turned to our Blessed Mother.
Yep. Five days of persistence in prayer to our Lady, praying a Novena, Rosary, and Hail Marys, and I began to find clarity again. Trust came a tiny bit more easily as I asked our Mother's intercession for the grace to trust in our Father, her Son, and beloved spouse (Holy Spirit). The Rosary does work if you mean it when you pray it! So, pray the Rosary daily! This Advent, it is my goal to pray the Rosary daily, and allow our Mother to teach me how to Trust in God a little more everyday.

God Bless you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary, Mother of All

I just got home from Adoration and an answer to prayer so obvious that I could not turn my back. I am getting ready for a big trip right now, it has been stressful to say the least. However, a lot of prayer has happened because of that. I went to Adoration with the intention of praying for this journey which has been so difficult and spent an hour and a half doing just that. I walked out filled with peace, knowing that I had begun to place everything into His hands and I just needed to keep doing that. But it didn't end there.

As I stepped out of the sanctuary and into the foyer, a man stopped me and asked if I recognized him. I hadn't and his response was "Good." He began to teach me the importance of praying the Rosary every day as Our Lady of Fatima asked us to do, pointing out the 15 promises that will be kept if we honor her request. He told me about his life and the healing he received from Our Mother from an addiction to alcohol which nearly led him to suicide. On the day he planned his suicide, instead of a gun, he picked up a Rosary. She saved him. He told me about the brown scapular and promise of heaven if we wear it. He talked about many things that he was passionate about, including modesty in dress.

This was Our Lady and Our Lord's way of telling me, "Elizabeth, it's time to start praying the Rosary every day and wearing the Brown Scapular." Within the last week I thought to myself how Our Lady have never explicitly asked me to pray the Rosary daily. I also fingered my Brown Scapular and felt the need to start wearing it again... but didn't put it on. I guess I have my invitation and challenge now.

Has Our Mother beckoned you? She promises peace for the world, armor against hell, protection, grace, virtue, and so much more! If you struggle in your faith and want to grow stronger, pray the Rosary daily! If you want more than just an average life and want to go to heaven, pray the Rosary daily!

If you have a story to share about how the Rosary changed your life, leave a comment and tell me about it. I would love to hear your stories!