Surprised by Graciousness

This is the first image that comes to
mind when I say "journey."
Want to come along?

Please forgive me for the length of time between posts; there has been much to share, but little time for blogging. Many use blogs on a more frequent basis, but my intention is to post every quarter or so with an update on how life and formation is going. I would love this to be a means for my benefactors, friends, and family to journey with me!

That being said, these past seven months have been beautiful and they have provided many an opportunity to give thanks! Seven months ago I was overwhelmed by my college debt while working full-time, living in Kansas, and praying that the Lord would make it possible for me to begin my first year with the Apostles of the Interior Life the coming Fall. I had heard the Apostles speak often of the miracles of Divine Providence within the community, but I don't know if I truly believed them until I experienced it myself.

A month after I was accepted into the year of pre-formation with the Apostles, I knew I needed to start fundraising. I don't particularly enjoy asking people for money, and I never have (this is the root of why I never joined Girl Scouts: asking people to buy things). To do so requires a large amount of humility that I never possessed; but, I knew that if I wanted to move forward with the community, this was something I needed to do. I begged the Lord to be merciful and to send me people who had a
heart for His service, but He did so much more!

Not only was I able to enter this August debt-free, but some benefactors also made it possible for me to spend time with the community in Italy over the summer! It is the only time of the year that the whole community is together, and it was such a blessing to be there with them. I could not imagine a more beautiful way to kick-start this next step in my journey, and for this I am incredibly grateful.

The exciting part about the fact that God created us each uniquely is that each journey subsequently has its own flavor. So far, my first two months have been a whirlwind of blessings, travel, new and old friends, and above all, Love. Within these first two months I have lived in a house with eight people that typically houses four (and I was the only one who was not fluent in Italian), I traveled with two Italians as their "tour guide" to a city I had never been to, survived an almost blown tire and a severe tornado watch/storm on the highway with 6 other people in the car (and the most amazing and kind AAA mechanic ever), safely arrived in Kansas for Tatum's vows and was able to meet her beautiful family, spent around four hours a day in prayer, found a new spiritual director (my 4th in the last 5 years, whoop!), gave three talks to people my age and younger, had a meal with Fr. Timothy Gallagher (if you don't know him, click on his name!), prayed in front of an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa (one of St. JPII's favorites), chopped off almost all of my hair (slight exaggeration), AND I am learning how to cook Italian food from native Italians. I'm feeling pretty blessed. ;)

Our Lady of
Czestochowa

However, the list is not really the point. The point is that with the ins-and-outs and ups-and-downs of the crazy world that we live in, the Lord's grace reigns supreme. With my limited capacity, I will never truly be able to understand how I got here or what is coming next, but what I do know is that since I am here, I will try my best to follow where He is leading. His plan is always better than mine, and it is far more exciting.

So, thank you. Thank you for whatever part you have had to play in my journey so far; I am so grateful for you and I am praying for you every day (this still applies if you are a stranger that just so happened to see this post today...prayers are coming your way, friend!). I will see all of you in the Eucharist, but until then, may God Bless you abundantly!


P.S. Happy feast of the coolest and most captivating Pope I have ever seen, St. John Paul II!!