Right before Christmas, the consecrated in my community and I, along with the Dallas community and individuals from DC, Chicago, and Michigan, had the gift of spending 8 days on retreat. It was my first spiritual exercises in Dickinson, TX, and with an apostolate team community.
God works in many ways, and often very gently and quietly.
My experience was learning to surrender myself and my ways of living, loving, and being. It’s to that extent that I become more who He is asking me to be.
He asked me to re-center on Him. He asked me to let Him surprise me. He asked me to empty myself so to be filled with Him.
On day 3, pinecones started appearing in my inbox. I’m still not sure who, but one of my consecrated sisters was led by the Holy Spirit to leave them for me. So, they became signs of acts of surrender God was asking of me, so I’d take them and put them by the statue of Our Lady in the courtyard.
As the days passed, more and more pinecones piled around that statue. Little by little, God’s grace was at work in my heart.
The highlight of my evenings was adoration time. Sometimes it’s when sitting in quiet that God’s presence speaks most.
Right now Cincinnati and Atlanta communities of consecrated women are on their annual 8-day retreats. Please join me in praying and sacrificing for the fruits of their time away with God.
