What God spoke to me in the Dominican Republic

This was my fifth trip to the Dominican Republic. I have been going there since July 2007 on medical missions. God has always seemed to have some words for me there when I go. I try to listen to see what He was wanting to speak to my spirit. This time was no different. As soon as I got on the plane in Miami to Santo Domingo He started to speak. This time I sat next to a nurse. She was also on her way to Santo Domingo on a medical mission trip as well. She was meeting a group there to minister to the people in prison there. She was an older lady. Old enough to be my Mom. God always seems to put a mom figure in my life some way or another. Since I don't have the best relationship with mine. This lady was very kind and very sweet. As we talked she told me she had just gotten through with her chemo just before this trip. She told me she had stage four bone cancer. That is was just in the bones and not in the lymph nodes yet. I was amazed that she was going on a mission trip to a different country just after having chemo. What a brave women. As I spoke more to her her faith just shown through. That she believed that God was calling her to go. At one point she stopped and said "oh I have to take my medcations. I am so embarssed because there are so many I have to take." I told her I did not mind. That I understood. But you could tell she did not like taking them in front of me. After that I asked her if I could pray for her. She said yes I could. I explained to her that I believed God that could heal. I told her that I was also invloved in a minstry that believed that God can and still does heal. She told me that in the past she had been on mission trip to Haiti and had seen people healed there. She said that she seen someone pray for a women who had been in a coma for quite sometime. And after they prayed she woke up and wanted to eat.
She said I do believe in healing. 
 I went ahead and told her that I was Catholic. She was Baptist. But it did not seem to matter to her. So I went ahead and prayed for God to bring healing to her. We prayed right there on the plane. Just very quietly. Then she just held my hand. After praying for her she got my information and said that she would contact me after she got back from the trip.
So after I got back I received and email from her. She said that the whole week in the Dominican she had enough strength to do her part with out any help from anyone. I believe God gave her the supernatural strength to do what she needed to do there. And I just got got word that there has been no activity with her cancer. Her test are showing no activity! Praise God. What an awesome God we have!
I am just amazed that God would sit me next to someone else going on a mission trip to the Dominican when there were so many Dominican's on the plane I could of set next to. I believe it was a divine appointment. I am continuing to pray for her.


One of the other things God did while I was there was to let Me know that His Mother Mary was with me. So how did God let me know this? Well when I opened my suit case with the Vacation bible school stuff in it there was a miraculous medal that I had bought sometime ago sitting right on top of my stuff. Now I know that I had bought this medal. I did not remember where I had put it though. There was also twenty one cents sitting right next to it. I felt like God was reminding me of Psalm 121.
Psalm 121

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. 
He has always given that Psalm to me when I have gone to the Dominican. But these items should had been at the bottom of my suitcase. They were small and the suit case had been tumbled around and gone through customs. They should have been at the bottom. But they weren't. I really believe God was letting me know His Mother was there with me. And this would not be the only time that He would let me know that.

The next morning devotion time was about the beatitudes. God had always given me Matthew 5:8. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." So I feel God was talking to me here again. And I have researched this scripture many times. To figure out what God was trying to tell me. Who are the pure in heart? What does it mean to have a pure heart? These are questions I constantly ask myself. I constantly have this scripture on my mind.

 
 Another way God let me know that Mary was with me was that on our way to one of the Clinic's I saw I huge sign that said MARY all in capital letter's. It was at fruit market I believe. Probably the persons name who owned it or something. But what I felt was God letting me again know that MARY was with me. I just kinda smiled when I seen her name.
The next day on the way to another clinic I was praying the Rosary. I was listening to it on my mp3 player. I was with a Baptist group so I did not want to offend them by me praying this out loud. I really felt I had to respect their beliefs. But I still prayed it silently. Right after I got through praying the Rosary I noticed a car pulled right in front of with a picture of the Rosary on the back of it. Again another reminder that Mary is with me. The small circle on the back of the car was the picture of the Rosary.

On the last night there when went to eat in one of the church member's homes. We divided up into groups and we were assigned which house we would be eating at. My group was the last group to get dropped off. It was a very difficult road to get down with our huge bus. Just a rock road with lots of holes in it. Lots of dips and hills. It was pouring down raining that night. We finally got to as far as we could go down the road. We had to park the bus beacuse it would not fit the rest of the way. So we got out in the rain, mud and the darkness and walked a good ways to the peoples house. I had flip flops on. Not the shoes you want to wear in the rain and mud! And no umbrella either. We were just not prepared at all. And  I could hardly see where we were going. We finally reach the house. And the family was so glad to have us. They no electricity. So we ate by candle light. The father of the family had gone in the pouring rain to find us cokes to drink. You can not drink the water there. They fixed a very nice meal for us. Dominican spaghetti. It was fixed with corn and olives. And we also had fried plantains. When I got in the house I noticed a picture of a tree on their back wall. One of the girls with us had a necklace on that was an olive tree. I had asked her about this necklace a couple of days prior. She said that it represented her favorite verse Psalm 52:8 "But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God's unfailing love."
So when we both noticed the picture of the tree in their house we both knew we were suppose to be at this home eating with these people. I also have a huge olive tree in my back yard covering my house. I really felt God speaking to us with the olive tree. And the picture in their house really looks like drawing of a olive tree!

Our last devotion night that we had we just did some popcorn sharing. Just about what God had done or spoken to us while we were there. One of the young men shared a scripture that he had read that week. It was Psalm 20. This was interesting that he shared this particular Psalm. For quite sometime now  I have been praying about a certain situation. I had been praying about not having the support that I need with something in my life. And in this Psalm verse 2 speaks about having support from Zion! Amazing. It was the exact words I have been praying to God. Also the day before I left My husband had a dream about taking me to the airport. He dreamed I was riding a horse and the airport people would not let me take my horse. And I said "but I love my horse it is my pet." I was baffled at this dream. I was asking God all week what it meant. Well verse 7 in the Psalm speaks about "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God!" Wow. I now know what God was telling me. To just trust him with all my concerns. All that I have been praying about. What an amazing God we have. He know the details of our lives. I was so overwhelmed at what God had spoke to me here. From a young college student. I told him that God had used him to speak to me. He just had a smile on his face. This was an amazing trip for me. God spoke so much to me. I will never forget it.


             Psalm 20

20 May the Lord ^(A)answer you in the day of trouble!
    May ^(B)the name of the God of Jacob ^(C)protect you!
² May he send you help from ^(D)the sanctuary
    and give you support from ^(E)Zion!
³ May he ^(F)remember all your offerings
    and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

⁴ May he ^(G)grant you your heart's desire
    and fulfill all your plans!
⁵ May we shout for joy over ^(H)your salvation,
    and in the name of our God set up our ^(I)banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

⁶ Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
    he will answer him from his holy heaven
    with ^(J)the saving might of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in ^(K)chariots and some in ^(L)horses,
    ^(M)but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They collapse and fall,
    but we rise and stand upright.

⁹ O Lord, save ^(N)the king!
    May he answer us when we call.

St. Therese the Little Flower

This is a talk that I did this past weekend at our Acts Day retreat at our parish. It is on St. Therese the Little Flower.

When I was asked to do a talk on a Saint or a women in the Bible I was very excited to do so. In my mind I kept going over who I could write about. There were a few women that I had in mind. And after thinking about it for a while I just felt that I needed to write about St. Therese. But before I begin I want to share how I came to know her. During my conversion from the protestant church I felt God leading me to read about her. So I would like to give a little background on how I got to know her. And this is how God led me.......

It all started when my Dad remarried in 1999 after my parents divorced when I was 26. And he remarried a Catholic. My Step Mom would be the first Catholic that I would met in my life. I had never been around any Catholic until then. Little did I know that this was one of the first ways God was leading me to the Catholic church. But I did not know it at the time.

In December of 2008 I was talking to my Step-Mom and told about some of bible studies I was taking at the Catholic Church. She told me she wanted to give me something. She left the room and came back with this little red bag with a red rosary in it. I took it out and looked at it. I thought it was very pretty. She really did not explain to me what a rosary was other than she said that she wanted me to have it. I put it back in the little red bag and took it home with me. When I got home with it I just kind of put it away. Because I not thinking at the time God was leading me to be Catholic.

In September of 2009 my friend invited me to come here to watch the movie about St. Theresa. And I became very intrigued with her. After I got home something told me to get that rosary out that my step-mom had given me. When I took out the rosary I realized that it was a St. Therese rosary. So I thought that was kind of odd. I was so intrigued with her I wanted to know more about her. I took out a book that I had on women saints and looked up her saint day which was October 1st.

While I was reading about her I was questioning whether or not there were saints in heaven who pray for us. I am not sure if I believed it was real. Coming from a protestant background I was never taught this. This was uncharted territory for me. When I got to the middle of the page while reading about her there was a scripture. Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I thought to myself that was interesting. That was a scripture God had been giving me over and over. While reading on it said that she was also send you Roses as a sign of intercession in heaven. So I was not quite sure I believed that. Could she really send me roses from heaven? So I prayed the prayer of intercession that was written in the book. Then I asked God if it was true that she would send Roses as a sign of her intercession.

Immediately after I prayed that I picked up the Word Among Us to read that I had also bought that day. But I did not pay attention to the front cover of the book when I bought it. On the front cover it had a story of a women who received roses when she asked St. Therese to intercede for her. I read the story and thought maybe just a coincidence.

The next day while I was checking my email I noticed I had and email from eBay about an item that I had looked at. It had now been re listed. I had been looking at a Jesus and Mary enamel medallions on eBay a couple weeks prior. But did not by them then. So I thought about it and decided to buy them because they were very pretty. For some reason I had not paid attention to the name of the store I was buying them from. When I placed the order the confirmation came back "A little bit of heaven is coming your way from raining roses" The name of the store was raining roses. I just did not know quite what to think. I just kept getting messages about roses in words. Then on October 1st a few days later I went to go see my chiropractor. And he always has some kind of quote on the board when you go in. Well when I went in the quote was "You can complain that roses have thorns or you can rejoice that thorns have roses." I knew then it was not a coincidence because it was her Saint day. So I felt in my heart that she was indeed letting me know she does send roses and this is all very real. And when I was confirmed Catholic of course I chose her to be my saint name. I have felt close to her ever since.

When reading about her I just love the little way she loved people. Sometimes the littlest things make the biggest difference. I think her strength was knowing that she was weak. I found an article on her about her autobiography. At the beginning of the article it said "Quite often, when pondering the lives of the saints we hear of great miracles (ecstasies, healings, levitations, etc) It is rare that we hear of a saint's faults and weaknesses. Sometimes we need to hear about these in order to be able to relate to them; to realize that they were "earthen vessels" like the rest of us. One of Saint Therese's weakness was distraction at prayer. However, this did not keep her from trudging along her "little way".  In her autobiography and letters, Saint Therese faithfully acknowledged her weakness to God, trusting His infinite Mercy to forgive.

We all have strengths and weakness. And sometimes it is hard to look past our faults and weaknesses. But be reassured that even the most saintly people had their weaknesses. St. Therese had many struggles. One of her biggest struggles was being diagnosed with tuberculosis. But I really felt while praying for this talk I was to focus my attention on her weakness in prayer. And it is something I know we all struggle within our busy, hectic lives.

 In her autobiography "The Story of a Soul" she admits to having difficulty reciting the rosary. In her own words she writes "When I am alone (I am ashamed to admit it) the recitation of the rosary is more difficult for me than wearing of an instrument of penance. I force myself in vain to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary. For a long time I was desolate about this lack of devotion which astonished me, for I love the Blessed Virgin so much that it should be easy for me to recite in her honor prayers which are so pleasing to her. Now I am less desolate; I think that the Queen of heaven, since she is my MOTHER, must see my good will and she is satisfied with it. Sometimes when my mind is in such aridity that it is impossible to draw forth one single thought to unite me with God, I very slowly recite an "Our Father" and then the angelic salutation "Hail Mary, full of grace" then these prayers give me great delight; they nourish my soul much more than if I had recited them in a hurry a hundred times." 

She also says in her book "I do not have the courage to force myself to search out beautiful prayers in books. There are so many of them it really gives me a headache! And each prayer is more beautiful than the others. I cannot recite them all and not knowing which one to choose, I do like children who do not know how to read, I say very simply to God what I wish to say, without composing beautiful sentences, and He always understands me. For me Prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus."

So it makes me feel better knowing that she too struggled with prayer and she was a saint! I have quoted her a lot but I just found that I really wanted to convey her heart. That she too was human and weak at times. And yet God used all of her weakness for His Glory. In 2 Corinthians 12:10 the apostle Paul says "Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong." 

No matter what weakness you think you may have, no matter what inadequacies or setbacks you've encountered, God wants to give you his divine strength. He wants to make up the difference.

St. Therese also struggled with charity. One of the stories she writes in her book is about a Sister who had a strange habit. I found the story quite funny and inspiring. She says "The practice of charity, as I have said was not always so sweet for me, and to prove it to you I am going to recount certain little struggles which will certainly make you smile. For a long time at evening meditation, I was placed in front of a Sister who had a strange habit. This is what I noticed: as soon as this Sister arrived, she began making a strange little noise which resembled the noise one would make when rubbing two shells, one against the other. I was the only one to notice it because I had extremely sensitive hearing(too much at times). It would be impossible for me to tell you how much this little noise wearied me. I had a great desire to turn my head and stare at the culprit who was very certainly unaware of her "click". This would be the only way of enlightening her. However, in the bottom of my heart I felt it was much better to suffer this out of love for God and not to cause the Sister any pain. I remained calm, therefore, and tried to unite myself to God and to forget the little noise. Everything was useless. I felt the perspiration inundate me, and I was obliged simply to make a prayer of doing it without annoyance and with peace and joy, at least in the interior of my soul. I tried to love the little noise which was so displeasing; instead of trying not to hear it (impossible), I paid close attention so as to hear it well, as though it were a delightful concert, and my prayer (which was not the Prayer of the quiet) was spent in offering this concert to Jesus."

And I know at the retreat you will be dealing with people snoring and you may not get the sleep you need. So why not turn in the snores in to a concert to Jesus and offer as a prayer.

I thought it was absolutely amazing about her. To take something that bothered her so much to offer it as a concert to Jesus. Sometimes it is hard to love other people and their habits. But she shows us how she turned her weakness in charity into something so beautiful. And it ended up Glorifying our Lord.

Saints are so extraordinary because their struggles are so ordinary. It is their faithfulness that set them apart. A faithfulness that witnesses to the power of God.  Her strength was in Jesus Christ. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loved her. He loved her till the very end. She had an unwavering faith. She trusted in the sacred heart of Jesus. She offered Jesus the storms, trials and the weakness of her life and God turned them into rainbows as a sign to all of us. She colored the sky with rays of hope for all of us. She left behind a legacy. A legacy to always trust Jesus as a child.

Matthew 18:3 "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

I have often wondered why God lead me to St. Therese. Then while reading about her I came across this statement by Pere Jean-Baptiste Muard he said "It is not we who choose this saint or that saint to be our friend; it is, rather, the saints who choose those whom they wish to befriend. The saints choose us, and this, in light of God's wisdom and providence."

I thought this was an amazing statement because recently when Danielle Rose was here for her concert she had given us the name of a saint that wanted to be our friend for the year. Pieces of paper were just passed out randomly with a saint name on it and a little something about them. I was given St. Clare of Assisi. Father Bob had just blessed her statue that day at the mass prior to the concert. I felt this was no accident. I really feel she wants to be my friend. And I am excited to get to know her as well and as to why she wants to be my friend.

So maybe St. Therese really wants to be your friend today to help you with your weaknesses by letting us see her weaknesses. So do not be afraid of your weakness because God wants show you His strength through them and then God will be glorified. In reality your weakness is what God uses to become your strengths. God has done it in my own life. There are area's in my life that I struggle with. As a nurse I never wanted to work with children. Honestly they scared me. I do not have children yet. And I just did not know what to do with them when I was around them. So I never wanted to work in pediatrics. I avoided it at all cost. Well God has a sense of humor. Two years ago he directed me to go work with children at a place for abused children. And now I am in my second year working as a school nurse with elementary children. This was one of my greatest weaknesses. But now I love being around them. And I am no longer afraid of them. I feel he is turning on of my greatest weaknesses into my greatest strength. But I had to allow God to do this work in me. It was not easy. But when I felt God directing to work with children I did not have the heart to tell Him no. And I think he was wanting to teach me something through them. Well In the past two years I have learned a lot. Even though I have had times where I did not think I was going to make it through it. I have felt overwhelmed at times with all that God has done in my life. Converting to the Catholic Church was not at all easy for me. I have been completely overwhelmed at times. And when God directed me to work with children 3 years ago it was a bit overwhelming for me. But I knew God was calling me to work with children. I just kept coming to Him telling Him all my weaknesses. And even when I did give up at one point He helped me back up again. Psalm 145:14"The Lord upholds all those [of His own] who are falling and raises up all those who are bowed down." Yes, I did give up at one point. I told God it was just too hard and I am not the person for this. I told Him you got the wrong girl for this. Well He won’t let me give up so easily. "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength." (Isaiah 40:29) 

He wants us to come to Him with our weaknesses. He does not want us to be afraid to admit when we are weak. The Lord knows our weaknesses, He is mindful that we are but dust and ashes. Do you feel drained? Exhausted? Ask God for help. Depend on Him for the power to go on and the strength to make it through the valley. When circumstances overwhelm and seem to much to bear, Depend upon the Lord for strength and trust His tender care. 

So don't be afraid if God is wanting you to do something that you feel you can't do. You may end up surprised that it will become your greatest strength.

I also played this song at the end of my talk. I feel God sent St. Therese to me to help me. He knew I was going to need help when I converted to the Catholic Church. And maybe God wants to you to know that help is on the way. Just like He sent St. Therese to help me and to intercede for me He will send someone to help you. Help is on the way..... by Micheal W. Smith

In the Silence of the heart You Speak

 A couple of weeks ago Danielle Rose came to our parish for a wonderful concert. She is a beautiful Catholic singer. She sings like an Angel. Her music is very deep. And her most of her songs were written while in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I was greatly moved by her music. And this song In the Silence was one of my favorites.

Yesterday After leaving Daily Mass I got in my car and this song was playing- Divine Romance by Phil Wickham. It just seemed so perfect for that song to be on. I do feel like I am in a Divine Romance with my Lord being able to receive Him. He is like a deep deep flood in me when I receive Him in the Eucharist. He gives me strength and so much Love. And in His presence I am completely satisfied. So I thought I would share this song.

This past June I did a bible study at my parish on the book Fire Within. It is written by Fr. Thomas Dubay.  This is a book on the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John the Cross. I have tried to read the writings of St. Teresa before but I felt some of it was over my head. This book really helps to understand both of their writings. I have very much enjoyed reading this book. We will start the bible study back up in September to finish the book. We only went through the first four chapters.
 I highly recommend this book. I love reading about the saints. Since I have become Catholic I have just become a bookworm. Well I was a bookworm before that but now even more. 

The power of prayer

Some time ago I found this definition of prayer and it just struck me as one of the most beautiful defintions I have ever heard. 

One should never underestimate the power of prayer as a response to situations in our lives. To use a simple definition, prayer is our love joined to God's love, and that love visits the person for whom we are praying. Even if people do not know that we are praying for them, the power of prayer is still communicated at a spiritual level. We often sense that something is happening even when no words are spoken (e.g., when someone is angry at us, or when something painful has happened to a loved one). This is the level at which prayers have their effect. Even if we never tell the loved one that we are praying for him or her, that person senses it at a profound level. We are embracing that person in our love and God's love and love always brings healing.

Our prayer and God's mercy are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends, the other descends.

A Time for Everything

After my second trip to the Dominican Republic I felt God leading me to sponsor a child in the Dominican Republic. I was going to sponsor a little boy but they told me he had just gotten sponsored. So they told me that this little girl named Heidy needed a sponsor. So I sponsored her.
After sponsoring her I found out that she was really sick. She had a bad skin infection on her arm. They thought that she may lose her arm. So with the help of God I was able to get her the medicine that she needed. And had it sent down there with the next mission trip team that was headed there the next week. Her arm healed and she regained use of her arm. It was a miracle in itself. All of the circumstances surrounding the timing that I sponsored her. God knew she needed medicine. 

Every time I have gone to the Dominican I have gotten to spend time with her and her family. I was able to eat with her in her two room  home with her family. And go to church with her. I had grown attached to her. She was a very shy, sweet and very pretty. 
Over the last six months she developed a lung infection. Possibly pneumonia. She had been in out of the hospital. When I was down there in March I was able to see her. I was so glad to see her. When I saw her my heart went out to her and tears welled up inside of me. I had been praying that she would be healed of this lung infection. And she seemed to be doing much better. I gave her a big hug. And her Mom also. I got to spend a little bit of time with her there. And I was so grateful for that time. Because little did I know it would be the last time I got to see her. Soon after I got back from the Dominican she relapsed. They put her in the hospital. A children's charity hospital. With limited medical care. Everyone was praying for her. And she started to do better. She started to respond to the medication they were giving her but it was only for a couple of days. On June 14th I got a knock at my door. It was someone from the children's home where I sponsored her through. I knew before the lady opened her mouth she was there to tell me she did not make it.  I was so sad and my heart sunk. I really thought she would make it. I did not know what to think or say. I felt so sorry for her mother. Her mother was just a sweet. They both have a sweet spirit about them. 

On the day that Heidy went to be with the Lord I sent an email to one of the people from the children's home who is in the Dominican right now. In that email I spoke about the scipture in Ecclesiastes 3 which says:

A Time for Everything

 1 There is a time for everything, 

   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 2 a time to be born and a time to die, 

   a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, 

   a time to tear down and a time to build, 

 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, 

   a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 

   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

 6 a time to search and a time to give up, 

   a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, 

   a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

 8 a time to love and a time to hate, 

   a time for war and a time for peace.

Later that day my husband and I were in Mardels. I had told him I was wanting a new desktop calender. They had a whole rack of them. So many it was hard to chose one. But then he picked up the one by Stormie Omartian - The Power of a Praying Wife. He turned to that days reading June 14th and the what it said could of only been from God to me. 

It said:

Remember that even though we pray and have faith, the outcome and timing are God's decisions. He said there is "a time to heal" (Ecclesiastes 3:3). If you pray for healing and nothing happens, don't beat yourself up about it. God sometimes uses a man's physical ailments to get his attention so He can speak to him. Keep praying, but know God's decision is the bottom line.

In this devotional she put the same scripture the one I had put in the email earlier that day. So I know that God was speaking to me here. We don't always understand God's plan or His purposes but I know that He is in control. And God is still God even when we think our prayers are not answed in the way that we want. God knows best. Heidy was only 10 years old. And she was a precious little girl. I know she is in the arms of Jesus now. And I will miss her.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."