Two years ago today, I was picked up from the convent which I thought would be my home for the rest of my life, by my parents who took me home for good. It was a decision that was challenging but guided by the Holy Spirit every step of the way.
The eight months I spent in the convent will forever mark an important part of my life. I often speak about my life in terms of things that happened before the convent and after the convent. It just makes sense since so much changed in those short eight months.
When I look back, I know that it was exactly where God wanted me. He taught me so much about who I am and who He is. He claimed me as His beloved daughter and taught me to live in the Truth of His love for me. He also stirred in me the desire to truly make His merciful love known in the world.
Those eight months were like an extended retreat that prepared me to truly be His light in the world. They taught me how to hear and discern the Lord’s voice and showed me how active He is in our daily lives. Our Heavenly Father so desires for us to know Him and His love for us. He desires only our good and has incredible plans in store for each of our lives.
I’ve seen the truth of this statement played out in my life over the past two years. It’s been a difficult journey but a worthwhile one, of finding my place in the world after thinking I was called out of it. I don’t know that the journey will every truly end, but I do know that I’ve been renewed once again in just this past month in my hope and trust that the Lord has not forgotten me. He continues to show me that He has beautiful and important plans for me. And every step of the way, the Lord uses the challenges to transform me.
“Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; See, I am doing something new!” Isaiah 43:18-19
When I am weak, and realize my weakness, that is truly when He is able to step in and heal. There has been a lot of discovery of realizing my own weakness but also discovering of the gifts He has given me to love and serve Him. What a gift it continues to be to watch my Heavenly Father heal me and make me new.
While my life may not look like I thought it would three years ago, I wouldn’t trade any of it! God’s plans are much better than our plans and He doesn’t let us go through anything without bringing good out of it. Sometimes I still miss those 30 beautiful women I lived with in the convent and the daily life I lived there, but I know that the Lord is doing so much good in my life and the lives of those around me now that wouldn’t have been possible if I stayed.
Arise My Daughter and Come 