O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

I am a baptized Catholic who spent my teenage and young adult years running away from God with all my might. Despite my best efforts, I could never quite get away. I had had too many experiences of the True, Good, and Beautiful as a child to be entirely deaf to them once I had grown. When I heard a piece of beautiful music or read a gorgeous story, I would catch an echo of God’s whisper to me. But I preferred, then, to call it “numinous,” a word borrowed from scientist Carl Sagan to describe a taste of the divine without a divinity. Those hooks were enough to keep me lightly tethered to Catholicism. On the morning of 9/11, the first place I went was to locate my atheist boyfriend (now my Catholic husband). The second place I went was to church, somewhere I hadn’t been voluntarily in a half dozen years. I didn’t know why, I just knew I needed it. Needed Him. Whispers in the Dark Over the next few years, these whispers kept arriving. As they were happening, the moments seemed inconsequential, even marginal. When I married that atheist man, I assumed I was done with Catholicism for good. On our honeymoon in Mexico, though, our tour bus took an unscheduled detour from the Aztec pyramids to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and we passed under Our Lady’s mantle hand in hand. We laughed about what we referred to as our hijacking, but God (and Our Lady) whispered another seed of faith into our hearts that day. When we entered graduate school, we enjoyed the company of a Mormon couple (and their adorable toddlers). They argued passionately in favor of a personal relationship with Jesus, for the reconciliation of faith and reason. We argued just as passionately against, for the sake of a good argument, but God whispered to us through their words. Insistent, patient. Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and the Whisper With the benefit of twenty years hindsight, it seems so obvious what God was doing in my twenty-something self. He was whispering to me, using every tool at His disposal, calling out to His lost sheep in the gentle, merciful voice that would not startle her. He worked within the context of a national tragedy. An unexpected detour. A very unlikely friendship. Because of my childhood encounters with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, I was eventually (slowly!) able to recognize these providential signs for what they were. Or rather, I was unable to not recognize them. They reverberated with the mark of divine love I had already known, moving the strings of my soul to vibrate in sympathy and recognition… and longing. Tuning the Ears of Our Hearts In the years since, God has continued whispering, in my most confusing moments and down twisty, uncertain paths. It is not necessarily any easier to hear Him within those moments than it was when I was twenty. But I have seen now—I have decades of evidence—that those whispers lead somewhere, somewhere good. And that even if I don’t quite hear Him correctly, He will keep whispering until I course-correct. It is worth the risk to follow the whispers, even badly. I tell you these stories for two reasons: to encourage you, and to give you hope. 1. Keep Listening... and Whispering First: Whatever you are doing to introduce others to earthly, human fragments of God’s perfection, keep doing it. Great books, music, art, and your own testimony can be just as important as liturgy and catechism in forming love and knowledge of God. In sharing them, you are introducing your family and community to the whispers, tuning the ears of their hearts to listen well and deeply. Let this be your encouragement to keep practicing your own listening, and to be a willing instrument for God when someone near you needs His whispering. 2. Keep Waiting Second: They still may not listen. And that, ultimately, is between them and God. All you can do is be a willing, whispering instrument; the results are not up to you. My poor parents probably despaired for my soul during my wilderness years, but I had to learn to recognize His whispers without their direct mediation. As do we all. (Here’s the hope: by God’s grace, after an improbably long time, I did.) It takes practice, and it takes failure, and it takes trying again. The results are by no means guaranteed. But chasing God’s whisper is the story of our lives and our salvation, the most important thing we will ever learn to do.   [bctt tweet="How I Chased God’s Whisper Down the Years #BISblog //" via="no"]   Christy Wilkens, wife and mother of six, is an armchair philosopher who lives in Austin, TX. She writes about disability, faith, doubt, suffering, community, and good reads. Her first book, Awakening at Lourdes: How an Unanswered Prayer Healed Our Family and Restored our Faith, a memoir about a Lourdes pilgrimage with her husband and son, will be released by Ave Maria Press in 2021. You can find out more about her here.

I decided to re-read The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis this year. There are few things more comforting than curling up on the couch in a fuzzy blanket in the dim of the evening and getting lost in the wonder of the Narnian universe with its talking animals, fauns, and, of course, Aslan. As I made my way through the books, I began to have a much deeper appreciation for the character of Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensie siblings. The more reacquainted I became with her character, the more I felt convinced that she is the perfect literary heroine for our weary, jaded times. Becoming Lucy In the Bible, God tells us of the vision He has for transforming our hearts: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. // Ezekiel 36:26 Lucy provides such a beautiful example of what this “heart of flesh” looks like. It is one that is pure, courageous, quick to forgive, and above all, confident in Christ’s love. Living life like Lucy Pevensie is the antidote to the fog of despair and cynicism. Her character is a blueprint for how to live out spiritual childhood. Childlike Confidence in God’s Love One of the things that really pierced my heart as I read Narnia this time was how intense and utterly trusting is Lucy’s love for Aslan. No matter the circumstances, whenever she sees Aslan, she runs to him immediately, ready to embrace him, expecting like a little child to receive his love and delight in return. She’s never held back by shame or fear. And sometimes when he leaves, she openly weeps because she can’t bear to be separated from him. She acts like the daughter I want to be with my Heavenly Father! A ll too often we shy away from Him because we don’t understand His kindness and eagerness to receive us. If only more of us had hearts like Lucy’s—open, trusting, always ready to run to God’s embrace, completely confident in His tender love. Courage Lucy's confidence in Aslan’s love bears much fruit, including great courage. With this courage she's able to have the fortitude to stay near Aslan when he is killed by the White Witch, even though it is a painful and terrifying experience for her. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when she and her friends are caught in a literal cloud of pitch darkness that never seems to end, Lucy sees others around her panicking and despairing. But instead of losing hope, she murmurs a quiet, loving request for Aslan's help and guidance. Aslan’s love lights a fire in Lucy’s heart, a fire that gives her strength for whatever difficulties come. In Prince Caspian, when Aslan asks her to do something difficult, at first she feels afraid, unsure if she can accomplish it. But right away, she leans on him for help and receives the strength she needs: Lucy buried her head in his mane to hide from his face. But there must have been some magic in his mane. She could feel lion-strength going into her. Quite suddenly she sat up. 'I'm sorry, Aslan,' she said. 'I'm ready now.' 'Now you are a lioness,' said Aslan. 'And now all Narnia will be renewed.' Whatever the circumstances, Lucy’s always looking towards Aslan, and that sustains her through fear. Readiness to Forgive Lucy has a refreshing self-forgetfulness that allows her to forgive and move forward, without clinging to past injuries and grudges. When she first meets the faun, Mr. Tumnus, he intends to betray her to the White Witch. When he finally confesses this in a flood of tears, Lucy’s immediate reaction is to forgive him. She even offers him her handkerchief as a token of their friendship. When Lucy's siblings refuse to believe that she’s discovered the magical land of Narnia, it hurts her. And yet, when her Peter finally realizes that she’s right and offers an apology, she accepts right away. A Pure Heart Lucy is often the first to see invisible realities. At first, it is Narnia itself. Then, throughout multiple books, she is often the first to see Aslan when others cannot. I can’t help but recall Jesus’ words in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” Lucy’s faith in Aslan has a simplicity that makes it purer than anyone else’s. She doesn’t let other concerns crowd her heart and compete for Aslan’s love. When she sees the truth or when she sees goodness, she simply goes for it without overthinking things. This singleness of purpose in her love frees her to see with clearer vision and experience deep joy. It opens greater adventures to her, makes her life deeper, richer, and more vibrant. Read and Be Ready If you haven't read the Narnia books, I highly encourage you to pick them up this year. Officially they might be children’s literature, but the books are just as valuable reading for adults, if not more so! There is so much spiritual richness to each story that it would take an entire book to talk about each. And if you are an old friend of Narnia, take a little time to revisit it. You will come away refreshed and encouraged, ready to become your own Lucy Pevensie.   [bctt tweet="Becoming Lucy #BISblog //" via="no"]   Maria Bonvissuto works in marketing for a Catholic all-girls school in Northern Virginia. She is always reading at least two books at a time, loves playing classical guitar and writing, and is a major St. Augustine fangirl.

But he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. // John 12:15 Love this print from Ireland Rose of Often Hidden in the Light. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

  Fear no more, O daughter Zion; see, your king comes... // John 12:15 Love this print from Mariana Pimiento of Big Apple Catholic. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. // John 3:16 Love this print from Remilla Ty from today's readings. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

“In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus.” These song lyrics have been sitting on my heart lately. I long to begin my day by diving into quiet time spent with Jesus, but if I’m being completely honest, it feels like an impossible task most days of the week. Prior to the pandemic, I carved out 10 minutes before work to pray the daily readings and Blessed is She daily devotional. This, plus my mug of warm coffee, helped me start my day on a positive note. During my commute to work, I listened to a Rosary podcast. This gave me grace and strength to handle each day. However, like most people, when COVID-19 began, my morning routine fell apart. Since I was teaching remotely, my prayer time kept getting pushed later and later into my day. I was often greeted with a surplus of urgent emails that needed my attention before I was even out of bed. Without my morning commute, I struggled to find time to listen, let alone pray, the Rosary every day. Less than three short months later, our first daughter was born. While she is truly the greatest joy, her arrival added to my lack of morning prayer routine. Most days, I woke up groggy from interrupted sleep. By the time I fed her, changed her, did tummy time, and got her down for her first nap, I needed a nap myself. I knew without quick access to the sacraments and entering a new life stage, I desperately needed a way to bring more fruitful prayer time into my day. But how? How to Put the Word Before the World Are you also struggling to prioritize time with Jesus first thing in the morning? Is your heart longing for the comfort of His Word before the world gets in the way? Maybe as a student there doesn’t seem to be enough time to connect with Him before a busy day of class. Maybe you have a handful of children at home with you, and between virtual learning and parenting, it feels like there is never any time available for prayer. Or maybe you’ve never developed a consistent prayer routine and aren’t sure how to start. I understand where you are, sister. Let’s walk through an action plan to put His Word before the world’s. Start Small The most important thing I’ve realized since my daughter was born is that I have to handle tasks in small chunks. This can be a big struggle for me. I want to go all in, but this season of life and vocation God has called me to requires setting aside my desires for His. None of us would prepare for a marathon by starting with a 20-mile run, so why do we expect the same in our spirituality? Instead of planning 30 minutes of Lectio Divina every day, I start first with the Morning Offering. This short prayer is perfect to say as I hear my daughter stirring on the monitor. I love meditating on this simple prayer and starting my day with these words instead of an Instagram scroll. Prepare for Challenges During my years of teaching in a challenging elementary school, I learned to anticipate behavior so I could be proactive instead of reactive. Instead of hoping my student with behavioral difficulties would magically wake up on the right side of the bed, I found ways to prepare myself for the challenges before they happened. This is essential in our prayer routine, too! Are you frequently interrupted by text messages, urgent work emails, little toddlers, or a noisy roommate? Anticipate these challenges ahead of time and have back up plan for when you can’t devote your time to prayer in your preferred way. This may be by offering up the annoyance for the suffering of a friend or family member. It could be popping on Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year Podcast while you feed your children breakfast. It could mean starting your lunch break reading the Gospel instead of picking up your iPhone. Whatever it looks like for you, commit to one easy replacement for the tough days.   Find a Realistic Routine In the perfect world, I’d wake up every day an hour before my daughter to get dressed, have breakfast, and spend time with Jesus. But as much as I wish I lived in the perfect world, I certainly do not. Instead, I pick 1-2 days a week where I do get up before her. This time has become such a fruitful gift in my life. I am able to really sit with the readings and allow God’s Word to fill my heart before news headlines get thrown at me. I have found when I prioritize this time, I feel so much less anxious. Some days, I only get 10 minutes into this time before little cries come through the monitor earlier than normal. However, I can then reach for my back up plan. I also love to remember what my spiritual director shared with me when I was pregnant and anxious about finding time for prayer. She said, “You were called to this vocation on purpose. Jesus isn’t asking you to give Him perfect time every day. He might be asking you to sacrifice your need to finish all the laundry and just sit with Him. Or He could be asking you to offer up a prayer while you nurse your baby. If you’re open to Him, He’ll find a way to meet you where you are.” Limit Distractions If you only have 5-10 minutes to pray in the morning, make sure to keep your distractions at bay. Silence your iPhone, sit outside, hide in the bathroom, whatever it takes! I love reading the daily readings straight from my email on my iPhone, but I’ve learned it’s way too tempting to click on text messages that come through instead of staying present to God’s Word. Now, I put my phone in the other room and access the readings from my computer instead. Make Prayer a Part of Your Community Our spirituality isn’t meant to be experienced alone, and one of the best ways to engage in His Word is through friendship with others. If you’re in a season of life where you can participate in a virtual Bible Study or read the Mass readings with a friend over Facetime, do it! Can you go to Daily Mass once a week? Are you able to drop by Adoration for 15 minutes before heading into work? Is there a religious book you’ve been eyeing? Send a copy to a friend asking her to join you. There are so many ways to connect with others while striving towards your spiritual goals. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend to keep you accountable. My husband and I have recently devoted one day a week to saying the Rosary together. Having this time together to reflect on the mysteries provides grace for the tough days. Begin Again Friend, are you ready to join me in pursuing His Word before the world’s? Start simple, bring what you have, and know it will bear great fruit. We’ve already seen what He can do with a meager offering of loaves and fish, and He is waiting to bless you with an overflowing abundance too.   [bctt tweet="Word Before World: How to Pray at the Start of the Day #BISblog //" via="no"]   Mary Fuelling is a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom in Fort Worth, TX. Her favorites include coffee, dark chocolate almonds, and all things Marian. In her free time, she enjoys reading, exercising, and cooking. WANT TO DEEPEN YOUR PRAYER? Get ready to be radically changed by the Lord and His presence. Be drawn into intimacy with the Lord by way of weekly videos, a community within the Blessed is She app, and invitations into reading scripture in a whole new way. BEGIN THE WELL: ABIDE

A few years ago I had an experience that completely woke me up to the fact that not everyone knows how to show compassion to another person’s pain. This incident also highlights the painful fact that there’s a big stigma associated with victims of abuse. It’s almost like people genuinely believe that if they don’t talk about abuse, somehow it will just go away. This of course is the furthest from the truth, as I can attest from my own experience. One of my priorities since giving my testimony is to help educate both men and women of the dire need to do a better job at dissipating this stigma. I would love to see a day where this topic is no longer a taboo and we can freely talk about it at dinner parties, just like a normal conversation. My Experience with Compassion (and a Lack of It) One day, I was in a group of five women in an environment that I thought was safe to share about the abuse I suffered as a little girl. What happened after I opened up to these women (as I was choking back tears), is what motivates me to want to help people understand how to appropriately respond when someone shares this kind of personal and painful story with you. We were sitting at a round table and three of the women had a blank stare in their faces and a couple of them just put their heads down and wouldn't look me in the eye. Did they simply not know how to show compassion with such delicate and personal news? I’m not sure, as I obviously don’t know why they reacted that way. In God’s goodness, one of the ladies did know how to react, as she jumped to her feet and came around to hug me. Her reaction of compassion and empathy made all the difference in the world. As long as I live that moment will be etched in my mind! Layers of Trauma When you grow up carrying the shame of abuse, and try to share your story with other people, and they do not react with compassion and empathy, this becomes yet another layer to your trauma. It becomes another reason why you rationalize that sharing this is not a good idea. For the victim of abuse this is detrimental to their healing. I’m not proposing we all become therapists. What I am proposing is that we need to keep in mind that as women of faith, we are all each other’s keepers, and we need to do better. Victims of abuse need to trust people so they can open up and talk about their experience as part of their healing process. Be that person that will show them compassion while listening to their story. When you avoid making eye contact or talking to a person who has been abused because of your own hesitations, you don’t help the situation, in fact this can hinder the potential for more healing for that person. What To Do The first thing you do when another woman opens up to you about their deepest pain is to look them in the eye and sincerely say something along the lines of, “I’m so sorry for the suffering you’ve gone through." This helps to dispel the shame that comes with trauma from abuse. If the situation allows, please give them a hug! Another step would be to say, “ I want you to know I’m here for you, should you ever want to go further in your sharing.” Even better would be to ask if it’s okay to say a prayer for her, right there and then. In my experience, no one ever refuses a prayer. The Healing Power of Compassion The simplicity and healing power of someone’s compassion has an enormous benefit to victims of abuse. We need to have reverence for someone's grief and pain; it is sacred territory. When you encounter someone with a pierced sword, I beg you to show them the best reverence in their pain. Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into a place of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human. // Henri Nouwen   [bctt tweet="Showing Compassion for Another Woman's Pain #BISblog //" via="no"]   Elza Spaedy is a sexual abuse survivor with a lifechanging story to share. Since becoming Unbound in 2017, Elza has been on fire for the Lord, ready to spread the good news of her incredible healing with other victims. She is the loving wife of David, and a devoted mother to their three beautiful children Bella, Bree, and Tristan. In addition to being an author and public speaker, Elza works as a realtor in Huntersville, North Carolina. She spends her free time with her family volunteering for many different ministries at Saint Mark Catholic Church. Her mission from the Holy Spirit is to share her powerful testimony of hope and healing with others who are still hurting.

From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son, listen to him. // Matthew 17:5 Love this beautiful print from Leah of Fearfully Made. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. // 1 Peter 3:18 Love this print from Jazmin De Guzman from today's readings. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

I first shared my story on Sunday, May 20, 2018: the Feast of Pentecost. That moment came after God sent a number of holy people into my life to help me find the courage and words to not only tell my story, but to work through the psychological, emotional, and spiritual pieces of it. My hope is that God will use me and my story as an instrument to heal others from their deep wounds. Just five days before I opened up about my story, I wrote this note in adoration: “I knew I needed to stop at adoration today, and as I sat down to spend time with our Lord and grabbed the diary of St. Faustina as I often like to do while in the chapel this is where the Lord took me: Page 179. Jesus says to St. Faustina, ‘My chosen one, I will give you even greater graces that you may be the witness of my infinite mercy.’ I took it as a special consolation as if Jesus was telling me that even though this would be hard for me to do, the graces that would come from me sharing my story would be more than worth it.” That hour gave me complete peace, knowing that God would provide for all that I needed to go through with everything on Pentecost. I also prayed for all the victims of sexual abuse everywhere and that God would use my story to heal others the way he has me. The Trauma and the Lies I’m sure you’ve heard that there's no healing without forgiveness, and I am living proof of that. What is forgiveness if not Divine Mercy? We mirror God’s mercy to us when we bestow mercy on those who have hurt us. I grew up in a big family with seven brothers, three sisters, and two loving parents in Brazil. My childhood was just like any other until the age of eight when someone who worked for my dad’s business took advantage of me by molesting and raping me. As you can imagine, this was a devastating experience. So from the tender age of eight, I started believing in the lies that the evil one instilled in me through this trauma. Lying is Satan’s primary weapon against God’s children. He uses this tactic to separate us from our heavenly Father. And he was having a field day with me. First lie: It must have been my fault. // For crying out loud, I was right years old. How could that have been my fault? Second lie: I should be forever ashamed. // This one probably hurt me the most because shame is what kept me from talking about what happened and finding the help that I so desperately needed. Third lie: I’ll never find happiness. // This lie made me believe that God didn’t really love me since He allowed this to happen to me. Witnesses to Forgiveness I believed in those lies so much that, in my early 20s, I realized I was sabotaging my own happiness by being drawn to people that would hurt me. I was in a bad and dark place then and was crying out to God for help. And in my cry for help, he led me to the Holocaust. I had this thrist and desire to understand human suffering better and found myself reading everything I could get my hands on about the terrible evils of the Holocaust. Looking back now, I see God was leading me on my own journey to freedom through forgiveness, even then. After I read and watched everything I thought I could stand about the Holocaust, God started leading me towards the stories from the survivors. That’s when I realized that a common theme among them was forgiveness. The ones who were able to go on and live with purpose, joy and, most importantly, love were the ones who understood that they needed to forgive all the people responsible for the unspeakable evil done to them, their families, and their countries. And then something happened that changed my life forever. In the Face of Unspeakable Evil and Heartbreak My mom called from Brazil to tell some devastating news. My aunt Ilsa, had just lost her only daughter, her daughter’s husband, and their 5-year old son, who were all killed by a drunk driver as they were walking home one evening. A whole family gone in an instant. I was devastated. My cousin Claudenice and I were very close growing up, and I struggled to understand why God would allow such terrible things to happen to good people. After hanging up with my mom, I called my aunt who had just lost her family, and after lots of tears, I asked her how she felt about the man who was responsible for killing not one but three of her family members. Her response was so immediate and shocking that I had to ask a second time. “I have forgiven him already, my Faith demands it.” My aunt is a devout Catholic. I had never heard anyone put it that way before, and immediately two things came to my mind: Oh God, how I wish I could have that kind of faith. If my aunt could forgive the man that just devastated her family, there must be a way for me to forgive the man who did those terrible things to me when I was just a little girl. The Chain of Unforgiveness One of the heaviest chains we tend to carry around with us is unforgiveness. We all have been wronged, and some of us have been deeply hurt by other people. Unforgiveness becomes a poison to yourself, much like a cancer to the soul. We need to constantly ask God for the graces necessary to forgive one another if we are to attain peace in our hearts.We have to realize that forgiveness is a choice and a process. It all starts with the desire to forgive. The more we grow as children of God, we must realize that we need to pray everyday for the courage to be open to forgive and to ask for forgiveness when we have wronged someone. All Things for Good Romans 8:28 says that, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” Looking back now and knowing how God is and just how much He loves each and everyone of us, I realized that He used a horrible situation and this family tragedy to speak directly to my heart of the need to forgive my abuser. In His goodness, He always uses terrible situations and events for the good of somebody, and in this case that somebody was me. From that day on, I made a conscious decision to forgive my abuser and move on from victim to survivor with a purpose. And as I did that, I began to experience more peace, and most importantly, I was ready to get close to God. I trusted Him more, I looked for Him more, and I was curious to see what He meant when, so many times through my darkest nights, I heard Him say to me: “If you only knew the wonderful plans I have for you. “ I began to dream about God’s plans for me and asked myself: What do those plans look like? Is He going to bring me a good man for a husband? Am I ever going to be truly healed from this? Is he going to bless me with children? In the years that followed I would have the answers to all these questions. When I made that conscious decision to forgive, I was able to start believing and receiving all God’s blessings, and one of them is my wonderful husband, David! God knew my wounds, and He was extremely good to me by giving me someone like David. David patiently loved me through my brokenness, even in the first years of marriage when I was still trying to sabotage my own happiness by believing in those lies Satan had been telling me since childhood. And then God showed His goodness and mercy to me again by blessing us with three beautiful and kind children whom I adore. Only when we forgive can we begin to hope for a future full of God’s blessings. Forgiveness helps us to get unstuck from the chains that prevent us from living life to its fullness and claiming what’s rightfully ours, which is freedom through Christ. Deeper Healing Even after all of God’s blessings in David and our children, He had more healing in store for me. Just before Lent 2017, I approached my pastor for help. He and another priest walked me through one of the most painful healing experiences I ever had. They used a method similar to what it’s found in the book Unbound by Neal Lozano. As a teacher of deliverance, Neal shows how to find and close those doors that may have been open to evil influences. In my case, that door was my childhood trauma, and consequently, Satan’s underhanded strategies. Had I known how hard that process was going to be, I probably would have said, “No thanks.” But again, Our Lord with His abundant mercies and the Blessed Mother carried me through those excruciating days to bring me to where I am today. Sharing Your Story Just when I thought my healing process was finished and everything was behind me, Go whispered to me in my quiet prayer time that now that I was truly healed and found a place of freedom, He wanted me to share my store to glorify Him and to bring healing to others. I hope that my story inspires you to let God heal you also! Jesus’ fountain of mercy is endless! He wants to free each of us from all the lies that keeps us from being the best version of ourselves and receiving all the blessings He has already planned for us since before we were born. I know that not everyone who has been abused will be called to witness to others, but I do hope that every victim of any type of abuse will find the courage and strength to share their story with their loved ones, their priest, or a trusted friend. The evil one loves everything that’s in the dark because he knows he can manipulate us into believing that God doesn’t love us, and by doing that, he can cause great havoc in our lives. On the contrary, our good Lord wants us to bring those dark, hurting places of our hearts to Him so He can show us just how much He loves us by healing us. As we read in 1Thessalonians 5:5: For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of night and darkness. I lived in the darkness for so long, and now there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to help others come out of their dark place.   I share my full story in Freedom Through Christ: A Memoir of Healing in the Aftermath of Sexual Abuse. In July 2020, I felt God was calling me to take my healing to a new level. I was being called to establish a home for young women who need healing and restoration following a traumatic event in their lives. Understanding their journey to healing, I have a deep desire to share this gift in a society where human trafficking and physical and sexual abuse are prevalent in astounding rates. Our mission, Healed and Restored, will be a premier care home in the Charlotte, NC area for women suffering from traumatic experiences. We will serve young women ages 13-30 free of charge from across the country. Through programs rooted in mind, body, spirit, and soul care, women will be transformed and experience God’s tremendous healing power and embrace their identity as beloved daughters of the Father. Holistic programs grounded in our beautiful Catholic Faith will include counseling, spiritual exercises, movement therapy, as well a multitude of outdoor experiences. If you would like to know more about this glorious program or if you desire to join this sisterhood of women serving God by serving other women, you can learn more here. In closing, let me ask you a series of questions: Who do you need to forgive? Do you truly desire God’s healing and freedom through Christ? Do you wish to break free from all those chains that have kept you a prisoner? Do you believe that God wants nothing more than to be your healer and comforter? Will you allow Him? Are you ready to start saying yes to the Lord, trusting that He will provide for all that you need? Are you ready to start believing that broken people like you and I are exactly the people He wants to use to accomplish His will and heal others? Ask yourself these questions over the next few days. The answers might just change your life.   [bctt tweet="Healed and Restored #BISblog //" via="no"]   Elza Spaedy is a sexual abuse survivor with a lifechanging story to share. Since becoming Unbound in 2017, Elza has been on fire for the Lord, ready to spread the good news of her incredible healing with other victims. She is the loving wife of David, and a devoted mother to their three beautiful children Bella, Bree, and Tristan. In addition to being an author and public speaker, Elza works as a realtor in Huntersville, North Carolina. She spends her free time with her family volunteering for many different ministries at Saint Mark Catholic Church. Her mission from the Holy Spirit is to share her powerful testimony of hope and healing with others who are still hurting.   This post contains affiliate links. Thanks so much for supporting the ministry of Blessed is She!

I remember sitting in the dining room of my sorority house one day as I ate lunch. A few of my sorority sisters were standing around, and I was paying much more attention to whatever I was eating than to what they were saying. My ears perked up though when I heard one of them say the word “Lent.” I had been leading a Bible study in my sorority for a while, and I was always hoping for more girls to join. These particular sisters of mine had never come to Bible study, so I was pretty surprised, and quite honestly thrilled, to hear them talking about Lent. My excitement turned to sorrow, however, as I overheard the rest of their conversation. “I’m going to give up sugar so I can get ready for my trip to Cabo over Spring Break.” “I’m cutting out bread—I really need to lose a few. And maybe I’ll go to the gym every day, too.” It devastated me to hear these women, my friends, talk this way. It didn’t upset me as much that they were planning on superficially adopting the religion I practiced for 40 days, but I was unsettled by the way in which the beauty and hope of the Lenten season had been reduced in their minds to the coldness and restrictiveness of a diet. A Lent Diet? I don’t blame these women at all. The world in which we live makes this sort of warped view of fasting almost impossible to avoid. How can we possibly untwist dieting from the concept of self-denial for a greater good? And how can we combat lies that we aren’t good enough as we are, that our bodies need to look a certain way in order for us to be successful, wanted, or loved? The falsehoods spoken to us by diet culture are deafening. When Lent rolls around, it can somewhat seem like everyone becomes a Catholic, not for the purpose of spiritual growth or deepening their relationship with Jesus, but instead as an excuse to diet in a way that is publicly accepted and even celebrated. Turning Lent into a diet isn’t just something that happens among non-Catholics either. There is a strong temptation for those of us who are Catholic to make the season about ourselves instead of about God. Not only can this misuse of Lent inhibit our capability to receive the graces God wants us to experience during this time, but attributing spiritual significance to our successes and failures at dieting is downright dangerous. Doing so opens the door for us to judge ourselves—our worth and our goodness—based on how well we adhere to the restrictive rules we’ve set for ourselves. And this is not what Lent is about.   Closeness and Conversion The season of Lent should be a time during which we experience a new closeness to Jesus Christ as we remember the sacrifice He made for all of humanity through His Passion and Death. Through this season, we have the opportunity to learn more about God’s infinite love and mercy and to enter more fully into the personal relationship He desires with each of us. It is a chance also to understand ourselves better, to grow in humility as we come to recognize and confront our human weakness, and to invite God into those spaces where we need grace to overcome our shortcomings. Unfortunately, instead of being reaffirmed in our authentic identities, we can easily end up at Easter feeling dejected after devoting all of our energy toward the pursuit or maintenance of a false identity: our image. What about Fasting? For many of us, dieting has impaired our ability to see fasting as anything more than a means to a selfish end. When we think of denying ourselves of any type or amount of food, our minds can be quick to snap to the end goal. How can I use this to my advantage? What’s going to make my body look the best by the end of this? But our attempts to control the physical outcome of our efforts only get in the way of our ability to receive the graces God can work through them. Instead of growing in appreciation for the blessings we have, we become focused on our lack of satisfaction with our bodies. Instead of realizing our profound need for Him, we become self-reliant. This Lent could be different. Being Truly Transformed Jesus is extending an offer for each of us to come to Him as we are. Some of us might be in a place where fasting dietarily is not an option. I urge you, when considering your Lenten fast, to ask Jesus where He wants to meet you and to seriously think about your motivations. If any part of you is tempted to turn fasting into dieting, choose differently. Remember that Lent is not about restricting under the guise of holiness. It is about becoming more you, not becoming less of you. And if you, like my well-intentioned sorority sisters, are not Catholic or are new to this whole Lent thing, why not explore its true meaning? I guarantee the results will be far more significant than those of any diet. At the end of Lent this year, who do you want to see when you look in the mirror? A “successful” dieter, or a more whole version of you?   [bctt tweet="The Lent Diet #BISblog //" via="no"]   Erica Carnohan is a Southern California-based content creator, website developer, and burrito enthusiast. She enjoys having deep conversations over strong cups of coffee, evangelizing through the media, and creating digital art. You'll either find her reading on the beach or playing in her backyard with her four pet chickens.

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. // 1 Corinthians 10:31 Love this beautiful print from Carolyn of Brass & Mint Co. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

There comes a time in our lives when a person, event, or loss leaves our heart wounded. Sometimes that pain is easy to cope with. We rely on friends, or family, or a gallon of ice cream. There are other times when that pain feels too much to bear, as if there is a large gash left in our chest. In those moments, we are encouraged to pray, to lean in and rely on God’s love and mercy. Yet for some who have been through repeated pain or trauma, that love and mercy can seem like a foreign concept altogether. What is Divine Mercy, and how does one practically heal from emotional wounds through it? What steps can they take? Divine Mercy is “Love’s Second Name” Throughout the Old Testament, two Hebrew words are translated into “mercy”: hesed and rachamim. Hesed refers to steadfast love, as described in Isaiah 54:10: For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you… The word rachamim comes from the Hebrew word rechem, or womb. Think of it as the love a mother has for her child. In the New Testament, the Greek word eleos was often translated to “mercy”. Eleos is loving kindness, or tender compassion toward those who are suffering. Pope Saint John Paul II referred to mercy as “love’s second name” in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy, 1981). Based on the definitions above, mercy can be seen as the result of God’s love for us. It is the expression of God’s love when He reaches out to us with compassion during times of need and brokenness. Accepting Divine Mercy How can one accept that expression of love from God and heal? The answer lies in trusting that God will show that mercy toward us, no matter our circumstances or feelings. When I worked as a therapist, I often had to teach clients the importance of identifying and mastering emotions. It is important to recognize that you are more than the ever-changing tides of your thoughts and feelings. Through practice (and therapy!) one may begin to be in charge of those emotions, and to not get swept away by them. They are often circumstantial, and they can change. From a Catholic perspective, it is important during those times as well to remain disciplined in prayer and to trust in God. To take the focus off of yourself and onto Christ. When we see that God’s love and mercy are present no matter how we may be feeling, then we can open up our hearts to that expression of His love. I like to refer to it as “getting out of my own way.” Vulnerability with God The easiest way to start this is to be vulnerable in prayer with our true thoughts and feelings, as in your raw feelings, your darkest and most hurt parts of you. Do not be afraid to express them to God. Do not be tempted to hold those back. As a mom, my children often lay their heads on me and cry with their entire bodies. Allow God to do the same for you: to wrap you in love, to show you His tender love and compassion. He wants to sit with you and love you through those feelings, as any parent would. Divine Mercy and Healing Trusting that God is greater than any of the feelings you are experiencing can help you use prayer and other coping skills even in times of high emotions. Still believing in God’s love and mercy—that it never fails—can also lead to healing. Psalm 136 states that, “His mercy endures forever.” No matter what we have done, no matter what has been done to us, God’s Heart longs to help us. Saint Faustina gives us a beautiful prayer that we can say during times where we are struggling to rely on God’s mercy: Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. // Diary, 950 If we truly believed God’s love for us, if we believed His compassion and care for our wellbeing never leaves us, how would we respond? It can be difficult to let others care for us when we are hurting. At times I myself have wanted to push people away. Yet when we allow ourselves to be shown mercy, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable. We allow ourselves to let it all out, which in turn allows us to heal. To move forward despite the pain, fear, or sadness we may be feeling. For our hearts to be made new.   [bctt tweet="Divine Mercy for the Brokenhearted #BISblog //" via="no"]   Christie L. is a therapist turned stay at home mom living in Ohio with her two children and husband. You can find out more about her here.

My dearest friend, Amy, is Jewish. She’s even employed by the synagogue community that is her spiritual home. Beyond that, she is a seeker. God has been the subject of many of our best and most challenging conversations in the 20 years since we met as freshmen on the very first day of college. We know the intimate twists and unexpected turns of each other’s faith journeys. A few years ago, on my fortieth birthday, my family surprised me by delivering Amy to our front porch (she lives several states away). My husband Todd had arranged a three-day girls’ weekend for us, finessing the complicated schedule for our family of eight in my absence. The Importance of Retreat Amy and I arrived in Fredericksburg, eager to sample the local wineries’ wares and to catch up on months of history. As much as we talk about the everyday happenings of our lives, from our children’s quirky habits to the foibles of teenaged marriages, the faith question is never far from the forefront of our conversations. A great deal of the conversation was about our youngest son, Oscar, who had been diagnosed with multiple lifelong disabilities. Amy had walked in lockstep with me through the valley of that impossible year of Oscar’s sickness and diagnosis, with an intimacy tempered only by distance. She knew the absolute and blackest depths of my despair. She knew, too, the giddy heights of my soul’s rebirth, the wild and unbridled joy that was born during a miraculous pilgrimage to Lourdes that Todd, Oscar, and I had taken a few months before this getaway—a joy that persisted despite medical setbacks and uncertainty. And she found it all... curious. Compelling, but a source of more questions than answers. I love talking about Faith with Amy; the conversations are always complex and challenging. She is outside the echo chamber of my life surrounded by orthodox Catholics and homeschooling moms. She forces me to consider, to explain, and to question my assumptions, a process that always ends in fortifying some, amending others. These days of freedom were a gift to both of us, a time to reconnect with each other and wrestle with the most important questions in the world. Living the Life of the Beloved I had always thought she would love Henri Nouwen’s book, Life of the Beloved, written as an attempt to explain the basis of Nouwen’s Catholic Faith to his Jewish, agnostic friend, someone who did not share a common background and vocabulary. The first night in Fredericksburg, after we had retired to drink wine and do a jigsaw puzzle (which is just something that happens when introverts go on vacation, in case that sounds weird to you), I handed her my own dog-eared copy of the book. Over the course of the next few days, she read the entire thing. At the end of each chapter, we talked. She pushed back. I wrestled out loud, with this sister of my soul, around the age-old, elemental questions of what it means to be chosen. Blessed. Broken. Given. The four moments of the Eucharistic prayer, which are echoed in our own spiritual lives. While I was making sense of the “given” stage of my journey, the ways in which I was being sent forth to share what had been poured into me in Lourdes and was now running over, Amy was struggling with the idea of being “chosen” at all. “I just don’t see what it means,” she argued. “I guess I don’t believe in a personal God like that, the kind of Creator who knows and cares about us intimately.” “Don’t believe it’s possible at all, or don’t feel it in your life?” I questioned, as gently as I could. “Maybe the second. But I’m not sure, it might be both,” she wondered aloud. A Deeper Understanding Like the Jewish friend to whom Nouwen was writing, Amy wasn’t convinced, in the end, by the book’s central message. But as we talked, two things happened. My own understanding and certainty coalesced into something stronger, and Amy seemed to accept the transformation that had happened to me at face value. God had taken my doubt, my despair, and redeemed it with His love. Even if Amy couldn’t believe in a God who loved her like that, she conceded that what had happened to our family was not imaginary. Testifying to the Truth In the years before and since, we have volleyed tough, tender questions. “How did your spiritual life change between your reconstructionist synagogue and your conservative one?” I asked when she changed jobs and, by extension, faith communities. “What does it mean to you that President-elect Biden is Catholic?” she wondered after the election. With every question and answer, we aim together at Truth; as fallible humans, we can only approximate it, never quite reaching it on this side of Heaven. We hold each other accountable for our fallacies. We build up our common, interfaith sense of divine wonder and trust in providence. We are living in the time before the Parousia, the bringing-about of Christ’s eternal kingdom. Christ was revealed to the world on the first Christmas; He is revealed anew every day. The revelation of the Mystery continues, not through His very person, but by our own witness and testimony. Have Conversations In my own witness, I’ve admitted to Amy that of course, I’d love for her to convert… because I want my two best friends to get to know each other. I wish I could bottle up belatedness—my deep love of the Eucharist and my friendship with Jesus—and sell it on the street, or at least pass it across the table to my best friend. All I can do is to keep talking about it… and not only to the people already sitting in the pew next to me at our parish or across the table at a Catholic retreat. To testify to His wondrous love, by telling my own piece of the story, one intimate conversation at a time.   [bctt tweet="How My Jewish Best Friend Makes Me a Better Catholic #BISblog //" via="no"]   Christy Wilkens, wife and mother of six, is an armchair philosopher who lives in Austin, TX. She writes about disability, faith, doubt, suffering, community, and good reads. Her first book, a memoir about a Lourdes pilgrimage with her husband and son, will be released by Ave Maria Press in 2021. You can find out more about her here.

I have become all things to all, to save at least some. // 1 Corinthians 9:22 Love this print from Tisa Muico from today's readings. Let His word dwell in us richly, sisters. Remember, Members, you get this for free! Log in and download! Download your F R E E wallpapers right here --->>> Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

I have gone through seasons in my life when I struggled in my relationship with Mary. There were many times when she seemed distant or unrelatable, and I did nothing to foster a connection with her. Mary and Marriage? I remember a particular season of struggle which began after a religious discernment retreat I attended. During this retreat, much to my surprise, I received a strong message that I was not being called to the religious life, but was in fact called to the vocation of marriage. And somehow, I let this change of discernment greatly affect my relationship with Mary. I suddenly thought that Mary played less of a role in my life and vocation than before. I thought Mary bore more relevance to women who are virgins. I knew she was important in the life of all Christians, and that she is the Mother of all the faithful, but somehow women in religious life seemed more important to her. The consecrated women in my life, or those discerning religious life, always seemed to have a deeper devotion to Our Lady. That made sense to me. After all, Mary gave her everything to God in her fiat. And the modern way in which women radically give their all to God seems to be through the religious life. Also—and this was a big also—Mary lived as a virgin for all her days. Therefore, Mary must serve as more of a model and example for women who are called to virginity for the sake of the Kingdom, right? I somehow “lose” some aspect of devotion to her because my life as a future married woman will not be like her life, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Virgin and Wife Mary was a married woman. Mary was joined to Joseph, and the two were husband and wife. Now we must remember, the marriage between Mary and Joseph did not look like most marriages of today. This is due to the fact that Mary and Joseph never engaged in the marital act, as was most fitting in God’s plan and most fitting for the Mother and foster-father of Jesus. The Catholic Church has always held the perpetual virginity of Mary: Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin. // CCC 510 Mary was ever-virgin. But she was also married. We must not let her perpetual virginity cloud the fact that while she remained truly a virgin, she remained truly a wife. She was the wife of Joseph, who had received the call from God to marry Mary even after he heard the news of Mary’s conception of Jesus. … An angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit… When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife… // Matthew 1:20, 24 Mary is both virgin and wife. She alone is in a unique situation to serve as a model and example for women within all vocations. Mary and the Married Woman I believe we need to re-awaken our understanding of the marriage of Joseph and Mary. I’m afraid that we sometimes accidentally paint their marriage and their relationship as stale and boring. But in reality, the marriage of Joseph and Mary serves as an example to all those who are married. This is not because their marriage was devoid of romance and attraction. Joseph and Mary loved each other. They loved each other with a deep, affectionate, self-sacrificial, spousal love. Their marriage was not dry, but full of life! They felt toward each other how any young and in-love married couple would have felt. They abstained from sexual relations, but they shared a deep and intimate connection in other ways. And so my assumptions about Mary as being more relevant to the life of a sister or a nun were wrong. Yes, Mary can relate to them in a unique way. But Mary also understands the heart of a married woman. She understands what it is like to be a wife and a mother. She has so much to teach us about how to love men, and how to trust and give of ourselves. In his Consecration to Saint Joseph, Fr. Donald Calloway beautifully expresses the inner workings of Mary’s heart in this regard: When Mary met St. Joseph, she knew that God had chosen him to be her loving (and beloved) husband. Trusting in God’s plan, she fell in love with St. Joseph and gave him her Heart. Mary’s body was reserved for God, but she had the freedom to give her Heart to St. Joseph, the only man worthy of her, the only man perfectly reflecting the pure love of God. Mary was in love with Saint Joseph. We don’t normally think of her this way. But I think if we give her the chance to reveal herself to us, in her true identity as a wife, she can help repair the many damages and wounds present within the family today. The Best Example Mary was a married woman. So if you are married or feel called to marriage, don’t be like me and make that an obstacle between you and her. Instead, ask her to show you how to love. Ask her to show you how to be a good wife. We get to learn from the best.   [bctt tweet="Mary and the Married Woman #BISblog //" via="no"]   Mary Grace “Gracie” Tillman is a fulltime student and fulltime extrovert. If you don’t find her with her friends, odds are she’s lost on a backroad with her music turned all the way up. She loves sports, writing, one-on-ones over coffee, and all things related to Divine Mercy. She strives to life live every day to the fullest and be a joyful disciple of Jesus.