Ten years have come and gone.
Ten years ago I was a feisty, rebellious gal in my late twenties, desiring community in a beautiful Church that I loved. Ten years ago I was a mother to young babes and struggling to grow in holiness through the vocation of marriage. Ten years ago I was a naïve young woman who thought that the people in my life whom I called friends would never leave. Ten years ago I was an avid pupil of the internet, learning to design websites and create logos and put beautiful content out into the world. Ten years ago I was innocent and hopeful and confident and proud.
One Step at a Time
Ten years ago I listened to the promptings I heard in my heart . . . the ones that were lighting up each step of the way to create a Catholic women’s community on the internet. A community that would come together every single day to pray together, to journey with each other, to share our hearts with one another, to cry when the other cries, to laugh when the other laughs, to find, as C.S. Lewis puts it in The Four Loves, the one who says to another, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”
Ten years ago I invited twenty other writers to write about Scripture with me . . . to remind each one of us (including you) that it doesn’t matter how well-educated you are about the Faith or about the Word of God; it only matters that you have an open heart to the Lord and His Word. “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11), and the Lord will water you, bit by bit, tilling and cultivating your heart to look more like His, every single day. It doesn’t matter where you begin, only that you do.
Ten years ago, we said yes to sharing our hearts with you, day in and day out, in hopes that you would share yours too. That our daily devotions would provide an inroad for you to talk to Jesus about your life, your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your worries, your sufferings, your longings, your attachments, your sin, your struggles, your weaknesses.
Ten years ago, we desired to be women burning with devotion for Jesus Christ revealed in His beautiful Church, and we asked if you wanted to come along for the ride.
Who We Met Ten Years Ago
Because when we open ourselves up to Jesus, we are met with Perfect Love. We are met with our Creator, Who knows us better than we know ourselves. We are met with the Refining Fire Who slowly and surely purifies every part of our heart. We are met with our Savior, Friend, Healer, Lord.
And falling in love with Him changes everything. We become the women He created us to be. We want to love Him even more today than we did yesterday. We want to hear His Word again and again and again. We want to know His voice. We want to be one with Him in Holy Communion. We want to taste and see that He is good, every single day.
Walking with you these past ten years has been one of the most amazing privileges of my life. God has changed me—broken me open from the inside out. He has poured out new mercies every morning and reminded me of my goodness and called me to more and taught me about pure love.
And I’ve gotten to do it all with you. You’ve seen me messy, you’ve seen me disheveled, you’ve seen me in doubt, you’ve seen me in faith, you’ve seen me in grief, you’ve seen me in fear. You’ve seen me worship and you’ve seen me cry.
You’ve seen me, dear sister. And being seen by another, by someone who says, “It’s okay. God’s right here. I’m right here,” softens you. It heals you. It saves you.
So thank you for walking this road with us, whether you pray with the daily readings alongside us or you come to a retreat to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist or you host a Blessed Brunch or you read through the Gospel of Matthew with our study or you have a poster in your home or you use our Examination of Conscience every time you go to Confession.
To say God has radically transformed me through this sisterhood doesn’t quite cut it.
So Much Has Changed
So much has changed over ten years . . . and yet so much has remained the same.
The unchanging God Who called us then calls out to us now: “The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
His Word endures forever.
So we take another step out in faith, letting the Good Shepherd’s lamp light up one step at a time.
Ten years have come and gone. But You, God, remain the same. And so we continue to journey with You. We continue to walk with You. We continue to let You draw us closer and closer and closer to Your most beautiful and humble Heart.
And we do so alongside one another, inviting other women on the way. We do so even when consolation’s sun shines or when desolation’s clouds threaten to suffocate. We do so, even as You change us bit by bit from the feisty girls who rebel against You and Your plan to women who use our feistiness to rebel against the ways of the world out of love for You, our Creator.
To You be the glory, Lord. To You be the honor and praise, forever and ever.
Thank You, Lord, for all You’ve done and all You’ve yet to do.
Jenna Guizar is a wife and mama in sunny AZ. She pretends to love football for her husband, reads lots of books to her seven lovely babes, and tries not to burn mac n cheese on the daily. In between football games, reading books, and [not] burning mac n cheese, she is the Founder + Creative Director of Blessed is She women’s ministry + community. Find out more about her here.
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