SPIRITUAL RESTORATION

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I am feeling especially grateful today-for all the blessings in my life. I am especially grateful for the gift of surrender that is allowing me to understand how grace is guiding me. Our spiritual growth is directly affected by our willingness to surrender our will to the spiritual vision of our soul which is God's vision for us. God cannot get in the way of our free will, but he can work miracles if we sincerely surrender and align ourselves with his will for our lives.

Friday evening I went with my friend Terri and her family to a healing service by a wonderful priest, Fr. Joe Benson. My kids were scattered to the winds, so I felt free as a bird to fly on the wings of whatever the Holy Spirit had in mind for me.

After Mass, Fr. Benson invited everyone to line up in front of the beautiful altar, at Blessed Francis Seelos Church in the 9th ward. He prayed over each person individually and delivered an inspired message straight from the heavens. I waited, wondering what he would say to me. As he touched my forehead in prayer, he said, "restoration" you are being restored...and this is the time for that. He told me not to worry about anything or what others may be saying because-everything is being worked out. Fr. Benson paused and then said, "Medjugorje" the Blessed Mother is holding out her hand and she has a gift that she wants to give to you, which she has given to you before in Medjugorje...She will give it to you again...but now is the time to prepare, to be restored.

I walked back to my seat smiling at the awesome meaning of those words...Recovery has been at the heart of my spiritual renewal for the last five years and that night I received confirmation about some things that have been unfolding.

Fr. Benson's words also brought me back to my conversion in Medjugorje in 1986. I received the gift of true faith...a pure, unbridled, childlike faith that inspired me to spread the peaceful messages of Medjugorje far and wide through the airwaves...A faith which altered the path of my professional career.

To be restored means to be purged of all the pain and human imperfections, the past mistakes and missteps--to be cleansed by the Holy Spirit and renewed with the empowering grace of God. It is a gift that is being offered to each and every one of us, every moment of every day, if we are open and willing to do the work. That is always the challenge...being willing to work as hard for our soul's desire as we do for everything else we desire. But rest assured, if we don't, if we take the shortcuts--the easy way out-we'll end up with the short end of the stick...and that simply-is not in God's plans for us. Spiritual restoration is!

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