Miracle Moments

Many are called but few are chosen. I know that to be true. How many times have I heard the call but turned my back? How many times have I made the excuse and closed my heart? How many times have I refused to go the extra mile, because it required sacrifice? Every single time I heard the call yet ignored it-I lost out. Every time I took the plunge I received the most awesome gifts. I've shut myself out of some amazing graces by waffling and worrying about making the right decision. So now-I open my heart, follow the Holy Spirit and march forward so that I don't detour from God's plan for my life. With our busy lives it's so easy to talk ourselves out of the will of God because we're wrapped up in our human will. That attitude almost killed me. Sometimes it's just plain hard to tell which will is driving us...The one that is driving us into the ground or the one that is lifting us up to higher ground. It takes a disciplined prayer life-that one on one in

I had a beautiful birthday today...thanks to friends and family and the good Lord who saw fit to allow me to experience one more incredible year! My sons continue to surprise me with their caring generosity and their desire to show mom how much they Love me. We shared a wonderful meal out on the town tonight and they demanded that I accept only the best, knowing I'm willing to settle for less. I was especially grateful-to get all of them together at Sunday Mass...A challenging task the older they get. The aging or the passing of time doesn't bother me anymore...I feel better than ever because so many beautiful blessings continue to flow my way. So on this wonderful day-I am once again reminded that life is truly a gift and the ones we Love and who Love us-are the gifts that not only keep on giving but who give us the wisdom to know how truly Blessed we really are!

One of my old friends chose self preservation over our friendship. Her fear and her follies fed her insecurities and the underlying secrets that bound her in a living lie...So she betrayed me to save herself. I remember feeling devastated and destroyed at the cruelty of her actions. I fell limp and lost because I could not wrap my mind around her choices. My children were shattered because they had held her to a higher standard. At that moment in my life, as I prayed for guidance, I knew only one solution. I reached out to the one friend who never lets us down...My best friend, Jesus. I clung to him like a scared child clings to a parent. I threw myself into prayer and penance, worship and spiritual renewal. I read and I studied and I sought spiritual counsel...and slowly but surely my Lord delivered me from the pain and the poison of her actions. The Jesus I know has very clearly and succinctly told us how we are to relate to one another. He made no exceptions and he created no

The power of prayer is astonishing! It is perhaps the most intense weapon of mass transformation that I know of...Producing positively powerful results...When you least expect it. My close friends pray-a lot. Every day they fall to their knees at home, or in church, during adoration or in prayer circles. Every day they ask for miracle healings, mind altering attitudes and the inspired wisdom to walk the way of the Lord-even when their feet are moving in the opposite direction. I have one friend, when she reads this she'll smile, who is a prayer warrior. The kind of person whose humanity is so closely tied to her divinity that it would blow your mind. She's intensely faithful, genuinely sincere and always searching for the high road. Yes-she's teetered at the edge of the abyss, frolicked amid scorching flames...and narrowly missed the penetrating poison that is satan's secret weapon. Yet-she always seems to slip through his clutches and soar to safety-just in the ni

I believe in monthly confession. To a priest. I just do. I know some people go straight upstairs through their own private prayer...but not me. It's been my experience that when I have to take a personal inventory and then tell someone what I keep doing wrong, that I am more likely to change my bad habits...First out of embarrassment...then because I honestly want to be a better person. Plus there's the heavenly absolution from the blessed hands of a priest. Last month I admitted it's a little unnerving hearing myself continuing to repeat the same sins over and over again. Sins like pettiness or gossip, judgement or jaundiced attitudes. The priest, Fr. Joe Benson, an extremely gifted confessor smiled and assured me, "Actually, it's an act of humility to keep coming back and acknowledging the same sins." I'd never thought of it that way. In fact, in the not so distant past, I grew so accustomed to my mistakes that they became second nature...and all too eas

The house is too quiet. Zachary shipped off to football camp this morning and it feels like our home has been evacuated. Funny how one person shifts the entire dynamic...especially when that one person is the energizer bunny. At dinner tonight Jacob smiled, "It's quiet in here." He's silently happy because now he gets the full use of their game system-no sharing, no arguing, no "Mom it's my turn." Kids are pretty cut and dry...It's all about them. But even that will be short lived because Jacob leaves tomorrow to go to the beach with friends. That leaves Mac and Ben...since Johnny is already long gone...and of course-there's me...The glue that holds this crew together. I have to admit...When they're absent I miss them. Something seems uneven and the chemistry feels a little off. I think I'm at that stage in my life where I've learned to Love the crowd and the commotion and the comical way everyone fits together. Families really

These are troubling, deceptive times. Every day I hear from someone who is struggling with their personal demons. Those cunningly, baffling voices within that lead us into social, moral and spiritual depravity. There is only one solution. Turning to God. Allowing the voice of the divine to guide, to protect and to strengthen our spiritual resolve. Even then, our signals get mixed in the false assumption that we are hearing clearly...and that we are being lead by the Lord. Be vigilant, be prayerful and never accept anything less than the best that God has in store for you...No matter how humanly painful that may be. Sometimes we simply have to suffer a little sacrifice to receive the greatest rewards. Sometimes being human doesn't mean being weak, but being strong enough to last for the long haul so that we can rise to the occasion...Our rightful place in this life and in the next. It's all about unbridled faith, soulful stamina and clearly understanding that God has a d

My baby boy Zachary (don't tell him I said that) came to me a couple of weeks ago worried that he was out of shape. He leaves for football camp on the fifth and a summer of being a couch potato has taken its toll. "No problem!" I replied, I'll train you!" So every morning for the last two weeks he's been rolling out of bed at 6a.m. slipping on his tennis shoes and running with me in the park. I'm really not a runner-I'm a speed walker and not as speedy as I used to be. But for the first couple of days Zack was having a hard time keeping up with me. We would jog one lap and walk two..My eleven year old dynamo complained how hard it was, how sore his legs were and how much he disliked running. That was short lived--because now he's leaving me in the dust-which the other pedestrians are eager to point out! One morning Zack told me he needed ear phones so he could listen to music on his ipod. I told him he needed to leave his ipod at home with all