Good Morning Out There! Today is Day 30 of the 40 Days for Life Campaign.
A quick post before I head to the courtyard. I have been blessed in so many ways
during the campaign. I will post a summary of the campaign at a later date, but
I wanted to share what happened last night.
I didn't get to the courtyard until 6:00 pm last night because I had to take my
granddaughters who live out of town to meet their other grandmother. The drive
is about two and a half hours one way. We had a busy morning, my daughter and
and her two girls stopped by with donuts so that "the cousins" could see each other
for a little while before we left. While they played, Jess and I, finished packing up
for the girls. They left and we loaded up and headed to see my daughter-in-law,
and the rest of the cousins, including our newest blessing, a baby girl born last
week. They live about 35 miles from us. We arrived there, they held the baby and
then dashed off to play with their older cousins. I held one of the younger grand-
daughters on my lap while my daughter-in-law fed the baby and we had a nice visit.
Her step-mother, a wonderful lady, was there also. I rounded up the kids gave them
all a kiss and my other two granddaughters and I headed off on our journey. We stopped
to pick up some lunch, sang silly songs, and talked about all kinds of things. We
arrived at our destination, unloaded their bags from my truck and loaded them up
in their other grandmother's vehicle, and then hugs, kisses and good-byes were said.
I had received a phone call while we were on the road, it was from a sweet lady who
also goes to Sacred Heart. She said that she had a gift for me, and that she and her
husband wanted to stop by the courtyard and give it to me. I explained about the
road trip and told her that I would be at the courtyard about 6:00 p.m. I prayed on the
way home from the trip. I prayed about 40 days for life, my role as the coordinator
in San Angelo, and asked what I needed to do to get more people involved. I told God
how I felt, how much the pro-life movement meant to me. I told Him how much I
wanted to get the message out, but sometimes I wondered if I was headed in the
right direction. I felt at peace after I prayed because I knew He would
lead me. I knew I just needed to listen, then I sang this refrain as I closed my prayer:
"Lead me Lord, lead me Lord, by the light of truth, to seek and to find the
narrow way. Be my way, be my truth, be my life my Lord, and lead me Lord,
lead me Lord, lead me Lord today."
I arrived at the courtyard at 6:00 p.m. and the couple from church pulled up at the same
time. We laughed when we got out of our vehicles at the good timing. She held a
beautiful bag covered with red roses and tissue paper in her hand. We walked over
to the picnic table in the courtyard and sat down. I told her how sweet it was of her
to bring me a gift. She wanted to explain why she bought the gift. She told me that our
Blessed Mother wanted me to have this. I felt my chest get tight, and reached inside the
bag and pulled the box out carefully. When I opened it, tears welled in my eyes. There
was the most beautiful two-sided plaque, on the left side was a picture of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, the one picture that shows our Blessed Mother pregnant with our Lord.
The following prayer is on the right hand side of the plaque:
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Life, Cast your maternal gaze on your children,
born and unborn. We are in such need of your protection. The enemies of Life are
strong, but you are infinitely stronger, since God chose you to "crush the head of the
serpent," the devil. As we strive to overcome evil we remember your words of comfort
to St. Juan Diego, "Am I not here, who am your mother?! Therefore, we approach
you with great confidence.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Life, Pray for Us!
She then told me that they received all kinds of catalogs and she usually just threw them
away, but for some reason she kept this one. She looked through the catalog and saw the
picture of this plaque and thought, "Oh I bet Sharla would love this!" Then she thought,
she probably already has one. She didn't throw the catalog away, and she kept going back
to the picture, and she felt like she was suppose to buy it for me. I wish I could describe the
emotion that went through me, I thought about my prayer earlier, they had no idea what the
timing of this gift meant to me. I thanked them profusely, and about that time, two people,
a faithful mom and her teenage son, came to pray. I showed them the gift. We visited for a
little while longer and then they left. I sat down to pray. As I prayed, I watched my little
squirrel dash to and fro, and the birds fly in and out of the trees, the noise from the traffic
seemed to be at a distance as I prayed and thanked God for letting me know that I needed
to press on. I thought I was going to write a quick post, but God had other plans. I really
must get to the courtyard now. I pray that your day is full of blessings.
Bye for now, Sharla
No comments:
Post a Comment