I’m not letting this moment pass! I’m in car line waiting on my boys anxious to tell the world how God is so amazing. It might come out all in a jumble but I only have this moment of time to share.
If you look up at my masthead for the website you’ll see a symbol, Healing Hearts symbol. (click on the picture in featured articles to get the background to how the symbol came to me.) What Healing Hearts has always represented to me is a mission… And more applicable, eventually one day Healing Hearts would be a retreat open to those who had been abused in an effort to heal. I haven’t been able to DO anything about this because God needed me to work on Catholics Returning Home, get Maria Goretti going and get to a place where I know how to put family first and still discern where HE needs me to be. As you know I recently discerned leaving parish ministry so that I could focus A) on family and B) on the speaking/writing/and MGN ministry.
While in Madrid, Spain I met up with a friend who ministers through music and speaking. She and I got together for dinner and she informed me she was in contact with a young woman in Houston who recently lost a sister to domestic violence. This young woman wants to put a retreat together for victims of abuse. My friend said we definitely needed to meet. Last week I spoke to this young woman who lives in Houston and she told me about her sister’s story, her idea on the retreat and all the work she had already accomplished in moving forward with the Diocese to get full approval. Clearly we needed to meet.
Today we met in person for the first time and I am in AWE of this young woman who is allowing the love of her sister and her three orphaned nieces and nephew to make this retreat happen to prevent the same loss of precious life from happening to others. When she heard about the Maria Goretti Network she was very excited to hear there was something in place that could offer monthly peer to peer support. Which would be beneficial to have at EVERY PARISH especially if someone were to attend this healing retreat and wanted to continue with support.
She said some of the main things she still is working on are a name for this retreat, a symbol, and being a part of a non-profit in order to raise funds to provide the retreat for free.
Do you see why I am so excited??? Plus she needs help getting the actual retreat planned ( my specialty is retreats).
I won’t push this young woman into anything. Her sister’s memory needs to be respected and memorialized in the way she sees fit and called, but I can’t help but feel God is gathering His soldiers together for a much greater purpose.
I will be behind this young woman and this retreat in any way HE calls me to and that she feels the need and comfort level.
Please pray for us on this endeavor.
In HIS time and I’ll never give up.
Blessings
Shannon