Concerning Discerning

Quick post as life has been pretty busy lately... I'm sure I'll blog about this in more detail another time, but a couple of weeks ago I told each of my siblings that I was discerning Religious Life.  My brother Michael reacted with a question: How do you know? I've just finished a video call with Sr Mary Julian, a Religious Sister of Mercy based in Sydney.  And here are a few thoughts on how I know - three main words. 1. Peace I had thought about Religious Life before 2018, but it was always blotted out by doubts, fears and worldly stuff. But since hearing that pretty clear call in the Jesus 4 Real prayer room back in 2018, whenever I think about Religious Life, I feel a deep sense of peace. My mind might think otherwise sometimes, but my soul is at peace. And that peace surpasses all understanding, and withstands all opposition.  2. Joy I often know when God is particularly at work because I feel little 'bubbles of joy' welling up inside me and those joy bubbles ...

These past couple of weeks have been such a beautiful time of self-discovery.  I think being at Tyburn re-ignited something in me, and I was re-focused for whatever would come.

Sorry (not sorry)...bombarding this blog with tonnes of posts, but writing is lifegiving and my retreat at Tyburn brought that out of me again. 😍 For the MGL Enquirers Programme session three, one question I had to reflect on was:  What is your experience of being His chosen one and the call He has placed on your life? I thought I'd share my response with you here too, as I've shared my discernment journey so far, but not actually my life in general! So....This is me in a nutshell 🙂 (just a nutshell - there is much more about me I could tell!).

Intro: My first thoughts are that God has such perfect timing again, as always! In Teresa’s intro I feel like she knows exactly what I’m going through right now – the struggles, the suffering, the ‘weaknesses in the head.’ Yet as my spiritual director reminded me today (27th June), prayer is not about the feeling you get from it, but the desire and intention of your heart when you pray. That’s what matters! It seems to me like Teresa has the same approach to writing this book – that while she does not feel like doing it at all, she trusts that there is a purpose and a plan for this writing, and she will do it regardless 😊     “…As I know that strength arising from obedience has a way of simplifying things which seem impossible…” I love how apologetic and sincere Teresa is – she feels so incapable of writing this book, and in doing so is totally reliant on the Lord to guide her through it and make this mean something! “And if I am successful in anything that I may sa...

I have less than 24hrs to go here, and I will miss this place! View this morning 😍

I made it to the school holidays, after a very rewarding but stressful couple of weeks, where I wasn’t taking care of my body, and as a result my soul spiraled downward as well. To celebrate I used a Pak’n’save voucher I’d received ages ago to buy some fresh veggies and made myself a giant bowl of crispy noodle and chicken salad. That just shows how badly I’d been treating my body – the fact that I spent a voucher on veggies so I could treat myself with a salad… Anyway…to recover from the term and calm my mind enough that I can actually relax over the school holidays, I made a last minute decision to go and stay at Tyburn Monastery in Ngakuru . Tyburn Monastery, Ngakuru