God Uses Us Even in the Strangest of Settings

Editors Note: Ok, before you leave and think I have lost my mind, please let me explain that the picture is indeed relevant to today's guest post from my wife, Stacey. She is a convert to Catholicism and joined me this year in participating in the Blogathon. In honor of her birthday today, I am posting her God moment from a few weeks ago that I think displays that we always have opportunities to be witnesess of faith; we just have to be ready for the moment. This was previously published on her blog. Happy Birthday Mo! 
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God uses us.

Ten Minute Wait
I placed my order and knew it would be a 10 minute wait, so I ordered a beer. Bottled beer because I knew I could drink it in within 10 minutes. Out of lack of better options, Michelob Ultra was my selection.

Nice and Smooth

Waiting for my food I drank. Suddenly behind me I hear “Ultra, that’s a great beer isn’t it? Nice and smooth.” I turned to see a woman around my age talking to me. I tried to give short answers and kept turning back to my almost empty bottle but she kept talking.

Death of a Daughter
Finally, I turned and we had a conversation. She was about to complete her final graduate classes at Texas Women's University in – Family Services. She wasn’t sure what she would use the degree for, but she had already put the knowledge to use. The day before marked the 2-year anniversary of her daughter’s passing. She talked about how her daughter has been misdiagnosed with HPV – when her Uterine artery ruptured they discovered it was actually cervical cancer. They were able to stop the massive bleeding and she lived for 7 more weeks. She had strokes and her kidneys shut down. 7 weeks of this woman watching her beautiful and amazing daughter suffer until she finally passed away.

Working for Christ
She mentioned that had this been a year earlier, she would not have been able to get through a conversation about it. I asked if this was her only child, she said no. She has a 17 year old about to graduate from Flower Mound and is going to spend her summer working at the Fellowship Church in Grapevine’s camp. She is a musician and artist and loves working for Christ. I told her about my amazing daughter, Tiffany, and her work with Campus Crusade for Christ. I told her to have her daughter check out CRU and the opportunities they have for discipleship in other countries and here in America.

A Hug and Goodbye
My number is called, my order is ready. I don’t want to leave – I want to sit down and have a beer with this woman and learn more about her. But since neither of us had ordered just for ourselves, I knew that wouldn’t be possible. I wanted to hug her, but she asked me if she could hug me. My response, “of course!” I feel terrible that I cannot remember her name, but I will never forget her face. My angel who reminded me of how much I love my children and how proud I am of all of them.

Be Not Afraid: God is Always Present

Broken Tooth
I missed a Joe Catholic gathering I was supposed to lead a few weeks ago because I broke a tooth and I was intense pain. After jumping through all the insurance hoops, I was finally scheduled to see an oral surgeon to extract the tooth this morning. The above meme is how I expected things to go. I was very wrong.

Be Not Afraid
Yesterday afternoon, I was sorting out winter and summer clothes when I came across my black Xtreme Papa t-shirt that has the JP2 quotation "Be Not Afraid," which were the first words of his pontificate. I thought it was fortuitous in light of the fact that I was facing the dentist in the morning. Today, Stacey and I headed out to the oral surgeon's office and prayed Rosary on the way. I secretly asked St. Apollonia (patron of toothaches and dentists) for her intercession to guide the surgeon and to ease my anxiety. I was covering all my bases.

What Church Do You Attend?
After Dr. Walstad gave me the shots to numb my mouth near the tooth, he asked me what church I attended. I told him St. Catherine of Siena. He said he used to attend the parish at one time and still knew some of the members. He even mentioned some names of people I also knew. As he was pulling out my tooth he talked to me about his parish, St. Jude in Allen, Texas. We talked (I mostly listened and mumbled) about the Knights of Columbus, CRHP and the upcoming Dallas Diocese Capital Campaign. Before I knew it, the tooth was pulled and the wound prepped for my departure. We continued to talk about Catholicism for a few more minutes after the procedure.

God Was Looking Out for Me
As Stacey and I got in the car to head back home, I asked her, "What are the odds that I get a Catholic dentist who is open about talking about his faith?" I am sure that the t-shirt helped initiate the conversation. All I know is that God was looking out for me, because I didn't stress at all while I was having my tooth pulled. God is always present. We needn't be afraid.

Guest Post: Making Room to be Still

Pilgrims

[Editor's Note: As part of the WordCount Blogathon, participants were encouraged to exchange guest posts with other bloggers.]

Walk - Build - Proclaim

Hello Joe Catholic Cyber Community. My name is Tracy and I am the author of Walk.Build.Proclaim. I was inspired by Pope Francis’ words to the Cardinals on March 14th, 2013, when he told them that their job was to Walk, Build and Proclaim. My blog looks at different ways that we as Christians are called to do this as well.

Making Room
I would like to start by saying how grateful I am that I was asked me to be a guest blogger on Joe Catholic. When I was told that this blog was about the universal call to holiness, my mind was racing with a million different ideas. What I finally settled on was writing about how we make room in our lives for God so we can hear and respond to the universal call of holiness. This reflection is based Psalm 4:1and my own experience drawing meaning from it.

Cleaning Tirade
The week of May 6th I was on a cleaning tirade in our house. It all started with the desire to take on one project that has eluded me for years. The major component to that project was, of course, at the bottom of the potential avalanche pile in a closet. That one project led to three days of sorting, washing, donating, walking down memory lane and throwing things out. I was on such a roll that I was able to sort, organize, donate and throw things out from a closet, three drawers, a storage area and three different kitchen cabinets.

Answer Me
It felt really good to do all of this, especially because this wasn't a project that I had started the week wanting to do. The project took on a life of its own. It wasn't until that Saturday, May 11th, that I figured out what had gotten into me. The answer was present in Psalm 4:1: "Answer me when I call, O God of my right! You gave me room when I was in distress."

An Opportunity to Make Room
Little did I know that I was being given the opportunity to make room for God in my life. You might think how can someone who spent seventeen years of their life /career working for a church not have enough room for God in their life? My answer is that physical-material things in your life can take up more space in your life than you are aware of. There is so much unseen maintenance that goes with having material things, it can almost be suffocating; not having that room can become a way of life.

Call to Holiness
Next time you're thinking about cleaning the basement, garage or closet, instead of that project being a daunting task on your "to-do" list, re-Read Psalm 4:1. Then, look at the project as a way of making a little bit more room in your life for God, as well as making some room to contemplate how you are going to answer the call to universal holiness.

Feel free to read more of Tracy's posts on Walk.Build.Proclaim. This week she has begun a series on women who are Red-Shoe Worthy. You may also join her on Facebook where they will begin sharing Francis’isms – quotations and reflections from Pope Francis’ daily homilies that inspire us to answer the call to universal holiness.

Finding God in the Silence

The Holy Father, suggested in his World Communications Day address on Sunday that we all need to incorporate silence into our daily lives. In recognition of this, many Catholic bloggers went silent on their websites today. I have decided to share a brief quotation from the address, share my favorite scripture passage on silence and to share a prayer to assist in recognizing the presence of God in the silence of our lives.

Pope Benedict XVI:

If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. 'We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born' (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006).

Often, the Lord speaks to us in a whisper as He did to Elijah:

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lordwas not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (2 Kings 19:11-13)

Loving and merciful Father, fill me with your grace, that my ears may hear your whisper.  Lord, fill my heart with the love for you, that I may do your will. Lord, help me to decrease so that you can increase. In the holy name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Oops! I Forgot about God: Practicing the Presence of God

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I will never forsake you or abandon you. (Hebrews 13:5) 

We've got to be convinced that God is always near us. We live as though he were far away, in the heavens high above, and we forget that he is also continually by our side. (The Way, #267)

Scripture and the writings of saints are filled with references to God’s promise to not forsake us. He may not leave us, but all too often I leave Him. I am not talking about the times I sin, but by getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, forgetting God. This can happen in both good times and bad, but for me it’s more likely to occur when things are going well.

One of the most difficult challenges I have encountered since returning to the Catholic Church, is staying in the presence of God. When I first read St. Paul’s challenge to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), I felt that was unrealistic for those of us who are not cloistered monks. I failed to understand the real meaning of that passage.

I have since learned that we are not necessarily called to fall on our knees and recite formal prayers, but we are called to make our lives prayerful. Furthermore, I believe we need to incorporate reminders in our days so we can see God is with us. This may mean praying aspirations at certain times of the day. It may mean placing a small paper clip cross on your desk, perhaps near your mouse, to serve as a reminder of the cross Christ died upon for our sins.

You can have fun with this practice. Don’t be afraid to let yourself find God in the little things. I was once driving to work and eating my breakfast on the go. As I ate my three strips of center cut bacon, I literally called out in the car, only a loving and caring God could make something taste so good.

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence has long been considered a great resource on this subject.