Finish Strong
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It's typical that as January ends I tend to start reflecting on the past year of life and wondering if I really made the most of it. Tonight, on the eve of my 26th birthday, I can honestly say that I am finishing 25 feeling very strong. The entire year was full of growing experiences, but I think this past weekend especially was full of moments that I realized that anything is possible with God, and that if He is helping me do events like this at this point in my life.... then the future is full of possibilities that I can't even wrap my mind around!
This weekend was the big NFP Conference at the Cathedral. This was the first time I had ever attempted to plan and organize something like this, so the past several months have been full of learning experiences. I think the coolest part about this conference was being able to watch it evolve from an idea in July and into an actual event this weekend. What started as a "Wouldn't it be nice if...." turned into a weekend that went better than I ever could have imagined.
On Friday night we had the Priest Gathering/Dinner with Fr. Matthew Habiger and Dr. Martha Garza from NFP Outreach. We had a majority of the priests from the Diocese there with us AND the Bishop (very rare for a bishop to do something like this!). Fr. Habiger spoke on the importance of preaching God's plan for Marriage from the pulpit (which includes speaking against contraception, abortion, etc..) and Dr. Garza explained the medical side of NFP and her conversion from doing IVF and prescribing contraceptives to becoming an NFP only doctor. Their stories were powerful and I think it really moved the priests to be courageous in their efforts.
Saturday morning was the English Conference from 9am-4pm. As I led the opening prayer with Psalm 8 I almost started to cry.... I mean there we were. All of the planning, all of the uncertainty, the questions, the frustrations, the phone calls, the effort... all of it led to that moment. It was amazing. There were probably about 35 people there (including Bishop Brungardt for most of the day) and when it was all over there was the overwhelming sense of joy and thanksgiving. Hearing the stories and questions that people had for Dr. Garza and Fr. Matthew made it all worthwhile.
Sunday was the day that I was a little (a lot) worried about. It was the Spanish Conference day, and I knew it was going to be the big one. Our RSVP day was Monday, and I had to give our caterer a number for the meal. I told her 100. And then alllll throughout the week I got phone call after phone call saying that people wanted to come... to by Sunday morning the count was up to 150. I was feeling frazzled after the Sunday morning Mass because I only had a few hours to get the last minute details covered before the Spanish Conference began at 1:30pm. I had a moment of anxiety, but after calling Dad I realized that everything would work out perfectly.
And then God showed off.
We had food for 100 people. Over two hundred people came.... and there was enough food! I was told that people were even going back for seconds! :) God always provides.
I don't think I can capture into words how amazing Sunday was... SO many people... so receptive to this message. And then to top it off at the end we heard several women told Dr. Garza that they had been considering sterilization, but changed their minds. Other women said that they were going to end birth control immediately. I can't even tell you how much that makes EVERYTHING worthwhile :) If all of this was just for one soul... It was worth it.
There's so many little things that I could tell you about... I just don't have the time or the space to do it! People from the office staff helped me a TON, people volunteered to help us with things I hadn't even thought of (like daycare), and I just felt like God was part of the entire thing.
I'm still recovering from the past few days, but I know that I finished this 25th year incredibly strong by the grace of God. I don't know what the rest of 2012 looks like, or where I'll be at 27 years old, but I do know that God has a plan for my life that is great than what I could imagine for myself.
It's things like this that really make the be at peace, walk on water, be not afraid incredibly real. And this is only the beginning!
I'm so thankful for everything that has happened this past year... and I'm so so thankful that God is both merciful and faithful. There's so much to look forward to, but I will continue to strive to be at peace with the moment by moment adventures.
If the first 26 years are this exciting... then praise God for having bigger plans for my life than I have for myself!
be at peace
walk on water
be not afraid
d*
Jesus en ti confio