By: Carol Morgan Growing up I was always confused on the actual name of this Sunday, as it was sometimes referred to as Passion Sunday as well as Palm Sunday. Each year my mother would take out our Easter outfits from the prior season for us because that is what you wore on Palm Sunday. As we would enter St. Christopher Church we would take our palm and my mother would give stern instructions to me, my brother and sister, not to wiggle or speak loudly during the Readings. I remember being restless as we listened to the Passion Gospel. So, to keep our minds occupied, my Mother taught us how to make crosses out of our palms. We would make them for ourselves and those around us seated in the pews. Our crosses would find their way on to our dresser tops replacing the ones from last year. Then there was the dilemma of what to do with last year’s dried palms. As a family we had the unique tradition of placing last year’s palm under our mattresses. My Mother said it helped usto dream of the angels. Of course I embraced the tradition of cross making on Palm Sunday and taught my daughters the process. That tradition also included the transferring of the palms to their mattress final resting place. At night if my girls had bad dreams, I reminded them of the blessing they had just under them to keep them safe as they slept. This process of placing our palms under the mattress worked well until we were preparing our home for a move. The moving men picked up my mattress and the breeze gave flight to the palm crosses, and they spewed everywhere. The young men looked at me and commented that this was a new experience for them. In fact, they had no familiarity with the wonder of Palm Sunday. So, my moving day turned into a bible study mini session. It is truly a miracle how we can share our faith with those around us even in the most unexpected times. No matter how you celebrate Palm Sunday in your family and how you store the palm branches you take home, we should remember these blessed palms are the symbol of our faith victory just like the Lombardy Trophy, the Stanly Cup, or the Commissioner’s Trophy. Jesus Christ conquered death and saved us. So maybe we should display our palms with the same panache as we would other symbols of victory.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Year A) April 2, 2023. Is.50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mt.26:14-27:66. “Who is Jesus, and why did he have to die?” Does anyone know what a Kinkajou is? It is an animal, which is related to the racoon family and can be found in the wild in southern Mexico. It has a strong tail it can use to hang from a tree limb; it has sharp claws and sharp teeth. A lady in Florida, instead of a dog or cat, decided to have a kinkajou, as a pet. Indeed, it was a cute, cool little pet when it was small, but when it experienced puberty for the first time, it went berserk. It tried to eat its own tail and tear itself to pieces. The family was bitten and scratched when it tried to save the wild little creature from destroying itself. You may wonder why the family would subject itself to such an ordeal to save this little animal. The important answer is this: it was a wild animal and its nature showed itself at its mature stage of life. The loving and caring nature of this family who loved its pet also showed itself in their efforts to save this wild kinkajou from destroying itself. This is because the nature of the wild animal conflicted with the nature of the caring family. Life Message: We just heard the story of Jesus giving his life for us. Many times, I have been asked this question: “Who is Jesus, and why did he have to die?” The reason goes back to the fact that it was in his nature to save us and he couldn’t stop doing everything he was trying to do to lead us to salvation. “Christ Jesus… did not regard equality with God…Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the Cross…” (Phil. 2:6-11). Despite all this, there are elements in our nature that are driven by selfishness, pride, jealousy, cruelty, and all kinds of attitudes and behaviors that work against God’s desire to save us. In other words, in Jesus’ Passion Narrative, we saw intense and pure love on the part of Jesus (that was his nature to be that way), and we saw the dark side of human nature working against him and trying to destroy him. Conclusion: However, because it is in Jesus’ nature to love, he continues to reach out to us in love. He speaks to us each week in the scriptures, and nourishes us by feeding us with his own body and blood. And he willingly shares his Spirit with us so that we can continue to live and love more like he does as we stumble along making our way to eternal happiness. Therefore, Jesus is the lowly Messiah, the beast of burden, who carries the weight of human sin to the absolution of the Cross, through which we can achieve God’s glorious reign of Justice, peace, and love. In short, we in this age of the loss of the sense of sin, have the coming Holy Week to settle this matter of sin decisively between ourselves and our Messiah-Savior.

5th.Sunday of LENT (Year A) (March 26, 2023): Ez. 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45. “Roll away the stone. “Lazarus, come out!” Unbind him and let him go.” The central theme today is, death with hope in resurrection, challenging us to be alive and not spiritually dead by mortal sin. In other words, Jesus challenges us to live in loving relationship with him every day, so that he may raise us up at our death to inherit eternal life with him. Scripture lessons summarized: In the 1st. reading, Ezekiel bears witness that, from time immemorial God has promised Hie chosen people: “O my people, I will open your graves, and have you rise from them.” He assures them that God's life-giving Breath will restore them, His people, will give them new life, and will resettle them in their land. St. Paul, in the 2nd. reading, assures the early Roman Christians who were facing death by persecution, and us, surrounded by a culture of death, that the same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead and Who dwells within us, will raise our mortal bodies to life on the Last Day. For John, in today’s Gospel, the raising of Lazarus, signifying Jesus as the Deliverer, is a symbolic narrative of his Final Victory over death at the cost of his human life, and a sign anticipating his Resurrection. Thus, describing this great miracle, the Church assures us that we, too, will be raised into eternal life after our battle with sin and death in this world. Therefore, today, we are assured that our Faith in Jesus, who is “the Resurrection and the Life,” promises our participation in his Resurrection and new life. Life message: We need to be ready to welcome death any time. We live in a world that is filled with death. We kill each other in acts of murder, abortion, euthanasia, execution, war, and terrorist activities. We kill ourselves through suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, overwork, stress, bad eating habits, and physical neglect. The most important question is: am I ready to face my death? All of us know that we will surely die, but each of us foolishly thinks that he or she will not die any time in the near future. Let us be wise, well-prepared and ever ready to meet our Lord with a clear conscience when the time comes and to give Him a clean account of our lives. Conclusion: Therefore, we should strive to, “Roll away the stone, unbind him and let him go.” We often bind ourselves with chains of addiction to alcohol, drugs, sexual deviations, slander, gossip, envy, prejudice, hatred, and uncontrollable anger, and bury ourselves in the tombs of despair. Sometimes we are in the tomb of selfishness, filled with negative feelings, like worry, fear, resentment, hatred, and guilt. If we want Jesus to visit our dark dungeons of sin, despair, and unhappiness, we need to ask him during this Holy Mass to bring the light and the power of the Holy Spirit into our private lives and liberate us from our tombs. This is the acceptable time to “Roll away the stone and see the glory of God.” When we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus will call our name and command, "Come out, Mary”,” “Come out, Joe!” This is Good News for all of us: “Lazarus, come out!” This can be the beginning of a new life. ( song: They have been saying: “All of us are dying.../Dead”. Roll away the stone, see the glory of God 2X).

3rd Sunday of LENT (Year A). (March 12, 2023): Ex 17:3-7; Rom 5:1-2, 5-8; Jn 4:5-42. “The Divine touch and conversion”. Today’s readings which make use of the symbol of water to refer to our relationship with God, are centered on Baptism and new life. Baptism is the outward, symbolic sign of a deep Reality, the coming of God as a Spiritual Force penetrating every aspect of a person’s life. The Holy Spirit quenches our spiritual thirst. Hence just as water in the desert was life-giving for the wandering Israelites, the water of a true, loving relationship with Jesus is life-giving for those who accept him as Lord and Savior. And so, we are assembled here today in the Church to share in this water of eternal life and salvation. Scripture readings summarized: The 1st reading describes how God provided water to the ungrateful complainers of Israel, thus placing Jesus’ promise within the context of the Exodus account of water coming from the rock at Horeb. The Resp. Psalm (Ps 95) refers both to the Rock of our salvation and also to our hardened hearts. It reminds us that our hard hearts need to be softened by God through our grace-prompted and -assisted prayer, fasting and works of mercy which enable us to receive the living water of the Holy Spirit, salvation, and eternal life from the Rock of our salvation. In the Gospel, an unclean, ostracized Samaritan woman is given an opportunity to receive living water, through which Jesus also poured the living water of the gift of the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Life Message: So, today's Gospel tells us how Jesus awakened in the woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar, a thirst for the wholeness and integrity which she had lost, a thirst which He had come to satisfy. In revealing himself as the Messiah to the Samaritan woman, Jesus speaks to her of the fountain of water he will give — the life-giving waters of Baptism. Significantly, the water that Jesus promises is closely linked to conversion and the forgiveness of sin. Here is a woman who comes to Faith and becomes a missionary who brings others to Jesus. Moreover, Jesus recognizes the gifts and ministries of women in his future Church. Consequently, through her, the Samaritans, who were considered godless in general in this town, ended up confessing Jesus as the Savior of “the world.” Conclusion: This Gospel passage gives us Jesus' revelation about Himself as the Source of Living Water and teaches us that we need the grace of Jesus Christ for eternal life, because He is that life-giving water. Therefore, Jesus’ meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well illustrates the principal role of Jesus as the Messiah: to reconcile all men and women to the Father. Once converted, this outcast woman became an evangelist, enthusiastically introducing Jesus to her fellow villagers. In other words, just as Jesus confronted the woman at the well with the reality of her own sinfulness and brokenness, so we must, with God’s grace, confront our own sinfulness and, in doing so, realize our need for God. The Holy Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the Sacraments of God in the Church are the primary sources for the living water of Divine Grace. Washed in it at Baptism, renewed by its abundance at each Eucharist, invited to it in every proclamation of the Word, and daily empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are challenged by today’s Gospel to remain thirsty for the living water which only God can give.

Second Sunday in Lent March 5, 2023 Gen. 12:1-4a; 2Tm 1:8b-10; Mt 17:1-9. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him…” Introduction: The word transfiguration means a change in form or appearance, which in scientific parlance is called metamorphosis or transformation. You will recall from 7th-grade science class that metamorphosis is the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, and a tadpole becomes a frog. Simply put, it’s a gradual change on the inside that produces a total transformation on the outside. Thus, the readings invite us to work with the Holy Spirit to transform our lives by renewing them during Lent, and to radiate the grace of the transfigured Lord to all around us by our Spirit-filled lives. In other words, the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain reminds us that the way of the cross leads to Resurrection and eternal life, and that the purpose of Lent is to help us better to enter into those mysteries. Life Message (Scripture readings): Both the first and second readings present salvation history as a response to God’s call, a call going out to a series of key persons beginning with Abraham and culminating with Jesus Christ and His Apostles. Faith is presented here as the obedient, trusting response to the call of God which opens up channels for the redemptive action of God in history, thus transforming the world. In answering this call, both Abram and Saul broke with the experiences of their past lives and moved into an unmapped future to become new “people of the Promise,” for a new life. The 1st. reading presents the change or transformation of the patriarch Abram from a childless pagan tribesman into a man of Faith in the One God. This, years later, leads to God’s transforming his name from Abram to Abraham, and making him, as promised, the father of God’s chosen people, Israel. Conclusion: At the Transfiguration, the disciples hear a voice that recalls Christ’s baptism: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” On account of this, Pope Francis said, “We are called to be people who listen to his voice and take his words seriously. To listen to Jesus, we must be close to him, to follow him. Then his word will grow in us, so that, we will be able to proclaim it to others. This is the mission of the Church, for all baptized Christians.” Indeed, it is the grace of hearing God’s voice that filled Abraham with the conviction to go forth from the land of his kinsfolk (his comfort zone) to a completely unknown land. And we can bear our hardships for the Gospel, because, through the Transfiguration we have been given “the strength that comes from God” (2nd.reading). Therefore, I take encouragement from these words of St. Thomas Aquinas which I share with you: “It is better to limp along the way, than to stride off the way. For a man who limps along the way, even if he slow progress, eventually comes to the end of the journey. But the one who veers off the way, the more quickly he runs, further away from his goal. Hence if you are looking for a goal, hold fast to Christ, because he himself is the ‘Way, the Truth, and the Life’, where we desire to be…” And so, let’s heed to God’s call today: “…This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him…”

1st. Sunday of LENT (Year A). (Feb. 26, 2023). Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11. "You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil." The first reading (Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7) describes the “Original Temptation" – "You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil." This is the story of the first sin, symbolized by the eating of the forbidden fruit. It tells us that Adam and Eve were given the possibility of making a choice. The fundamental choice was to live for God, dependent upon, and obedient to, His will, or to say no to God. Like Adam and Eve, we are all tempted to put ourselves in God's place. Consequently, we resent every limit on our freedom, and we don't want to be held responsible for the consequences of our choices. Thus, in Genesis, we witness how temptation to evil led Adam and Eve to an act of faithlessness and sin. In contrast, today’s Gospel from St. Matthew shows us how Jesus Christ conquered temptation by relying on Faith in God's Word and authority. So, he teaches us how the "desert experience" of fasting, praying, and soul-strengthening was a kind of spiritual “training camp” for Jesus which enabled him to confront his temptations successfully, and then to preach the Good News of salvation. The Gospel also prescribes a dual action plan for Lent: (1) We should confront our temptations and conquer them as Jesus did, by fasting, prayer and the Word of God. (2) We should renew our lives by true repentance and live the Good News of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. Life message: We are to confront and conquer temptations as Jesus did, using the means he employed. Every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth, and a position of authority, power, and glory, and to use any means, even unjust or sinful ones, to gain these things. But Jesus serves as a model for us in conquering temptations by strengthening himself through prayer, penance, and the active use of the Word of God. Hence, temptations make us more powerful warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. By constantly struggling against temptations, we become stronger. Conclusion: Are we tempted to serve the gods of our inordinate desires instead of serving our loving and providing God? Each time one is tempted to do evil but does good, one becomes stronger. Further, we are never tempted beyond our power. In 1 John, he assures us: “Greater is the One Who is in us, than the one who is in the world (1 Jn 4: 4). We may also be strengthened by St. Paul's words in 1 Cor 10:13: "No testing has overtaken you, that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and [God] will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing [God] will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." Therefore, during this Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies by prayer (especially by participating in the Holy Mass), by fasting, by penance, and by meditative reading of the Bible. Today’s Resp. Psalm (Ps 51) also presents our contrition or acknowledgment of guilt before God: “Against Thee, thee only, have I sinned.”

How to Get the Most Out of Lent February 26th during the 10:00 a.m. mass Please welcome Deacon Eric Paige as our guest speaker during the 10:00 a.m. mass. Join Deacon Eric Paige for fellowship & donuts in the Parish Hall following mass. Deacon Eric Paige directs the Archdiocese of Seattle’s Office of Marriage, Family Life and Formation which coordinates the Archdiocese’s support of Faith Formation, Youth Ministry, Young Adult Ministry, CYO Camps ministry, Retreat Center as well as Marriage and Family Life Ministry. In this work Deacon Eric supports Archbishop Sartain’s vision to strengthen and encourage all Catholics to evangelize for an encounter with Christ who calls and sends us as missionary disciples. Deacon Eric is married with two daughters and was ordained in 2007 and serves at St. Andrew Parish in Sumner.

“A Lent with All My Heart”. By Fr. Anthony Davis So, we begin another season of Lent, which is primarily the time of intense spiritual preparation for conquering our temptations, using the means Jesus used during his forty days of preparation in the desert for his public life. It is also the time for repenting of our sins and renewing our lives for the celebration of Easter with our Risen Lord who conquered sin and death by his suffering, death and Resurrection. Those of you who are as old as I am will remember Lent as a more severe season than it seems to be today. The fasting required was more challenging: adults had to fast every day of Lent and fasting included two meatless meals out of the three, with, of course, nothing between meals, and no meat at all on Fridays. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday demanded full abstinence from meat as well as fasting. So, Abstinence from meat was an everyday Lenten thing, not just an Ash Wednesday/all Lenten Fridays practice. We ate a lot of macaroni and cheese in those days! We made personal sacrifices, giving up smoking, candy, alcohol, or something else that we really liked. And generally, we practiced self-denial on Sundays as well as on weekdays. We went to Church a lot more, whether to daily Mass, or Stations of the Cross, or for prayer. HOWEVER, many feel that Lent today is much easier. Encouragement is given to do positive things during Lent,so many don’t give up much anymore. Most people don’t find their life during Lent much different from their life in any other season. Following the Second Vatican Council, the Church decided to take a risk and treat us as adults. While they removed many of the previous rules, they challenged us to observe the season of Lent with all seriousness, to take responsibility for our own spiritual growth. -- That is a lot harder than just following rules, but it also bears the potential of really making Lent a time to change our lives and truly become more Christlike. Life Message: It is in this spirit of Lent, that I suggest what I call, “Give Up”: GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, "In everything give thanks." Constructive criticism is OK, but "moaning, groaning, and complaining" are not Christian disciplines. GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion. GIVE UP looking at other people's worst points! Instead concentrate on their best points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first. GIVE UP speaking unkindly! Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why not check that sharp tongue at the door? GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. "Love covers a multitude of sins." GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let God's grace be sufficient. Conclusion: I want to begin Lent this year, using Ignatius' naming of a grace I desire: "Lord, lead me to the fullness of your grace." I want to ask that I might be more intent on prayer and works of charity. And, I want to experience, through the readings and the liturgies each week during Lent, that I'm really reliving the mysteries of my rebirth and salvation. “…become reconciled to God. Behold now isthe acceptable time…” (2Cor.6:2). Welcome to Lent!

Catholic Home Missions Support the Catholic Home Missions Appeal today! Nearly 40% of dioceses in the United States and its territories are considered mission territories because they are unable to fund essential pastoral activities needed in their communities. Your support funds religious education, seminary formation, lay ministry training, and other programs that build vibrant faith communities right here in the United States. Donation envelopes can be found in your pews. Thank you for your generosity.

Who do you have breakfast with? By ValerieWinston Healy I sat down for breakfast the other morning and while it was a typical start to my day, it did not turn out to be a typical breakfast time for me. Way more people arrived than I’m used to. Any given morning, I will get up, stop in my office to grab my prayer book, and walk to the kitchen. I place my prayer book on the table, put the kettle on for tea and pop a slice of bread into the toaster. While all that “cooks”, I will empty the dishwasher and put the dishes away. As I complete my first morning chore, the toaster beeps to let me know that my toast is ready and the kettle begins to whistle, letting me know the water is hot. That morning, I decided to have some jam on my toast. All is ready and I moved from the island to the table to sit and enjoy my quiet prayer time with tea and toast and jam. Sitting at the table, I looked down at my breakfast and realized nothing on the table had been purchased or made by me. All had been given as gifts. The toast was from a homemade loaf of bread, given by a parishioner who wanted to thank me for my ministry. The jam had been given by a dear friend for my Birthday to sweeten my mornings and bring a smile to my face. The tea was a present from my husband who knows that I believe “tea fixes everything”. My prayer book too, from Stephen given soon after we were married. I looked past my meal and prayer book to the plate I was using to hold my toast, and the knife I used, to spread my jam. Even those were gifts. Gifts given to Stephen and me when we got married, given from my mom and dad. The ‘remembering’ I was experiencing at that moment, reminded me of the Hebrew belief of remembering. When one remembers, the remembering recalls the person or persons being remembered to be present in some way at that moment. It’s like the words in our Eucharistic prayer, “do this in remembrance of me”, where Jesus become truly present to us at that moment. My gosh, suddenly, my breakfast table was crowed. The parishioner who gifted me with bread, my dear friend who gave me jam, my Stephen, my mom and dad. We were all present for that moment (and I was still in my jammies). It's moments like this that overwhelm me. I’m so privileged. I’m so grateful for all the people God has placed in my life. How loving, how generous they are and have been. How their presence has shown me God, has shown me love. What a wonderful way to start one’s day, even if the table becomes crowded. So, I ask you, who did you have breakfast with this morning? I’m hoping your table was crowded.

7th.Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Feb.19, 2023. Lev. 19:1-2, 17-18; I Cor 3:16-23; Mt 5:38-48. “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am Holy.” “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Introduction: Today’s readings explain the basis of Jewish and Christian morality: the Holiness of the loving, merciful and compassionate One God. God’s chosen people were, and are, expected to be holy people sharing in God’s Holiness by embodying His love, mercy and forgiveness. Scripture readings summarized: The 1st reading, (Leviticus), gives the Holiness code: “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am Holy.” It also gives us the way to share God’s holiness: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Resp. Psalm (Ps 103) challenges us to be like our God – kind, merciful and forgiving -- and it shows us the measure of perfection Christ asks us to bring to our relationships. In the 2nd reading, St. Paul gives us an additional reason to be holy. We are to keep our bodies holy because we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. In the Gospel passage, Jesus confirms, corrects, and expands the Ten Commandments. Here, Jesus condemns even the mild form of the “Law of the Talion, (Lex Talionis),” the Babylonian tribal law of restricted retaliation which Moses passed on to Israel. In its place, Jesus gives his new law of love, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, and no retaliation. Life Message: For Jesus, retaliation, or even limited vengeance, has no place in the Christian life, even though graceful acceptance of an offense requires great strength and discipline of character, as well as strengthening by God’s grace. The second part of today’s Gospel passage presents the Christian ethic of personal relationships: love one’s neighbors and forgive one’s enemies. It tells us that what makes Christians different is the grace through which they treat others with loving kindness and mercy, even if they don’t deserve it. In other words, we are commanded to love our enemies as Jesus loves us, with agápe love, not because our enemies deserve our love, but because Jesus loves them so much that he died for them as he did for us. Conclusion: In short, we are to mirror God’s attributes in the world. As God loves and welcomes, so too humans are called to love and welcome, even to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection is not as humankind usually views it-an unattainable, inhuman kind of spotlessness. Rather Jesus speaks of moral and relation goodness, whereby, we bring God’s agape love into the world, through our interactions, particularly, with those who experience marginalization. Folks, our moral duty is to stand in solidarity with one another! Thus, while we may want to mirror God’s love through big, heroic, loving acts, at the end of the day, it is the smaller, simpler, daily interactions that reveal who we truly are as Christian disciples. Therefore, sent firth by Christ Jesus to live the way of love, let’s challenge one another to actively commit to the mission of Christ. “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am Holy.” And “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

A Reflection on My Faith - By Kathryn Baker I was born Catholic, baptized as an infant and raised in a Catholic family. I followed through the sacraments at the traditional pace and attended mass regularly with my family. While I always had a strong relationship with my faith, my connection with God grew exponentially when I became pregnant with my first child. As a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a mother and a wife. I am truly blessed with an angel for a mother, and one of my aspirations was to be just like her. When I was blessed with my first pregnancy, I knew immediately, like most mothers, that this was my most precious responsibility. Becoming a mother was the turning point for me in my faith. I was so grateful for this cherished gift that I turned my gratitude toward God. I began praying more and connecting more with God’s word. It was almost as if a line of communication opened wide and I could feel God with me. Like most new mother’s I was naïve to all the complications that can affect a pregnancy. I was blissfully unaware until I was not. After a slight scare I met with my doctor to check on my baby for reassurance. My heart was wrought with fear when the nurse was unable to find my baby’s heart beat on the doppler. Alone in the exam room,waiting for the doctor, I turned to the Lord. I was so grateful for my baby and couldn’t wait to start a family with my husband, but was it all going to disappear? While my heart sank, I told God that I trusted in Him, that I knew He had a plan for me and our baby, and I completely surrendered myself to the Lord. In that moment I was terrified, but I knew I would be able to overcome what ever befell my family. The doctor was able to come in and my concerns were quickly relieved when she found my baby’s heartbeat loud and clear. Without prayer would I have been able to find peace in that moment of chaos? Talking to God helped me calm my typical overwhelming anxiety. My very good friend once told me that "the Lord will not give us anything we can’t handle." I often reflect on this statement when my anxiety gets the better of me. Many ups and downs have occurred since my pregnancy 14 years ago with my first daughter. Our family has lost loved ones, we have endured medical emergencies and stressful moments that have challenged my anxiety; but I know that with the help of God my family has pulled through even stronger than before. I know with God and prayer my family and I can overcome whatever may come our way, and when we are met with glorious achievements we can celebrate with the Lord and show him our gratitude together.