Sermonstudio

I am a wife and mother of three boys. Ten years ago, when the boys were nine, six, and three, I went on a parish retreat. At that time I knew that God wanted me to do something, but I kept pretending I didn't know what. I was too frightened to let him take control. I had just returned to full-time teaching and saw that as my vocation. My sons were young, and I was already very involved with my local church.

While on the retreat, someone spoke to us about the willingness of a young Jewish girl to accept the will of God without question. After the talk we had a period of silence, and I decided to go for a walk to reflect on what I had heard. The retreat house was in a beautiful countryside setting, and as I walked I wept and finally fell to my knees and promised God that, although I still wasn't sure what he wanted me to do, whatever it was, I would do it.

I felt so full of joy, I actually sat on the ground and laughed and cried. If anyone had seen me, they would have thought me mad!

I returned to the retreat house, and as I opened the door there was a gust of wind and a leaflet flew off the table and onto the floor. Thinking nothing of it, I picked up the leaflet and nearly died. It was for a local ordination course, run on a part-time basis. My initial reaction was, "You've got to be kidding!"

Two hours later, I went for a talk with my vicar, who had helped organize the weekend. I told him of my walk in the woods, and his words were something like, "Great, now I can put you forward for ordination." I was amazed, as he had never hinted about anything like this before. To be honest, I still didn't believe it, but over the next six months I received so much confirmation from other people, including my dear husband and sons, that this is what I should do, that eventually I agreed to be put forward for selection. I was selected and I'm now in my third year of ministry.