Lent: Not What I Expected - New Evangelizers

Lent is not going the way I planned. I feel as if I’m failing at all the goals I set to accomplish this Lent, from the study to finding more time to spend with God.  My life has been a whirlwind of family commitments that have left me little time for myself or God.

Wait let’s sit back and take a look at the past three weeks: The weekend before Ash Wednesday was spent across the country with my oldest daughter and her in-laws celebrating the impending birth of my fourth grandchild. We did a couple of sleepovers with my two daughters and oldest granddaughter; I got to see my two best friends and got to go to mass at the Catholic church we attended when we lived in Washington. I may not be there when the baby is born, but I got to spend some quality time with my daughter and share some very special moments including Mass and God was with me the whole time.

The Monday before Ash Wednesday my mother had back surgery, while I was flying home. Tuesday as soon as I could I was at the hospital visiting her and finding out the results of her surgery. I was uncomfortable visiting her in the hospital and feeling bad because I couldn’t be there on Monday, but through it all I prayed.

Three days later Mom was moved to a rehab facility and was on the road to recovery. In the midst of visiting her almost daily to keep her spirits up and make sure that everything that could be done was being done to ensure a complete recovery, I juggled my own family’s needs cooking and making costumes for the high school play. Granted cleaning kind of took a back seat, but for the most part with the help of my sisters we got through the two weeks of rehab. And I prayed, found time to go to the park and say a rosary or two, called on all the prayer warriors I knew and I prayed.

Now we are looking at her going home, still needing attention, we reach a new phase of this journey. Mom is miles beyond the place she was on that Monday before Ash Wednesday and still I pray. Two weeks and two days after surgery she is to see her doctor for a post op checkup. This involves her being taken to the doctor’s office via a wheelchair van and one of us to meet her there. The day before the doctor’s appointment a blizzard hits the east coast. Somehow it bypasses us and I think we are in the clear, until the morning of the appointment, the storm hits us a day late and unexpected. The roads are horrible, traffic is backed up and my teenage daughter forgot her lunch and school computer. I have a rosary app on my phone and like to say the rosary when I am traveling in my car. I pull out my phone to turn the app on and I look at the road in front of me. I think no rosary for now, I need to focus on the road and traffic. I set my phone down and pray. In the time it usually takes me to get to the high school I barely get to the highway that I have to cross to get there and I still have to make the normally twenty minute trip to mom’s doctor.

After dropping her stuff at the school I get back on the snow covered roads to head for the doctor’s office. As I turn onto the traffic congested, snowy highway I am praying. I pray that I will make it safely, I pray that Mom and her ambulance will make it and I will be there to meet them. I stop at a light and scan the cars in front of me and I pray. Three cars in front of me is a wheelchair van. What are the chances that is the one carrying Mom to her appointment? I pray and continue my journey. We both pull into the turning lane for the office. I park and walk through the snow to the van. It is Mom’s van. In spite of the snow, the traffic and the forgetful teenager I made it, my mother made it.

The doctor’s appointment went well. The staples were removed and the doctor was pleased with her progress. So we return to the rehab center and prepare for her release on Friday.

I started this journey a little late to the game and a little hesitant, because I didn’t feel a close connection with my mother. As I visited each day, we talked, I intervened with her doctors and nurses and therapists when she was too timid or drugged to do it herself. I helped her deal with some of my sisters and through it all I prayed. I found a connection with my mother that I hadn’t felt in many years. And I prayed. We have a long way to go and there will be more bumps in the road, but with God by our side this too shall pass.

So back to my Lent. I may not have been able to keep up with the study or read all the devotionals I said I would read, and maybe I have spent more time on Facebook then I planned on (I was going to cut back on FB for Lent), but I have prayed, I have rediscovered a relationship with my mother and along with it I have become closer to God. I’ve even found the strength to forgive a sister and reestablish a connection with a fourth. All because I never stopped praying, I never stopped asking God to lead the way and to heal the broken ties.

Maybe not a failed Lent, but a redirected Lent and I still have three weeks to go. I am amazed and grateful for the surprises God has blessed me with and I can’t wait to see what the rest of Lent holds for me.

May your Lent be all that you expect as we wait for the glorious resurrection of Jesus our Savior.

Christina Weigand

Christina Weigand’s a writer, wife, and mother of four. She is also Nana to three granddaughters. She lives with her husband and youngest daughter in Cranberry Twp. Pennsylvania, returning there after a short sabbatical in Washington. Currently, she’s working on fantasy novels and inspirational writing. Through her writing, she strives to share the Word of God and help people young and old to realize the love and mercy He has for everyone. When she’s not writing, she’s active in her local Church as a lector, Bible Study, volunteering at her daughter’s school helping the children develop a love for reading and writing. Jesus fills her home with love as she shares Him through her writing.