The Coolest Compliment: A Year in Review

In June I gave a talk at a local parish, and someone in the audience had also attended a talk I gave last April. She’s a very nice woman, and while I know her, I don’t know her well. God bless her- she waited to chat with me in June, and I’m so grateful. She complimented my talk and then told me that she could see a huge difference in how much I’ve grown between my April 2024 and June 2025 talks that she attended. That was one of the coolest compliments I ever could have received, because it’s everything I’m aiming for- constant growth! I was overwhelmed. She observed that something that was good in 2024 was better in 2025, and that is the gift I’ve been trying to give to the Lord, so I loved hearing that. I knew that I’ve been growing spiritually, but I was astounded that someone else could see that, much less someone that I don’t know super well. It stopped me in my tracks that night.

What she didn’t know is that the rest of 2024 after that April talk contained some of the hardest months of my life, and that’s saying something. Most people in my life had no idea, but the reality was that it was an even more difficult time for me for many reasons. I kept bringing it all to the foot of the cross and offering it up for others- praise God it wasn’t wasted. But it was tough. Many tears were shed, and there still is not resolution to a lot of it.

Even though it seemed lacking as an offering, I gave it to God and He worked with it, though I couldn’t see it at the time. I grew during it and am now able to give an even fuller testimony than I did in 2024. It’s hard to admit, but those specific trials in my life bore additional fruits in my talks, even though I wish I’d gotten to the same place via another route. 😉

Switching gears, I love people’s birthdays because to me birthdays are about celebrating the people that they are and the gifts that God gave them. Those who’ve been reading my blog for a few years now know that I’ve adopted a different approach to my own birthday in recent years. Being born on the Feast of the Assumption makes me more attuned to Mary’s example, and the Marian feast day makes it a lot harder for me to go into a selfish slump on my birthday. 😉 Instead of being down that another year has passed and I’m still not well, I’m trying to use my birthdays as a gauge to see how much I’ve spiritually grown in the past year, and I’m thanking God for that as I strive for heaven. That woman’s comment in June really warms my heart as I reflect on this past year. Birthdays are an opportunity for gratitude, and I’m trying to lean into that more, even though there is still quite a sting from what hasn’t come to be yet. This is the time of year I do a spiritual check and reflect on how God has worked in my life over the past year, and I have to admit that this year’s “year in review” in pretty neat.

I’d been speaking at Confirmation classes, retreats, and closed events for a few years, but my first open-to-the-public talk was in April of 2024. That day I vividly remember trying to take in everything in terms of how God was working that day, because I thought to myself that might be the only chance I’d ever have to give a talk like that. HAHA! God had other plans, though I didn’t know it at the time. After experiencing the way He worked through me that night and receiving powerful feedback from so many people, I wondered if He wanted to make this a more regular thing in my life. I loved doing it, and much good seemed to come from that talk. But then nothing else came from that, for months. I resigned myself to thinking that it was a one-time thing, that I would continue to speak to the small groups who asked me to speak, and that He must have something else in mind otherwise. Thankfully I was finally at a place of surrender on my journey where I accepted that without trying to push it.

And then I got a call in the fall of 2024 to give a talk, and that turned into other talks, and then a Confirmation retreat turned into more talks. In the meantime I was also invited to be a repeat guest on Dr. Tom Neal’s Sharing the Faith podcast, and I was a guest on Kitty Cleveland’s Instagram show. 16 things in total, 16 very tangible ways that God used me- all since my last birthday. It was clearly God’s doing, because it certainly wasn’t mine. I was just trying my best to cooperate with His plan, and that was enough of a task! All in His timing, and when I look back on this past year, I can see it as the year when a large part of His mission for me became more visible to my human eyes, and that’s something to celebrate. It may look like that part of my ministry came together fast, but in reality, He’d been preparing me for over 20 years– years when I couldn’t see anything happening, and years when it’s still so hard. And now I’m booked for several missions! It’s so encouraging to see good coming out of this.

While those visible good things started happening this year, I also had the opportunity to do some quieter things like accompany others, offer suffering for very specific intentions, and sponsor a young adult for confirmation. I’m equally grateful for these things, as God worked in those ways as much as if not more so than He did in the more visible ways. Our greatest call is to love, and He helped me to love better this year.

I’m still living in a ton of pain with so many physical limitations. I’m still not crawling into bed before 4 a.m. at best after the nightly violent vomiting episodes. The terrible muscular pain makes doing many things for myself impossible, and it now makes my daily walks (that I have to take) sources of increased pain and injury. I’m also still living with a constant headache, night sweats, and food restrictions, among many other things. That can all easily lead to despair. But God is using all of this, and this year I/we could see that more clearly than ever previously. This year my speaking ministry grew tremendously, and God drew me even closer to Him. I grew more than I expected I would, and I loved better than I did last year. Those are big wins!

Another year older means that He’s still not finished with me here on earth. While admittedly it’s not really fun to get older once you’re an adult, that’s only because we are clinging to things other than Him. We feel like things we want are slipping out of our grasp because of our age, and/or we miss really good times that have passed. I know from experience. But what we have is God in the present, and what we can control are our responses to His invitations. I’m grateful that I’m a better person than I was a year ago, and I can’t wait to be an even better person next year. It can actually be pretty exciting to use birthdays as a gauge of growth towards God on the spiritual journey, because that’s really the point of everything!

Mary and her Assumption help me stay grounded in that way of thinking. Mary shows me how to love better by her example, and she intercedes for me as I aim to grow. Mary’s fiat is the ultimate example of surrender and obedience, and it reminds me that my life isn’t my own- I need to be living for God. Her Assumption reminds me of what we are aiming for- eternal life and the resurrection of the body. The here and now isn’t it- that brings me relief and refocuses me. Thank you, Mary. Happy Feast of the Assumption, everyone!

Enter your email address to receive email updates whenever I publish a new blog post! I won’t crowd your inbox- I plan to post a couple of times per month.