Discern in Freedom! with Mamas in Spirit Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer
God created only one you. This Advent, learn to discern God’s story written just for you.
Chaplain Father Jon Meyer and host Lindy Wynne share personal testimony about their own discernment.
Learn how we are not designed to be constantly busy or to live with high levels of anxiety and stress.
Tune into this “mini retreat in a podcast' to embrace your authentic self and say “yes” to God’s plan for this season of your life.
Engage spiritual tools such as listening, accepting limitations, facing reality, maintaining an eternal perspective, removing distractions, honestly naming desires, and sifting through to discover God’s plan for you.
Prepare your heart for Christmas and live vibrantly in new life!
Transcript:
Lindy Wynne (00:00)
Welcome to Mamas in Spirit, a podcast pointing you towards God in everything you are and everything you do. I'm Lindy Wynne and it's a blessing to be with you. Hello everyone. Happy Advent. What a joy it is that we are nearing Christmas as we await in joyful hope. And this Advent series for Mamas in Spirit has been about discernment, which is at the heart of the spiritual life for all of us.
And it started with Dr. Mary Ruth Hackett about discerning and joy, and then continued with Carol Frye, who is just a precious, precious friend, And then now we are so blessed to be here with our beloved chaplain, Father Jon Meyer. Father Jon, thank you so much for joining us.
Fr Jon Meyer (00:44)
Happy Advent everybody. I hope that you've all managed to maintain some semblance of stillness and preparation, even though I imagine many of you are hustling and bustling to get ready for all that lies ahead. I feel like this season, more than I remember in the past, maybe it's just because of my own seeking of preparation, but I've been hearing a lot about that word, like stillness.
and how in this, as we prepare for this great solemnity of Christmas, which was, you know, so still in its historical origin, seems to be clouded today by just so much noise and so much busyness. So I hope that you guys are
having a fruitful Advent and that we do as Catholics take this time to intentionally prepare in stillness and as you said, in joyful hope.
Lindy Wynne (01:35)
Yes, and that stillness is so much at the heart of the matter. I've said before in Mamas in Spirit, I am most formed in Ignatian spirituality. My master's is in pastoral care and counseling, but it's really discovering God at the water's edge as a nine-year-old girl and that silence that has fed and sustained that living water, my life. And that is where I, by the grace of God, return again and again. And so to your point, Father Jon, I feel kind of humored by this because all of our kids' birthdays
in December, my birthday's in December, my mom, my mother-in-law, both mine and my husband's father's are November 25th. I just hosted Thanksgiving and we will likely host friends at Christmas and yet I feel slowing down and I feel so graced and blessed by that and a precious girlfriend has asked me a number of times throughout Advent
Fr Jon Meyer (02:19)
Mmm.
Lindy Wynne (02:28)
what are you doing for Advent? And it took me a couple days in to really be able to articulate to her what I was doing. And I said to her, I'm lighting candles. And that ties into really my search for the Lord and such a profound part of my own spiritual life. Like if we can all think about the cathedrals or the churches that we go in where the candles are lit.
or when we light candles in our home. For me, it's been a spiritual practice to light candles ever since I was in my early 20s searching for the Lord. And in RCIA, which is now OCIA, I would light a candle and I would just sit there and look at it as the light of Christ. And I've said before one of my favorite scriptures is, behold the star. It's that light that outshines the darkness. And for me, I feel so drawn into the silence.
through candles and through that light, And then also, I think about how the smoke of the candle rises up. And I think about that as prayers, like when people ask for intentions or the prayers of my heart, especially the prayers of others. Like if somebody reaches out and says, will you please pray for so-and-so, sometimes I will light a candle.
And I'll even leave that candle burning for hours while I'm at home. So that person is still held, that intention is still held in prayer.
So in that spirit, in the Holy Spirit, Father Jon, I would love for you to open us in prayer.
Fr Jon Meyer (03:58)
Let us pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
invite you wherever you find yourself to be aware of your body, be aware of what's going on in your heart, especially if there's anxiety, if there's tension, your mind is racing, and to be patient with yourself. This isn't about trying to eliminate or to be somewhere where you're not, but just to acknowledge.
and even to reverence that state.
We call upon you, Holy Spirit, that you who instilled in our blessed mother
the life of the living word, the fullness of truth.
and so ordained the human race to become bearers, to become true witnesses.
of that word.
We call upon you that same spirit of life.
Enter into the places where we are restless, where we're worried.
Where we're afraid.
We give you permission to move within us freely.
to have dominion over our spirits.
and in our limitation to entrust fully to your eternal power.
that can so change and utterly transform.
what we very meekly and weakly.
try our best to do.
come to us in this season of Advent.
bless those who we carry in our hearts, for those for whom we have care for, that even when we are busy, when we are actively doing, that we do so in your spirit. We do so with you.
And we offer all this up through the intercession of Mary, our model of living in the Spirit, always through.
The name of her son Jesus.
Amen.
Lindy Wynne (05:40)
Amen.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you so much for that beautiful prayer, Father Jon And the prayer struck my heart so deeply, and there's a couple of words that really stand out to me that are at the heart of the matter for what we're talking about today. And the first was freely, because we're going to be talking about discerning and freedom. And really at the heart of that is that St. Catherine of Sienna quote I've quoted so many times, it's up in my kitchen, to be who we were
created to be to set the world on fire and that we're all so unique and that God has molded and shaped each one of us, each one of our hearts uniquely.
to live out His will, God's will in our lives. And that's the second word is dominion. That was so beautiful, Father Joan. You talked about God having dominion over our spirits, over our hearts, over our lives. And so I've mentioned in other Mamas in Spirit podcasts that I am in discernment about Mamas in Spirit for next year and what this will look like. And I genuinely have no idea yet what it's going to look like. And
It's almost like Advent is a time of preparation. I am preparing to go into a time of quiet and a time of discernment with the Lord. And so my prayer is to be in God's will. And Father Jon, before we started recording, we were talking about detachment and really letting go. That is at the heart of the discernment and the discerned life is
letting go of my expectations or what I think something will look like or or trying to make something be molded and shaped towards something else that I've seen or just kind of the way that things are going in society or or in this case, like in Catholic ministry in general, it's detaching from all of that. And really, in a sense, I think about like going into the womb, I think of my little chapel, I have my she shed chapel and
that like going in there and just being held and letting everything else fall away. All of my thoughts, all of my expectations, all of my everything and just being with the Lord and discerning for clarity
So Father Jon, I'd love to know as we delve in any thoughts that you have.
Fr Jon Meyer (08:01)
Alright, come Holy Spirit. know, discernment is obviously something that gets associated a lot with vocation, right? And even in priesthood, you know, I work at a seminary and so the word discernment is probably used umpteen times a day. Well, I would say it's probably overused in some ways.
So the first thing that comes to mind is just like, does it mean to discern? And the Latin word, dicionere, I think is the word, means to separate, to kind of filter in a way different thoughts or different ideas that we have.
And what we're trying to get to is a certain core or you use the word heart. That discernment is connected to our hearts and especially when we discern as Christians, it's usually in trying to determine, okay, Lord, what is it you're calling me to?
this podcast, has been, its fruit has been based on testimony.
So don't think we need to get into the real technicalities of discernment. But what does it look like? When we have a question like, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do we do with that? And the first thing that comes to mind is, and I think it's very appropriate for Advent, is being in a...
place of listening, of being able, you know, and even as we prayed in the beginning, you know, just acknowledging what's happening in our bodies and our minds and our hearts. That is a form of listening. Because how often are we just kind of pushing through life, even sometimes white-knuckling it like, I'm just going to, you know, keep moving without any real awareness of
of where I am at. And I can testify to this. This was my life before discerning priesthood. And I've shared this story that I suffered from quite a bit of anxiety and was very functional. And so it wasn't obvious. mean, maybe I would be agitated or at fidget or something like that, but it wasn't until
I was willing to sort of listen, listen to the body, listen to the heart that I began to realize, wait, know, maybe this isn't how I'm supposed to live. Maybe I'm not supposed to live with all this anxiety. Maybe I'm not supposed to have, you know, these high, this high stress and preoccupation about the future, about what the Lord wants. when you use the word freedom, I think
You know, in freedom, arguably as humans is limited because we are limited as creatures. so on the one hand, to listen and to acknowledge is a way to begin to accept our limitations, to accept that there's things that I want.
You know, and what we fundamentally want is eternity. You know, only God can give us that. And on this side of heaven, we're not there yet. and on the other hand, there is, because we're limited, there's obviously a deep desire for us to, to do good, to follow that, which will, you know, I guess in theory we can use it different ways. We could say what will make us happiest.
what is most fulfilling. And as Christians, we always want to put that in the context of love. And so in some ways, when we think about discernment in Christianity, we're always thinking of what's going to help me love more. And that's a giving and receiving, you know? I mean, sometimes the Lord is asking us to receive more, sometimes He's asking us to give more. But I think fundamentally it's
It's that first stage of listening that enables us to just know. And again, that listening might just be like accepting our current state. And so for example, and this is still happening today. There's a lot of resistance to accepting where I'm at. And there was when I was discerning the priesthood because I...
There was a part of me that didn't want to follow that, that didn't want to go there. And it's not like I'm here against my will. And so there were steps that needed to be taken that included especially just accepting this resistance, this maybe, because often resistance is that like, you know, keeping God at a distance or ⁓ trying to somehow
do things on my own, right? We live in a very autonomous culture where we have the pressure that we should be able to do things on our own. So I hold that out as maybe one thing. don't know if it, Lindy, as you I know have been spending quite a bit of time in even coming to the decision to discern other possibilities. And I'm curious how listening or that self-acceptance
has been a part of that journey.
Lindy Wynne (12:45)
Yes, listening and self-acceptance. When I started Mamas in Spirit, really this mustard seed was planted over seven years ago, seven seasons ago. It was literally the tiniest mustard seed, the tiniest whisper into my heart to start this. And in my human mind, it was just gonna be like a little
podcast. didn't even really know what it was, but I never, ever could have imagined God's generosity and goodness.
And so in...
entering this season of discernment, I discern after every year of Mama's in Spirit in a sense. It's just in the past six times that I've discerned, it's been very simple and very easy. It's just been like, the course, stay the course. And so I've stayed the course and I'm still staying the path, the pilgrimage, my pilgrimage with the Lord. It's just that I sense God calling me into
things that look the same and different. Like I sense that it's gonna be formed differently, but at the heart of the matter, it's still going to be some of the same, but I don't have total clarity yet. And the reason I say like Advent, I'm preparing to discern is, sermon is sacred. And it's, to me, it's in the silence and the quiet and that utter intimacy with the Lord. And the world is very busy.
are, and this is at the heart of the matter too, in some way from my discernment, is that social media has become so noisy. Even Catholic ministry feels very noisy to me at times. Like there's so much content out there now. And I wasn't even trying to create content. I was just trying to say yes to the Lord. And so I'm not, I know that the Lord is not calling me to create
for the sake of creating something or for the sake of me. Like it's not about me. Even though Father Jon said before we started, like, so this podcast is gonna be about you again? Because we're talking about my discernment. But really it's hopefully and perfectly about the Lord and about you and all of us together gathered as a human family.
I brought up that moment of Mary pondering in her heart because I just believe that's the sacred blueprint, especially as mom is in spirit, but as mom and pop is in spirit. I have found for me that I can only, I feel most free to the person that God is creating and has created me to be and in my relationship with the Lord and in freedom to give and receive love.
when I spend time in the intimacy with the Lord between me and Christ and in that sacred, generous, ultimate, eternal silence. And so I could not do that over the last months. Like, while I'm telling you my life is slowing down and...
I feel the blessing of more time in silence and whatnot. I know that I need to pause all the things so that I am not distracted and so that I am not attached to myself and my ideas because if I stuck with my own ideas, they're limited. And I've learned time and time again in life.
that God's dreams are bigger, they're better, and they're more generous.
It's like when I un-grip, when I release, when I let the Lord take over, it's greater, better.
more light infused, more phenomenal, more miraculous, more amazing than I ever could have imagined.
Fr Jon Meyer (16:26)
this is where I think holy indifference or detachment that you were speaking about is important. Because going back to that anxiety and to the worries, the anxiety worries, those are usually symptoms that were overly attached.
that we are hanging on to something that God is not asking us to hang on to as strongly. And this goes back to why listening and acceptance are so important because until we can say, okay, I don't have a healthy relationship with this job, with this relationship, with this ministry, whatever it is I'm doing,
And it doesn't mean that God is asking you to stop doing it, but it might mean that once you recognize that there's over-attachment and it's causing anxiety, that the discernment might be more, okay, Lord, like how do I reorder what has been disordered? Or how are you inviting me to...
orient myself closer to you.
So that what, and this again goes back to that idea of love, so that what I receive and what I'm giving is more in that freedom that love entails. And I know you've mentioned in previous podcasts that this sometimes has been a tension with your daughter or maybe all your children. Just your daughter's the only one at home right now. And how to navigate through that
maybe temptation to attach more than you should. And, know, to be honest with you, in a different way, because I'm not a biological parent, but I've begun to see in myself how I can attach myself to strongly, maybe not necessarily to specific people in the seminary, like to the seminarians that I'm working with, but attach to
I the mission that I want to form these men to be holy men, to be disciples of Jesus. And even in that pursuit, which is good fundamentally, we can still fall by the wayside by in a way making it more about me rather than just being that instrument that God invites me to be. And I think what helps
in good discernment or maybe a fruit of good discernment is when we feel more free. And this was something you were talking about earlier. When we're detaching and not hanging onto something so tightly, then we have this looseness. And I would say with that, that looseness also comes with a little bit of joy and peace because
when we are entrusting that it's not just my responsibility, but that God the Father is ultimately the one who has dominion, to go back to the prayer, over me and over the people that I serve, when I give him dominion rather than hanging onto it myself, then it's a much more ordered place because me as a broken, limited creature don't always know how to love, don't always know
what is good for the other or even good for myself. And so if I recognize over attachment to pray about that, to seek wisdom in that, and maybe above all the grace to let go.
And maybe that's what's happening here with Mamas in Spirit.
Lindy Wynne (19:38)
Yes.
Yes, thank you for sharing all of that, Father Jon. And I got teary in that because you talked about that like when it has to do more with me that I may feel more anxiety or just that lack of for me, feel like, yeah, angst, like that lack of centeredness, per se, and peace in the Lord. And so I know that there's some really deep themes in my heart and my
life that I need to sit with with the Lord because I've been hearing them for the last months and I want to talk first about my daughter and my family and then second about
really, mamas in spirit and Catholic social teaching, because those are two things at the heart of matter, but the first one's much simpler for me, and ultimately, I believe God's answer is going to be very simple. Like, we're having this really deep conversation, but I believe that when I go into silence, like, the Lord will make it clear, and I, like, the Lord will help me and bless me and grace me to sift, like, what's mine.
and what's of the Lord's and what I need to surrender. And Dr. Mary Ruth Hackett talked about it's not just surrender, it's like the entire abandonment of my will to the Lord's. And so I do believe fully because of my previous experience in my life, speaking of witness, that that will happen because I've known when I'm in God's will because of that glorious love and freedom and joy and peace, even when circumstances are difficult. So, so.
with my daughter, my youngest daughter in particular, and family and home life and whatnot. What I recognize just in the last year of Mamas in Spirit is that as I have by the grace of God been asked to do more retreats and speaking and travel, which I do not do a lot, like I'm very mindful. I don't look for more at this point because I just, I've known this last year, like this is not the season for that. I am a mother.
and a wife first, and my family comes first. And so still with that, I know that I am incapable, I feel incapable and know I'm incapable to do all the things anymore for Mamas in Spirit. Like I used to be able to record podcasts, edit during the day and release those and that was it. But as Mamas in Spirit has grown and I feel drawn by God to other projects and other things, hopefully in honor of God.
I need either like a team or to let go of things. And that's what I'm discerning in that sense because speaking of the Eucharistic table, I know at the end of my life, the most important thing that I will have done is to be at the Eucharistic table and the table that is like small E Eucharistic in my own home and with other people like the gathering, like presence, Emmanuel, like it's very simple. God is simple. Like we, I make things so complicated.
But it's all very simple in the Lord. Like the call is simple and his voice is simple when I hear it and I'm so thankful for that. Okay, so that's the first thing. The second thing with Mamas in Spirit is, ⁓ Catholic Social Teaching. It is super on my heart and this is, I teared up when Father Don was talking and it's because I feel a lot of,
sadness and even like some angst about the poor
about the children. And I would say not just the children in foster care who don't have homes or the babies that are born super vulnerable, who aren't gonna be able to stay with their birth mom or their birth families, but all children. I feel sad because our world feels very adult-centric to me right now. It doesn't feel child-centric.
to me and this wild thing that many of you know happened this year, it feels wild to me is that I was honored with this thing, Tennessee Mother of the Year. And to me, that's like a human thing that we've created, right? Like this organization, which is very beautiful, American Mothers. It's like an honor from a human organization. And so like, I feel very blessed and mostly by the connections I've made, like glorious, beautiful souls and women doing amazing things that I feel very inspired by.
At the same time, I asked the Lord, why this? And why mama's in spirit? Why all of this? And I really feel like I'm being called to focus on the children. Mama, the word mama in mama's in spirit came from my time at an orphanage where the little girls in Mexico were called mama. And I saw that as such a term of endearment for the children.
Like that's how God sees us. And I'm very foolish. I feel very foolish. Like I was in a coffee shop the other day and I overheard this man say this really terrible thing and it tied in, I don't even want to say the word, but it tied into the word H-O and it was terrible. And I chose not to say anything to him. He was a stranger. He was talking to someone else in that moment, but it reminded me that like the world can be really
ugly and really ugly to other humans who are mamas, you know, like the Lord is endeared to all of his children. Like we're all profoundly valuable, not one more valuable than another, but like that's not the way the world sees it.
And I feel very mourning of this. M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, mourning. Like, so sad. But that's reality. And so, I guess in my free will, and someone said to me recently, which was surprising to me, like, well, God gave you a voice. And this is a very spiritual person. And I'm like, my gosh, God did give me a voice and gave me momma's in spirit. And so like, Lord, what?
do you want from me? Because I've said this before and I was just on Springs in the desert for anybody struggling with like infertility or your children or thinking about foster care adoption. It's really beautiful ministry and I can share the podcast with you if you reach out. I was very honest like right now in it. in my expectation, there's a part of me that just wants to like fill my house with a bunch of children.
But I don't know that that's constant will. Like, I think that like God wants me to be doing this. And this is good.
And this is for him. And it's so good. It's just life is real. And we can't do all the things we can't be all the things we can't have all the things like this is not heaven. And that's okay. Like that acceptance of that is so freeing. It's so beautiful and honesty is so freeing and so beautiful. And so I think that in my my ⁓
limitations as a person. I can be a person that can be like, okay, I did mamas in spirit for seven years. Seven means complete in the Catholic faith. I'm all done. But I know that's not God's will. I just know it. And so it's like, okay, well, God, if that's not your will, what do you want this to be? And so that's why I'm going to silence. That's why I'm going to the time of discernment. And I'm not even kidding you. Like God could reveal it to me.
in 45 minutes. It could take weeks. It could take months. I don't think it will. Like I thank God. And also because it's a contemplative in action. Like I had someone approached me about something with all these podcasts that I have no idea if it's gonna happen or not. And I'm totally detached. But like, mom is in spirit. All these podcasts could end up being broadcast somewhere else. And great.
Like if that's the Lord's will, great. And if it's not, that's okay too. Like I feel very detached and I understand.
I feel indifferent in a way that feels right. And I know that when I have tried to grip on, things don't go well, in a sense, like I just feel stressed. But when I let go, like that's when the freedom and the goodness of the Lord comes in. And at the end of the day, this is all very practical, even though I'm talking about this in like big terms, in the sense that
This is gonna be how I'm spending my time. And so I want my nights sacred, my afternoon sacred with my 10 year old turning 11. And I want my days, I hope if it's God's will, as long as I'm well to, and hopefully fully alive by the Lord to work hard for God's greater glory.
Fr Jon Meyer (27:41)
First, Lindy, I just want to thank you for opening your beautiful heart. And how it is beautiful. It's so motherly and I think a...
what you expressed.
is a fruit of the work that you've done on yourself. not just Pope Jon Paul II, but maybe arguably more recently in last 50 years, you hear the word feminine genius. And it's hard to encapsulate.
I we can get into particular traits of the feminine that aren't necessarily just found in women, but of course, as a woman, you encapsulate and manifest that image of Christ in a particularly feminine way. I mean, what does Jesus talk about in the gospel? Let the children come to me.
Maybe what I want to highlight in what you just shared is you named a desire that, and this is an important in discernment. And with the desire that I heard was you want to fill your house with children.
⁓ And that's not something that you will, it's something that comes from within. Like it's something that we don't choose necessarily. I mean, maybe it's conditioned by different things that we do, but it comes from within. It's something like God, we might even say like maybe God is, we're asking is God planting this in my
And by the way, I'd be happy to fulfill that. got 22 young men who I'd be happy to send you and fill your house with and make my life a lot easier. I digress on that point. naming that desire is important. It's good in this part of discernment.
Lindy Wynne (29:03)
You
Yeah.
Fr Jon Meyer (29:21)
What would I hear in the emotions and in the different questions that are arising? Because of course it's like, okay, I have this desire to have my house full of children. What does that look like? How do I do this? How do I actually get there? And maybe fundamentally, God may not want to fill all of our desires.
We believe fundamentally that all our desires point ultimately to Him, that God is the ultimate fulfillment of our desires.
Even in even the unholy desires that we might have or the the vices that we struggle with that even embedded in those unholy desires is usually a longing a longing for the Lord So but it's fair to ask like God. Are you asking me to do something different? I have this desire in my heart
What do I do with that desire? And I think because of that, like it's good, it is good that you are being open now to consider possibilities, you know, and your willingness to...
to let go of, let's say, podcasts, maybe not completely, but to direct your attention or your limited efforts in a different direction is, I think, totally healthy and maybe something that all of us can reflect on more. So
for Advent, I'm reading this book, Sheltered Within Her Heart by Josh Elzner. this morning I was – oh, you're kidding me. Yeah, there it is. For those of you who are listening, I held up a book with a cover. On the cover is Mary holding
Lindy Wynne (30:57)
Father Jon.
Fr Jon Meyer (31:06)
Jesus and a lamb. And then Lindy just took down a painting of the same image in her home where she's recording. yeah, this is a God, what we call a God wink. Thank you, Lord. Anyway, this morning I was reading this line about our brokenness and it just really struck me. Let us go deeper to see how this turning away in sin
and false independence is precisely a loss of gratitude. A loss of gratitude and a loss of the spirit of playfulness. A loss of the joy of knowing oneself to be enfolded in the love and care of another, of God himself. What children, I think, bring to us
I mean, they bring a lot, but over Thanksgiving break, I got to spend some time with my nephews and for like, I don't know, a couple hours, we were running around playing tag, hide and go seek, cops and robbers, wrestling, all the things that boys like to do. And it was just play. And I will be honest, it was...
in a way hard for me as an adult because in my world I'm more preoccupied by, you know, the things that need to get done with productivity, with caring about other people. And I knew it was going to be a challenge when I went over there to say I need to give myself permission to just play. Like this is ordained by the Lord and it goes back to that gospel passage of Jesus.
emphasizing that to enter the kingdom of God, we must become like children. And so when we think about our brokenness, when we think about the tensions, when we think about anxieties and stress and the worries that we carry, I think what this book highlights is how often is it a loss of gratitude?
and playfulness. That we don't know how to be grateful for what we already have. We're always looking for more. We're always trying to grasp for more.
And then in that grasp for more, we take it so seriously. maybe this is what you were getting to as well, even with Catholic ministry sometimes, that in our secular age, as Christians, we so badly want the world to be ordered to God. And we desire that everyone be saved and in a way to, you know,
to be of one heart and mind. And those are good things. Those are good desires. those, that is the prayer of the heart. And yet.
point now and I'm starting to get emotional. As a son of God and as a priest, as a minister of the church, I'm not the Savior. I'm limited. sometimes I do, to be honest with you, I'm feeling that tension of burnout a little bit.
Partly because I inordinately keep going because I think that if I do more, God is going to be more pleased with me. Or if I do more, you know, the seminary rector, you know, the church is going to be more pleased with me. But there's something that, there's a lie there. There's something that's not of God. That God did not make us just to be busy, that God did not...
to make us to get carried away with life, but to be intentional.
And part of that intentionality, part of what I think nurtures that intentionality is being grateful for what we already have and being willing to, whatever we do, even the work that we do, to have this attitude of play.
And all this was inspired, Lindy, by that desire in your heart to focus on kids. And as you said, we were too much adults sometimes. And maybe this is like a tangent. But I think this does get into discernment. Because even discernment, we can take too seriously. Especially when we know that no matter what decision that we make,
God is the one that's going to elevate us. God is the one that gives us the ability to complete it. It's not really our own efforts and the responsibility is not always on our shoulders.
Lindy Wynne (34:48)
Amen. Thank you so much for sharing all of that Father Jon and it reminds me by grace, we are saved and by grace we are we are being saved. Thank you for this conversation, this heartfelt conversation, this mini retreat of the heart and that is the glorious invitation for all of us in this moment.
is to retreat, to retreat into the silence, to ponder with the Lord, to pay attention, become more aware of what is going on inside each one of us, and to listen to God's still small
eternally powerful voice calling us close and revealing to each one of us who we are created to be and how we can live out the call that is in God's will for each of our lives and in that spirit in the Holy Spirit let us close in prayer. In the of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen.
Dearest Lord, thank you. You are so good to us. You are so generous to us. Thank you for this place, the safe place of authenticity and vulnerability to discern your will in our lives, to love you, to follow you with all of our hearts, to leave everything else behind. We pray in these final days of Advent that we have a posture of gratitude and that we also have a posture.
of abandonment of our own will of surrender to you. Shake of our hearts to you and our lives to you because you are the one who calls us and loves us most. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Father Jon, thank you. Thank you for being our beloved chaplain. Thank you for opening up your heart to us. We are so blessed.
Fr Jon Meyer (36:31)
I don't even know what to say.
Lindy Wynne (36:32)
You're welcome.
Fr Jon Meyer (36:32)
Well,
yeah. Now I want to express my gratitude to you, Lindy, for this invitation, for this incredible journey of the last seven years, and to all the listeners who have prayed for us and for whom I've had really the honor of praying for, even if I've never talked to you or even know your specific intentions. That's the beauty of our faith, is that we are truly united. We're united in a real way in Jesus.
And let us not let anything keep us from the love of God. Romans chapter 8. May we truly find in His love a freedom and a joy, a playfulness and a gratitude that no matter what stage of our life or discernment we're in, we have confidence in Him who brings all things to completion.
So God bless you. Please also pray for Lindy in this time of discernment, if I can say that, and for this ministry that truly God's.
Lindy Wynne (37:23)
Amen.
Fr Jon Meyer (37:31)
will is clear and not just his will but also for that openness and that trust that he will move and provide every step of the way to bring it to fulfillment.
Lindy Wynne (37:44)
Thank you so much, Father Jon, and thank you everyone for gathering. You bless my heart and soul so deeply. I'm changed by you and this glorious pilgrimage of the heart together. And next week will be the last podcast, which is always very short and very precious because speaking of play, it's my little, she always comes on and hosts the Christmas very brief podcast and it's always a delight to my heart. And so I hope it is for you too.
This is Lindy Wynne with Mamas in Spirit. May God bless you and yours always.