On Pentecost 2022

Pentecost is celebrated this coming Sunday, June 5.

In early 2022, I was invited by one of our church's ministries, the Catholic Discussion Group, to give a talk in April. I was given free reign to choose the topic. I felt directed to share my stories of God's graces.

But I knew I can't go about sharing my stories without any direction or focus. One day, my heart prayed, "Holy Spirit, please guide me." Lo and behold! That evening, it's as if an outline was shown to me, and all I needed to do was fill in the stories.

My desire to share my stories increased by the day. As my confidence grew, I invited family and friends to join the group that evening.

About two weeks before my talk, it came to me to make slides. People may get sleepy (if not fall asleep) on an hour of monologue! My son helped me with the slides, and everything seemed to fall into place. I was able to make the presentation slides pretty easily.

A few days before Zoom, I doubted if my talk would make a difference. Once again, I prayed to the Holy Spirit, "Holy Spirit, please touch the hearts of everyone listening to my talk." I have so many stories to share, but this would be of no meaning if the talk fell on deaf ears and closed hearts.

The topic was why and how storytelling could and should be used as an evangelization tool.

A few days before the talk, the host and I met several times so that we could work on how to share the slides.

On the day of the talk, I lighted candles and again prayed that the presentation will run smoothly.

The talk could not have gone any better. There were almost 60 (59 to be exact) who joined the Zoom, and I was told that no one left the entire hour long sharing and presentation.

Someone took snapshots of all the wonderful, Spirit-filled comments. I was even suggested to do a Part 2 of the talk!

I felt very grateful and joyful that the Holy Spirit led me to spreading God's love to all.

Just like how the apostles were led on Pentecost.

And with the Holy Spirit's prodding, maybe it's time you share your story too!

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My name's Anna Maria, and I publish a new video on YouTube's Touched by Grace Today and a new post on my blog touchedbygrace.today every Friday! (Day may change due to holidays.) Check out Catholicmom.com for my other articles! If you've been #tbgtoday, feel free to share your story of grace here.

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