M
mdgspencer
Guest
This is from the article, “How I prayed and fasted my wife into the Catholic Church,” at http://www.davidlgray.info/2018/05/23/pray-for-conversion/
"I was beyond words; marveling in the magnanimity of God on the day my oldest daughter was Baptized and Confirmed into the Church in 2013. And I remained in awe of God as I saw each of my other girls follow that same tide across the Tiber River. Yet, I had been praying for my wife’s conversion back when she was just a girl who I was dating in 2011. I can’t count how many times she told she wasn’t going to become Catholic. Not for theological reasons, mind you, but simply because she “didn’t get anything out of Mass” – in other words, the preaching wasn’t insightful nor was any of it entertaining or moving. Trust me; she heard every great argument why the Mass is superior to Protestant fellowship gatherings and motivation sermons. She heard it all about the Holy Eucharist, the efficaciousness of the prayers of the Saints, the continuity and universality of the Church and Her Apostles, the failed experiment of Protestantism, and so on and so forth.
After we got married in the Church in 2016, I decided to stop talking to her about anything that had anything to do with Catholic Theology or Apologetics. I stopped inviting her to Mass or Church events. If she wanted to come, it would be because she decided to. I also decided to not just pray for her needs and her conversion, but also fast. The 13th of every month became a day of prayer and fasting for my wife’s conversion to the Catholic Church. And on those days I would remind God again of His promise to save my whole household. After a couple of years had passed, I started to believe that fasting for her conversion would never end, until the day we moved to Illinois for her new job. Immediately after we moved here, she began talking about how ‘we’ needed to find a new Church and how she was tired of our family going to two different Churches.
How many of you know that prayer has unintended consequences? …
As I watched the Priest anoint my wife’s head with chrism oil on May 6, 2018, I realized that everything I had to suffer as a result what led to us moving to Illinois was a direct result of the very reason I was standing there on the altar with my hand on her shoulder. It’s not at all how I saw my prayer working out, but I stand here today marveling in the magnanimity of God. What I am really speechless about is the fact that she took the name Saint Josephine Bakhita, who I have been asking to pray for me ever since my wife and I got engaged.
I actually don’t know how my wife ended up entering the Catholic Church. God, most certainly, worked something in her heart that I’ll never understand, but what I do know is that when I got out of God’s way and devoted myself to the type of prayer and fasting that miracles demand, God had the space to come in accomplish His perfect will, and for me and my household He remains undefeated and true to His promise!"
"I was beyond words; marveling in the magnanimity of God on the day my oldest daughter was Baptized and Confirmed into the Church in 2013. And I remained in awe of God as I saw each of my other girls follow that same tide across the Tiber River. Yet, I had been praying for my wife’s conversion back when she was just a girl who I was dating in 2011. I can’t count how many times she told she wasn’t going to become Catholic. Not for theological reasons, mind you, but simply because she “didn’t get anything out of Mass” – in other words, the preaching wasn’t insightful nor was any of it entertaining or moving. Trust me; she heard every great argument why the Mass is superior to Protestant fellowship gatherings and motivation sermons. She heard it all about the Holy Eucharist, the efficaciousness of the prayers of the Saints, the continuity and universality of the Church and Her Apostles, the failed experiment of Protestantism, and so on and so forth.
After we got married in the Church in 2016, I decided to stop talking to her about anything that had anything to do with Catholic Theology or Apologetics. I stopped inviting her to Mass or Church events. If she wanted to come, it would be because she decided to. I also decided to not just pray for her needs and her conversion, but also fast. The 13th of every month became a day of prayer and fasting for my wife’s conversion to the Catholic Church. And on those days I would remind God again of His promise to save my whole household. After a couple of years had passed, I started to believe that fasting for her conversion would never end, until the day we moved to Illinois for her new job. Immediately after we moved here, she began talking about how ‘we’ needed to find a new Church and how she was tired of our family going to two different Churches.
How many of you know that prayer has unintended consequences? …
As I watched the Priest anoint my wife’s head with chrism oil on May 6, 2018, I realized that everything I had to suffer as a result what led to us moving to Illinois was a direct result of the very reason I was standing there on the altar with my hand on her shoulder. It’s not at all how I saw my prayer working out, but I stand here today marveling in the magnanimity of God. What I am really speechless about is the fact that she took the name Saint Josephine Bakhita, who I have been asking to pray for me ever since my wife and I got engaged.
I actually don’t know how my wife ended up entering the Catholic Church. God, most certainly, worked something in her heart that I’ll never understand, but what I do know is that when I got out of God’s way and devoted myself to the type of prayer and fasting that miracles demand, God had the space to come in accomplish His perfect will, and for me and my household He remains undefeated and true to His promise!"
