Mother Mary Come To Me, Speaking Words of Wisdom, Let It Be...

Wow I'm having a rough couple days here! My two older Faithful Boys are sick with croup. I am usually just fine taking care of them while sick, but my older son is quite the drama king and loves to act like he's incapable of doing anything on his own while he doesn't feel good. I've felt stressed, tired and over used by all three of my Faithful Sons. What Mommy doesn't, right?!

When I get this way I love to turn inward for help and guidance. I try so hard, and sometimes it is super difficult to do, to give my stress and bad feelings to God. As I've told you previously, I always try wake up and thank our Heavenly Father for a beautiful day (even if it's storming!). Sometimes it's hard to remember that when you've had to wake up multiple times a night for fear of your child not breathing properly or wetting the bed a few times. Sometimes the first thing on my mind while waking is, 'I need to make some coffee!' I try to remember that they do not feel good. I try to remember they will not stay like this forever. I just can't do it on my own, and Mr. Faithful can't either. Even together as the great team we are, we cannot do this without God. When I am down, when I am stressed (like today), I take a deep breath. Instead of counting to ten like others do, I say a Hail Mary.....

 Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. 

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death. 

Amen.

When I pray this, I am asking the Virgin Mary to offer up a prayer for me. Much like you probably tell a friend, "I'll pray for you." This is what I ask of Mary by saying this prayer. When I pray my rosary and say so many of these Hail Mary's I feel her enveloping me and comforting me during times of trouble! I noticed this on one particular day. My Grandmother's funeral.

Her funeral just so happened to be on the feast day of the Visitation...this is where Mary visited Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mother). When Mary spoke, John leaped in Elizabeth's womb and Elizabeth knew that Mary was carrying our Lord and Savior. Being a part of the Elizabeth Ministry, this is the basis of our ministry. On that particular day, we were asked to make a sacrifice or do something out of the ordinary to offer as a "bundle of roses" so to speak. So as my offering, I said ten Hail Mary's and our own Elizabeth Ministry prayer every hour on the hour. I stopped what I was doing and did that every hour. How wonderful that I could do this on the day that I so badly wanted to be at my Faithful Grandma's funeral?!?!? Mother Mary and Jesus comforted me while I said each Hail Mary. I knew that is what I had to do to ease my stresses and sadness. And how grateful I am that I learned this on the celebration on my Grandmother's life?!?! God at work right there, and it was amazing!!

Think of what you do to ease your stress. When you feel tense, angry, sad, anything negative. Try saying a prayer. It doesn't have to be a formal prayer like a Hail Mary. That works for me...may not work for you. Offer your negative feelings to Christ. He died for all of us...He will graciously take our stresses from us if we let Him!! Xoxo