Ep 8: Empowered to Follow: A Holy Spirit Workshop on Discipleship

I'm a wife , mom and a joy-filled Catholic , and I am the Catholic Sobriety coach , and I am so glad you're here .

So today's episode is going to be a little different than the other episodes that I usually post , and that is because I am going to be sharing with you part one of a four-hour Holy Spirit workshop that I am giving at a local parish , and I really just wanted to share this with you all because I feel so strongly that all Christians but especially my clients ,

women in recovery and those who are discerning whether they want to eliminate or reduce their alcohol intake have the knowledge about their spiritual gifts and also their call to discipleship . So the first part of my Holy Spirit workshop is focused on the fact that we are set apart and our call to be disciples of Jesus .

So I hope that you will enjoy this episode . It is my humble honor to have the opportunity to be here with all of you today , and I would love it if you would join me in prayer before I get started , in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit .

Come , holy Spirit , calm our hearts , calm our minds , calm our bodies and please be with us in every moment today . Help us to overcome the distractions that keep us from you , so that we can hear your voice , receive your word , hear your truth and accept your graces .

Allow our hearts to be softened and send down your most Holy Spirit to work through us , providing us with all the spiritual gifts you bestow upon us out of love , so that our hearts and minds can become fertile soil in which we can receive the seeds that will bear good fruit .

Help us to remain in you , abide in you and seek not to do our will , but yours alone . May you be glorified through our conversation today . Strengthen us , lord , so that we have the courage to ask you . Lord Jesus , what do you want to tell me ? What do you want me to know so that I can truly call myself your disciple ?

Where are you calling me to shine your light and how are you continually equipping me to do your holy will ? Help us to be obedient and open . Fortify our resolve to resist the snares of the devil and the comforts of sin , and help us to glorify you in all that we say and do , today and always , in Jesus's most holy and glorious name .

Amen , in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit , amen . So this workshop is something that I have been thinking about for a long time . Well , maybe not exactly like this , but pretty close , and I appreciate you keeping your appointment with God . He has you here listening to this workshop for a reason .

God wants you here because he has something to share with you , and so I invite you to be open to his voice . The Lord impressed upon my heart many years ago the desire to bring the light of Christ to our hurting world and set lukewarm hearts ablaze with his saving love .

However , I had a lot to learn before I could do that , but the learning became procrastination , which turned into fear of what people might think about me , and I was afraid to put myself out there . I was stuck , not really knowing what to do next . This I have discovered is what was holding me back from doing God's will .

My friend Margaret shared a prayer with me ahead of this workshop . She thought that it would be very applicable and she said that it was given to her from a friend who said it was something that she's been carrying around for 50 years and so I'd like to share it because perhaps you can relate to it as well . And the Lord said Go . And I said who ? Me ?

And he said yes , you . And I said but I'm not ready yet . There's company coming and I can't leave my family . You know there's no one to take my place . And he said You're stalling . Again , the Lord said Go , and I said but I don't want to . And he said I didn't ask if you wanted to .

And I said Listen , I'm not the kind of person to get involved in arguments . Besides , my family won't like it , and what will the neighbors think ? And he said Baloney . And yet a third time the Lord said Go , and I said Do I have to ? And he said Do you love me ? And I said Look , I'm scared .

People are going to hate me and cut me up into little pieces , and I can't take it all by myself . And he said when do you think I'll be ? And I said oh , all right , but can I do it my way ? And he said no , we'll do it together . And the Lord said Go . And I sighed here I am , send me .

So here I am , standing before you obeying the voice of my Heavenly Father , and I hope that when he calls you to something , you'll consider obeying him too . Today , my mission is to share the message with you about our call to be true disciples of Christ .

I'll also explain how our supernatural superpowers , the gifts of the Holy Spirit and our unique charisms strengthen us and empower us to do just that , and then I'll share some tools that will help you build your relationship with the Holy Spirit so you can hear God's voice more clearly .

My spiritual journey is long , with lots of missteps and me giving God control and then taking it back . I won't go into all of that , but I would definitely like to share just a little bit of my testimony . So , even though I always had faith and I always called myself a Catholic , I was nominal at best .

After my husband , chris , and I were married , I started to progress to a little more than just a Christmas and Easter Catholic . I was an Ash Wednesday , palm Sunday , easter , mother's Day and Christmas and Random Sundays Catholic . I would also describe myself as a Catholic who liked to pick and choose which church teachings she wanted to get on board with .

I was steeped in worldly comforts and rhetoric , but I began to have a conversion of heart which , when I was pregnant with my twins , I became having an overwhelming desire to have the peace and joy and relationship with Christ that I saw other Christians having .

But I always kind of felt like ebony's are scrooge looking through the window at all the jolly merriment going on inside . Those were the other Christians and I had to stay out in the cold , not feeling worthy enough to enter or even knock . When I did go I felt like a fraud , but I knew I wanted that kind of faith , that kind of life .

I finally came to a point where I was tired of the hustle and I craved rest . I was tired of having to rebuild over and over , building after building on sands of my own truth , instead of standing on the firm rock of the truth . I remember asking God often why is my life such a struggle ? Have I not endured enough ? Can I please catch a break Now ?

Looking back , I realized that I lacked a lot of things , but I lacked one huge thing , the most important thing , the thing that every Christian must have before anything else . Can you guess what that is . It was a relationship with Christ .

I called myself a Christian , yet I didn't take the time to know the Master , the one who created me out of love and for love , he who has all my days numbered and knit me together in my mother's womb . I didn't know him .

Pope Benedict XVI said being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea , but the encounter with an event , a person , which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction . I clung to many of the comforts of my old life while hoping for something new . If something was going to change , then I needed to change .

I had to accept God's goodness and grace and realize that , as a baptized Christian , I have been set apart , and so have you To . Timothy 2 , verse 21 , tells us . Therefore , if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable , he will be a special instrument set apart , useful to the Master and prepared for every good work .

We are set apart to be useful to the Master . Isn't that just beautiful ? I don't know if you've noticed , but our world lacks hope . People lack a sense of purpose . They are searching for something , but it always seems just out of reach .

It reminds me of Matthew , chapter 9 , verses 35 and 38 , which says Jesus went around to all the cities and villages , teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness . Seeing the crowds , he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd .

Then he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few . Therefore , plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest . Doesn't that sound familiar ? The thing is , we can't make disciples unless we are disciples . It takes one to make one .

Cs Lewis writes All who are called to salvation are called to discipleship . No exceptions , no excuses . And Jesus clearly lays out the conditions of discipleship in Matthew 16 , verse 24 . He tells us we must deny ourselves , take up our cross and follow Him . Now let's break that down a little more .

Being a true disciple of Christ means saying no to temptation , not just saying no and then thinking about it or how much we are suffering because we are denying ourselves . It means saying no and moving on . I know that's easier said than done , but it's the only way . Being a true disciple means knowing His plan and aligning ourselves with it .

It means realizing we are not our own . The blessings God gives us are not ours . We are stewards . God wants us to enjoy them , but we are not the owners . Disciples are also called to be salt and light . We are to shine Christ's light into the darkness and bring hope where there is despair , healing where there is brokenness and love where there is hatred .

You know all those things that are included in the prayer of Saint Francis . We are also called to be the salt of the earth , and I hesitate to use the word salty , because that word is usually associated with being angry , and while there is definitely a time and a place for righteous anger , that is not what Jesus means .

Salt is used to bring out flavor and preserve foods from spoiling . It also stimulates thirst . So , as disciples of Christ , we share the good news with others , which creates a thirst to know more about Jesus , and in doing so , the hope is that these folks will turn away from sin and turn their faces towards God .

Now , before I start talking about the road to discipleship , I feel compelled to share something with you . I want you to know that God loves you . God loves you so much that he created you out of love . Christ died out of love for you because he desires to spend all eternity with you . Now think about all the people you see on a daily basis .

God loves them too . In fact , he loves every single person . You see everyone you meet , whether they are steeped in sin , faithful in kind , anxious and searching , bitter and angry , joyful and excited . He loves them all , even the ones that don't love him back .

That's why it's so important that we do what Pope Francis suggests and ask Jesus what he wants of you and be brave . Somebody somewhere is depending on you to do what God has called you to do . Do not let fear hold you back .

The evil one wants nothing more than for you to pay attention to your feelings instead of God's truth , and the fact that he has equipped you abundantly with spiritual gifts and charisms to accomplish this call for your life , which we'll talk about in the next section , is proof of that .

I hope you enjoyed that excerpt from my workshop , my Holy Spirit workshop , that I'm going to be giving , actually , tomorrow . I'm really excited about it and included which I did not include in this podcast . I'm sharing with the participants a discipleship roadmap .

That I think is amazing and I found it on the focus website , so I will go ahead and share that in the comments below , or not the comments , but in the show notes below . And then I also there's a video that goes with it that I will share as well in the show notes . But I just want to explain what it is a little bit .

It is actually a roadmap , so it has like beginning disciple , growing disciple , commission , disciple , disciple maker , and then a spiritual multiplier , and what these sections describe is each stage within discipleship with Jesus Christ .

I think it's phenomenal and there are even some questions at the end that are great to help discern where you were at on the roadmap and where you want to go . So I'm super excited to share this with the group tomorrow and I again , we'll share that with you in the show notes below .

So I hope that you enjoyed this and I do plan on doing some more content that is that is Catholic focused , focused on our faith , not just recovery and sobriety .

But I really feel strongly again , as I said at the top of the show , that women in recovery and those looking to get sober realize that the church I'm just going to say it the church needs you , the church needs you , we need you , and it is so hard to hear the voice of God and be the best version of yourself when you are dealing with a lot of feelings

of shame or regret . Why can't I get a handle on this ?

I want to come back to the church , but again , that imagery that I gave within the talk about being Ebenezer , screwed out in the cold , looking in on the happy family , joyful you know , I just envision that as like the family of God , just joyful , warm , and I was just on the outside for so long , not because anyone put me there , but I just didn't feel

worthy . And so that's work that I do with my clients . We just kind of especially my recovery clients we really work on just clearing those obstacles so that they feel like they can come into full communion with the Catholic Church , whether they've been baptized or they've had all their sacraments .

I just love walking with women in that way , and the same is true for those of us who are trying to discern whether we need to eliminate alcohol from our lives , because alcohol numbs out bad , but it also numbs out good and it also darkens our intellect and will so that we cannot clearly hear the voice of God .

So I just those are some things I want you to consider , and those are things that I work on with my clients . Well , that does it for this episode of the Catholic sobriety podcast .

I hope you enjoyed this episode and I would invite you to share it with a friend , who might also get value from it as well , and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing . I am the Catholic sobriety coach , and if you would like to learn how to work with me or learn more about the coaching that I offer , visit my website , thecatholicsobrietycoachcom .

Follow me on Instagram at theCatholic sobrietycoach . I look forward to speaking to you next time and remember I am here for you . I am praying for you . You are not alone . I am here for you .