Surrender to His Divine Grace

What does life look like when it is surrendered to God? On Saturday, Oct. 12 at St. Nicholas Church in Garrison, Roxane Salonen, Patti Armstrong, Monica Hannan, and Rachelle (Shelly) Preszler will share their stories of surrender during the “Surrender to Grace” women’s retreat .
 
“It seems the more my family expands—it literally has doubled in size this past year— the more I need to surrender,” Shelly, a writer and mother of six from Bismarck explained. “As a mom, and now a grandma,  I find myself pulled in so many directions—even different states. I’ve never been very good with directions, either. Thank goodness for Google!”
 
Shelly will explain how, during this past year, Christ has opened her to easy prayer methods to surrender her needs and concerns to Him. “Instead of the weight of every new family member being on my shoulder, I put it on his shoulder,” she said. “It truly has made all the difference in the world. One of my friends just asked this morning, ‘Shelly, how are you still so joyful amid all of your struggles?’ I thought to myself, ‘It’s so easy. I’m not in control anymore.’ I finally realized I never was.”
 
Roxane, an author, columnist at both The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and New Earth magazine , and mother of five, will share glimpses of the pain during her childhood of having an alcoholic father and the joy at his commitment to sobriety and a return to the Catholic faith before he died, after a 35-year absence.

“Divine Grace would show up again in my life as a mother and wife,” Roxane explained. “It’s a story I will share in more detail during our upcoming retreat. I pray that you will come with your own stories of Divine Grace as we share ours, and, together, we can join hands as sisters in Christ to help the world become more aware of just how much our good God loves us.”

Monica Hannan, an author, three-time Emmy-award-winning news anchor for KFYR-TV and mother of three is working on her second master’s degree; this one in theology. There was a time when she thought the worry of motherhood would end once her children grew up. Instead, she found herself, at times, worrying even more.

“Then there are work worries in a job that seems to get more complicated all the time, in a field where nearly everybody is young,” she said. “And, finally, for me there are school worries. In these ways, I wonder if I’ll measure up, and if things will turn out alright.”  But, by studying St. Padre Pio and taking his advice to heart—pray, hope and don’t worry—she learned how to stop stressing. “I’ll be talking about surrendering my worries to God,” Monica said, “And, how that’s changed my life.”

“Surrender is never the goal in war, but in spiritual warfare, surrender to God is our greatest weapon,” according to Patti Armstrong, an award-winning author and journalist and mother to 10. “We want to rule our world, but in reality, the only thing we can control is ourselves—and even that gets away from us at times.”

Patti will explain insights learned through interviewing many exorcists over the years about the power and spiritual protection that comes from surrender. She will also share radical and transforming stories of surrender—her own and those of others she has interviewed.

In addition to the four talks, there will be Mass with Fr. Basil Atwell at 8:30 a.m., a light breakfast and lunch, adoration, confession, the rosary, and Divine Mercy Chaplet. Doors open at 8 a.m. to pick up your name tag and get settled.

To attend, send $25 by Oct. 6 to: Karmen Seidler, Retreat Chairwoman, c/o St. Nicholas Catholic Church, PO Box 870, Garrison, ND 58540. Please write “2019 Retreat” in the check’s memo line.

—Staff report