Prayer In Motion, LLC

LET THE SPIRIT MOVE YOU

HOME

Press
Releases

Upcoming
Events

Programs

Spiritual Direction

About Janene

Newsletters

Contact Me

Blessings

Links

Prayer in Motion, LLC Newsletter
January 1, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year! I greet this New Year with gratitude for so many blessings received in these past 12 months. For this first newsletter of 2008 I want to share the highlights from the past year.

January

Business started out slow in the beginning of the year. Thankfully my home parish, St Francis of Assisi, kept me busy with presentations to their RCIA group on discernment, as well as a workshop on different prayer forms at their Common Conference.

February

I was very blessed to be interviewed by a reporter from the Jackson Citizen Patriot who wrote a lovely article on my journey to this ministry. They even sent a photographer to my home to take some great photos. This article resulted in wonderful exposure in the Jackson area and brought several people to the Cottage Retreat House for a Lenten program I did there in March.

March

March brought the opportunity to conduct programs at two new retreat centers for me - Weber Center in Adrian and Capuchin Retreat Center in Washington, Michigan. Weber Center has a huge mailing list and a wonderful reputation for their programs, providing great visibility. The program itself was a real blessing, companioning those in attendance as they journeyed with Christ through His Passion, death and Resurrection. I finished off the month with a youth group in Grand Ledge who were on a weekend fast to become more aware of the homeless. While I put the youth through their paces, I had to tone things down a bit since they were hungry!

April

It was a joy to choreograph a dance depicting the creation for a Passover supper at St. Francis of Assisi. I learned the hard way just how much a large group of small children can learn and remember in a short period of time, but of course their parents loved it! Also at St. Francis I worked with about 200 parents and children in a Family Religious Education gathering centered on Pentecost. At one point we were all doing “the wave” around the parish activity center, depicting the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

May

In May I spoke at my first mother-daughter brunch at St. Lucy Church in St. Claire Shores. It was a lovely gathering of 3 generations of women and I was particularly blessed to have my mother (in-law) there with me as well as many of her friends that have become so dear to me too. I was also the featured speaker at the 10^th Anniversary celebration of a Mom’s group at St. Patrick’s Church in Brighton and led a 7^th grade religion class at St. Dennis in Royal Oak through Prayer in Motion.

June

I was pleased to provide Prayer in Motion programs and spiritual direction to Sabbath Time retreatants at St. Francis of Assisi Retreat Center in DeWitt on five different occasions last year. While there in June, a Lansing State Journal reporter and photographer took some lovely photos of my group in action. On a personal note, after almost two years of intensive study, I took and passed the Cecchetti Level I Ballet Exam. It was a humbling experience to stand amidst 13 and 14 year olds whose bodies are capable of so much more than mine at this age but very rewarding to pass and know that I am learning correct technique.

July

On July 1^st I began working at St. Francis of Assisi in a part time (10 hours/week) capacity as Adult Faith Group Coordinator. In this position I have had the opportunity to help coordinate the parish picnic, a breakfast for business people seeking to live their faith and a holiday grief support session. Best of all, I have stopped waking up nights worrying about where my next dollar is coming from. Having a little bit coming in all the time makes a huge difference when I don’t have programs scheduled. It has truly been the answer to prayer. I am very pleased to announce that July 29^th marked the 4^th anniversary of Prayer in Motion!

August

Through a series of God-incidences, I was connected with the REJ Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping youth with parents in prison. I had the opportunity to do a program for a group of women in the Huron Valley Women’s Facility and then with their children. This was a whole new experience for me – having to be cleared and then locked into an area, having my supplies searched with not even paper clips or staples being allowed and ultimately relating to people who I wondered what in the world I had in common with. I have never been more moved, nor done more important work. I saw God clearly at work with each one present as well as in me as I realized we were really all very much alike except for our opportunities and choices.

September

September culminated months of up front work with my friend from the Spiritual Direction Internship, Bernadette Beach, to put together a seminar for nurses that was approved for continuing education credit by the Michigan Nurses Association. It was well attended and received at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat Center in Detroit in both September and November and we will offer the program monthly during the first 4 months of this year.

October

Thanks to the help of my friend Mary Shindell (and some of you who helped provide suggestions and review!) I revised my Prayer in Motion brochure. It looks very professional in layout and printing and I think represents this ministry well. When I think of how far I’ve come from the days when I sat down and made up things I thought I could do to put in the first version of the brochure, I am amazed that it now lists the many programs, groups and themes I have already done.

November

I was privileged to lead a group of grieving souls through a movement program at Christ Church Spirituality Center in Grosse Pointe Farms that was life changing for all of us. I was blessed to see healing before my very eyes as well as feel my own next level of healing. An article in the Grosse Pointe News just prior to the program brought a woman whose husband died, as well as a woman who lost a child, a Muslim woman struggling with the loss of her mother, as well as others with a myriad of losses.

December

December was my busiest month ever for Prayer in Motion with 7 programs scheduled in a 2 week period. The first was an Advent retreat day at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Bloomfield Hills. This group of 26 women and 9 men bonded like no other group I’ve had before and immediately set about scheduling a reunion time. During the course of this retreat day I developed laryngitis which lingered during the next 2 weeks. Thanks to lots of prayers, hot tea, Vicks Vapo-Rub and some good microphones I was able to do all the programs although at the Advent tea at St. Paul’s in Owosso I spoke only in a whisper. It was a challenging, humbling time but I felt called to persevere and was carried through it.

As we move steadily into this new year of endless opportunities and possibilities, I am most grateful for all of God’s blessings I have received and continue to receive through each of you. Thank you for your prayers, your support, your concern, your advice, and most especially for your love. May 2008 be a truly blessed year for each and every one of you.

Prayer in Motion, LLC … Let the Spirit move you!

Janene

Isaiah 25:1 (NIV) O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.