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Prayer in Motion, LLC Newsletter
July 19, 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

So much has happened spiritually and professionally in the 4 months since my last update! Right about the time of my last newsletter I had the most incredible series of events unfold. While this is a long story, many who journeyed with me through it have urged me to share it with all of you, so here goes!

On my way home from a most inspiring program on the love of God I gave at the Heart of Jesus Prayer Center in St. Clair Shores in mid-February, I hit a huge hunk of metal on I-275. It turned out to be a portion of a smashed down car that must have fallen off a truck on the way to the dump. I hit it at 70 miles an hour and it didn’t budge. Instead, my car was catapulted into the air, sparks flying. It was still drivable so I kept driving, hoping to get as close to home as possible before I had to call for help. By the grace of God I made it home, neither Mellow (my chocolate lab seat belted in the back) nor I were injured. But the car was a mess. Still shaking, I checked in with my sister Jan and mother-in-law. Somehow misfortune always makes me reach out for reassurance that I am not alone. After I hung up the phone I realized there was water running in the basement from a leak caused when the city replaced the water meter a couple of days earlier. After frantic calls to the police and DPW I got the water to slow to a trickle, cleaned up the mess and headed for bed unable to cope with anything more that night.

The next day (Sunday) my plan was to go to church and then contact my brother to have a look at the car and see what I should do next. I decided to go to church in Saline rather than my parish in Ann Arbor since it was closer in case I had car problems. Running a little late I was hurrying down Michigan Avenue and got stopped for speeding. I begged the police for mercy and they let me go, perhaps more concerned about my mental state than my driving speed at that point! I proceeded to church, arriving about the time of the Psalm… and heard them singing “Lord, I turn to you in time of trouble…”   How appropriate, I thought, as I took an open seat near the front.

What I wasn’t expecting though was how alone and miserable I would feel, sitting in a church where I knew no one, still shaken from being stopped by the police, the accident the night before and the leak in the basement. In times of trouble I always miss Don more, wishing he was here to make it all better or at least hold and reassure me as he was so very good at doing! The homily that day just happened to be on marriage since it was near Valentine’s Day. “Oh great”, I thought as I unsuccessfully fought to hold back the tears. The teen age boy I was sitting next to moved as far away from me as possible in the pew. My prayers to God turned desperate. “Lord, I can’t do this alone.   I need you to hold me. I need to know you are here for me now.” I searched frantically around the church looking for anyone I might know from whom I might ask for a hug. At times like these the single life is so terribly lonely. My prayers to God became more adamant as I almost commanded him to hold me right now, like a little child throwing a tantrum!

And then it happened! As I prayed silently with my head down I felt a hug from someone coming down the aisle. I looked up to see a woman holding a baby, with a toddler wrapped around her leg, coming back from Communion. She said to me “The Holy Spirit told me you needed a hug” and she held me close. I sobbed and choked out “I do” and collapsed into this stranger’s arms. She stayed a minute and then was gone. I sat there amazed, not caring about the spectacle we just created. Amazed that God answered my prayer – my very specific prayer, right then and there!

The journey after that was amazingly easy and peaceful. My brother checked out the car and found it drivable until it could be fixed. The insurance company waived my deductible and sent me to the Buick dealer in Ann Arbor. The body shop manager there gave me a free loaner car for the 2 weeks it took to repair it. The water leak got fixed. And the washer my brother determined as beyond repair when he came to look at my car got replaced by a beautiful one at no cost from a friend at church.   A long way of saying – God is faithful and certainly takes great care of me! So what more can I ask for?!

Program-wise I have done an amazing variety of things. They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. It would seem to take as much support to keep me going! Fortunate for me, I have many dear friends and supporters! On Palm Sunday weekend I traveled to Imlay City on Friday night to do an Easter Tea with 90 women at a Lutheran church there. Thanks to Janelle and Mary Carol who lent me just the right music for that evening. The next day I was in Toledo by 8am to set up for a Parkinson’s symposium that I was invited to exhibit at by my dear friend Larry Elmer, the physician organizing the event. The next day I was at St. Francis with 150 or so children and adults conducting a family religious education program using a wonderful song my friend Joan’s husband, Patrick, downloaded from I Tunes for me after my miserable attempts to learn this technology had failed.

April also brought retreat days held at St. Mary’s in Chelsea for the Professional Pastoral Ministers Association and at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, my home away from home where Fr. Bernie Owens has supported me so consistently through this amazing mission! I have also been blessed by dear supporter of me, Mary Tardiff, who coordinates the retreats at St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt. She has invited me to participate in 4 different retreats this spring and summer bringing Prayer in Motion to the Sabbath Time Retreats, funded by a Lilly Endowment grant to minister to those who work in the Church.

I am so thankful for each and every one of you, truly God’s blessings to me!

Prayer in Motion…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.