How Mothers of Lu come to be today…
Photo: Linda Grace
Hello,
I’m Linda Grace.
I live off-grid on a 35 acre property (praise be to our Lord Jesus) amongst the cutest wildlife - Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Echidnas, Wombats etc. ♡ - in a small historical rural town in north-east of Victoria in Australia. Living with my wonderful husband, Rob and our 4 beautiful children (two boys and two girls).
Praise be to God!
My experience is jam packed - but I will condense it here for the sake of your precious time.
During the journey when the Holy Spirit was taking me through a process of removing me from Protestantism (Pentecostal, Charismatic) to Catholicism - He had given me a deep love of our Blessed Mother Mary (shocking to Protestants), and He also gave me a love of Nuns.
While I couldn’t become a Nun myself, as I am a mother of 4 and a wife - I asked Him why He placed this love for the religious and the desire to really want to become a Nun within me when we both knew (myself and the Lord Jesus Christ) I couldn’t be one.
The deep desire of wanting to get out of the world and hand my full self over to God and God alone had intensified and grown so much within me that I only felt grief for a desire that couldn’t be met.
I was led to research what Sisters and Nuns do, how they live their lives and what impact that they have on the community and world. Only to fall more in love with who they are and what they do. The love they have for Jesus. The humility they have for Jesus. The reverence they have for Jesus. Their lives laid down before the Lord. Their prayers for the world, their charity and their service - completely giving up the world to be in complete service unto God.
Living as Jesus, for Jesus, and I wanted that.
Here I am on fire and full of so much love for Jesus and now the Blessed Mother and all I wanted to do is give up absolutely everything of the world - kneel before Him - give Him my heart, my mind, my soul and my spirit in a Monastery as a Nun.
I sat and cried asking the Lord, why? He responded with “wait and watch”.
The Lord randomly reminded me of my life before Jesus had redeemed me and what I was a witness of.
I had studied Biomedical science and was working within one of Australia’s biggest hospitals within the Histology laboratory.
My job was preparing specimens for cut up preparation and storage - which meant we would get all sorts of tissue and body parts in for potential diagnoses.
We also received aborted babies - I would receive the suction bag full of baby legs, arms, skull - body pieces. Again, although I wasn’t redeemed in Christ as yet, every time I received one of these suction bags my stomach would drop.
One day, we received a whole baby though the laboratory that had just been dropped into a bucket and left within the “cut up” room. I was unaware of this until I was going through specimens during the morning and come across this baby.
I was that disturbed that I called my Senior Scientist in and told him of my disgust, and that this was inhumane and this baby should have been prepped for the mortuary, not left in the “cut up” room in a bucket.
It was not until now that I realise the gruesome reality of what happens behind the scenes that I had been a witness to, toward aborted or even still born/lifeless babies.
It is today that I now understand, redeemed within Christ of my purpose here.. the purpose of my witness to such barbaric, inhumane practices….
Having children of my own in this current world is interesting…. While others may be fearful of what’s happening and of what’s to come, I have found profound peace within my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother.
I pray for my own children and their vocations - to live as Christ and to love our Lord Jesus Christ with all of their heart, with all their soul and with all their mind. And to love our Blessed Mother Mary as Jesus loved her. To live a life holy, devoted, humbled and surrendered to the full will of God upon their lives, and that myself and my husband, Rob lead a good example of this. I pray that we as parents receive the grace to bless the Lord Jesus with a holy Priest, Brother, Sister or Nun - but most importantly have the True spiritual awareness and spiritual strength for whatever vocation the Lord leads them into.
My prayer is that more children be raised within beautiful faith filled homes, knowing Jesus and the Blessed Mother - His sacrifice, His grace, His love and knowing both Jesus and the Blessed Mother so profoundly that they too have a fire within them, a humility, a reverence, holiness, a desire to be so much like Christ that they choose to leave the world behind completely and serve Him in the highest. What an absolute honour.
Regardless of what our children’s vocations are and what the Lord calls them too - we are to prepare them and strengthen them spiritually.
We are the church militant, and we are raising the next generation of soldiers.
Spiritual warfare is EVERY where.
Our job as parents in Christ is to take it VERY seriously. Combat it. Protect our families, protect our children. Their spiritually. Their Vocations - in whatever form Christ intends for them. Inevitably prepare them for when the torch is passed onto them.
Parenting is humbling in all sense of the word. It has created in me moments of complete defeat and the only thing I can do is get down low and draw closer unto our Lord Jesus Christ and ask to be continuously moulded to be as He.
As a practicing and devoted Catholic Mother within Christ - I can see the devil’s deep desires from a mile away. He wants our children, their faith, their vocations and He wants the unborn. He’s out to steal, kill and destroy all of God’s creations and i’m not having any of it.
In a nutshell, before Jesus redeemed me, I had a colourful life. It was filled with witchcraft and the occult; and at the age of 15 I aborted my first pregnancy.
Honestly, although I have peace now and I know the Lord has forgiven me, it still really stings when I think about it; Particularly remembering the part when I awoke during the procedure!
Traumatic!
It’s most certainly something that I will never forget and within my own experience has since created a deeper love for those experiencing such warfare regarding the life or the death of their unborn child.
I have been all things unholy and Jesus loves me and redeemed me anyway. A sinner, completely unworthy. For this, I will sacrifice and humbly surrender to the will of God for my life and will glorify Him until my death and until we meet again in Heaven.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
(Glory to God in the highest)
Photo: Linda and her husband, Rob.
Photo: Linda and Rob’s four beautiful children.