{"id":301596,"date":"2019-08-29T09:15:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T13:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=301596"},"modified":"2019-08-29T09:16:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T13:16:49","slug":"on-entering-the-convent-and-leaving-our-god-is-a-god-of-journeys-not-of-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2019\/08\/on-entering-the-convent-and-leaving-our-god-is-a-god-of-journeys-not-of-destinations\/","title":{"rendered":"On entering the convent and leaving: ‘Our God is a God of journeys, not of destinations’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Catholic writer and speaker Meg Hunter-Kilmer posted this on Facebook<\/a> <\/strong>yesterday, and I think it speaks for a lot of us \u2014 but in particular, for anyone who this fall is beginning formation for religious life.<\/p>\n

If you are discerning becoming a priest, sister, brother, or deacon, this is for you. Meg Hunter-Kilmer puts it beautifull:<\/p>\n

10 years ago today I entered the convent. I quit my job, said goodbye to everyone I loved, and gave away everything I owned.<\/p>\n

9 years and 9 months ago I left the convent.<\/p>\n

Leaving was harder.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The whole time I was there, trying to ignore how wrong it all felt, how hopeless I was (a good sign something\u2019s not God\u2019s will), there was a fear: not just that I would fail to persevere in God\u2019s will but that I would leave and everybody would think I had failed.<\/p>\n

Leaving gave me greater joy than anything since I entered. Still, it was awful. I felt confused, ashamed, misunderstood. I thought I must have discerned wrong, that the search that had left me with half a dozen closed doors and one open one wasn\u2019t thorough enough.<\/p>\n

It was a long time before I realized that God can call you to enter religious life but not to make vows. He can call you to med school knowing you won\u2019t graduate. He can call you to date someone you\u2019re never going to marry. Because our God is a God of journeys, not of destinations. He\u2019s the only destination he\u2019s concerned about, his Sacred Heart and his loving arms in eternity.<\/p>\n

He called me to enter a beautiful community that I\u2019m deeply glad not to be a part of now. Maybe so I would become committed to silent prayer, or learn that I wasn\u2019t called to religious life, or be in a grocery store in a funny outfit one day in 2009 because somebody needed it. I don\u2019t need to know why.<\/p>\n

I know that God was at work when I entered and when I left. He was at work when I explored consecrated virginity and when I started dating again. He was at work when I quit hoboing for the perfect job and when that job dramatically disappeared and I got back on the road.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s working in your life right now, too. In your unemployment, disability, infertility, loneliness, divorce, addiction, uncertainty. He\u2019s working in the false starts and the cringeworthy mistakes.<\/p>\n

Discernment isn\u2019t about getting things right, about figuring out the missing piece that turns your struggle into happily-ever-after. Discernment is about following the Lord, even\u2013especially\u2013if you have no idea where he\u2019s leading you.<\/p>\n

10 years later, I\u2019m glad I entered. I\u2019m glad I left. I\u2019m glad I followed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s more wisdom where that came from. Check out her web page and blog, Held By His Pierced Hands.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

photo: by\u00a0Emma Simpson<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catholic writer and speaker Meg Hunter-Kilmer posted this on Facebook yesterday, and I think it speaks for a lot of us \u2014 but in particular, for anyone who this fall is beginning formation for religious life. If you are discerning becoming a priest, sister, brother, or deacon, this is for you. Meg Hunter-Kilmer puts it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":301599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[12708],"class_list":["post-301596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocations","tag-convent"],"yoast_head":"\nOn entering the convent and leaving: 'Our God is a God of journeys, not of destinations'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Catholic writer and speaker Meg Hunter-Kilmer posted this on Facebook yesterday, and I think it speaks for a lot of us \u2014 but in particular, for anyone who\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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