Blessed

From boarding out with families to boarding schools, Joan Sprague knew no father, hardly knew a mother, but felt loved wherever she lived. She had dreams like any young girl and, like any teenager, longed for the love of a handsome young man. Whether near the ocean or in the mountains, near the jungle or in the cities, her experience of people was enlightening, inspirational, and at times, disappointing. As Joan searched for God's plan for her life, she tolerated physical pain, bore emotional suffering, accepted disappointment, assumed obligations, discovered love. Family and friends, both near and far, remained her stable go-to. Each time she came to a fork in the road of her life, her staple remained love--love of God-Jesus, love of family, love of friends. She felt so blessed that she had so very much, even amid pain, indecision, and sorrow. Joan was a pretty teenager with beautiful auburn hair. As she grew into womanhood, she was very attractive but didn't know it (she had to be told.) She loved movies, the beach, baseball. She especially loved music, dancing, singing, and performing. As a devout Catholic, she was edified by the nuns and priests who taught her. After one year in college, she took, as she believed was God's plan for her, the road less traveled nowadays and entered the sisterhood. From Boston to Brazil, she loved her teaching profession and her students of different ages and various cultures... Then she met Padre Xavier, man of God, a man of the cloth. What lay ahead for this young woman who had vowed her life to God? She still felt God's spirit awakening her, pushing her, breathing his life into her soul, yet what was his message now? Could she go on this way, having these feelings each time Xavier was in the room? Prayer, yes, of course. The will of God became her mantra, but could she discern what it was? Eventually, she did.

-- Joan O'Brien