And what I wanna talk about today is how we can turn to the Lord in these micro moments, in these micro moments faster than we are. Almost as soon as you realize you are feeling tightness, anxiety, any of these feelings, to just almost throw your hands up and say, “Oh, Lord, I invite you into this situation. I invite you in. Come be with me in this right now.”

And depending on what’s going on with you in that moment, you may want to sit with the Lord in the feeling, or you may just ask Him for peace. I will often say, “Lord, what do you want me to know about?” and then I list the thing that I am feeling anxious, fearful, stuck around. It’s such a beautiful question to ask, “Lord, what do you want me to know about this?”

I’m not saying it’s wrong. I’m not saying take it away, and I think asking the Lord to answer our prayers is absolutely fine, but in the moment, I know that anxiety never comes from the Lord. He wants us to be at peace. And so I know that in that moment, I am believing something that isn’t true, period.

I am thinking about my life, thinking about the world, thinking about circumstances in a way that is not the way that God would want me to think about it. Because if I was thinking about it the way that he wanted me to think about it, I would be at peace.

And so I think the reason that we’re not reaching to the Lord faster and more often is because we actually lack the belief that we can be at peace all the time. And I completely understand why we would lack that belief. We probably have never met a person who is at peace all the time.

And I think we have a vague understanding that Mary was like that, but of course, she can’t come over and tell us how she did that. So we don’t get to hear from her how she lived in perfect peace.

We also know that she was sinless, and we know that we are not, so immediately we are kind of in an other category other than her, and so we may think, “Oh, well then that’s not for me. How could I possibly have that?”

But I want to encourage you to think about this concept of being at peace Being at peace for most of the day. Like let’s just say eight out of 10 minutes. For eight out of 10 minutes all throughout the day, you are at peace.

And you might lose it for a minute, but the faster you go to the Lord and the faster you say, “Lord, what do you want me to know about this toddler right now? Lord, what do you want me to know about my husband? Lord, what do you want me to know about my body? Lord, what do you want me to know about this house? It’s feeling overwhelming to me right now, Lord.”

And turning to him. And asking, “Lord, what do you want me to know?” And the reason that we’re doing that is because we believe deep in our bones that we could be at peace about this. We recognize that we’re not, and then we know that He is the answer. His grace, His wisdom, the power of the Holy Spirit, the name of Jesus.

You could say that. You could say, “In the name of Jesus, Lord, what do you want me to know about this?” You could say, “Come, Holy Spirit, and kindle the hearts of your faithful. What do you want me to know about this?” But we are reaching to Him sooner and more often because we believe that our natural state of being is to be at peace.

And of course we’re not. I mean, the world has done such a good job of tricking us and programming us on so many levels. Probably so many more levels than we are even aware of, especially in the digital age where our eyeballs are subjected to so many images and ads that are designed to program our minds.

But within that, you can go to the Lord and say, “Lord, what do you want me to know about this?” And you won’t do it perfectly every time. You won’t even do it every time. But if I can get you to do it 50% more than you are doing it right now, I wonder how much better your life would be.

I also think we spend so much time feeling disempowered, where we feel like all these things are outside of our control, and so we feel powerless, and we hate that feeling. But I think that this makes us feel powerful.

When you can be calm in more situations, when you believe you can be calm in any situation, that is one of the most powerful feelings that there is. When you do this work and you are calm the first time that your kids throw a tantrum or break something or your husband comes in and has kind of a monologue about something he normally monologues at you about, and you manage to stay calm in that moment, you are going to feel so powerful.

But it does require you to think different things, and I believe that one of the best ways to think different things is to go ask the Lord, “How do you want me to think about this?” But I like phrasing it, “What do you want me to know about this?”

And then I just understand that it’s my job to take the sentences that he gives me and to practice them in my mind over and over again. And it may not feel like a whole sentence. It might just be, “This is good. I’m asking you to do this right now.”

I hear more sentences, but I feel very practiced at spending time with the Lord and listening to him, and I believe everybody can hear that. I asked him something this morning, and I said, “Lord, what do you want me to know about this thing?” And he said, “You already know. You just doubt what I’ve already told you.”

And I was like, “Oh, burn Lord. That was a good one. You’re totally right. You have already told me, and this morning I am just doubting it. So I don’t know. I get cheeky Jesus, but I think it’s because I’m open to that and I like it.

What do you want me to know? And it could be that you ask this question when you don’t feel anxious or upset or any of those things. You could just ask about this afternoon. “Lord, what do you want me to know about this afternoon?”

You might hear some slightly prophetic things like, “Woo, it’s gonna be intense, but I got you.” And he might tell you what to focus on. He might say, “Be love when you go to this place that I know you’re going to this afternoon.” I often think it will end up better than you think. That’s what he tells me. “Sterling, it will end up better than you think.”

Sometimes I hear him say, “It’s not gonna be as good as you think, but it’s gonna be okay.” And I can receive that well from Him. I’m like, “Okay, Lord, I can handle that.” He tells me to set things down. “Set it down. This is not for you right now.” I’ve heard that.

But when we ask the Lord what He wants us to know about something, and then. And of course, I really love to write things down so that I don’t forget, and then I can revisit them. But then if you fill up your mind with those words, I’m gonna bet, I don’t wanna promise, but I’m gonna bet you’re gonna feel at peace.

You’re gonna feel at peace. Even if he says something like, “This is gonna be difficult, but I’m with you. You’ve got this. You can handle it,” that makes me feel at peace. “Okay, Lord, I’ve got this. I can handle it.

When the Lord speaks to me, He doesn’t tell me everything that I want to hear. He doesn’t say everything is gonna be great and fun and easy. But what He does tell me leads me to the feeling of being at peace, of acceptance, of surrender. Now, I lose it, pretty much every morning. I mean, my brain wakes up in the morning and is like, “Wah, lots of worldly thoughts about lots of things.”

And it is my job to redirect my brain. So in the morning, I often redirect my brain lightly until I get to the place where I can sit down and pray with the Lord, which I will just tell you I do not do first thing in the morning.

At this season of my life, I tend to do it around, I don’t know, 8:30 to 10:00, somewhere in that window. I’m, like, up and doing kid things. I talk to the Lord right when I wake up, but I’m not sitting down and kind of praying and journaling and, and having time with Him until later.

But my goal for our time together is for Him to show me how I am thinking about something incorrectly. And I know that I’m thinking about something incorrectly because I am not at peace, so I’m not thinking about it the way that He wants me to think about it, period.

Right now, I mean, there’s probably something that you feel yucky about, but partly the reason you feel yucky about it is because you are thinking about it in a way that is not the way that God wants you to think about it. And He will tell you. He’s standing by. He wants to tell you how you could think about it instead.

But you have to go to Him, you have to expect to hear Him, you have to be willing to hear whatever He has to say. I think that’s a challenging one for a lot of us. And then not only do you have to hear it, but then you have to practice it.

Then your brain will just continue to spiral, and then you emotionally will spiral, and then you will not like the experience of your day. We do not like to feel emotionally out of control. We do not like to feel helpless or trapped or hopeless or angry.

So I really want to challenge you to recognize these feelings in your body faster, and the faster you can go, “Oh, I’m thinking about this in a way that is not the way that God wants me to think about it.” And then to go to Him and ask Him, “What do you want me to know about this topic, this person, this situation, this amount of time?”

I really think that’s what we’re missing. I think we’re just not going to the Lord often enough with openness and saying, “Please change my mind. Help me to be transformed by the renewal of my mind. You renew my mind, Lord. Renew it by giving me different words, and then I will practice them, and we will clean out.

The sentences that are leading me to a spirit of anxiety and stress and anger and sadness and trapped and all those things, and lead me to being at peace. Trust, surrender. And I do personally believe that it is a grace to be able to do that, especially in difficult situations, but let’s start asking for that grace. God gives us grace. Why aren’t we asking for grace all the time?

That was one of the things that really blew my mind the most when I was first researching the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I must have been, I don’t know, 38, 39. And it was saying the gifts are always there, but we must ask for them. And obviously, God can give us grace any time he wants and gifts any time he wants.

But they were kind of designed for us to say, “Lord, please send down the Holy Spirit and give me the gift of wisdom right now. Give me the gift of counsel. Give me the gift of knowledge, of understanding, of fortitude, of fear of the Lord. Please. Give me those supernatural gifts.

And I think we should just add to that, please help me to think about this situation the way that you want me to think about it. And knowing that when we think about it the way He wants us to think about it, we will be at peace.

I’ve been reading some things about Fulton Sheen. I’m very excited about the upcoming beatification. I will be there. I will be at the. I mean, I don’t know if they’re all called the Fulton Sheen Conference, but I’m gonna be at the Fulton Sheen Conference with Arthur Brooks the day before the beatification.

And then I’ll be there on the day of the beatification, but I will not be at the conference that’s happening the day after. So feel free to reach out. I’ll probably have. I’ll have a table at the conference, and you can come up and say hi.

But as I’ve been revisiting Fulton Sheen’s work, so many of his sentences sound something like this: “Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, and if you do that, you will be at peace.” “Why are you so worried, friend? Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, and if you do that, you will be at peace.”

So much of what Fulton Sheen teaches can kind of be boiled down to that, and it doesn’t surprise me because Fulton Sheen walked very closely with the Lord, so of course he would speak the truth, and the truth would lead us to being at peace in our own lives.

And I will say it again, I’ve said it many times, being at peace does not mean being peaceful. It means receiving. It means accepting. It means saying, “This is okay right now. I can handle this right now.”

Daniel in the lions’ den was at peace. Mary watching Jesus be crucified was at peace. Mary asking Jesus about the wine and not knowing what the outcome was gonna be, she was at peace.

Joseph telling Mary, “Hey, gotta get on this donkey and go to Egypt because I had a dream,” that’s crazy to me, you guys. I mean, how many of you, if your husband was like, “Listen, I had this dream, and we’re gonna uproot our family and move to Africa.” I’m just trying to pick something, like, kind of crazy and extreme.

You’d be like, “A dream, though? I mean, let’s get some more information about this.” And she was just at peace with that. She just went, “Okay, I trust you. I trust you, Joseph. I trust you, Lord.”

That is the kind of piece I’m talking about. Like, you might have a teenager who’s going through something really rough. You might have an adult child who has fallen away from the church. You might have just popped a surprise pregnancy test. These are all things I’ve coached on recently.

And I just want you to know that right now, in this moment, with that circumstance going on in your life, you can be at peace. You can accept this. You can receive this. You can believe that it is okay, that God is with you, that God is with everyone in the story, that this is happening right now. It is okay that it is happening.

Be at peace, my friends. I know that’s what you want. I think that’s what we are made for. I think we were made to live in the Garden of Eden and walk around being at peace. And I don’t feel ashamed that I live in this kind of broken world of sin and concupiscence, and we’re swimming around in all of that, and the internet, and social media. And so like, of course my brain forgets what I was made for.

But the more often that I can remember, and the more often I can go straight to the source and say, “Lord, what do you want me to think about this?” And the sooner I can get back to being at peace, the better my experience of my life will be.

And I would like to think that I would be a brighter light for Christ in the world, that to my children and to my parish community and when I’m teaching at this co-op, that any room that I’m in, I’m just a bright beaming light for Christ because deeply I feel at peace.

And when you guys listen to this podcast, that I come with a soothing voice of someone who knows whose she is. I belong to the Lord, I do not belong to you. I do not belong to the crowd. I do not belong to the masses and their opinion. I belong to the Lord and I do what He asks me to do.

And sometimes I really like what he asks me to do, and sometimes I really do not. But I am a woman of obedience, and I hope that people can tell by the way that I live. No, I feel things strongly and I don’t walk around at peace all the time, but I know how to do it, and I know it’s how we ought to live. True freedom is the ability to live the way we ought to live.

And I just wanna encourage all of you to reach for this. As soon as you notice that you are not at peace, Reach for the Lord in whatever prayer works for you, right? I really love first saying, “I am loved and I am safe. In Jesus, I trust in you.” You could pray the Hail Mary. There’s so many things. And then say, “Lord, how do you want me to think about this?”

All right, my friends, if you want to be in a community of women who do this, come join us in Catholic Mom Calm. Come join us. Be surrounded by women who are really doing this work. It is so inspiring every week to see and listen to real moms who are not tolerating a mediocre existence of stress.

It is so mediocre of us to accept living stretched thin and stressed out and feeling pressure and guilt. That is what American commercialism is selling us. I don’t want that, and I don’t wanna hang out with women who tolerate that.

I wanna hang out with women who say, “Yes, this is the environment that we are in, but I am pushing against it. I am reaching for something else, and it may be messy and imperfect. But they come saying, “I want more peace. I want to be at peace with the Lord in the life that I have.” And that doesn’t mean that we can’t have goals and want to improve ourselves.

I actually think that when we get this peace thing in order, you naturally grow and improve your life, and achieve the dreams that God has put on your heart. But a lot of people have it backwards. They think, “I need to work on these goals that I have and achieve these dreams, and then I will feel at peace.” But the peace actually has to come first in the holy order of things.

You can white-knuckle your way to success, but it feels very hollow when you get there, and you already know that. So I want you to come join us. In September, we’re doing our Catholic Mom Reset, which is four weeks where we just get back to these very basic things. Pray for 10 minutes a day. Plan for 10 minutes a day.

Pay attention to our thinking, improve the relationships that we’re in, improve the voice that’s in our minds so that it is more kind, and loving, and encouraging. And you know what happens when the voice in your head is more kind, and loving, and encouraging? The voice that comes out of your mouth is more kind, and loving, and encouraging, and that is what you want for your family.

So I want you to come join us. Yes, it’s a membership. Yes, your brain is gonna be like, “I hate memberships,” but I wanna tell you, this is the best membership you’ll ever be part of because it will bring you peace. None of the other ones you sign up for will bring you peace like this. This is worth it. It is like the gym for your mind.

I want you to come, and I want you to feel loved and held and supported and seen by this community of Catholic moms who also want to be at peace in the vocations that God has called them to. So you can click the link in the show notes. Come join us and be at peace, my friends.

Thank you so much for listening. I’m praying for you. Please pray for me, and have a blessed day.