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So, what does vocation mean? We share stories from across the diocese of what it means to those around us.....

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#HereIAmLord

Andrew Nelmes

I desire to please God and I do not want to rush before him. It is wiser to take one step at a time and enjoy the journey.

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#HereIAmLord

Revd Matthew Sellers

I’ve learnt that God is intentional, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush! He leads us step by step.

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#HereIAmLord

Revd Rebecca Stevens

I’ve learnt to rest in God’s grace and trust the journey he is taking me on even when I can’t see what is over the horizon.

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#HereIAmLord

Paul Stafford

If you let scripture work in your mind and heart as you read and think and pray, God will show you what is your calling …..

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#HereIAmLord

Sister Johanna

I think of the work of contemplative Religious as being like the Sanctuary candle in church …..

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#HereIAmLord - Sister KatharineGreetings. My name is Sr. Katharine. I am the current Mother of the Society of the Sacred Cross, better known as Tymawr. We are an Anglican contemplative community that has been present in Monmouth Diocese since 1923… born at much the same time as the diocese. The journey to Tymawr has been one of trusting and following. Only looking back can I see that there has been a red silken thread slowly drawing me. What have been the characteristics of this journey? People who have believed in me and seen more of me than I knew or imagined. People who have loved me and been faithful. People who have walked through the crises with me. And the experience of loss and tears. Positively that might be called surrender, yielding.After studying law at university, the bright career did not match the cry of my heart. What I had understood from the Gospel was that a life lived with God has something to do with the poor, Jesus and community. So I went in search of all three. Through the tears of my heart I met L’Arche in London, and knew I had to stay with them to discover the ‘something’ of God that I did not know but longed for. Here I encountered the poor, Jesus and community! I stayed with L’Arche in the UK and India for 30 years. On returning from India there were more tears and the loss of family and intimate friends, and as it turned out the continuation of a life in L’Arche. What then was my life about? Where was I to go and be? Had I limited the love of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ to L’Arche? Yet, God was not far away and he reminded me of the deep friendship I had formed with the community at Tymawr, a community which had been a place of refuge and renewal during my active years in L’Arche. Here too I am to find Jesus, the poor and community.Today this is the shape of my life and ongoing journey into the heart of God… a hidden life of prayer, being present in stillness and silence, hospitable to the tears of the world, mine and yours, open to God’s transfiguring love. A life of loss. A life abundantly gifted.

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#HereIAmLord

Revd Liz Houghton

I’m super excited for where God is going to lead in the future and remain open to respond to His call.