35 Lessons from 35 Years

Stories of Grace, Providence & Trust

“I thought I was building a Sanctuary for Him. All along, He was building a sanctuary within me.”

As we celebrate 35 years of the Sanctuary of the Holy Family, I found myself asking a simple question: What has the Lord taught me through all these years?

The answer could never be contained in only thirty-five lessons. There have been far more ~ lessons learned through prayer and waiting, through the Eucharist and Divine Mercy, through people who came into our lives, through doors that opened and doors that closed, through unexpected provision, mistakes and correction, suffering and forgiveness, joy and loss.

The Sanctuary has been a school for me. The experiences have been the lessons, and the Lord has always been the Teacher.

Some of these lessons were learned within the walls of the Sanctuary; others followed me home into my family, my relationships, my struggles and the hidden places of my own heart. Slowly I began to understand that the Lord was doing more than building a House of Prayer. While I thought I was helping to build a Sanctuary for Him, He was quietly building a sanctuary within me. 

And through it all, one thread seems to run from the very beginning until today: grace and trust. Again and again, the Lord has brought me back to the same place:

Trust Me. My grace is enough.

So these 35 lessons are not meant to be a record of accomplishments. They are my thanksgiving, small stories of what God can do with an imperfect yes, and a testimony to His faithfulness. I share them in the hope that somewhere within these pages, you may recognize something of your own journey and be reminded, as I have been so many times:

God is present.

Grace is at work.

And even when we cannot see the road ahead, we can still say, “Jesus, I trust in You.”

THE THREAD I CAN SEE NOW

Thirty-five years have not taught me thirty-five unrelated truths. They have become one unfolding story: God teaching me to trust His Mercy and depend upon His grace.

I learned trust when I could not see the road ahead; when the bills were larger than the money in our hands; when people came and went; when doors closed; when I wondered whether the work should continue; and when those I loved were suffering. I learned it when the Lord showed me things in my own heart that needed healing, and when forgiveness seemed beyond me.

Again and again, grace met me there.

Perhaps that is why Divine Mercy became so deeply woven into the life of the Sanctuary. We were not simply being asked to tell others, “Jesus, I trust in You.” The Lord was allowing us to live situations in which we had to discover what those words really mean.

Trust Me. My grace is enough.

A SANCTUARY BEFORE THERE WAS A BUILDING

Long before there was a Sanctuary of the Holy Family, there was only a prayer, a vision and a peace I could not forget. In 1985, during prayer, I saw a two-storey building. It was as though the Lord walked with me through it, showing me what was happening in the different rooms. Yet more than the rooms themselves, what remained with me was the extraordinary peace.

I asked, “Lord, what is the name of this place?” In my heart came one word: “The Sanctuary.” The meaning spoke deeply to me: a place of refuge, an oasis of peace, a place where holy things are kept, a holy place.

We prayed, searched and knocked on doors, but the means were not there. I wrote the vision down, placed the notebook in a drawer, and continued praying and waiting. God had not forgotten what I had put away.

In the meantime, a love of spiritual books became a little book table at prayer meetings, with profits going to those in need. Then came a bookshelf in a friend’s pharmacy. People began asking for books, Bibles, rosaries and religious items. What looked insignificant was quietly growing.

Eventually the vision widened before us: a book and gift shop, a place of welcome, a chapel for Holy Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, help for families, prayer, evangelization and a place of peace. In 1991, a building became available and the Sanctuary of the Holy Family opened its doors.

What I could not see then was that God had already begun building it long before we had a building.

Click here to read all 35 lessons

35 Lessons from 35 Years

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Lesson One: God often shows the destination before He shows the road

Lesson Two: Treasure what God gives you in prayer

Lesson Three: Delay is not necessarily refusal

Lesson Four: Never underestimate what God can begin with something small

Lesson Five: Give God what is in your hands

Lesson Six: Sometimes God begins His work by turning the light on us

Lesson Seven: The prayer that changed the way I saw myself

Lesson Eight: God did not wait for me to become perfect

Lesson Nine: I discovered that the grace was waiting on the other side of yes

Lesson Ten: For one year, we carried Jesus there every day

Lesson Eleven: Some burdens need more than our words

Lesson Twelve: The chapel door eventually had to lead somewhere else

Lesson Thirteen: God kept sending the people we needed

Lesson Fourteen: We needed $50,000. The cheque was for $50,000.

Lesson Fifteen: Providence never meant that we could stop being responsible

Lesson Sixteen: I asked God for a sign. He sent a man looking for a Bible.

Lesson Seventeen: We did not go looking for every ministry – many of them came looking for us

Lesson Eighteen: I stopped asking God simply to bless my plans

Lesson Nineteen: God knew every person who would walk through the door

Lesson Twenty: I had to learn that I was not the one who could heal anyone

Lesson Twenty-one: I wondered whether we were doing something wrong

Lesson Twenty-two: I had to stop believing that small meant unsuccessful

Lesson Twenty-three: Some people were only meant to walk with us for a season

Lesson Twenty-four: My father taught me to have a giraffe’s neck

Lesson Twenty-five: Sometimes peace begins when I stop waiting for the other person

Lesson Twenty-six: I wanted to forgive – but I could not make my heart feel it

Lesson Twenty-seven: On my own, I walked out. With grace, I walked back in.

Lesson Twenty-eight: The scan had not changed. But something in me had.

Lesson Twenty-nine: There was grace waiting for me at home too

Lesson Thirty: When I wanted to give up, He showed me His Heart

Lesson Thirty-one: I finally became willing to hear either answer

Lesson Thirty-two: He did not give me the whole map. He gave me a Word.

Lesson Thirty-three: God did not waste the broken pieces

Lesson Thirty-four: When fear speaks, I return to what God has spoken

Lesson Thirty-five: In the end, everything is Grace

EPILOGUE – THE SANCTUARY GOD WAS BUILDING

Thirty-five years ago, I thought the Lord was asking us to build a place for Him. Today I understand that His purpose was always deeper. Yes, He gave us a physical Sanctuary – a place of prayer, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, refuge, service and peace. But through all those years, He was also building another sanctuary: the human heart made ready to receive Him.

There was even a time when the Sanctuary itself had no home, when everything was packed away and we searched during Advent for somewhere to continue the mission. Yet it was during that very season that the Lord clarified the words that would express what the Sanctuary was truly meant to be:

To create a place where Christ can be born daily in our hearts, and in the hearts of all people.

Perhaps that was His purpose from the beginning.

The building was never the final destination. The heart was.

And so, as we celebrate thirty-five years, my prayer is that every person who enters the Sanctuary – or is touched in any way by its ministry – will encounter more than a place. May they encounter Jesus. May they make room for Him within their own hearts. And may they leave knowing:

God is here.
God loves me.
I am not alone.

FINAL THANKSGIVING AND OFFERING

Thank You, Lord, for loving us and for never leaving us alone – even in the moments when we felt alone.

Thank You for every good gift from Your merciful and loving Heart: for my family and friends; for this beautiful Sanctuary and Your Presence within it day and night; for the priests who bring You to us; for the faithful people You have placed around us; for every person who has prayed, served, given, sacrificed and journeyed with us.

Thank You for the doors You opened and even for the doors You allowed to close. Thank You for the times You provided when we could see no way forward. Thank You for correcting me when I needed correction, healing what was wounded, giving me grace to forgive, strengthening me when I wanted to stop, and giving me peace while the storm was still raging.

Thank You for every lesson, every cross, every mercy and every unexpected grace.

The greatest gift was always You.

Today I offer everything back to You: my voice, my hands, my feet, my heart, my entire being. May my life glorify You. This Sanctuary is Yours, Lord – it always has been Yours. May those whom You choose continue the work according to Your will. And when we cannot see the road ahead, let our answer remain the answer You have been teaching me for thirty-five years: JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU.

All glory belongs to You. Amen.

OUR MISSION

To create a place where Christ can be born daily in our hearts, and in the hearts of all people.