04/10/2025
GOD MAKES STRAIGHT LINES WITH OUR CROOKED PATHS
Sometimes one's path to God's glorious plan for human love is a crooked one. Here's Mindy's path:
I was conceived out of wedlock in 1967. My birth mother, after moving to Colorado, single and eight months pregnant, chose to place me for adoption through Catholic Charities. Her desire to have me adopted into a loving family was granted when I was three weeks old.
I had a wonderful upbringing, and always felt there was something very special about being adopted. I had an overwhelming sense that I was so wanted. I never turned down an opportunity to tell others my story; especially because some didn't believe me since I looked so much like my adoptive family.
Over the years, I have put myself into my birth mother's shoes and - all the emotions she must have felt being single and pregnant: scared, pressured, embarrassed, inconvenienced, lonely, yet somehow mustered the will to do what was best for me. I am so grateful for her tremendous courage and sacrifice to give me life. Sometimes we turn away from suffering, but she didn't.
Fast forward 20 years, when I met my future husband, Matt. Both of us were raised in Catholic homes, but like the majority of our generation, the topics of human love and the gift of our sexuality were rarely discussed. We started our marriage off on a crooked path; rejecting the Church's teaching on openness to life. I was okay with contraception at first, because I wanted to be in charge of when we had children. But after a few years, I had a gaping sense that how we were living out our married love was not how God intended.
When we heard Saint John Paul II's proposal on what it means to be human, along with his tender approach, I remember thinking, "Now that is what my heart longs for." Our sexuality is not for using one other, but to be authentically loved. He never began the topic of sexual morality with how we ought to live or behave, but rather helped us know who we are as male and female, made in the image and likeness of God, who is love. Once Matt and I began to understand that, the echo deep inside of us flung open the door to our union and we invited God into every aspect of our lives. Sexual morality, then, meant rediscovering our own God-given identity. Now I realize, God was always there waiting patiently.
God had been drawing a straight line all along, only now we began to see that narrow path. We enrolled in a Natural Family Planning class, learned about the beauty of my fertility and we desired to co-create with God. He opened our eyes and our hearts to hear that His commandments weren't meant to destroy our joy but to help us surrender our will for His. Submitting this way reshaped our hearts in a more powerful way than the thousands of prayers I prayed searching for authentic love.
Looking back, we can see that our intimacy in marriage, fully following God's will, is the key that keeps our marriage strong today. We embraced our Blessed Mother Mary's last words in Sacred Scripture at the Wedding Feast of Cana: "Do whatever He tells you." It was then that we began experiencing a renewal and a depth of love that we had no idea was possible.
My birth mother said "yes" by giving me life. God tenderly led Matt and I to the truth, opening up our lives to receive the fruits of His love: seven children. Now he continues to bless us - our daughter and her husband are expecting their first child - and our first grandchild - in May.
Praise God for making straight lines with our crooked paths.
