Christâs peace and presence be with you. This week Diana shares the mic with Emily Helderman, who is a licensed social worker/therapist. They cover types of trauma, warning signs of trauma, and action steps/resources if you’re experiencing trauma, or if someone you know and love is experiencing trauma.
Friday, April 22, 2022
Keep Moving Forward â Diana Marie Keller
Episode 27: An Introduction to Trauma with Emily Helderman
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay if forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.
đđ«đ€ Christâs peace and presence be with you. Last Saturday I had the privilege of participating in my favorite Mass of the yearâŠthe Easter Vigil. I think thatâs partly because we get to spend some time in a dimly lit church, which for reasons I donât yet know, I find extremely peaceful. Iâve been participating in Mass at St. Albert the Great Church for about three years now and it has a rather unique set up. As you enter the church and look toward the alter, youâll notice 1) there isnât a wall on the back side of the alter and 2) there is another seating section behind the alter. Essentially, the alter is centered between the church side and the chapel side of the building. Also, the crucifix hangs over the alter and is two sided, so that Jesus can be viewed from both the church and chapel. This set up has come in pretty handy with COVID social distancing, especially when the restriction started loosening up, the church side when back to regular seating and chapel side retained social distancing.
Sitting in the pew on the church side, talking with God before Easter Vigil Mass, God showed me something that I hadnât notice before. I even took a picture so I could share it with you.Â
Looking at Jesus on the cross, then looking beyond the cross into the chapel, God told me, âThe cross is not the end. Your death is not the end. Look beyond the cross and you will find there is so much more. Death is just an entry point to far greater living than what life on earth has to offer. Donât fear drawing near to the cross. Iâm here to bring you to the other side.â
Bless others and be blessed.
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others. Click subscript to receive your message every Wednesday.
Christâs peace and presence be with you. This week Dianaâs message is about growth through conversation. As she mentions in her podcast:
âAm I growing with each conversation? Am I learning from each experience? Am I reflecting on the moments throughout my day, and learning all I can learn from each interaction?â
Friday, April 15, 2022
Keep Moving Forward â Diana Marie Keller
Episode 26: Are You Growing with Each Conversation?
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay if forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.
đđ«đ€ Christâs peace and presence be with you. Yesterday morning I read Matthew 20:1-16 The Laborers in the Vineyard. âFor the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, âYou also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.â So, they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon, he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, âWhy have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?â âBecause no one has hired us,â they answered. He said to them, âYou also go and work in my vineyard.â
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, âCall the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.â The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So, when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. âThese who were hired last worked only one hour,â they said, âand you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.â But he answered one of them, âI am not being unfair to you, friend. Didnât you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Donât I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?â
So the last will be first, and the first will be last.â
We are all on our own journey and each of us come to the point of faith and trust in the Lord at different times for different reasons, and by different means. But we all have a few things in common.
The Lord is the one who sought and chose us to be with Him. We just had to say âYesâ to His invitation.
The Lord is the one who offers us a means for making a living and providing for our needs. We just have to say âYesâ to His invitation.
The Lord is the one who holds true to His word and gives us what He promises. We just have to accept them.
Lent has gone by in a blink and we are now at the midpoint of Holy Week. Over these next few days, we celebrate, experience and reflect upon some incredible events and gifts. Christ doesnât just tell us, but shows us leadership is actually being a servant to others. Just to name a few, He institutes the sacrament of Communion so that we will always have His physical presence with us. Christ called out the betrayal which Judas was about to impart and instead of holding him back, Jesus told him to do what he needed to do. He showed us the importance of going to a quiet place and having those heartfelt, hard conversations with the Father. He showed us the gift of friendship and also the betrayal of friends. The ridicule, verbal and physical abuse. Seeing and experiencing His motherâs pain. He experienced it all, so that you will never go through anything alone. He gives each and every person EVERY THING He has to offer. He doesnât hold anything back, including the GLORY of His resurrection and salvation.
It doesnât matter if you are in the morning of your life or in the 5 oâclock hour. The Lord is reaching out His nail pierced hand to welcome you into His home. Please, thoughtfully consider the opportunities that are being offered to you this week. Choose to share some extra time with the Lord and journey with Him on this road. May these steps you take carry you into a lifelong and beyond relationship with our risen Lord. Father, Son, and Spirit.
Bless others and be blessed.
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others. Click subscript to receive your message every Wednesday.
#DannyGoeky â We All Need Jesus feat. Koryn Hawthorne
Christâs peace and presence be with you. This week Dianaâs message is about dealing with failure. As she mentions in her podcast:
âI have failed in some BIG WAYS lately, and I am sharing those with you. One failure in particular, though, has left me feeling completely uncredentialed to even host this podcast or write my book. It kinda sucked, majorlyâŠâ
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay if forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.
đđ«đ€ Christâs peace and presence be with you. After hearing Mondayâs Old Testament Mass reading and following that up with the daily quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen, truth, wise counsel, and the courage to stand for what is right were certainly the theme for the day.
Letâs start with an introduction to the Old Testament reading, Daniel 13. Two male elders, judges, could not contain their lust for Susanna, âa very beautiful and God-fearing woman,â who was married to Joakim. Together the elders plotted to force Susanna to give into their sexual desires or they would testify against her that they caught her with a young man. ââI am completely trapped,â Susanna groaned. âIf I yield, it will be my death; if I refuse, I cannot escape your power. Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord.ââ
The two males turned Susanna into the authorities with the intention of having her put to death. At the hearing, the assembly believed the two men, âsince they were elders and judges of the peopleâ and Susanna was condemned to death. Susanna cried out aloud to the Lord about the false testimony of the men. âThe Lord heard her prayer. As she was being led to execution, God stirred up the Holy Spirit of a young boy named Daniel, and he cried aloud: âI will have no part in the death of this womanâŠAre you such fools, O children of Israel! To condemn a woman of Israel without examination and without clear evidence? Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.â
Daniel was given the authority to cross examine the two men separately to get to the truth of the matter. Daniel stated, ââŠtell me under what tree you saw them together.â One replied a mastic tree and the other replied an oak. âThe whole assembly cried aloud, blessing God who saves those who hope in him. They rose up against the two old men, for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of bearing false witness. They condemned them to the fate they had planned for their neighbor: in accordance with the law of Moses they put them to death. Thus was innocent blood spared that day.â
Onto Archbishop Fulton Sheenâs quote. âTruth does grow, but it grows homogeneously, like an acorn into an oakâŠThe nature of certain things is fixed, and none more so than the nature of truth. Truth may be contradicted a thousand times, but that only proves that it is strong enough to survive a thousand assaults.â
Let me say that again, âTruth may be contradicted a thousand times, but that only proves that it is strong enough to survive a thousand assaults.â
The truth IS the truth and there is no changing that. In every moment, we need to choose to stand for the truth, which is not always an easy task. But like Susanna, she knew the only real option was to stand in truth with the Lord. Our spirit and physical being are under constant attack from Satan and his band of demons. We are tasked to not be fearful, stand united, seek the truth, and act justly to maintain it. Itâs not always easy, but there is no better way in this life.
Bless others and be blessed.
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others. Click subscript to receive your message every Wednesday.
Christâs peace and presence be with you. This week Dianaâs message is about the different avenues of creativity. As she mentions in her podcast:
âTo create means to make SOMETHING. Or, is something being born of your actions. It doesnât mean you have to be a world-class writer or painter. You donât have to be a Nobel Prize-winning laureate. You donât have to even be well known AT ALL! Creativity is simply CREATING (obviously). Itâs bringing into existence something new. So, today we are going to talk about creativity: what it is, how you are creative, ways creativity serves you and others, and action steps to becoming more creative.â
Friday, April 1, 2022
Keep Moving Forward â Diana Marie Keller
Episode 23: Are You Missing Creativity In Your Life?
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay if forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.
đđ«đ€ Christâs peace and presence be with you. A few weeks ago, a good friend asked me if I would consider being her daughterâs Confirmation sponsor. I felt honored and humbled by her request. This was a first for me. Before giving an answer, I took a couple days to pray about what the responsibilities and obligations of this decision would have on my life and also Josieâs. This would be a commitment to both Josie and her parents. From this day forward, I would be making a commitment to guiding Josie along her faith journey, sharing my journey with her, and committing time to the development of this relationship. I wouldnât want to be a sponsor in name alone. I told myself, if I accept this, I have to be all in. Two days after the request, I contact my friend to let her know that I cleared my calendar for 03/27/2022 and I would be honored to be Josieâs sponsor.
Over the past two weeks Josie and I met for dinner a couple times to get to know each other better, before her big day. After all, she needed to be comfortable with me being her sponsor also. Last Sunday, before the Confirmation Mass, the Confirmandi and their sponsors gathered for a meal and time of prayer. A reading that we reflected upon was Acts 2: 1-13, The Coming of the Spirit.
âWhen the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, âAre not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.â They were all astounded and bewildered, and said to one another, âWhat does this mean?â But others said, scoffing, âThey have had too much new wine.ââ
There were two parts of this reading that spoke to me in that moment.
The Spirit speaks to us through others, in the words and language we need to hear, so that we truly hear the message that is being spoken to us. How many of you have told your spouse, significant other, or friend something that they totally dismissed or became defensive about. Then a few days or weeks later someone else tells them the exact same thing and all of the sudden itâs a fantastic idea and they want to do whatever that discussion was about. Iâve experienced this multiple times. In the beginning it kind of hurt and I took offense to the fact that it wasnât a good idea when I suggested it, but when someone else did, it was a great idea. It took years, but I finally realized that I may have had the same/similar idea, but I just wasnât speaking that personâs language. It could be a team effort. The introduction to the idea in the first hearing of it, plants the seed. Contemplating the idea, whether consciously or unconsciously, germinates it. Then in the subsequent hearing of the idea, it brings it to life. I also believe that is why there are multiple denominations of the Christian faith. God figured out a long time ago, to use Biblical terminology, that we are a stiff-necked people. One language will not capture everyoneâs ear. We need to hear His message in a language that is pleasing and acceptable to our ears.
There was a noise like a strong driving wind that filled the houseâŠthen there appeared tongues of fire that parted and came to rest of each of them. Of the One Spirit, individually we each have been gifted a unique portion of the Spirit, to use and share. But they are not meant to be buried or hidden under a basket. These gifts have been stitched into our beings so that they will shine forth from the inside out. A gift isnât fully given, until itâs fully received. Until you use and squeeze every last drop of these gifts out, you will not know the full extent of this gift of the Spirit. That one drop youâre holding onto may be the very drop thatâs needed to fill anotherâs cup to overfull, so that they can then pour out to fill anotherâs cups.
Bless others and be blessed.
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others. Click subscript to receive your message every Wednesday.
Christâs peace and presence be with you. This week Diana has a double dose of Keep Moving Forward for you, Bonus Episode 21 with Jess Clerke about confidence and Episode 22 which concludes her three-part series on life lessons from Encanto. I hope you enjoy and get as much out of them as I did.
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay if forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.
đđ«đ€ Christâs peace and presence be with you. In the spring of 2021 Brian was looking at the landscape in our backyard and said he wanted to pull out two hydrangea plants that hadnât bloomed in 7 years. I convinced him to leave them for one more year. If they didnât bloom, then we would pull them the following spring. So, thereâre a couple reasons why I bring this up. First, because itâs spring, one year later. Second, last weekend at Mass the Gospel reading concluded with Luke 13: 6-9, the parable of the barren fig tree.
âAnd He told them this parable: âThere once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, âFor three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?â He said to him in reply, âSir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.ââ
Before I tell you the verdict on the hydrangea plants, I also want to share with you a reading from 2 Kings 5. It starts out introducing us to Naaman, an army commander for the king of Aram. As the reading tells us, Naaman was valiant, but he was also a leper. He had a servant girl from the land of Israel who suggested that he present himself to the prophet in Israel. With his kingâs permission and treasures, Naaman set out for Israel. It took him a few stops, but he eventually ended up at the door of Elishaâs house.
2 Kings 5: 10-14 âElisha sent him the message: âGo and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.â But Naaman went away angry, saying, âI thought that he would surely come out to me and stand there to call on the name of the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the place, and thus cure the leprous spot. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?â* With this, he turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him: âMy father, if the prophet told you to do something extraordinary, would you not do it? All the more since he told you, âWash, and be cleanâ?â So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.â
It’s very easy to miss, but a lot of what God asks and prompts us to do are very common, ordinary, everyday things. The gardener in Lukeâs Gospel, wasnât giving up on the fig tree so easily. He was going to work the soil and spread some manure around it. With the owner focusing on that tree, I imagine the gardener also made sure it had plenty of water and also pruned it. We donât know how the fig tree turns out, but I can tell you that no, I didnât cultivate the soil around the hydrangea. I didnât fertilize them. I didnât water them. Although I did prune them like we do every year. In case you didnât already know this, God has a sense of humor. You see, in this eighth year, God allowed one flower on each of the hydrangea plants to bloom. I laughed right along with God. And yes, the plants are staying.
Over the next few days, maybe focus a little more than usual on the everyday tasks and interactions you have with others. There may be more meaning and divine intervention going on that you arenât aware of.
Bless others and be blessed.
If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others. Click subscript to receive your message every Wednesday.
Third Day Devotions 