Adoration Is Worth The Time
A Mom Story by Tina Rivenbark

A special thank you to Tina for sharing these words to inspire each of us.   To share your story online e-mail us at lisa@catholicmom.com today.

Over the last couple of years I have been trying to attend adoration on a more regular basis. I'm not real good at it yet, but I do make an effort to go more than I used to. It is a work in progress.

The Friday before lent of this year, I did make it to the church I grew up in, because they have adoration at this time. When I go I have a routine that I go through as far as praying and saying rosary etc.. I always pray for my two boys and they each have their own list of needs. Now earlier in the school I had decided to send my youngest son to public school for his 8th grade year. He is now in Catholic school in the 7th grade. The cost of Catholic high school is almost $5000 where we are. The whole issue of sending him to public school had me and him feeling uneasy. So one of my prayers that day was for God to be with my son as he enters his new school it the fall. I then in my prayers I told God how sad I felt that we did not have the money. Then in my head so loud and clear came a voice that said," You have not even tried to get the money" This startled me so much I jumped up and opened my eyes. The rest of adoration was sort of a bust. I could not get what happened out of my mind. Now normally at adoration I am very much at peace and relaxed. This thing that happened sort of upset the normal balance of my routine.

When I got home I put it out of my mind as just a fluke or something...Until I found the registration papers to sign my son up for school next year. I thought that they were gone or got tossed out. But there they were in my living room. Once again I put this out of my mind and went on with my day.

A couple of days later I was reading the paper and saw this add for open enrollment for a high school in another city, that I would love to live in. It is known as a really good school. Once again I heard the voice..."See there are other options, you have not tried" This time I felt the pull of the Holy Spirit on my heart. I thought okay I hear you.

So I knew I had to tell my son and my husband about my experience. I decided to tell them when they were together. I just hoped that they didn't call me crazy. That evening after supper I explained the whole situation to both of them. They both agreed to what I had been feeling. This was a miracle in it's self.

The next morning I had the forms filled out for enrollment back at St. Jude. I could not believe I was doing this because I thought we had settled this issue. The forms were almost 1 month late. My son turned them in that morning. When he came home there was a large white packet in his back pack. It had notes in it from various people saying how glad they were that my son was returning to the school for his 8th grade year. But the real shocker was that there were tuition aid forms in this packet. It seems the Cleveland Diocese has a new format for tuition aid. You are asked on the forms how much you feel you can afford. The old format only gave you $100-$400 per year.
So it seems that things had changed. My son has been so happy at this new turn in the road. His attitude has change since he knows he is not changing schools. He is calling his friends again, and he want to attend school functions. When he thought he was leaving St. Jude he seem not to care about his friends or anything going on at school. Makes my heart sing.

I just wanted to share this with you, and please I want to encourage you to go to adoration. This time with God is so important. It is just you and Him. One hour per week is not much to ask of someone who created us, and gave us all we have. And in the quiet of that church I really heard the shout of Gods words that He spoke to my spirit.

A special thank you to Tina for sharing these words to inspire each of us.   To share your story online e-mail us at lisa@catholicmom.com today.