My adult years have been filled with marriage and family as well as seminary education and ordination as a minister in the denomination I joined with my husband. They have been productive years. Yet there was an inner yearning for something deeper and more satisfying. This hunger led me to a study of prayer, and I began to pray earnestly for that which I knew not. I read scores of books on prayer and participated in extended retreats focused on prayer offered within my denomination.
I would soon discover that the inner yearning was to know God better through prayer, and that this desire was being shaped and directed by God even before I was aware of it.
After I had a routine medical examination a few years ago, one of the tests, a mammogram, left some questions for the doctor. An additional test was made at that time, but the results were no clearer. I was told to come back in a month for additional X-rays. I became extremely fearful, knowing that the tests were to detect cancer. Even though there was no conclusive evidence of it, the fear was intense and grew worse.
