After the True North Conference, I’ve been constantly affirmed in several ways. One being that I’m exactly where I need to be–to be discerning for Full Time Pastoral Work as a Mission Volunteer. After TNC, my prayers somehow meant more; in a sense, I grew so much more passionate as I prayed.
If you know me, you’ll find that whenever I’m explaining something, I tend to lose words and can’t justly explain what I want to. It’s funny because sometimes, I just find a word that I think will make sense to fit whatever I’m trying to say. Hahaha. And honestly, this happens in my prayers as well. After TNC, one word that kept coming out of my heart during my prayers was the word ‘Ardency’. I wrote it down in my journal because I had no idea what it meant (lol). I never looked at it’s definition until a few days later when I was in the Adoration Chapel. I only remembered to look it up because the Liveloud song “Mission-Ready” was stuck in my head.
“Every knee will bend before You
Every tongue confess, You are the Lord.”
This part of the song was on repeat in my head. And while staring at the monstrance, Jesus really tugged on my heartstrings. How beautiful of a vision is this? EVERY knee will bend before You and EVERY tongue confess, You are the Lord. The depth of these lyrics had me at awe and it had my heart burning with the desire to witness this with my own eyes. I’ve learned that in order to become a missionary, having a vision is key. This vision will keep our hearts ignited to remain mission-ready, inspired and motivated to let Christ ignite the hearts of others through us. After pondering on these lyrics, I remembered the word ‘Ardency’ and decided to look it up on my phone.
The origin of the word ‘Ardency’ comes from the latin word ardentem, which means blazing or to burn. It means ‘having or characterized by intense, passionate feeling’. Though I didn’t know what it meant in my prayers, it was so fitting that the Lord would let me pray to Him, “Lord help me have a heart of patience, a heart of humility, a heart of ardency.”
If there was one thing I can say that Our God is calling me to be after TNC, it’s to be patient, to remain faithful and hopeful. As long as I lay down my fears and worries, His love will lead me to where I’m supposed to be. As long as I continue to hope in the depth of His beautiful promise, I will see my true hopes and dreams become a reality in my life.
So let hope rise, and darkness tremble in Your Holy light,
that every eye will see Jesus, our God, Great and Mighty to be praised.