Sidney Johnson: Me, a Nun? That's the last thing on my mind!

Join Jan and Marti in a heartfelt and inspiring episode as they welcome Sister Throne of Mercy, aka Sidney Johnson, to share her unique journey into religious life. Discover the compelling story behind Sidney’s decision to become a nun, a path she never envisioned for herself while growing up. In this candid conversation, Sidney opens up about her fears of losing her individuality and freedom, and how through prayer and trust in God’s will, she found her true calling.

Listen as Sidney reflects on the misconceptions about religious life, her initial reluctance, and the transformative power of seeking God’s will. She recounts the pivotal moments of discernment and the realization that God's plans were not about forcing her into a life of restriction, but about fulfilling a unique purpose crafted just for her.

Explore the day-to-day realities of living in a religious community, including the challenges and joys of embracing a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Sidney shares fascinating stories of divine providence, from receiving unexpected donations to the touching tale of a little girl's prayer for apples.

Gain insight into the rigorous and enlightening studies Sidney undertakes, ranging from philosophy to theology, and the joy she finds in teaching young children about faith. Learn about the significant symbolism behind her simple yet profound habit, and how it reflects her commitment to a life devoted to God.

Whether you are curious about religious life or seeking inspiration in your own faith journey, this episode offers a beautiful testament to the power of trust, prayer, and the extraordinary ways God’s love manifests in our lives.

**Tune in for a conversation that will uplift your spirit and deepen your understanding of a life dedicated to spiritual service.**

**Episode Highlights:**
- Sidney’s journey from college student to nun
- Overcoming fears of losing individuality and freedom
- The role of prayer and trust in discernment
- Daily life and responsibilities in a religious community
- Stories of divine providence and living off donations
- The significance of Sidney’s religious habit
- Insights into studying philosophy, theology, and teaching catechism

**Don’t miss this touching and thought-provoking episode on the realities and blessings of answering a divine call.**

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Transcript

[00:00] Jan: Today we'd like to welcome Sister throne of mercy, aka Sydney Johnson.

[00:09] Sidney: Hello. Thanks for having me.

[00:12] Jan: I thought we'd have a conversation with a nun to see what life is like. What drew you to this? Tell us about what was your deciding factor to become a nun?

[00:26] Sidney: Hmm. My deciding factor to become an un. Well, I guess it's not. It's not something that I just decided, like, on a whim. Here's this fun thing to do, because growing up, I wasn't around a lot of, like, religious sisters or anything and really didn't know. I kind of thought your requirements for being a nun were being, like, 400 years old and having a main hobby of knitting. But I went to college. I went to Franciscan University in Ohio, and there were a lot of sisters there from many different congregations. And I saw young women who were discerning religious life and looking into becoming sisters. And I thought that was just so crazy to me because they were young, and I didn't know that was, like, a thing that you could do. But I really. It opened up the possibility of being a sister. But I didn't see it as something that I necessarily wanted to do. And so when I really started my kind of journey of discernment, I guess was more of a, like, okay, I want to do your will, God, and I want to see what you want me to do. But, dear God, I beg of you, please don't make me be a nun. Please don't make me be a nun. Like, really just kind of, like, discerning and looking at things, but more of a perspective of, like, this is what every good catholic young person should do, not because I actually really wanted what God wanted.

[02:01] Jan: What was there about your idea of being a nun that made you not want to do that?

[02:06] Sidney: I didn't want to lose who I was. I didn't want to not be unique anymore. Like, I thought my idea of holiness and my idea of what nuns do is, like, a cookie cutter form of, like, you have to do this, be this certain way, look this certain way, act this certain way, and you would lose all of your individuality and all your personality of yourself. And I was so scared of that. And I was so scared of, like, losing what I thought my idea of freedom was and being able to do whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted. I was scared of losing all that.

[02:44] Jan: So what made the change?

[02:47] Sidney: A lot. A lot of prayer. A lot of just sitting before Jesus and really seeking his will and just praying, like, okay, God, help me to desire what you desire. Help me to want what you want and help me to. Help me to do this for love of you. And not because someone is telling me what to do or what their perspective of what my perfect life should be like, help me to do what you want and help me to want what you want. And slowly, very slowly, it became not just me doing it because I thought it was what every good person should do and really doing it because I wanted to seek the will of God and I wanted to know what it was uniquely that he wanted for me, because at a point in this prayer of him, I really stopped. And I thought somebody, somebody. I was talking about this with friends from school, and they said, jesus isn't ever going to drag you into a convent, like, kicking and screaming. He's your loving savior, he's your God, and he wants you to do. He has a unique plan for you, and he wants, like, he's not going to make you force you do anything that's not who God is, and he's not going to also put a desire on your heart that he's not going to fulfill. And so it just kind of like, switched in my mind because I thought, okay, God, like, I have all these scary ideas, like, you're going to force me to do this. You're going to make me do this, but that's just not true. That's not who God is. And I had this moment where I thought, okay, God, do I really, do I trust you? Do I trust that you're really going to provide for me? Do I trust that you're really. That your will is best and that what you have for me is what is best for my life?

[04:38] Marti: I love hearing that because I think as followers of Jesus, regardless if you're Catholic or you're Pentecostal or you're a Lutheran, it doesn't matter. As a human, we all come to a point where we pray that prayer when we are trying to find out who we are in the Lord. So it's beautiful that you're vulnerable enough to talk about that part of you and the Lord having that conversation together, because I think everybody has that.

[05:16] Sidney: Yeah, the prayer of. Yeah, like, conform my heart to yours. Like, help me, God, grant me the desire is one of my favorite, like, prayers of God. Grant me the desire. Grant me the desire to want what you want. Because right now, like, I say I trust you, I say I love you, I say I want your will, but do I actually? And sometimes the answer is no. But even just praying, like, God, grant me the desire to want what you want and to will, what you will is, I think it's very pleasing to him.

[05:50] Marti: You know, it's a really big deal and I love your heart attitude. You've always had this sweetness about you. And I'm coming to realize the more that I see you and the more that I get to know you, that sweetness is actually the Holy Spirit. It's the Lord in you. It's Jesus coming out of you. And it's really, it's really sweet to watch.

[06:18] Sidney: Thank you.

[06:19] Jan: I sure hope, you know, we can read some of those scriptures, like Jesus telling the disciples and telling us to forsake all and go without, you know, I'm going to provide for you and do all those things. But then it's like, how many of us actually take that step to totally, literally do that? Talk to us a little bit about what that forsaking all has meant. What were you before, what were you doing beforehand and, and how things changed.

[06:55] Sidney: The hardest. So when I started really, like, consciously making an effort to really seek God's will and know if this is what he really wanted for me, I was meeting with, I was doing spiritual direction with sister in Portland, where I was living at the time, and I would meet with her and just kind of like talk things out. And the hardest thing that I just kept coming back to was leaving my family and not being able to call them whenever I wanted or talk with them, write with them, see, you know, text, go home and visit, whatever is the, I mean, the most difficult, hardest thing of doing this. Before I entered, I was a nurse living in Portland, and I had my house, my car, my home, my family, my, you know, my friends, my bubble. My bubble, yeah, my bubble of things. Like, it wasn't a bad, I didn't have a bad gig going on, you know, like, I had everything that from a certain perspective could seem perfect, you know, but what really, in the gospels, there's the part where the rich young man comes up to Jesus and asks him and says, like, I follow these commandments. I've done all this for my youth, but what else? What else can I do? What else do I need? And Jesus says, you know, go sell all you have and then come follow me. And the rich young man goes away sad. And that for me is like, that, that's it. Like I had, there's nothing wrong with my life, you know, from a perspective of like, going to daily amass, going, you know, having a holy hour and praying and having good, healthy relationships and a good relationship with the Lord, having family and friends, like, there's nothing wrong with that. But having Christ look you in the eye and say, go sell everything and follow me, how could your response. How could your response be anything other than yes? Like, how could your response, like, knowing that this is what God is calling you to do, how could there be anything else? Like, it's worth the risk at all, to risk everything. What else could it be?

[09:17] Marti: That's the sweetness of Jesus, that you just want to obey him and love him and do what he's called you to do. And his purpose for you is so unique and so beautiful. And I hope you know, as your friend, how proud we are of you for going against the world's grain and committing every molecule of who you are to Jesus. It's, it's pretty cool to see.

[09:52] Sidney: Yeah.

[09:53] Jan: Takes a lot of trust.

[09:55] Sidney: The thread, the constant thread, the constant thread of my life is Jesus, I trusted you. And it's really. Yeah. This whole journey, everything is always a Jesus, I trust in you because it's this journey of, do I really trust you? Do I really, really believe that what you have for me is the best? Do I really believe that your will is real and is what is best for me? And can I, can I hold you accountable for that, God? Like, do I really believe that this is what you have for me and that you will provide for me and you have to. You've said you will, so you will.

[10:35] Marti: A couple of days ago, it was Christmas Eve around here, and I got to see you on Christmas Eve. And that night I was praying for you, and I felt like the Lord brought a scripture to me to pray over you and for you. And it was psalm 112, six through seven. And in that psalm, this is the Niv version. It says, surely the righteous will never be shaken. And then it goes on to say, they will have no fear of bad news. Their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. And everything you've told us today in this interview says that your heart is steadfast and you are trusting in the Lord, and the righteousness that you have through God will never be shaken. And it's. Again, it's just a beautiful thing to see.

[11:32] Sidney: Yeah, it is. The psalms especially, we pray through the psalms three times during the day. And there's so much trust. There's so many parts in the psalms that talk about trust in God and his mercy and his providence, and it's just such an incredible thing to see and to be reminded of constantly of his trust.

[11:57] Marti: Yeah, that's so cool.

[12:00] Jan: Let's talk about some, you know what's life like and what things? What's your daily routine? What kind of things? What's like living in community? Like the acts, like the Book of Acts?

[12:19] Sidney: Well, so currently I live in Washington, DC, in a house with 24 give or take at times other sisters, and I'm in a house of studies right now, so I am in formation because I've only, I've only been, I entered as a sister about a year and a half ago, so I'm a baby then, so I'm still in formation for the next few years, which means I'm taking a lot of classes and learning a lot. So mostly right now what I'm doing is studying and taking classes.

[12:57] Jan: What kind of classes are you taking?

[12:59] Sidney: So a lot of philosophy. A lot. A lot of philosophy, which is really interesting because I, as a nurse, it's a big switch from sciencey brain to philosophy, theology brain, so. But it is really good because it's like learning. The idea of learning philosophy before you're learning theology is so that you're learning what it is, how to actually define things so that you can learn about them from a theological perspective. So, like, what is the human person? What is a being? What is movement? What is. And it's just fascinating, especially from a nursing perspective, looking at, like, the dignity of the human person and learning that and the dignity and value of life and especially looking at that and applying that to medical circumstances is just. It's a really fascinating thing. But. So, yeah, a lot of philosophy and then Spanish and Latin and a little bit of theology and psalms and sons and. Oh, history. Yes, a little bit of history, too. And so I do classes. We wake up at 545 in the morning most days, and then we have mass in the house every day and various times. It's hard. It's a very structured day that's broken up into, like, times of study, times of prayer, meals, community time, more classes, etcetera. But, yeah, a lot of studying and that'll be for the next few years.

[14:43] Jan: And then you do some teaching?

[14:45] Sidney: Oh, yeah, I do. On the weekend. I teach catechism, too. Right now I'm with first communion kids, so about six to eight years old or so. So I go to two different parishes on the weekends and teach classes with them, which is a ton of fun.

[15:04] Marti: Do you know after your studies what will happen? Do you, like, is it being a soldier in the army? Do you have your top three choices of where you go and you know what you're going to do?

[15:18] Sidney: Yeah, so you can. So there's so in my, like, specifically in my religious order, there's. We're a missionary order, so we have missions all throughout the world. So we're in about 46 different countries, and there's about 2000 sisters or so worldwide. So you can say, like, really, it is. It's totally up to God, wherever he wants to send you, but you can offer yourself for certain missions or like, say, like, hey, I would really like to do something with this. So, like, in my case, with having a nursing background, I could say I would really like to go and work in a clinic, or I would like to do some sort of, like, medical something, and they can take that into consideration. But really, it's wherever God wants. Wherever. Whenever he wants it, for however long he wants it. But for our religious family, we have anything. Like some sisters have a specific thing that they do. Like, they're teachers, they're nurses, they're in parishes, whatever. But for us, our charism is the evangelization of the culture. And so that means that anything you can picture a nun doing, we do. So we're in churches where, you know, social work, medical doctors, nurses, we're in teachers, we're out in the community. Anything you can really think of. Yeah. So it's a lot is a very. Is a wide, wide variety of things that you could be doing, and then it doesn't, like, you're not just somewhere for the rest of your life. Like, you switch around and do different things. So wherever he wants.

[16:55] Jan: What is it? Like? How do you guys actually live day to day when you have nothing?

[17:03] Sidney: Oh, that is a great question.

[17:06] Marti: She doesn't have nothing.

[17:08] Jan: Well, physical things.

[17:12] Marti: You're talking, like food and money in the bank. Okay, got it.

[17:17] Sidney: Okay. So we actually. So all as religious sisters, we take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. And so as part of our vow of poverty. And this is, like, specific to us, not like all nuns do this, but, like, specific to us is we live entirely off of donations. So we don't have. We're not, like, going to school and getting paid to do work or something or being in a parish or like, we're not having an influx. We don't have jobs. So everything we have is through the donation of others. So we get a lot of things from food, like grocery stores and stuff that donate their old stuff that they like. It's expired or they're going to throw it away or something. So they donate to us or just benefactors. Yeah. Deals only. No, but a lot of benefactors. Family, friends, people. But it really. It is absolutely amazing. So I knew this going in, that they just survived completely off of God's providence. But I was very eager to see what that looks like, because it's very different to say, like, yes, Jesus, I trust you. You're going to provide for me. And then being like, hey, I actually don't have my own bank account. I don't have a phone. I don't have a car. I don't have any of these things. Like, as a community, we do, but personally, I don't have these things. And so I literally am completely and totally trusting on your providence to provide for me. And I'd heard these stories about, like, how God provides, but it's different to experience it. And it is really, like in your day to day life, like, one sister has a story of they really wanted apples, and they. There is a. I think they were maybe in Argentina, but an orphanage, and they wanted apples and for the kids, and the little girl didn't have apples, and she desperately wanted apples. And so she said, okay, well, you have to pray. You know, the sister told her, okay, you have to pray for it. If you want it, like, God wants you to have it, you got to pray for it and provide it for you. And so then, you know, a food truck of apples happens to break down in front of their house and they happen to give, you know, loads of apples or just things like that. Like our dental. Our dental care comes from a dentist. So sisters walking down the street, and this dentist from Egypt was driving by, and he shouted out, rolled out his window and shouted at the sisters, I will clean your teeth for you. He's not actually catholic or anything. He just really likes his sisters. So now we have a beautiful dental care, but just. Just so many stories of, like, God's providence, of things that he provides. Like, we trust in him. And the saying is always, like, you take care of God's things and he will take care of yours. And it's so true of, like, we're doing the Lord's work and we're doing it because we love him and we trust him, and it's because we really believe that's what he wants us to be doing. And seeing how every single day he provides for us, we're short on bills, he provides, you know, it's always. There's always a way.

[20:13] Jan: So if you've only been donated apples and bananas or whatever, I mean, you have to look in the fridge and say, okay, what are we cooking today? And figure out something based on what you got, right?

[20:28] Sidney: Yep. But it also, this is another fun thing that we call missionary creativity, which means, yeah, you look in the cupboard and you say, oh, these are the things we have. We can make it work.

[20:42] Jan: All right, well, back to Providence, at one point, you had a van stolen. And then the very next week, what happened?

[20:50] Sidney: Yeah, okay. Yeah, that's true. In the past year, we've had two of our vans stolen. And conveniently, we. Within the very next week, because everything we have is off of donations. And so the very next week that our van was stolen, funds came in, just happened to come in enough couple thousand dollars to buy us a new van within that week.

[21:13] Marti: Do you go out and not solicit.

[21:18] Sidney: But do we beg? Yes.

[21:19] Marti: Yes.

[21:20] Sidney: Yeah.

[21:21] Marti: Do you go out and ask?

[21:22] Sidney: Yeah, yeah. So we go, we. Yeah, we. Actually, one of the sisters in the house is like, her job is the beggar, but we go, yeah. So we. We have, like, there's, like, grocery stores and stuff that we've asked in the past to give us donations, and so it's stuff that they, like, they don't want, they would just get rid of. And so they donated it to us. And so we have. We have, like, a sister whose job it is to go out every week to go to those stores and pick up donations, and then also, if we have, like, specific things, so we have, like, a big feast that's coming up that we want to celebrate. It's that sister's job. She calls different stores or different people that she knows might want to donate, because there's always people who say, like, hey, you know, anything you need, anything you want, you know, but they don't really know, like, tangibly, what that looks like. And so that sister will call them and say, hey, we're having this big celebration. You know, Christmas is coming up, and we want to have a big feast. Is there any way you could donate some chicken or, you know, and so she calls all the stores and stuff. Yeah.

[22:24] Jan: What's on your list? She brought home a list.

[22:26] Sidney: Oh, on my list? Let me tell you.

[22:33] Jan: Shoot a basketball.

[22:35] Sidney: Oh, yeah, a basketball. So one thing, our. Our mother of the house where I live currently, she sent us all home with Christmas packing list, wish list. Because often, you know, you have very generous people who say, oh, anything you need, and then you end up with, like, 500 ugly sweaters or something. Ugly Christmas sweaters and ugly Christmas socks.

[22:57] Marti: In sizes that you can't wear.

[22:59] Sidney: In sizes that you can't wear. So she sent us all home with a loving list of things like peanut butter, jelly, coffee, tea, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, you know, just, like, regular household items of things that people could donate to us.

[23:17] Jan: So when you have 22 gals together, your besties, your new besties for life, right? How does. How does that actually manage? Everybody have a chore chart or what. What happens?

[23:31] Sidney: We have gold stars. No, just kidding. We have some. We each. Yeah, we each have different offices, like, different chores that we do. So we have. We all have our own individual jobs that are, like, one person is in charge of the kitchen. So she makes the menu, decides what we're going to eat, what food we have, what we need to ask, like, what we need to beg for, and then somebody who's in charge of the pantry, somebody who is in charge of the liturgy, in charge of the chapel, and, like, doing flowers and making sure everything runs smoothly. There's somebody in charge of cleaning? Somebody in charge of. Yeah, just various things throughout the house, like, some in charge of studies.

[24:14] Marti: And you guys, do you rotate?

[24:16] Sidney: Yeah, so we rotate out, and then we have our days of service. So, like, we have. You're on kitchen duty for a couple at least once or twice a week. So you and a few sisters that are on your service team. So you're the ones that are cooking and cleaning and preparing the food and serving the food and doing the dishes and such. So we rotate. We rotate out everything. So it's. Yeah, we all get. Everyone gets a little chance doing something.

[24:43] Jan: Describe your habit.

[24:45] Sidney: Well, okay, so what I'm wearing is not just a fancy dress. Let me tell you. So it's called a habit. And we. It's very. It's just very simple. But it's the idea of. Because of our vow of poverty, like, you look at it, and it's simple. It's nothing significant. It's gray and it's blue, and I have a veil, but that's it. There's not a lot to it. So the idea of looking at it and being like, oh, yes, it's simple. It's poor, but we also only have one or two of them to remind us of our poverty. But the beautiful thing. So the colors of it are significant. So we're the religious family of the incarnate word. So, like, Christ taking on humanity, on human flesh. So the colors remind us, the blue reminds us of heaven. Like, reminds us of Christ divinity. And the gray reminds us of Christ humanity, like dirt, earth being human. And so the idea of it is, like, looking at us and being reminded of Christ and his being fully human and fully divine. And the reason that we wear the veil is when things so like thinking of a bride that's veiled on her wedding day, like she's somebody who is set apart completely for her spouse. And we wear the veil to remind us that we are spouses of Christ, that we are consecrated. We're completely set apart for Christ alone. That's our whole, our whole vision, our whole mission, everything is. We go out and do all these wonderful things and that's great. But the first thing that God called his disciples to do was to be. To be with him.

[26:33] Marti: Will you always have a blue habit?

[26:37] Sidney: Yes. So all different religious orders and some sisters don't have habits. Nowadays there's more common for sisters to not, you know, just wear normal clothes. But we. Everyone has a different, like their habits look different or have different colors and such based on what their community is. But for us, this is what. Yeah, we'll always have.

[27:01] Marti: So I have a question that I've been wanting to ask you since I found out about your new beautiful name.

[27:10] Sidney: Oh, yeah.

[27:10] Marti: Of mercy. Can you tell me how that came about, that you got a brand new name and how come it's mercy?

[27:23] Sidney: I would love to. I love my name. So for this is unique to our religious order that we, our founder wanted us to all be married twice over. So we all have our first. Like, it all starts so it's Sister Mary or Marie Maria, like some variation of Mary as the first part, and then the second part is a title of Mary. So the idea being that, like when you're calling out to each other throughout the day, it's a. It's a continual litany to the mother of Christ and to reflect that at everything. And so the way that the reason for changing your name is, so the way that we do ours is we have a special day that we call name day. And it's right before we receive our religious habit. That is, we have a. Just a private mass. And as part of the service of it, they say your baptismal name, and they say to be buried, to be hidden from the world and to be only known in him. So the idea is that you are burying your old self. Like, there's nothing wrong with your old name. There's nothing wrong with who you know, your parents called you. That's your name, right? But you're putting that person aside in order to be a new person in Christ. Like when you're giving up your life for Christ, you're giving up everything, every aspect of who you are. And it's not like getting rid of it, but it's burying it. And where are you burying it? In the heart of Christ. And so that's why we take on a new name. And throughout the Bible, whenever people, you know, Sarah, Abraham, Jacob, Israel, all of these people, Simon, Peter, they all, like that, have their names changed. It was because God had a special mission for them that he called them out of where they were, and he had a new plan for them, a new mission for them that he wanted them to accomplish. And so for us to be hidden from the world and be completely buried in the heart of Christ and be totally his little missionaries, you know, we change our name. And so the way that we do it specifically is we can offer names that we, like, have prayed about, and we like, and think would be good. But ultimately, yeah, the Holy Spirit decides what to call us. And so I have always. I. My favorite saint is St. Faustina, and she was a sister in Poland who died in the late 1930s. But her whole purpose in life, she was a cloistered sister, so she never left her convent. But Jesus would appear to her with this message of mercy. This message of this is on the brink of world war two, and this message of mercy of the world needing the compassion and grace of Christ and the love of Christ, and to know of his infinite mercy and to know that no matter what has happened, no matter what has occurred in the world, he is always there, and he is always faithful, and he will always take you back. And I learned about her first in college, and I really fell in love with her story. And there's a beautiful image that Christ would appear to Sister Faustina and ask her to have painted, and it's an image of him pointing to his heart, and rays that are coming out. So, like, a red, red rays and white or blue rays to remind us, like, the red of the blood of Christ shed on the cross for us, and the white or blue as the baptism, like, us being washed in the waters of Christ and his mercy. Like, he's pointing at his heart, but he's also. You can see him in image. He's stepping towards you, so one hand is extended towards you, one hand is pointing at his heart, and at the bottom is the inscription, jesus, I trust in you, and I love that image, and I love the image of mercy of, like, that's what he. That is his ultimate message. Like, what does the world need most is the mercy of Christ. What is his greatest attribute is his love and his mercy. And so all that I really offered as a name was just. I wanted something related to mercy, and I just kind of left it at that and said, you know, God, you know what my name is? You know what it will be. Take it. And so I ended up with Sister Mary, throne of mercy. And the idea of that is that, like, Mary at the foot of the cross is the first recipient of the mercy of Christ, and she's the one that brings Christ's mercy to us. That, like, she is the quickest, surest way to Christ. Not that she keeps anything for herself, but our whole entire mission of life is to bring us to her son. And how she brings us to her son is through his love and his mercy. And so that's. Yeah, that's my name.

[32:34] Marti: So when we talk to you, do we call you Sister mercy? Do we just call you mercy?

[32:40] Sidney: Typically. Typically everyone. Yeah. Normally in my house, people call me mercy. Yeah. Yeah. So. And all the kids. Yeah. The. My little kids that I teach all say, sister mercy. Sister mercy. I typically get thrown of mercy when I know I'm in trouble, which would.

[32:58] Jan: That happens.

[32:59] Sidney: That would never happen. Ever, ever, never happen.

[33:06] Marti: So you're here in Oregon a couple more days, and then you get to go back to your other family.

[33:14] Sidney: Yes.

[33:14] Marti: What can we do? As we draw alongside you and support you and God, how can we help you?

[33:26] Sidney: Pray. Please. Pray. Pray. Pray for the gift. Pray for the gift of perseverance. Yeah. Yeah. Pray that every single one of us that we can just be completely, totally docile to Christ and whatever it is that he has for us, that we have the grace to persevere in our vocation and what he's called us to. To be faithful, to know his heart, and to always be generous, to hold back nothing for ourself but to really give every little bit of us to him.

[34:01] Marti: We can do that.

[34:04] Jan: We can do that.

[34:05] Marti: How about we do that right now?

[34:07] Jan: Let's do it right now.

[34:08] Marti: Okay. Lord Jesus, I just thank you so much that I got to see my friend, Sister Mercy today and hear about her life and hear about all the things that you are doing in her heart. You're changing her, Lord, and you're growing her up. And she's even now, she's learning, but she's also being able to help others. Those little six and eight year olds, Lord, we just pray that you would entwell their hearts and help them to follow you forever, Lord. And I just pray the non shakiness that you have for people that believe in you would be over Sister mercy right now, Lord. And the glorification that she has for you would come about to all of us. Lord that we would all want to glorify you Lord, that we would all want to put you first, that we would all be keeping our eyes on you and following you Lord and just praise you for Sister Mercy's life. We love you Lord and we praise your holy name. Amen.

[35:19] Jan: Well, thank you for joining us today for this episode. It's just very interesting and it's nice to hear your heart and where you are.

[35:29] Sidney: Thank you for having me.

[35:35] Jan: If you enjoyed this or any other of my podcast episodes, it would be amazing if you would take a few minutes to leave a review so others can find it. Transcripts are available on my website at Jan Dash johnson.com. please join me again next week. If you enjoyed this or any other of my podcast episodes, it would be amazing if you would take a few minutes to leave a review so others can find it. Transcripts are available on my website at jan dash johnson.com. please join me again next week.