We heard from Hannah’s heart last week in Part One of her Mighty Is Her Call interview post. She will share a bit more with us today! Hannah is due any day now, and we have discussed some questions that help explore the beauty and richness that will soon unfold within this Eucharistic calling. You may be expecting a child, or you may just be in an abundant season of life that you know is full of potentials and unknowns. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you in this witness of the truth and goodness of his faithful ways in our lives as mothers.

MIHC Team

Question 1: What crosses do you anticipate you may have to bear?

Hannah: The adjustment of being out of control and not knowing my own body and schedule. What is my body’s rhythm? Am I going to have hormonal issues again?  Where am I heading on this journey? There is so much unknown …  there are natural worries. Trusting in God’s plan has grown exponentially this past eight months, so I know he is going to ask even more of me in the days ahead, that I might grow in him.

Question 2: What are you looking forward to?

Hannah: At this exact moment, I am looking forward to the first time I get to hold my baby boy in my arms and to see him face to face. I absolutely love feeling him move constantly in the womb right now, but I hear the first moments of life outside the womb are just indescribable. I am also looking forward to seeing my husband become a father, hold his son for the first time, and change a diaper for the first time in his life! I look ahead and picture what our marriage will look like with a child, and all I can feel is pure joy and endless love. I know there will be difficult times ahead, but I also know God is just calling me closer to his heart through these moments. I have seen my faith and trust in God grow so much in just eight months, that I look forward to seeing how God will use me to draw closer to his Sacred Heart through motherhood.

Question 3: How do you foresee that the daily Eucharistic and resurrecting call to motherhood will affect your marriage, your heart to serve God fully, and your current call as a parish minister?

Hannah: My husband and I entered marriage with a solid understanding that we have to put our relationship with God first before even each other. I have seen the grace of this over the past year in our marriage, and I know the same will apply with a child. If we don’t put God first even above our own children, how are we truly living the example of the Gospel message with them? I found about half way through my pregnancy that my prayer life was dragging. How was I supposed to raise a child if my own faith was struggling? My desire to become a saint and be the best Catholic that I can be is not just about me anymore. I desire to do these things so that I can give the most important things to my child – the desire to love Jesus and to trust in God’s will through all of life. This child that I haven’t even seen yet has changed me for the good. I can already see how my love has grown for my husband through our child just being in the world. My heart desires holiness for my husband and my child now more than ever. I now have double the duty of getting my husband to heaven and our child too. Through all of this growth, I have an even greater desire to continue my work as a parish minister. God hasn’t shown me another path that I need to take in life yet, nor do I desire to be anywhere else. My soon-to-be family of three will play an even greater role in working for the ministries he has entrusted to me. As I have been able to walk alongside young adults preparing for the sacrament of marriage, I will now get to walk alongside them as they prepare to be mothers and fathers. The community of people around us in our parish and the support that we have through them leaves me with a deeper longing be a support to the youth and young adults of the parish.

Hannah and her husband have embraced openness to life and specifically a call to the vocation of  family life. Hannah serves currently as an Associate Director of Youth and Young Adults Ministry at St Thomas Aquinas Parish in Dallas, Texas.