Lioness

By profession, I am a registered nurse.  Working the wards as a student at night was always a cause for anxiety.  Later on, working sprawling hospital wards as charge nurse also made me feel a bit insecure, too many patients, too many rooms.  IV’s could be running out or someone in trouble.  We didn’t have all the fancy monitors they do nowadays.

Occasionally, my anxieties would speak up in dreams. A dream I’ll always remember went like this: I was on a hospital ward, and the ward was immense (though in my dream the ward looked more like a castle) and the halls seemed endless.  Suddenly, I was aware of a great lion roaming the passage ways. Now, in my dream, the ward/castle became even bigger, extending to several floors above and below.The lion prowled like a monitor.  His appearance seemed threatening, but instead of fear, I was flooded with a profound sense of security.  End of dream!

In those days my life was in a bit of flux, with husband in school; me, with two young daughters to care for,  living with my in-laws, and working nights in a newborn intensive care unit. Waking from the dream, I wanted to know who the lion was?  I prayed, and then opening the Bible saw a passage that read, “Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of my husband the lion” Esther C:  24.  I was ecstatic!  That day I took the dream to  mean, with God’s providential help, my husband would take care of us.  In other words, “Not to worry.”

Since the Lord speaks on many levels, and with multiple meanings, in this day I think the Lord is saying, “I am your Husband the Lion who guards and protects the passages of your life.  You are My bride, My castle.”

About my den:

This lair is my cave where peace can reign  as I sort through my thoughts and days.  I’ll bid the world be silent.  I’ll let my breath remind me of the life we share. Though I am alone, the world is here in my heart.  So, in the very ordinary of each day, one day at a time, this will be my respite. I’ll share my time, my musings and my space but ask my visitors to come and go in peace. Our differences need not mar our hospitality and humanity. In truth, I’m simply striving for holiness here in the dark with a Catholic heart.

I am  a wife, a mother, a nurse, an artist, a photographer, a writer, a poet of sorts in awe of  God and His creation. Prayer and daily Mass help keep me aware of God’s presence.  I try to live in that awareness as I depend on His grace

Lioness is my outreach, be it in a very small way. My part will be as small as I am ,but God can use the weak. My best efforts aren’t enough.   Wounded and flawed, I place this blog under the patronage of the Immaculata, that we may all be drawn closer to her Son, Jesus.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt of an ass so I know he can make use of me in carrying His Word.

“When speaking of spiritual matters an ignorant person like myself,” says St.Teresa of Avila, “must write much that is superfluous and even alien to the subject before coming to the point.  My readers must be patient with me as I am with myself ..”

“Only the Holy Spirit can purify the mind: unless the strong man enters and robs the thief, the booty will not be recovered.  So by every means, but especially by peace of soul, we must try to provide the Holy Spirit with a resting place.  Then we shall have the light of knowledge shining within us at all times, and it will show up for what they are all the dark and hateful temptations …” Diadochus of Photice, bishop

Words of the Lord to Julianne of Norwich

In the end, “You will see yourself that every kind of thing will be well…Accept it now in faith and trust, and in the very end you will see truly in fullness of joy.”

Please feel welcome in my den. The welcome mat is out and your visit appreciated.  I’ll share my time and musings and such news as worth repeating. Civility is all I ask.

All posts are copyrighted, 2010 Joann Nelander (AKA:  Lioness)

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