Women's Words Ep5/Lizzie

This is part of an extended series, Women's Words which tells personal stories of Catholic women from all walks of life. We invite you to hear their stories and to allow Him to speak to you through the tapestry of their lives.

Episode 5: I am a daughter of God

My childhood was a simple one, I was born to a Catholic Mum and very supportive non-Catholic Dad, he took his marriage vows very seriously and supported my Mum by helping her bring us to church. I had one older sister who was far more dedicated to the church than I ever thought I would be. She loved serving at the Altar, I just did it because she did it.

In a way, following her is what brought me to a revelation of God, but I am getting ahead of myself.

As a teenager, I was confirmed at 15 (as all Catholics are when they reach that age in this country). It didn’t have any impact on me, it was just expected of me – so I went along with it.

As I got a little older, I fell in with what could politely be described as ‘the wrong crowd’. Looking back, I guess I was experimenting to try and find out who I was. My friends were good people, we were all just a little lost and looking for meaning. On one of our adventures, we went to Reading festival where Eminem was headlining. I remember standing in the crowd with everyone around me going crazy – it was as if there was a god on stage… but there wasn’t, he was just a man… I couldn’t understand why everyone around me was losing their mind.

In all honesty, I didn’t really waste a lot of time pondering this revelation. I did no self-reflection to understand why I had reacted (or not reacted!) the way that I did. I filed it away in my memory banks and thought no more of it. Until a few years later, when I followed my sister.

It was early 2000’s and she invited me to go to an event called World Youth Day with her, it was an international event that Pope John Paul II had founded and was being held in Canada. She really wanted to go but did not want to travel that far by herself with a group of people she didn’t know, so she invited me to go with her as she thought was could have some fun sister time. Now I genuinely didn’t want to go on a ‘Holy Holiday’ and had no desire to see the Pope. At this stage in my life, I was only attending church to keep my Mum happy, I was counting the days to me heading off to University so that I could stop going. But it was a holiday in Canada, and I thought I might meet a nice guy… so I agreed – we would go.

To begin with, we had a lovely holiday, it was definitely not a pilgrimage! We stayed with a host family for the first few days and had a fantastic time, jetting about on speedboats and meeting loads of new people. And then we moved down to Toronto, where the pilgrimage began… only it wasn’t boring and dreary as I had imagined. I discovered Praise and Worship, engaging speakers, wonderful people who were genuine and who loved God.

But all that did not change my heart, as great as it all was. There was one specific moment that opened my eyes. And it was when JP II arrived.

We were sitting in a field surrounded by thousands of other young people, just chilling, waiting for the Pope to appear. Everyone started to get a bit excited when the helicopters flew over, we knew he was close. And then he started driving around in his Pope-mobile, and something strange overtook me. I felt like Zacchaeus in the scripture passage, Jesus is walking among the crowds and Zacchaeus is desperate to see him, but he can’t get close, so he climbs a tree. Jesus then calls him and dines with him. Now there weren’t any trees, but I did feel an overwhelming desire to be close to St Pope John Paul II, so I ran, I left everything and ran. My poor sister had to run after me, she thought that if I went off by myself, I would be lost forever. But in fact, I was found. I caught just the slightest glimpse of His Holiness, and in that glimpse, I saw his actual holiness. He was old and frail and bent over with age, but my goodness, his very presence was captivating. And in that moment, I knew I was a daughter of God. That I was loved by God. That my life, my identity, my everything was in Him who created me.

If you had said to me when I was in the crowd at Reading festival, wondering why everyone was going crazy over Eminem, that just a couple of years later I would be chasing around after the Pope, I would have laughed and laughed, it was an absurd idea. But God works in mysterious ways, and through those around us, to make Himself known to us. And I am infinitely grateful that He does! My life was transformed, I made the decision to follow Him. And now I work for the church, for one of the Diocese’ of England and Wales, as the Youth Advisor. And in two years I will be taking a group of young people to Lisbon, for the next World Youth Day, where hopefully some of them will come to know who they truly are, as sons and daughters of God.

Lizzie works for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in the UK; her constant prayer is ‘let me be a vessel for you Lord’ which has taken her on an amazing adventure through life, following God’s call wherever it may take her. These adventures have led her to marriage and her full-time ministry as Diocesan Youth Advisor, fulfilling her passion and desire to help young people find their fullness in Christ. Let us pray that her enthusiasm for her faith will be contagious, and allow many young people to encounter Christ through her.