GOD'S HEALING LIGHT

SISTER TELLS OF GOD’S REDEEMING LOVE THOUGH LEARNING HOW TO RIDE A BIKE

One of my favorite quotes is: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who lived in a land of gloom a light has shone” (Is 9:2). When we are struggling with our wounds we are walking in darkness, and when we receive God’s healing light it breaks through our land of gloom. Sometimes we don’t even know we’re walking in darkness until the Lord shines His light. A significant way the Lord shone a light in my life was when I learned how to ride a bike in 2022.

It began when Stacia DeVries informed me of a vision she had of me riding a bike, after I’d released to Jesus the fear of my mom dying of COVID, which was a grace since she was suffering greatly from the virus. I prayed about the vision with Fr. Paul Erickson and was able to see how God was teaching me about freedom and control. We also prayed through the shame I had carried my whole life, every time someone found out that I didn’t know how to ride a bike. I reflected that behind every missed milestone in someone’s life is probably a sad story. When you find someone in this situation, I would encourage you to ask about that story.

As a child I never learned how to ride a bike because my family was under an extraordinary amount of stress, and my parents were doing the best they could. I told myself over the years that it didn’t matter, but that was just my way of coping with the pain and disappointment. During this process of healing, I also had to forgive myself for never learning how to ride, and I had to forgive my family.

I knew that I needed to learn how to ride a bike because that would make Jesus happy. However, at that time it was January. In addition, we didn’t have any bikes at our convent. But when I know I need to do something, and I know God wants me to do it, I know it will work out.

I began the great adventure of learning how to ride a bike in March 2022. My community of Sisters were thrilled and willing to help. They didn’t fully understand how monumental and healing this was for me, but they knew that learning to ride was important to me, and so it was important to them. I was finally cruising, after spending many, many hours trying to learn in our church parking lot. My legs were covered in bruises, but I offered the pain and humiliation for my family. Learning how to bike in a religious habit at 34 years old on asphalt was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But, it has brought freedom and joy.

Here are some lessons I’ve learned from my bike riding experience:

1. There is freedom on the other side of the pain. The healing process is painful but worth it.

2. I fell constantly during my learning, but I had the grace to get back up and so do each of us.

3. My healing of learning how to ride a bike gave other people a chance to be generous and to love me. The Sisters went from zero bikes to five in the course of eight months, all of which were donated. When we receive healing, it affects others, brings people closer together, and is a cause for rejoicing.

4. God redeems everything. My family of origin was unable to help me learn how to ride a bike, but my family of Sisters and the people at Resurrection were. Maybe you didn’t have the familial support you needed either for some of the milestones in your life, but God can redeem that in His time and in His way. 5. This may be my most poignant lesson: I had to give up the hope of a better past. I had to give up what I would have wanted to be my bike story. But the story God wanted for me involved a lot of love from a lot of people and deep gratitude for the ability to ride after nearly 30 years.

6. It recently struck me that Stacia told me about her vision outside the trophy case at LCHS. God brought about a mighty victory in me when I learned how to ride a bike. I know He wants to do the same for you.

JOEL STANEWICH