Nolan grew up as a “cradle Catholic” but didn’t feel like he knew God personally. At the age of ten, a lot of people he loved passed away, and he started getting bullied for being small. In response to these struggles, he turned to sins of impurity, but in so doing he felt a lot of shame.

Eventually, at a conference much like this – after the men’s session – he was given a chance to pray with one of the leaders. And this leader spoke the words of God into his heart…

The Father loves you.

…and all of those years that he had wasted were lifted off of his shoulders, and he felt like a new man.

I’d encourage you to listen to his whole testimony; if you do, you will be blessed.

Gem, from Olathe Kansas, got really vulnerable and shared her story with us this morning. It started before she was even born; her birth mom wasn’t married and considered terminating the pregnancy. A group of Catholics (including her new parents) found out about it and started praying for her – and she wasn’t aborted.

Looking back on this situation, she now realizes that she should have been grateful – but in her heart she felt rejected and unwanted. She also struggled with fitting in. She thought that even God couldn’t want her.

One year at Steubenville, during Adoration, a feeling of God holding her heart overwhelmed her…

“I invite all of you…to open yourself up to God, because God will touch you if you let Him.”

Ross and Debbie have been married for 23 years, and they are members of Immaculate Conception Parish in Dardenne Prairie, MO (aka ICD). Ross has been volunteering at SteubySTL for 12 years, and Debbie has been for 13 years.

At our conferences, their forte is Speaker Hospitality. They find it fun to get to know the speakers personally and enjoy serving their needs by taking logistical concerns away from them and allowing them to focus on the spiritual emphasis they are so good at providing.

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Oscar is a lifelong Catholic who always had a good relationship with God. Everything was going well for him, until one day his sister shared with him that their dad had cancer. While he knew that his dad would fight it, his dad eventually passed away. Then, in his anger and frustration, Oscar turned against God and turned to sin. Eventually, at his mom’s prompting, he went to Confession, shared everything with the priest, and felt a huge weight lifted off of him. Oscar’s advice to all of us is simple:

I challenge you to go to Confession, so that God can open up your heart the way He has opened up mine.

Please pray for this weekend’s ministry team: Fr. Chris Martin, Sarah Kroger, Josh Blakesly, Oscar Rivera Jr., Cooper Ray, Sarah Swafford, and Chris Mueller.