Calling and Conviction by Abigail Woodley

“We just talked about how we were feeling and how God was working in our lives so far. It was that moment, sitting there, that I realized how safe and at home I felt with these people.”

I grew up as the Faith Formation teacher’s pet. In elementary school, I knew most of the answers. I was the good kid who sat in the front row, whose hand shot up when a question was asked. Somehow, I knew what I needed to know, despite my very simple upbringing in the church. In my house, we only attended mass on Sunday, and I attended Faith Formation once a week. That was it. Very very rarely did we even pray as a family. I knew the stuff, but I was just going through the motions.

It wasn’t until I attended the National Catholic Youth Conference in 2021 that things really changed for me. That trip seriously and undoubtedly changed my life. I went into the week-long trip knowing only two of the thirty high schoolers who were going, and my first impression of all of these new people was watching them run to the airport McDonalds at four in the morning. What a great start.

However, when we got to Indianapolis, things slowly began to change. Day by day, I grew more comfortable around these people. I started attending breakout sessions with them, and crying Holy Spirit tears with them during adoration.

One morning, we heard a talk from Sister Miriam James Heidland and she spoke right to all of our souls. She walked us through a meditation on casting out fear, insecurity, and pain, and accepting love, truth and light. I was sobbing by the end of it. To this day, I can not remember anything she said really, but I remember the feeling of conviction that filled my heart. I think that was the day that something really stirred in my heart. A flame was ignited, one that hasn’t died.

The last night of the conference, after the closing session, we all sat in the boys’ AirBnB and shared our God moments for about two hours. We just talked about how we were feeling and how God was working in our lives so far. It was that moment, sitting there, that I realized how safe and at home I felt with these people. It was absolutely perfect.

The next day we took a bus to Steubenville, Ohio, where we got to stay in the dorms of Franciscan University for two days. Some incredible college students hosted us, and I found out that my dorm host was minoring in youth ministry. Something definitely clicked in me when I heard that. For some reason, I had never before processed that youth ministry was an actual job.

I had helped teached Vacation Bible School for a few years at that point, and have always loved working with kids. So, when we returned from the trip, I asked my youth minister if I could intern for her. I finally accepted that I wanted to work for the church, most likely in the youth ministry setting.

The rest of the trip made me feel confident that it had been the best week of my life. I had made friends that, to the time of me writing this, I talk to on the weekly. A couple in particular have become my safe place.

And when we arrived back home after the trip, every single one of us got a text from one of the girls in our group: “I hope the fire in their heart stays alive and never dies!” Unfortunately, for about six months after, my fire did die a little bit, but once I started my internship, things changed drastically.

I had developed a hunger for the Lord. I attended mass on Holy Days. I even attended morning mass when we had days off from school. I began spending anywhere from three to six days a week at the church, and suddenly, the congregation knew me well. Once I began The Jesus in My Heart, that hunger and Fear of the Lord only increased. I would tell my parents that I was going to work, and I grabbed my Bible. That feeling made me so happy.

Once you say yes to something the Lord is telling you to do, you can never say no again. You crave that feeling. You crave God. Once I said yes to going to NCYC, it was a landslide of faith from then on.

ABOUT ABIGAIL WOODLEY: Abigail is the founder of The Jesus in My Heart. She found her call to ministry through her home parish community and love for sharing the word and evangelizing. When not at church or helping with church related things, Abigail can be found with her camera in hand or working on one of her many unfinished manuscripts.