"Just because I do not feel God's presence does not mean that God is 

absent. It only means that prayer is not about me anymore. It is about being what I know now that God means me to be....

Whenever I feel lost, I am being brought to remember that God knows exactly where I am.'

-Great God, keep my spirit alive and growing into you more and more by the day."

From the chapter "Abandonment" in "The Breath of the Soul: Reflections on Prayer" by Joan Chittister

Not all prayers are answered in our prescribed time frame. We have all heard, "In God's own time." Sometimes it seems as if God has not heard a single word or our prayers or is simply not listening to us.  Isaiah 55:8 gives God's side. He absolutely listens, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

Maybe you have found yourself living in the past feeling empty, and you are waiting for God's answers. It has felt like the prayers are falling on deaf ears. However, you know there is a God. You do know an answer will come, but you have become so wearisome in your wait. 

In her book DEVOTIONS from the FRONT PORCH, Stacy Edwards addressed this issue from a chapter asking for understanding that we cannot seem to find on our own. "We can find comfort in knowing that much more is going on. In the midst of our confusion, we know that God is up to something bigger, and we can trust Him completely."                        



She closes with a prayer. "Sometimes I am confused by my circumstances. I fear what I do not understand. Help me, Lord, to remember that there is much that I don't see. Teach me to trust You more."

Celeste Hilliard

Editor of Cross+Links

My husband, Sean, and I come from different religious backgrounds. When we started planning our wedding, we needed to find a church that reflected both our faiths. Sean was Roman Catholic and attended mass regularly. I was initially raised Southern Baptist, but we had to leave the church when I was eleven. Losing the people who taught me about God felt a lot like losing God, too. I didn’t consider returning to church for fifteen years. When Sean and I began discussing marriage and children, I started to reconsider potentially finding a church where we both belonged.

Without church, I brought my questions about faith to my grandfather. He had experience in Southern Baptist and Presbyterian churches and helped me process what happened while sharing his perspective on God. After fifteen years of thoughtful conversations, my grandfather suffered multiple strokes and passed. My grief was overwhelming.

Five months later, Sean and I began premarital counseling with a deacon in the Episcopal Church, The Ven. Steve Seely. During our first session, he asked if we had ever been angry at God. Sean said no because he trusted in God’s plan – an answer true to his faith at the time. When it was my turn, I did not hesitate to declare that I had absolutely been angry at God. My grandfather had just suffered for months and then died. We hadn’t even had his funeral yet! He was awaiting burial at Arlington National Cemetery, and his inurnment was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. My pain was unresolved and intensifying.

Ven. Steve responded, “It’s okay to be angry at God. God can take it. He’s not going anywhere.”

Hearing this from a clergy member was both healing and liberating. It gave me permission to bring my intense and complicated emotions to God, assuring me that His love would never diminish. That confidence fundamentally changed my spiritual path, helping me find belonging in the Episcopal Church. I began to trust that God’s love is unconditional and nurtured the seed of faith my grandfather had planted years ago.

God is big enough for all of our emotions – light or heavy, easy or hard. Speaking honestly about pain does not weaken our faith, but exemplifies it. It demonstrates our trust that God has not abandoned us, even when suffering overshadows His peace. He remains with us as a companion and comforter, always.

He’s not going anywhere.

Ashli Regan

Vice President, InSpired Chapter, Frederick, Maryland

As a young girl, I loved church. I sang in the choir, joined the Youth Group, and went to Vacation Bible School. We went to church as a family: four kids, mom, and dad. We were your typical 1960s suburban family.

When I was barely 11 years old, my father died unexpectedly. People say children do not fully understand death. Oh, I fully understood that my daddy was gone. What I did not understand was why. Why did God take away this man who adored his family? I recall lying in my bed the night he died, begging God to just bring him back. Then, I got mad. Mad at God, at Jesus, at whoever did this to us.

I stopped all church activities. Quit showing up for choir practice. No more Youth Group. I was done. Where did all the singing, praying, believing, and following get me? Forget it. It meant nothing. Now this “typical suburban little girl” was the only child she knew who did not have a daddy.

My mother did not encourage me or force me to go to church. Looking back, I think she knew this was between Him and me.

Years later, I told God I was still angry. I told him I was wasting my anger because He probably did not even exist! I let Him have it! Then I realized I was talking to God. Really talking. He listened. Since I let those feelings out, my anger faded. I apologized to God and got back to my walk with Christ.

Over the years, there have been other losses. But I did not feel anger. I was bereaved, yes, and wondered why. God accepts this. He knows our hearts. We must tell God when we are angry and want to deny Him. We cannot ever fully comprehend all that God is and all that God intends to do. We must concede that we are not God and cannot make sense of what He allows and does. And that is not easy. Taking this perspective will help to diffuse any anger toward Him. He knows we never really left the fold. And He is joyful for that.

Nancy Kelly

Vice President, Diocesan Assembly of Central Florida

In 2022, after a decade of marriage, my husband and I experienced a gentle but unmistakable tug on our hearts, a call from Jesus to pursue adoption. We had never felt led to start our family traditionally, but when the Lord opened our hearts to adoption, it was as if everything suddenly made sense. This was the journey we had been waiting for all along.

The path, however, was far from easy. The financial cost of adoption was overwhelming. When we looked at our bank account, the numbers simply didn’t add up, not even remotely close to adding up! With quiet faith, we shared our hopes only with close family and a few dear friends, choosing to walk the journey privately. Yet, in ways that could only be described as miraculous, God provided. Unexpected gifts and support poured in, and by mid-2023, we had every dollar we needed to begin the home study process and become active.

By the end of that year, we were officially active, ready, and waiting to be matched. In January 2024, we were matched with a birth mom due in April. We walked with her through the remaining months of her pregnancy, but at the last moment, she made the decision not to place her baby for adoption. We respected her choice wholeheartedly, but the emotional and financial impact was heavy. The remainder of the year was challenging as we navigated a lot of lows and discouragement about how to move forward.

On the last day of 2024, I laid awake in bed, wrestling with doubt and heartbreak. Had I misunderstood God’s call? Had we wasted the generous gifts entrusted to us? Where was God in all of this? It felt as though we took a leap of faith into this journey, but that we were walking all alone, and hope was quickly slipping away.

But God’s timing is always perfect. Literally, while I questioned and mourned, our daughter was being born. On January 1st, we received a call: a baby girl had come into the world the day before, and her biological parents were searching for an adoptive family. Within an hour, we were on our way out of state, hearts racing with anticipation and prayer.

Meeting the birth parents was an instant connection. The hospital gave us a room next to her birth mother, and that very evening, she placed her daughter in our arms and entrusted her to our care. Over the next few days, we shared meals, stories, and prayers with our daughter’s birth parents.

Looking back, every closed door and heartache was preparing us for the gift of our daughter. God’s call may lead us down uncertain and even painful paths, but His promises are steadfast. If you feel the Lord stirring your heart toward any step of faith, trust Him. Obedience, even when circumstances seem impossible, opens the door to unimaginable joy.

Our journey to parenthood was not what we expected, but it is a testament to God’s faithfulness. Through every trial, He was working out a greater plan, one that allowed us to share Christ’s love not only with our daughter but with her first family as well. May our story encourage you to listen for God’s voice, to trust His timing, and to walk boldly in obedience, knowing that He is always faithful to complete what He has begun.

Mandy Wheeler

Communications Coordinator

The Mary Magdalene Chapter at Christ Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was led in a program about plants of the Bible by master gardener and Daughter, Anne Dolezal. The chapter reviewed verses naming different plants and discussed their uses as well as how God is present in and throughout the natural world. Discussion also focused on how to connect with God more deeply in the natural world.

Following the discussion, each Daughter made a sachet using flowers/herbs from Anne’s garden.

Mary Westcott

President Province VI

Preparations are under way for Triennial 2027, and your Triennial Chair, Site Chair, and committee chairs are busy working to ensure an inspiring and spirit-filled event. A part of this early planning involves putting out a call for Workshop proposals and presenters. Applications for Triennial workshops will be available in July and accepted through November 30.

All workshops should relate to the theme of the event, “Be Thou My Vision.” Proverbs 3:5-6 is the theme scripture. Each presentation should fit into one of the following categories: Spirituality, Leadership, Make and Take, Service & Evangelism or DOK Administrative Tools. Workshops should be no longer than one hour, and presenters should be prepared to give each workshop twice. I encourage you to begin prayerfully considering presenting a workshop and sharing your spiritual gifts with others.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Questions? Contact Andrea at ahale@doknational.org

Andrea Hale

Triennial Workshop Chair

Reigniting Chapter Meetings!

Our Membership Committee discussed Reigniting Chapter Meetings. Here are some of the “nuggets” that emerged from our discussion. We pray you will be open to trying something new and different at your chapter!

Review the Chapter Manual on pages 57-58, which contains suggestions such as:

• Check with chapter on time and day for meetings – is a change needed to improve attendance? Be flexible and change days and times to encourage better attendance.
• Is transportation an issue? Offer help.
• Are the meetings meaningful? Focus on being spiritually fed!
• Do more “get to know you” activities.
• Share relationship with Christ. Share what it means to you to be a Daughter.

Start meetings with a spiritual focus that fills most of your meeting time. Leave business for the end of the meeting.

• Reports sent out ahead of time can be part of the consent agenda, approved in one single motion without discussion.

Ideas for staying spiritually focused:

• Review the Spiritual Formation Guide together.
• Review or recreate your Rule of Life and review humility using the Study Guide.
• Invite clergy to speak at meetings.
• Share your faith journey story.
• Share your “go-to” scripture and explain why this scripture is meaningful to you.
• Share favorite psalms, hymns and/or explain why these are meaningful.
• Share what being a Daughter means to you and how it has changed your life.
• Join Zoom offerings: Conversations with Daughters; Breath of Life Prayer Circle.
• Listen to spiritual audiobooks while driving for spiritual feeding.

Out of the box ideas:

• Present each woman attending the church admission service with a flower, accompanied by a thoughtfully designed invitation to learn more about DOK attached to the stem. This warm gesture creates a personal connection and encourages further engagement.
• Create a script for what being a Daughter means to you. Often women see us as busy, the Martha side of DOK, and miss the spiritual nourishment of the “Mary” side of being Sisters in Christ.)
• Spend time together outside of church – time to share our faith walks with each other.
• Listen to the voices of Daughters from younger generations and be willing to try their new ideas.
• Know your spiritual gifts and ask how Daughters would like to serve using their gifts.

Have a willingness to try something new and different! Let us listen for God’s call and always be willing to say “yes!” Together and with God’s help, we can do more than we ever imagined! If you have ideas you would like to share, please reach out to us, and we will share them with everyone!

Nadine Craig

National Membership Chair

Would your chapter or diocesan assembly like to meet virtually? To request a Zoom meeting, email the national office at DOK1885@doknational.org. We ask that meeting requests be emailed to help reduce information errors that can occasionally occur during phone conversations. Additionally, if the staff member you are trying to reach is unavailable, another staff member can see your request and assist you promptly.

Please be sure to include:

1. The date(s)
2. Meeting time
3. Time zone
4. Meeting topic or purpose

A staff member will reply to your email to let you know if the requested time is available and will include the meeting link and details.

Please note that due to limited availability, meetings through The Order can only be arranged for DOK meetings and gatherings.