Praying Into the Little Spaces

Wow! Full-grown winter certainly made her presence known this year. I live at the bottom of a steep driveway, and my car was iced in for over two weeks! In addition, Well of Mercy had to close for those weeks because Mercy Lane was also covered in a thick sheet of ice. While disappointed that we could not welcome guests, I confess that I used this time at home for some wonderful wintering and creativity!

Included in those endeavors was a paint by numbers canvas of the most beautiful cat in all the world...aka Lola Slaton. As I matched my numbers and my colors, I relaxed. My mind cleared, and time flew by. While the little dollops of color did not look like much as I painted them in, when I stepped back, a picture began to emerge. That’s when I had an epiphany. Prayer and paint by numbers have some similarities.

When you’re in the middle of a paint by numbers, all you can see is the small space in front of you. A patch of blue here, a sliver of yellow there. It can feel tedious – maybe pointless. The colors don’t seem to make sense, and how in the world will those tiny blobs of paint ever be anything whole or beautiful?  

Prayer is often the same. In the moment, it feels small and ordinary—showing up, saying the words, sitting in silence, trusting that it matters. We pray into little spaces: a worry, a hope, a grief, a single day. We don’t always see how it all fits together.

But prayer, like paint by numbers, is coloring in the big picture. Each quiet moment, each deep breath, each sacred act of trust takes its place in something larger. And it’s only when we step back—sometimes much later—that the image begins to emerge. What once looked like random strokes reveals depth and meaning. We see how the colors relate, how the picture holds together, how beauty was forming even when we couldn’t recognize it.

Prayer doesn’t always change what’s right in front of us. But over time, it fills in the picture. And sometimes the truest understanding comes not while we’re painting, but when we finally step away and see what has been quietly created all along.

Schedule your next visit to Well, and fill in more colors in your life. Hope to see you soon.

Lea Slaton

Executive Director



~ March ~

~ April ~

~ June ~

~ Retreats Coming Soon! ~

Tune Into the Birds - May 20-22, 2026

Relax & Ease Into Sacred Time for Rest & Healing with Healing Touch Session - June 10-12, 2026

Come to the Quiet: A Guided Silent Retreat with Spiritual Direction June 25-27, 2026

~ Sold Out Retreat? Wait List Available ~

Finding Hope in Grief: A Day of Comfort and Connection

March 4, 2026

WAITLIST

If Today You Hear God's Voice: A Day of Stillness at Well of Mercy

March 11, 2026

WAITLIST

Relax & Ease Into Sacred Time for Rest & Healing with Healing Touch Session

March 18-20, 2026

WAITLIST

Come to the Quiet: A Guided Silent Retreat with Spiritual Direction April 16-18, 2026

WAITLIST

~ Sharing Mercy ~

Staff at Well of Mercy found it deeply meaningful to collect and donate food items in December for Iredell Christian Ministries. In fact, the experience inspired us so much that we plan to collect and donate a variety of items to different charities throughout 2026.

If you feel moved to give, we’ll keep you informed in each newsletter about what we’re collecting. Because March is Women’s History Month, and serving women is a particular interest of the Sisters of Mercy, we will be accepting donations for a women’s ministry, Catherine’s House.

Catherine’s House is located in Belmont, NC, and serves women and children facing homelessness due to a variety of circumstances such as: domestic violence, un/underemployment, the shortage of affordable housing, unexpected tragedies, and the lack of a support network. In March, we will collect toilet paper, paper towels, and 13 gallon trash bags for Catherine’s House! 

Let’s share a little mercy in the world!



Liminal Space and its Invitation for Patience

The recent snow that blanketed us here in the Southeast this winter felt like a quiet blessing. The land softened and stilled, inviting everything it touched into rest. For a few days, the usual pace gave way to something slower and more intentional, a rhythm more harmonious with that of the natural world. I hope that wherever you might be, the stillness of winter offered you peaceful moments of rest and renewal.

Now, it seems that we are again standing in the space in-between seasons. Winter has not yet fully released us, and yet spring is unmistakably near. The ground that was recently encased in ice and snow has loosened with the warmth and rain, leaving it rich and fragrant. After each shower the robins return, pulling nourishment from the soil as if on cue. Around them, buds are forming on the flora, still small and tightly held, carrying the promise of what is to come.

The land teaches us that nothing ever seems to emerge before its time and this beautiful, liminal space is its invitation for our patience. It reminds us that growth begins long before it is visible, and that rest and becoming are part of the same sacred process.

As we continue moving toward spring, I pray that you feel grounded in this threshold. May what rested in you during the winter season begin its slow, faithful stirring, and may you feel the warmth of the sun even as a cool breeze blows.

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every activity under heaven”

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)

Jordan Marvin

Landscape Coordinator

Thank You for Giving

Well of Mercy relies heavily on donations to maintain our facility and beautiful grounds. 

Thank you in advance for helping us maintain this Quiet Place.

Well of Mercy's Core Values



Well of Mercy, a retreat ministry sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, grounded in the spirit of hospitality, provides quiet sanctuary and time in nature for reflection, rest and renewal for those choosing sacred time apart, enriching their spiritual and emotional wellbeing.