A guest post by Noelle Mador

It has been a long six year journey with my devotion to Mary. Six years ago, I felt as if my life was falling apart. I was Catholic, but felt lost and struggling in my prayer life.

I was in the midst of a nervous breakdown. Life didn’t turn out the way I expected. I had stopped praying a lot of prayers I was taught as a child. It was a dark time of my soul.

In quiet prayer and reflection at church one morning, I was prodded to pray the rosary again. This warmth of love came over my soul. My devotion to Mary started at that point in my life. It is amazing that the darkest periods in your life become your most courageous times.

After that day, my miraculous healing with one rosary, I kept praying. God healed me through the rosary. I prayed scriptural rosaries, while meditating on each mystery.

While at a women’s gathering at church, I was introduced to the Father DeGrandis Rosary CD, “Healing through the Rosary.” It has beautiful songs dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, along with scriptural meditations. I now use it for my prayer walk every morning. I usually end up doing one decade, possibly two, when I walk. It has been a saving grace to start my day that way. The Blessed Mother and the rosary have vastly helped our homeschool journey by starting my day this way. She has shown me patience and calmness with my family through this morning routine. It is truly amazing how alive I feel after a prayer walk.

I also have a very special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Four years ago, I had some medical issues with my mouth. In the process, I lost a tooth and got a serious jaw infection. Being in pain and using pain medication, I thought I was delirious because I smelled roses in the winter. As I slept that night I saw Our Lady of Guadalupe in a dream, and decided to wear her scapular again. Years before I stopped wearing a scapular because I never really understood the reasoning for it. That night God showed me why I needed it. Within a week, the infection was gone and I was up out of bed. I have wore that scapular since that day.

The world outside is a difficult one. Mary keeps me stable in walking in Jesus’ light. This doesn’t mean I don’t falter, it just means I am not walking alone anymore. I have Jesus carrying me, while The Blessed Mother is walking beside being my mother nurturing me. I can feel her hand over my head saying it will be okay.

Life is full of obstacles. God never said life wouldn’t be difficult. He said we would overcome. He is always besides us. He gave us this amazing mother to help guide us on His Path. I feel so blessed everyday that she has guided me toward her and to her son. Her intercession and her love has truly changed me.

Noelle Mador blogs at Abiding Faith and is a certified special education and elementary education teacher. She homeschools her two children, who are 12 and 13. She has been consulting with homeschooling families for years about school curricula. She has an online tutoring business, ELCAT 4 U, which offers tutoring, online classes, and consulting services.