We can also learn from the call stories of others.  The following are personal accounts of Sisters and their journeys into religious life.  These stories may help you come to know more clearly how God is calling you ... often it is in the very ordinariness of our lives. God was offering me a choice ... I watched them closely ... I was attracted by their way of life of prayer... The Sisters were always so happy to see them ... Why I am happy to be an SSND ... More stories... Return to "Am I Being Called?"

"God was offering me a choice..."

Sister Mary Jeanne Davidson

I came flying home my first day at school and proudly announced to my family that I was going to be a Sister or a mother when I grew up!  The thought never entered my head again until one day in high school, after coming home from a date, I began asking myself:  "If this person is so attractive to me, who must You be God?"

I was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame and remember in particular their dedication and their love.  Then in grade 12 there was a 3-day retreat offered to students who might be wondering if they had a vocation to religious life.  I remember I didn't go!  I just wasn't ready to listen to the still small voice in my heart inviting me to give my life to God in this way.  I had other plans.  I was going to graduate, go to teachers' college and then get married.

But somehow as graduation drew closer I wasn't at peace.  What was I to do?   I decided to make a novena to the Holy Spirit and ask God to help me.  I was certain that on the 9th day of the novena it would be clear.  God would say to me:  "Mary Jeanne, I want you to be a sister" or "Mary Jeanne, go to teachers' college and get married."  That is not what happened!

At the end of my novena what became clear to me was that God was offering me a CHOICE!  He would love me just as much if I came to him with a husband and family, but he was inviting me to give my whole life to him - to say with my life:  "God, you are enough for me" and to spend the rest of my life spreading the Good News that others may know how deeply they are loved by God.   In the end God won out, and I finally "let go" and said "Yes with my heart"; and have found my deepest happiness belonging to God as a School Sister of Notre Dame.

Sister Mary Jeanne is presently working in Pastoral Ministry in Peace River, Alberta.