After cancer, I made a new birthday rule for myself. Every year, I would celebrate by either doing something I have never done before or something I fear. Post COVID, I expanded this to include taking a trip by myself, something reminiscent of trips I used to take to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.

While living in Tennessee, I often visited Gethsemane every October. During my week-long stay, I, without fail, encountered God in an indescribably personal, intense, beautiful, and other-worldly way. I missed those weeks of isolation with God and tried to recreate the wonder of those trips, but the logistics of time and money kept me from making those pilgrimages after I moved back to Texas.

So, I made my plans to spend my birthday week in Tennessee and Kentucky. Little did I know then just how much my soul was going to need the Gethsemani rest now. Little did I know how God would be beckoning me to come.

I kept a Gethsemani pre-, during, and post- journal. Click HERE to read about my experience.