All Roads Lead to Rome.. man Catholic Churches

I was in China, playing my ukulele, and it looked a little.. empty.

Since I’ve been learning to play praise music, I really wanted to put a Catholic sticker on it. Something simple and holy. But it was Lent, and I was doing Magnify 90, which meant that buying a sticker was out of the question (no non-essential purchases).

I reached out to my friends in Canada. A lot of them have kids, so I thought surely someone would have a spare Catholic sticker.

Nope.

Several of their kids had Catholic stickers, all already stuck onto their pencil cases. I thought hard about this.. but I wasn’t quite ready to wrestle a toddler for one (HAHA).

A few weeks later, I flew halfway across the world to Vancouver. What was on my mind? Dear friends, Mass, Adoration, and a particular sticker with Proverbs 31:25 from an old friend.. someone I’m no longer close with.

Naturally, the first moment I had free time, I drove over to my family home and went on a full-on sticker hunt. I searched everywhere. Every drawer, every cupboard, every random corner I could think of. For over an hour. Nothing.

But when I closed my eyes, I could see it so clearly.

And that’s when it hit me.

I wasn’t just looking for a sticker.
I was holding onto a friendship.
I was mourning something that no longer exists.

That realization was humbling.

That beautiful friendship brought both of us closer to Christ. And maybe.. that was its purpose. Maybe it had already fulfilled what the Lord had meant for it to do. And now, it was time to let go. I prayed and prayed and prayed, yet still found myself searching frantically for said sticker.

As I kept searching, I started finding other things. Things I didn’t even realize I was still holding onto.

I found a deck of angel cards from a well-meaning friend. They always felt a bit off to me, like fortune-telling. This time, after doing some research and speaking with a devout Catholic brother, I learned they were rooted in New Age practices and not aligned with the Church. I was honestly relieved to let them go.

Then I found horoscope perfumes that said: “Charm the air.” Yikes!
No thanks!! I’m not charming anything.
Gone.

Then came the evil-eye jewelry. This was the part of my life that felt so far away. These were precious pieces I used to adore and rely on for protection, back when I didn’t know Christ. I used to think that they could shield me from “bad juju.” Now I know better. The Lord alone is enough.

I considered burning the pieces. I prayed about this. Ultimately, I felt called to remove the evil eye charms and to keep the semi-precious parts. I’m planning to repurpose them into rosary bracelets and have them blessed by a priest.

They’d be born again. Transformed. Just like me!

From relying on charms and horoscopes.. to relying on Him.

I was calmer now, almost ready to let go. I was filled with gratitude for this moment of purification the Lord had given me.

And then I reached a drawer I hadn’t opened in a long time.

Inside were prayer cards, baptism gifts, and rosaries. So many small yet sacred things I had collected over the past two years.

One of them was a prayer card to St. Monica from the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome. The moment I saw it, I knew exactly who it was for. A dear friend of mine whose saint name is Monica.

It felt so precise. Like the Lord had placed it there ages ago, waiting for this exact moment. I don’t even think I knew her when I first received it.

Another prayer card was from the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs (Scala Santa), the chapel that houses the steps our Lord Jesus Christ walked on His way to trial during His Passion. I shared it with a brother in Christ, who responded with gentle and profound truths about Our Lady of Sorrows.

I was called to pass along this prayer card through my nephew. My nephew looks up to him deeply. I had been praying that their paths would cross again. It felt like the Lord was quietly reconnecting them.

None of this was planned.

I went looking for a sticker. Instead, I found grace.

I let go of what needed to go. I was able to release a friendship with gratitude. I cleared out things that no longer align with the truth. I was able to pass on small, holy gifts to people in a way that felt so intentional and undeniably providential.

I’m just a messenger. An undeserving but grateful one, entrusting, every now and then, to carry out His will. King Planner strikes again!

He uses something as small as a sticker hunt as an invitation to listen, to surrender, and to trust.

Nothing is wasted in the hands of the Lord.
Not what we look for,
not what we lose,
not even the relationships we thought would stay.

He repurposes. He redirects. He restores.

I didn’t find what I wanted, but the Lord gave me exactly what I needed.

Thanks for reading. God bless!