“Behold I am a servant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.” -Luke 1:38

The year I was born a Man in Butte Montana was praying for his wife. She was sick. Really sick. She had a 50/50 chance of living and surviving a surgery. He prayed so hard for her healing. Being raised Catholic, he also asked Mary, Jesus’s Mother to pray as well- and said that if his wife was healed in Thanksgiving for her prayers he would build a statue to honor the Mother of God.

His wife was healed completely. 

At work he told some friends about it, thinking they would make fun, but instead they jumped on it. 

The statue he had planned to weld was 5ft tall, the one they ended up building was 90 feet tall, on the top of the continental divide over Butte. It was a crazy labor of love and answer prayers.

  
They named her Our Lady of the Rockies.

On Sunday we took the hour bus ride up to see her up close. Chris and the boys had already been there a few years ago but Grace and I wanted to go up too. We had offers to go to a Water Park that day, but even when we canceled our spot on the bus felt it was really important for us to go. So we called again and asked for our spot back. 

As we walked out the door we asked my sister Kaitin to go. She didn’t hesitate. She met us there 15 minutes later. 

The ride up was bumpy but entertaining with Kaitlin next to me and Grace sitting on my lap, as the tour guide had an ongoing commentary. It was a sweet moment, as after living with us for a year Katie was away from us for this past year. Having her with our whole little family was incredibly important…

It has been so hard to be away from her. 

When we reached the top, the magnitude of the size of our Lady was powerful and the wind whipped around us. We all stood there in silence looking up at a dream and prayer, that became a real reminder of God listening the prayers of a Man, and his Mother. 

  

Everything she does points to God, by saying yes to carrying his only Son, by fleeing with Him in the middle of the night after a dream, by presenting Him in the temple to be told her heart would be pierced, by losing Him while traveling only to find Him in the Temple teaching the elders, telling her son to change water into wine at a wedding and therefore “totally Momming” him into his first public miracle, and watching him suffer innocently- piercing her soul forever knowing he is God. 

“For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

After taking pictures and looking up, and to be honest trying really hard to keep my skirt from flying up over my head, the tour guide opened up the back of statue. 

Inside hung prayers written on little strips of paper, memorials of people who have passed, and rosary after rosary. So many prayers said passing over each bead, one by one…prayer by prayer. 

  

So I wrote a prayer. I thanked God for this moment. I thanked God for the listening to our prayers. And I wrote a special prayer of thanksgiving for a prayer that has happened in the past year. A prayer that I said over and over again for many years. A prayer that I whispered at night, as tears streamed onto my pillow. 

  
Last year after a particularly hard night with my Kaitlin, as she struggled through the fight of her life, I prayed a rosary next to my bed. I had heard of other people I respected saying this prayer, and I was beyond desperate. I was exhausted and worried, and very broken hearted. So at the end of each Hail Mary, I said “Holy Mary Mother of God, please pray for Kaitlin Now…” And at the end of the Rosary I ask God to have his Mother Join me in prayer for these critical intentions. 

On Sunday, it was no coincidence that Kaitlin came. I know that now. It brought the prayer full circle as I bounced over the windy dirt road next to my sister. It was no accident, as I saw my sister whole and healed, and I felt my heart fuller than it has been in a long time. 

I looked across the aisle at my Love, and our eyes locked and I knew he felt it too. 

A few days before when I had finally saw Kaitlin, I had come around the corner of my Grandmother’s kitchen as she hugged each of my kids. Taking time and care she hugged them hard, and after she hugged my husband she saw me…

She ran to me, and we hugged fiercely as we both wept. I wept into her long blonde hair, as her tears fell onto my shoulders. We clung together- and a big huge knot I have been carrying the past year in my heart slowly began to unravel. 

I told her in that moment that she was the strongest person I’ve ever met…because she is. 

She told me I was her hero. No one has ever called me that. I’ve never been anyone’s hero. And while I don’t see anything in me that is heroic I know that I have loved my sister in every season, and I have always prayed for her. I often tell people I don’t have a lot of talents but prayer is something I will always do. 

If you ask me to pray I will pray for you. And my Kaitlin is the same way, she always prays for me. But on that day, I realized that on the days when I couldn’t finish my prayers because I was too heartbroken, someone else finished them. And I believe with all my heart she did. Because when Mary said yes to God, she became a testament that God listens to his people. That God keeps his promises, by picking a young woman to carry His Son, and raise the Savior of the World. 

And I believe in those moments where the chasm between heaven and earth seemed so vast…my prayers were heard. And she joined me. 

The power of prayer is the reason I will never doubt the realness of God. 

Because I saw the miraculous power of a healing God…I saw it in my sister’s face. 

“Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.” Luke 1:45 

She never doubted her Son.

She never doubted her God.

We can all take something from that. 

Everyday I’m grateful for my Kaitlin. And especially today on her birthday. 

Our God is faithful. 

Our God is a great God. 

Miracles happen. 

  
Grace loves her godmother. And I love my sister and goddaughter. 

Happy Birthday to my Kaitlin. 
Ps. Catholics don’t worship Mary, and we all know Salvation comes only from Jesus. We do however believe that Mary should be honored because she was Jesus’s Mama and she’s a crazy good prayer warrior. So there.