Discernment for Type A People feat. Stacey Sumereau

This episode is sponsored by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm's mission program, Serving the Aged Lovingly Today (SALT). Look them up here and consider giving a week in loving service!

Show Notes

Have you ever felt like your career or life choices just aren’t enough? Has following your dreams disappointed you? Are you worried your control freak or perfectionist personality will hold you back from following God’s will (but you don’t know how to quit those traits)? Do you freak out when you don’t get answers from God? I’ve been to all of those places, and in this episode I’m sharing MY journey!

 I am excited (and a bit nervous) to be on the other side of the mic to tell my vocational discernment story. It’s a rollicking tale from touring with Broadway shows to being featured on reality TV, to wanting to become a nun but realizing I wasn’t called to it. With each step through the muddle and confusion I learned how my Type A personality both helped and hindered my hearing God’s voice.

God in his wisdom provides endless opportunities to “get it right” and deals with us gently. He has shown me the awesome depths of his love for me, allowing the building of a relationship of trust in which I can let go of the need to be in control. I share the bestest strategies I know of how to get started discerning, how to know what your vocational calling is, how to sort through your levels of desire to find the deepest ones, and a heavy dose of empathy for all those who daily ask “what am I doing with my life?!?”

Topics Discussed

• What to do when you are restless and hungry for “something more”
• Peace as the guidepost and goal
• Why everyone should discern religious life
• Unexpected ways God may speak to us
• Calls to surrender, relationship and peace

Resources

• The Ear of the Heart- Dolores Hart
• Little Sisters of the Poor
• Daughters of St. Mary of Providence
• The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns (available on YouTube, Amazon Prime and iTunes)
• Reasons to NOT Discern
• Surrender: Your Discernment “Secret Weapon”
• Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm