Today, I give thanks to SHE who led me to be theologically pruned under the umbrella of St AMBROSE... I started AMBROSE University with HER, and I wish to end my testimony with HER, the mother of all mothers, the mother of my Savior, MY Spiritual Mother; the Blessed Virgin Mary...
This is my testimony... And during this Easter Season 2021, it is well bear witness for what the Lord my God; He who is Alpha & Omega, He before whom I bow (ADONAI), He El Shaddai who always knew better than me the plans He had for me (Jeremiah 29:11), He whom the choirs of angels worship day and night and before whom the saints bow, the great I AM... We've finished another race, and one more time, no one else but you get the ultimate glory.
Many know of you know of my testimony shared again and again about the beginnings of my entry to AMBROSE University, thus I shall focus more on the last days, weeks, months and years of my educational journey. Let note that what was a program of a few years turned out to be 11-12 years for me including the years I took off here and there for x- y- z reasons...
It seems the more I reached the end of the ride, the more it seemed that the many graces acquired intellectually, emotionally and spiritually were going to be stolen from me via unexpected circumstances. Often times, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, would pour with my soul different strategies to resolve it, to get through what seemed to be illusory storms. Through it all, my God, the almighty, kept me focus on one thing; so I was always reminding myself that I am under the guidance of St AMBROSE, himself, the patron saint of our campus. I could constantly tell myself that He knew why the whole heavenly court had sent me and willed for me to do a Master of Arts in Leadership since being certain Church careers available to my classmates, I knew were not an option for this Catholic Lady that I am. I was often simply joking around that Catholics like me our Lord Jesus Christ did not know what to do with... He was sending them to this regional seminary. Or other times, I would tell myself that having wished for so long that the angels would deepen my knowledge on spiritual matters as they did with the Blessed Virgin Mary based on written accounts after her apparition to several mystics, that indeed my prayr was answered and it would serve its purpose in times.. Thus obeying to that inner call was a commitment renewed daily, weekly, monthly in trials till the day I finished my Master degree, and till the day I received the message from my program advisor that I am off the hook and qualify for graduation... PRAISE THE LORDDDDDDD!!!!!
Every course I took served its purpose whether an elective or whether a mandatory course. I would dream of how I could potentially use in a short or long term. See whether I wanted it or not, whether I was aware of it or not, whether the professor asked for it or not, the Holy Spirit always had a practical way for the knowledge gained to dwell within me... Let me give a very simple example. Among the non mandatory courses of my program, I took was Hebrew Biblical Language (Level 1 & 2 out of 3 levels).
Now, when I went on pilgrimage in the Czech Republic after that, I met a renowned Czech writer and scholar at the Jesuit Retreat Center where I stayed in Prague who happens to teach Hebrew at the local university there, and in one of the libraries of the Retreat Center on a weekly basis. Having been invited to one of his classes at the Center the next day, I attended Father Josef Blaha's Hebrew classes. I was stunned by the learning strategy he shared / I gained that day, and I thought if I wasn't hooked to learning Hebrew, now I am sealed.. With a grateful heart to him and to the Lord for such gifts and many others, I came back to Calgary and to this day, I have not ceased seeking time to grow my knowledge in Biblical Hebrew, and even Classical Hebrew; and one of the ways I have tracking my growth is via my youtube channel where I host poetryIndeed the Lord has given me mmm.... a fine platform; this was totally a Holy Spirit moment. There are always many ideas roaming through my mind, but the Lord has a way of getting my focus on what He wills, and from there whatever piece of the puzzle was missing, I am given... and Youtube is one of the many branches of the platform He's laid out before me. AMBROSE Seminary has been the place where ADONAI has been refining the image of Him that He has made me to be as He says in the book of GENESIS, and in the process there were profound moments of theological conversations in my family, because I soon understood that I may choose my Spiritual Family, but my biological family I did not choose... And there seemed to be many unknown that more and more made my family (paternal and maternal) one of the finest platform He GOD almighty gave me and a large branche of that outreach tree. EPIC!!! Because I always knew graduating that I did not a congregation (or so I thought...) But then it seemed I have much more than I think, and there is more work than I can think of or imagine even if I was never pushy toward the members of my family... Their lives, their actions, their choices are enough to challenge me every day theologically, and I hope this journey from near or afar blesses them too. See, it is when I became aware of it, that suddenly the Holy Spirit made me aware of how I had been in communion not only with all of them but with one of my Uncle who hungers for spiritual knowledge and whose name is rooted in... theos...
Another example; throughout my studies, the Lord began to lead me more and more toward entrepreneurship, and honestly I was unsure where I had the courage to take on that vocation... But He made the way, reminding me of childhood dreams I had, and I took that walk of faith. Walking that journey in a way that everyday unfolds faith and knowledge gained has led to me discovering one day from a family member, one of my Grandfathers, who was shopping in my boutique that one of my aunt to who I had not spoken to in a while had recently wedded a Jew; and the gift was for the newborn child... I was speechless at the works of the Holy Spirit.. At the time I was taking Hebrew, I did not know a Hebrew Speaking Gentleman was courting, and wedding into our family...
See the day I read the message that I am officially done, it is the day the research component of a personal project I had been working, a personal project I cherished throughout my studies among the many in my heart *the Canonization of my grand aunt Sister Delphine TOSSA - GBEGO* led to me finding out from one of my Grand Uncle & my dad explicit details about our royal lineage and my title... Surprised, "Christ is just beginning with me! Co - heiress role of my Savior is taking fleshhhhh!!! I will testifyyy" I shouted and thought while everyone else at home was laughing. One chapter closes, another opens
Sr Delphine PUZZLE
So here I am giving thanks to the Lord for every person who has blessed at AMBROSE University, and... indeed, I am walking away with a Master degree of Arts in Leadership and Ministry under the umbrella of St Ambrose and the ... finest platform to serve, influence, lead, be led by... Keep me in your prayers, and whenever I remember you like St Paul often wrote, I will give thanks to the Lord for you...
May the Risen Lord Jesus Christ be ever more glorified as the Easter Season unfolds day after day! Halelluja! Halleluja!
