I started searching to find out what had happened. No one seemed to be able to help me. I found myself doing things to reconcile myself with people that I had been hating and doing things against. I had never heard of the Twelve Step Program before but found myself doing some of the things that are detailed in it. It was sometime later that I found out that they were part of it. My life had changed so drastically from the person that I had been to the person that I started to become. My brother and his wife as well as my parents thought that I had had a nervous breakdown. Mary Ann also could not explain either. We talked to our parish priest again - and again he had no explanation. I was led to a Christian bookstore ... I ran into a former student of mine from Sleepy Eye; I had taught him in 10th grade biology in 1969 ... I talked to some kids who suggested that I make a Teens Encounter Christ retreat ... All of these things kept filling me with insights about what was going on but did not fully explain.
In all of the searching that I did, it was finally in working on Teens Encounter Christ retreats where I found where it was that God wanted me. It was for me to grow in my faith, to see Him work through me and others, and for me to help others who were seeking Him to find Him. Sometimes I helped the teens and adults coming there; other times they helped me. Most of the time we gave to each other - the gifts were not always seen immediately but they were there.