AM: How am I going to make it through the difficult times ahead?  

Betty: Next time that question comes, “How am I going to make it through this thing, can you substitute it with, “Lord Jesus, please give me your divine help to make it through this?” See in other words, there is this part of you that wants to kind of save yourself. That part of you needs to get redeemed and reach the point of, “Lord, help me to realize I cannot save myself. Let me break this habit that if I can’t save myself, I’m going to despair. So, the focus needs to go from Annemarie over to Jesus more. And if anything you get out of today, I would say pray for the grace to focus more into the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, instead of focusing into the power of Annemarie. Because I think that’s your fatal error. You probably depend more on Annemarie than I depend on Sister Betty. Because I’ve learned Sister Betty is not always enough for the strength of the enemy that’s coming at me or the things I’m being challenged by on a particular day. I know I really need the saving power of the Lord Jesus. Now, I sound like a Protestant minister. But I agree with them in things like this, that we Catholics can be too much in our own pseudo saviorship. We’ve got to break that bad habit, and cry out to the Lord to save us. “Lord, you alone are the Savior. You alone, Jesus Christ are our hope for the days ahead. Teach AM how to put her focus and hope into you and to stop looking to herself for the strength she needs for the days ahead. Because she’s not going to find it there, Lord. You alone are going to be the strength that helps pull us through.”

AM: I feel the weight of those I care about, because not all of them are focusing in on the importance of these times.  

Betty: As far as your kids, that is going to be hard, because it is the nature of youth to treat something like this with, “Oh ya sure.” But I think what the Lord has been telling people about this, is for them to obey Him, and do what He’s asking. Then keep giving your loved ones to Him. We have to really trust Him to make the difference with our loved ones.  What you need to keep doing is, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” Keep realizing that you have both the believer and the unbeliever. 

AM: The stakes are so high that sometimes I get nervous about it. 

Betty: Yeah. But then again I think what you’re going to have to do with that is put that in the hands of the Lord too. It’s like this constant handing over of the rebellious side of yourself over to the Lord. It’s not just a one time thing. If I were you, I think I would hand things over to Him, knowing that it is a sacrifice on your part, that it’s difficult. But ask the Lord, in His mercy, to help the very difficulty you have as you sacrifice them and hand them over to the Lord, that He might use that for the salvation of your children. So, as you fight with yourself to really believe and work with the Lord, you keep saying, “Lord, take this as a sacrifice for Your helping my children in some way.”  

See, you don’t go in with hope. Can you move from feelings and hand that to the Lord and say, “Lord, you are my hope.” You got to move into a greater focus in the Lord to get thru it. A good one for you is, “I believe Lord, help my unbelief.” You cannot rely on feelings. You’re going to be at a decided disadvantage. I keep hearing you go back to your feelings. It’s like, “Oh kid, they’re not going to be there for you. Feelings are fickle.”

I don’t think any of us look forward to what Mark Mallet is talking about if we’re being honest. It’s going to be rough.  I always think the closer you get to it, the more you realize, “Wow!”  But on the other hand, it’s one thing to say, “I believe,” and like the Lord said to Luisa, “He has to test His people.” Because gold is only found, as it were, and purified in fire. It’s like, “Oh, my gosh.” God didn’t want to go this way, but we obstinate people insisted that’s the way we wanted to go. I’m like, “We gotta be kidding.”