Recently widowed, Diane Findlay came to Made for More during a season of grief and transition. The retreat became an experience of healing and a place where she could begin asking what God still had planned for her life.

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The books and teaching were accessible, but Diane especially valued the time to sit, contemplate and receive. The retreat did not require her to force an immediate answer about the future. It created space in which Jesus could draw near.

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Adoration became an important part of that experience. Diane describes becoming deeply aware of the closeness of Christ. Prayer and the presence of the Eucharist offered not an abstract consolation, but a personal experience of being met within her present life.

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A prayer of forgiveness also helped participants consider what needed to be released so that they could embrace Jesus more freely. For Diane, healing and future purpose were connected. Making space for Christ allowed her to look ahead without denying the loss she had experienced.

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She left inspired to contemplate more deeply what God might now be asking of her. One conviction expressed the change: her life was not over because she had become a widow. There was a new life ahead and a new time of growth.

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Diane began imagining ways that this new season could include service—perhaps gathering small groups for prayer and ministry and participating more actively in the evangelizing mission of the Catholic Church.

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She recommends the retreat across generations. Teenagers, older adults and everyone in between can continue learning about the faith, the vocation of lay people and the practical ways Catholic life can be lived.

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Diane's story does not minimize grief. It reveals that Christ can meet a person within grief and gradually reopen the future. Loss may close one chapter, but it does not remove God's purpose. Through healing, prayer and discernment, another chapter can begin.