He Called My Name - Finding purpose through the Cross, the Eucharist, and the witness of St. Mary Magdalene.

For those who wonder if their pain has a purpose — God never wastes a wound.

If you had told me years ago that I would one day become a psychotherapist, I would have laughed in disbelief. I didn’t think I could connect with people. I was too broken, too guarded, too unsure of where I belonged.

I went to college to become a social worker — not a therapist. My dream was simple: to help people find resources, to make life a little easier for those who struggled. But God had another plan.

When I came to the United States to pursue my master’s degree, I worked in many settings as a case manager. Yet, in quiet, mysterious ways, God began to redirect me. One small step at a time, He led me toward becoming a psychotherapist — and, specifically, a somatic trauma therapist.

I never sought this path; it unfolded before me like a calling I hadn’t recognized yet. Every client I meet, every story I hold, feels like sacred ground. My own journey through trauma has become the lens through which I can understand another’s pain — not with pity, but with presence.

Last year, my father died suddenly, in a tragic and unexpected way. His death shattered me and yet, strangely, became the doorway to my conversion to the Catholic faith. I found myself drawn deeply to the Eucharist — the mystery of Christ’s body broken and offered for love.

In learning to offer my suffering to Him — to unite it with His Cross — I began to see everything differently. What once felt meaningless started to make sense. My wounds, my vocation, even my sorrow — all of it became part of something larger than myself.

God had been weaving purpose into pain all along. The very experiences I once wanted to erase are now what allow me to sit with others in their suffering and not turn away. In that sacred exchange, I glimpse His mercy — the quiet, healing presence that restores what life has broken.

In the Gospels, I often return to St. Mary Magdalene. Once bound by darkness, she met Jesus and was freed — not only from her pain, but into her purpose. When the world still saw her as broken, He called her by name at the empty tomb. In that moment, love gave her a new identity and a mission: “Go and tell.”

I see my own story in hers. Like St. Mary Magdalene, I have been found in places I thought God could not enter. And like her, I am learning that healing does not end in comfort, but in calling — to bear witness to the One who restores.

This is what led me to create The Woven Heart — a space where faith and healing meet, where stories of pain can be offered to grace, and where no wound is wasted when placed in the hands of God.

When Jesus called my name, it wasn’t to erase my past — it was to redeem it. And like St. Mary Magdalene, I am learning to walk into the light of morning, carrying love where there once was loss.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, You who called me from darkness into light, help me to trust the ways You turn sorrow into purpose. Teach me to unite my wounds with Yours, that they may become places of compassion and grace for others.

May every story of pain I carry become a doorway where Your mercy can enter.

Amen.

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”— Romans 8:28