Many years ago I chose to enter the convent. It was hard after college to give up so much of the material world I had come to enjoy and take for granted. But it was time for me to appreciate long walks instead of the movies every weekend anyway.

The hardest was letting go of friends and immediate access to them. I could live on a reasonable budget except for my phone bill. Lord knows eating out became less important. I could even skimp on shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant!

But to give up the phone... well, that was a calling of a different dimension. To have to admit to the Novitiate Director that I was unable to ignore a phone call, well...

I did a decent job of juggling my money until about the sixth month of my journey. My access to the past and my inability to let it go was a struggle I was not ready to confront just yet. So I prayed for some assistance in the dilemma I had created: a phone bill that had exceeded my entire month's allowance.

It was within 24 hours that I received manna from heaven. I pulled a sweater from my closet and out dropped a perfectly minted 1929 gold eagle coin with a listed value of $278.

I asked the Novitiate Director and many of the other novitiates if they knew anything about the coin. I even contacted the previous occupant of my room. No one knew a thing and had never seen it before.

After some truly creative financing, I was able to pay my phone bill and keep the coin. To this day the coin serves as a reminder that no prayer goes unanswered.

Marsha R.

Mobile, AL