Testimonial 2

I don't have much external verification that I'm on the right spiritual path. Lucky for me I have a sister who's in a similar boat and often picks up on the same things I do.

A couple weeks ago I was learning about Saint Germaine Cousin. She was starved, beaten, and left out in the cold regularly by her step mother. She spent most of her youth talking with God while looking after sheep. One winter when she was around 12 years old, she asked God to help her find a way to make her step mother happy. All she wanted was for her step mother to be happy. 

One winter shortly thereafter her step mother saw Germaine walking towards the barn with something in her apron. Assuming the little girl had stolen bread and was trying to hide it, the step mother ran to her and started beating her. The Germaine fell to the ground and her apron opened. Fresh, vibrant, spring flowers fell out.

The step mother asked, "Where did you get those flowers???" Germaine said, "God gave them to me to give to you so you'd know you were Forgiven." It was the dead of winter during a time of famine when nothing would grow. So the step mother acknowledged the unusual nature of this experience and then tried being nicer to Germaine. 

This was the extent of the story that I knew -other than Germaine then continued to live in pain and her body finally gave out on her when she was 22 years old. 40 years later her body was exhumed and it was found without decay. She was then sainted shortly thereafter. 

My sister woke up from a dream 2 days after I found out about Germaine. I didn't tell her anything about Germaine. This was the dream my sister told me: 

"I saw a young girl in an old village. The girl would go around town handing flowers to people -she was very close to God. The town was starving at the time because there was a drought and famine. When the villagers saw the little girl giving fresh flowers, they asked her how she got them. She said God helped her grow them. 

The villagers then decided to "test" the girl. They took her to an open patch of dirt where nothing would grow. They gave her some seeds and told her to make crops grow. The girl then spent a couple of weeks talking with the plants, nurturing them, treating them as if they were her Children. She prayed to God to help make them grow. And they DID. The villagers were grateful for the miracle, but also hungry, so they went straight for the food and gathered up all the crops. The girl was sad to see this happen, but understood and let her plants go." 

My sister was given deeper insight to a profound Saint I just learned about. I love Saint Germaine -she's one of the Saints I feel closest to. Her love is great, simple, and genuine. She suffered so greatly and was so young, and yet gave so much GRACE. Bless Saint Germaine.