MIHI is exceedingly excited to announce that we have moved over to our new website. We got to many hits on our blog to remain a blog (a great problem to have, I assure you)! I am so in love with the new site. Thank you so much to all who have given financially to make this possible. I am so incredibly grateful! Our regular blogging will resume tomorrow. All the glory to God!
OUR NEW WEBSITE: WWW.MADEINHISIMAGE.ORG
Thanks for all of the love and support,
Maura Byrne
Founder & President
Often times our society inflicts a stigma upon therapy, which is false. Therapy changed my life and I desire it to be a catalyst in yours as well.
Below is an email from an exceedingly courageous woman who heard my talk at James Madison University. It is my hope that her determination, perseverance, and faith will inspire and instil within you the courage to seek professional help for your recovery. Her bravery is to be extolled.
You are one of the first people I’ve heard to come out and say that getting professional help is okay and, above all else, normal. I think I REALLY needed to hear this. I am scared to death of pushing myself to get professional help- I am scared of the possibilities that my friends and family will believe I am crazy. I’m afraid of feeling like I’ve failed myself. Nevertheless, I really think I should and will be looking into it, thanks to your encouragement. I have a moral obligation to get help for myself; I don’t want to be stuck in this vicious circle forever.
Thank you SO much for all that you are, and for bravely sharing your story! You are giving so many girls like me the strength to believe that there is a way out of this darkness, and the inspiration to fight for the betterment of our lives while building a strong and healthy relationship with God the Father.
I feel compelled to write to you- your entry tonight (Thursday) on your blog really resonated with me. I’ve never been able to really think of our God as the Father. I am so much more comfortable with thinking of a judgmental and angry God. But I feel like He has been reaching out since I heard you speak at JMU. Especially in the past two days.
Yesterday, I pushed myself to finally go to counseling- it was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Right before I left, I came across Philippians 4:6-7 about how God wants me to give up my anxieties to Him. Still, I was 10 minutes late to the appointment because I literally had to persuade myself to get into my car. I was absolutely terrified, but I made it! Little victories. It was awkward, it was scary, it was completely draining… but I’m glad I pushed myself to start this journey. Before I left, my therapist told me that the Lord wanted me to run to Him; His arms are open and waiting to hold me close. That was hard to hear, especially after having read Philippians a couple of hours before. I’m not sure I really believed it. Then tonight, I came across Ephesians 3:16-19, about how much deeper God’s love is than anything we could ever possibly know. And an hour later, I read your entry about our worth as daughters of God… and I almost lost it. I’m still on the verge of tears.
Tonight, I am wholly overwhelmed with God’s love. Though I feel so undeserving and unworthy, at least tonight, the depth of His love feels like a reality. Tonight, I feel like through Him, I CAN recover. Though worldly men have made me what I am now, my Father has bigger plans for my future. There is hope for me.
Thank you for the initial nudge to go get help for myself- Even though I know this is going to be so hard, I can already see that this is where He wants me to be. I’m doing the right thing. I am sure there are still so many more hard days ahead, but hopefully I can look back on this night and remember what it feels like to be filled with God’s perfect love. I just felt like sharing this joy with someone who has been there.
So what about you? Will you not let our Heavenly Father love you through the compassionate guidance of a doctor or counselor? Try it…I gurantee you, you won’t be disappointed.
“God passes through the thicket of the world, and where His glance falls, He turns all things into beauty.” – St. John of the Cross
Yesterday I flew to Virginia to speak to the campus of James Madison University! The students and staff here are so incredibly wonderful and welcoming. And their campus is absolutely beautiful. Yesterday I was able to go to Mass and eat with some of the students, along with doing some promotion for tonight’s event. The weather is breathtaking here too. I love it!
Last night I also got to meet one of the beautiful women that MIHI helps hold accountable and tonight I get to meet another! I’m really excited for this! These women are so courageous and I’m honored to know them.
This morning, two of the FOCUS missionaries and I finished passing out flyers for tonight and then we went together to pray a Holy Hour. My time with God the Father this morning was special. I had countless thoughts and emotions racing through my mind, mostly of gratitude. I can’t believe Made in His Image is actually a non-profit. Look at what You have done from the pain? How much you have healed me from so much trauma and abuse Father, You are amazing! I’m so blessed! Thank you for Your love.
I thought of three exceedingly special people who have helped me in my journey of healing – my sister Clare, who has been with me through everything. On the nights where I couldn’t sleep because of nightmares, Clare was there. When I had to be at the doctors, Clare was there. When I didn’t believe my life was worth living, Clare was there to remind me that it was. When I couldn’t bare the thought of looking in the mirror because all I saw was ugliness, Clare was there to tell me that I’m beautiful.
My doctor, who I completed two years of trauma therapy with. Words could never describe what Dr. Bellet has done for me. He challenged me to take my suffering and turn it into something beautiful. I will never forget those years I spent being coached by him – they were the hardest, but best years of my life so far. He changed my life.
My spiritual director, Father Jacek has helped me immensely. He’s always there to encourage and guide me when I question what I’m doing or wondering how the heck I’m going to pay my rent on any given month. To guide me closer to virtue and holiness, and to lead me in regards to MIHI. His words of wisdom and prayers are exceedingly invaluable.
I am blessed.
So come on out tonight and let’s find meaning in suffering together! Let’s let the Father transform our lives into something beautiful! Let’s find beauty in the cross!
Suffering is a gift-though, like all gifts, it depends on how we receive it. And that is why we need a pure heart, to see the hand of God, to feel the hand of God, to recognize the gift of God in our suffering. – Mother Teresa
In response to Friday’s post, Alright, let’s do this, an incredibly brave young woman sent me the following email message.
Maura! You are such a blessing in my life right now. This week when I was in counseling, my therapist and I talked about how I can really get myself to start recovering because I always feel like I will never be able to do it. We started talking about discipline and how it takes a lot of discipline to have and continue an eating disorder. We also discussed the amount of discipline I must have in order to workout 4 times a day for the last 2 weeks even when I didn’t want too. After a lot of talking, I started to understand that I needed to discipline myself differently. I needed to put all or at least some of my energy and endurance into getting better and not so much into my eating disorder. All those times I go to the gym when I don’t want to, I could be using that energy towards recovery. After our session I decided that I would pray about it and maybe I’d try and maybe I wouldn’t. Then tonight I read your blog and it was exactly what I had been praying about all week. I finished reading it and was totally overwhelmed by God and His presence. I have been struggling all week to feel Him and while I was reading your blog, I felt like God was speaking to me through you. It was amazing! I am a fighter and I always have been my whole life. It is a grace that God has blessed me with and I want to show Him that I am going to fight and I am going to recover from my eating disorder so I may glorify Him through my actions and more importantly now, through my body! Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me feel God’s presence again! Made in His Image is amazing!!!
What about you? Do you want to mirror this woman’s determination and resolve? Well you can, and today is the day to make a change! Today is the day to claim your life back. This is YOUR life, don’t let your eating disorder deprive you of your happiness and future! You are stronger than that! You are brave! You are courageous! You are a fighter! Now go kick your eating disorder in the two front teeth and get to work!
And don’t forget to let Made in His Image help you. I hired a counselor just for this reason, click on MIHI Counseling Services on the home page of my blog to set up an appointment today with Catherine.
Check back tomorrow for another inspiring post. All of this week, MIHI will be writing about and addressing eating disorders.
Last night I received the following email from an incredibly courageous woman. Please read, and glean hope and healing from her story, from the Father’s love and healing touch, and from the Saints in Heaven, who are waiting to intercede for you. All the glory to the Father!
I appreciate all the work with you and thought I would share a success I had tonight. I’ve been struggling a lot lately, and it’s been really hard for me to get through a single day without either restricting or binging and purging. Today, I ate dinner with my mom before going to my evening chemistry lab. When I got out of the car and was walking into the building, I was overcome with a desire to purge. It’s still really uncomfortable for me to sit with and digest meals because I’m not used to it, so I was both physically and mentally uncomfortable.
As I was walking, I thought to myself, “Something has got to change. This has to end somewhere.” I started saying Hail Mary’s in tune with my walking steps. Then I thought of you and decided to say a prayer to Padre Pio, whom I’ve actually never prayed for before. I asked him to pray for me, that I may have the strength not to purge.
Well, I made it through the night. I sat down outside of my lab even though I was early, and I started up a conversation with one of my lab partners and ended up getting through the anxiety. Days like this give me hope, which I’m a little low on these days.
I still remember the day you came and visited me in the hospital and shared part of your story with me. I felt honored and inspired. I know that one day I can achieve the kind of recovery that the Lord has blessed you with. I’m trying to make peace with the fact that this is a long and difficult journey, and honestly, I’m not very good at suffering in patience. I just want it to be over already, and I get frustrated.
Reading your blog helps me remember that there is a kind of beauty to suffering, to sharing our own personal crosses, and to connecting with God and with His children through suffering. In fact, had I never hit the low that I hit in my early college years, I probably still wouldn’t be going to Mass today. So there are blessings if we look hard enough. Thank you for encouraging me to look hard enough.
I am excited for the work you and MIHI will accomplish. I am proud of you because I know what it is to want to give up, and so the fact that you’ve made it this far is amazing. I look forward to joining you in “walking before the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 116:9)
Today was an AMAZING DAY!! I finished up a long week of business meetings this past week and one of the things I did, along with the help of some exceedingly successful business men, is finalize my mission statement for Made in His Image. Now, you might be thinking, that’s probably really easy to write. But in reality, each word has to be composed in just the right way and there have been countless drafts.
I am exceedingly excited to announce the final mission statement: To begin a dialogue, a discussion, in a safe and compassionate setting, to foster hope and healing, and to empower women to turn from victim to survivor. Ultimately, to provide holistic medical treatment and healing for women suffering from eating disorders, physical, and or sexual abuse, which entails, educating all women on the nature and dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God.
Its beauty brings me to tears! For part of the reason I was created was to found and launch Made in His Image. And it feels incredible to be doing what I was created to do. And to celebrate, I did what any normal ex-professional baker would do. I made cupcakes. These Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes remind me of my dear friend who is recovering, so I made these. Goodness gracious I love that girl!! And here is the recipe (I haven’t baked in a while).
Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness) 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process) 2 cups all purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 2/3 cup sour cream Ganache Filling 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate 2/3 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature 2 tablespoons Irish whiskeyBaileys Frosting
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperatue 4 – 6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream pinch of saltMake the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.
Make the filling:
Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Cool until thickened, but soft enough to pipe.
Fill the cupcakes:
Using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
Make the frosting:
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. Add salt. Slowly add the powdered sugar beating until combined. Slowly add the Bailey’s until you reach your desired consistency.
Dear Friends and Readers, please pray for a very dear friend of mine. It’s a life or death situation, she was found last night, is in the ICU now, and still hasn’t woken up. Please join me in prayer for the precious gift of her life – her beautiful life and friendship, mean the world to me.
“Behold, I make all things new.” – Rev 21:5
By Dave DiNuzzo Sr.
Dave works for The King’s Men. The mission of TKM: Under Christ the King’s universal call to serve, we as men, pledge to unite and build up other men in the mold of leader, protector, and provider through education, formation, action, and healing.
Dave joined the King’s Men in September 2010. When he joined, TKM had 8 weekly formation and accountability groups in 3 dioceses. Now, there are 28 groups in 17 dioceses and this number will be outdated by the end of the month! There are an upward of 500 men meeting weekly around the country.
TKM fosters a culture of authentic manliness in our overly sexualized world and they do this mainly through formation and accountability, and by encouraging men to be involved regularly with the sacraments. One of their main events is a retreat called Into the Wild, which nearly 1,000 men have participated in since 2009. The men are led into the wild to spend three days and four nights together, where they engage in the sacraments, daily Rosary and Perpetual Adoration. TKM empowers men by combining outdoor activities with the faith. For more on this, visit the retreat website www.IntoTheWildWeekend.com. These retreats challenge men to grow in virtue, as they gather the tools to be a virtuous man, through doing what men were naturally born to do: lead, protect, and provide.
Please pray for TKM, as they are actively engaged in spiritual warfare. In the past 5 years, TKM has been responsible for shutting down 7 sexually oriented businesses. In addition, they were sued by Adult World in Pennsylvania for their protesting. The case was taken to the Federal Court, but thankfully, the judge ruled in favor of TKM.
TKM is also hosting a Healing Retreat in November 2012 for any man who has suffered from various forms of abuse. For more information, please visit their website.
[Ladies, this post may seem as though it is only for men, but keep reading, there’s something in this for you too.]
I feel like I’m constantly either writing or talking about virtue, but nearly every day, I realize that we all need to hear about virtue more and more. Virtue is vital to living a Christ-centered life. What is virtue? In short, virtue means manliness (from the Latin virtus). Maybe that doesn’t make sense… how can Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance (the Cardinal Virtues) mean manliness? They don’t – they mean what they mean. It’s the exact opposite – manliness means possessing the virtues. Does that mean that in order to be manly, a male must be virtuous?
Precisely! Authentic manliness is living virtue! Plain and simple. Alright, so how do I know if I’m virtuous (or manly)? The definition is a good place to start: “Virtue is the habitual and firm disposition to do the good.” So, what do you think? Are you virtuous? Be careful, you can’t partially possess virtue – it’s all or none. Either I have the “habitual and firm disposition” or I don’t. The test?… do I perform the virtue as a habit while also doing it promptly, easily, consistently and with joy? If not, you don’t have that particular virtue. If so, then you do. There’s no sliding scale, no gray area, no “sorta, kinda, sometimes”. It’s all or none.
Let me clarify… it is possible to have glimpses of virtuous behavior and not possess the virtue, so don’t get all hot and bothered thinking that what I’m writing means that you’re not a good guy. I’m simply relaying what St. Thomas Aquinas spent much of his life working on. For more clarity, let’s concentrate on the virtue of courage, otherwise known as fortitude. Men want to be courageous, right? When a man possesses courage, he “ensures firmness in difficulty, has constancy in the pursuit of good, and the resolve to resist temptations.” When a man possesses courage, these characteristics are always present, without wavering. What happens, then, when a male isn’t courageous? What can he do about it?
If you want to grow in virtue, it takes two things: 1. Grace and 2. Practice. The grace part isn’t up to you, but the practice part is. If you want to grow in virtue, practice makes perfect! Ask God for opportunities to practice each virtue. If you ask (sincerely), He’ll give you the opportunity. Try it, you’ll see. I recommend that you think long and hard about which virtue you need/want to work on the most (and soon!) and ask God for it.
So, then does that mean that women can’t be virtuous, or shouldn’t even try to be? No, not at all. And it doesn’t mean that a woman who is virtuous is manly. In the case of women, they should also be striving for virtue. Women grow in virtue the same way men do, through grace and practice, but the natural inclinations of men and women are different. Men and women are complementary (not complimentary, like “hey, that color looks nice on you”, but complement like two things that go well together) and our natures work really, really well together! God intended it that way. We are of equal dignity, but different in nature. Men are all called to lead, protect, and provide. “Women are called to trust, surrender, and to be receptive.
Some women hear this and become squeamish, as if this is some sort of oppressive mandate to hold them down. Not at all! This is intended to allow men to hold you up! When both men and women are living virtuously, our natures are working properly and are the perfect complement! To think that working against nature would somehow be oppressive is pretty ridiculous. Think about it, have you ever heard a woman say, “I would hate it if a man treated me with respect, if he honored and cherished me and if he made me a better woman!” Never! Clearly, this is a little extreme, but it begs the point… why are these natures complementary and why are men called to live the virtues? The answer is simple. To be more Christ-like! All men should all be attempting to emulate Christ Jesus, the perfect model of virtue, the perfect model of masculinity.
There’s plenty more to be said on the topic of virtue, but for a more concise explanation, check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1803-1845.
“The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.” – St. Gregory of Nyssa.
I fight Him with love 