Heavenly Treasures Weekly [#014]​
May 3, 2026

Read Time: ~5 minutes

Happy Sunday, Reader!

This week, I’ve been reflecting on how each of us is walking our own path, which can be lonely at times.

We may wonder, "If I don't know where I'm going. How can I know the way?

Jesus meets us right there and says "I am the way. Come follow me."

Scripture of the Week

""I am the way and the truth and the life."

— John 14:6

The Freedom Shift

Two generations. Two different worlds. And one truth I wish I had learned sooner.

My fifteen-year-old granddaughter, Riley, just spent a week with me.

Watching her, full of energy, figuring out who she is, the whole road ahead of her, I kept thinking about who I was at her age.

What I believed. What I didn't yet understand. And how much I wish I knew then, that I know now.

Last year my family enrolled me in a service to record my life stories as a keepsake book. Each story begins with a question submitted by a family member.

What would I say to my 20-year-old self?

This question felt especially timely with Riley's visit and relevant to many of us, young and old.

So I'm telling her. And I'm telling you.

This is what I would say to my twenty-year-old self.

When I turned twenty, I was a newlywed of 3 months.

I met Steve when I was fifteen and got married at 19. He was the only one I ever seriously dated.

By the time we married, we already owned our first home, and I was excited about everything ahead of us. We were young, in love, and ready to take on the world.

And then - the day before our wedding - Steve was laid off.

He found another job quickly, but it wasn't ideal. Early mornings, long commutes, one car between us. Long days. Not what either of us had imagined.

But we were young, resilient, and determined.

We paid our mortgage. We took care of each other. We treated life like an adventure.

Looking back now, I can see that was just the beginning of the ups and downs that every life contains.

I grew up with a belief that served me well for many years.

If it's to be, it's up to me.

I was determined, fearless and confident. I set goals and reached them. I built a career and then a business. I was proud of what hard work could accomplish.

But there were lessons along the way, like when I went into labor for the first time.

Everything I thought I knew about being in control disappeared in that room. I wasn't running anything. I was completely at the mercy of God, and all I could do was trust and surrender.

And then the miracle happened.

A beautiful baby boy was placed in my arms. In that moment, I experienced God's love in a way I had never known before - not as an idea, but as something real. Something I could hold. Something that brought me to tears with a joy I had no words for.

That moment should have changed everything.

Because right there, in the most vulnerable moment of my life, I learned a truth it would take me many more years to fully embrace.

God is love. Trust God.

We went on to have four sons, build a life, weather storms, and come through them together. By any measure, we did well.

But here is what I know now that I wish I had known at twenty...

It wasn't my determination that carried me. It wasn't the goals, the plans, or the sheer force of will, although all of those things had their place.

It was God.

Looking back, I can see His hand in everything.

The open doors I walked through without stopping to say thank you. The closed doors I pushed against, not realizing He was protecting me. The prayers that were answered, sometimes long after I had forgotten I even prayed them.

He was there in every single moment. I just wasn't always paying attention.

So here is what I would tell my twenty-year-old self...

Start with God, not after you've tried everything else. First thing in the morning, throughout your day, at night before you sleep. A whispered thank you. A simple ask for help. That's enough to begin.

Build a real relationship with Jesus.

Read the Bible. Say your prayers. Talk to Him the way you would talk to someone who loves you completely and always has your best interest at heart, because He does.

Let go of the belief that it's all up to you. You were never meant to carry it alone. The sooner you trust that His plan is better than your own, the lighter every burden becomes.

And don't be afraid to speak about Him. The world may seem to have forgotten God, but people are searching. And you might be the one who helps someone find their way back.

Recently my heart has been filled with hope.

There is a resurgence of young people finding their way back to Jesus, all over the world. They are tired of the noise. They are searching for meaning, for community, for something real to hold onto.

He is calling them back. He is calling you.

"Come, follow me."

That invitation doesn't require you to have it all figured out. It simply asks you to turn your attention to the God who created you and trust Him to lead the way.

Everything else will follow.

A Great Question for You

Reader, where in your life right now are you still operating on "if it's to be, it's up to me"... and what might change if you handed that over to God?

Wellness Wisdom

One of the most significant predictors of long-term health and wellbeing isn't diet or exercise, though both matter.

It's connection.

Specifically, inter-generational connection, the bond between grandparents and grandchildren, is one of the most powerful and underestimated forces in family health.

Research consistently shows that grandchildren who maintain close relationships with their grandparents experience lower rates of anxiety and depression, stronger emotional resilience, and a more stable sense of identity. They have a reference point - someone who has weathered the storms and come through them - that no peer relationship can provide.

And the benefits run both directions.

Grandparents who stay actively engaged with younger generations report higher levels of purpose, sharper cognitive function, and longer life expectancy. Staying curious, staying active, staying connected - it turns out that keeping up with a fifteen year old riding a horse is genuinely good for your brain and your body.

This week I went horseback riding, paddle-boarding, and watched my granddaughter fly by on a zipline without a moment's hesitation.

She thinks I was keeping her company.

The truth is, she was keeping me young.

Prospering with Purpose

I want to tell you about my grandmother. We called her Namie.

Namie left no fortune. When she died there was no estate to divide, no financial legacy to pass on.

And yet, she left me a legacy of love, faith and confidence.

She didn't marry or have children until her forties. Then her husband died young, leaving her alone with three small children. My father was only five years old.

She went to work at the "telephone company" to support them. Every morning she got dressed like she was walking into a corner office - a nice dress, her hair done, carrying herself with the dignity of a woman who knew exactly who she was.

It wasn't until my Dad grew up before he realized she worked in the cafeteria.

It didn't matter to her. Not for a single day.

She saw herself as a businesswoman, she was the breadwinner, the family matriarch. She carried herself accordingly. No title. No corner office. No one telling her she had earned the right to hold her head that high. She just did it anyway, every day, with dignity and confidence.

And every morning, before she went to work, she sat at her kitchen table with her prayer cards and went through them one by one, offering her thanks to God.

Years later, when I slept over as a little girl, those cards were tattered and frayed around the edges. But every morning there she sat, with her cup of tea and her soft boiled egg, praying. I knew not to interrupt that time. It was sacred. It was hers. It was the quiet foundation beneath her unshakeable faith in a God who never let her down even when life was hard.

Namie never had much money. But she had dignity, faith and an unshakeable sense of who she was.

And that was more than enough.

And even though she died just before my 4th son was born, she is present in everything I do. Forty years later her influence is still compounding - in me, in my children, and God willing, in my grandchildren.

That is a return on investment no financial advisor could have projected.

We talk a great deal about building wealth, leaving an inheritance, creating financial security for the people we love. And those things matter.

But the most valuable thing you will ever pass on cannot be measured in dollars.

It is the way you lived. The faith you carried. The example you set in ordinary moments that the people watching you will carry long after you are gone.

Namie had no idea that a little girl watching her flip through prayer cards at her kitchen table would one day wake up before dawn every morning to pray, read Scripture and go to Mass. She wasn't performing for an audience or trying to persuade me in any way. She was just living her faith quietly and consistently, day after day.

That is how it gets passed on. Not through lectures. Not through pressure. Through presence.

The most prosperous thing I have ever done is show up, for my children, for my grandchildren, for the people God has placed in my path, as honestly and faithfully as I know how.

The returns on that investment are still coming in.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." — Psalm 23:6

Not just for us. For the generations that come after us.

That is a prosperity worth building.

May the Peace of Christ be with you,
Janet

If something here resonated with you, feel free to reply. I’d love to hear from you.