The Cookie Dough Conversion

By Ellen Mongan

Every Christian faith walk takes you on a journey. a journey where you are asked to take Jesus’s nail-scarred hand and trust him to lead you. Jesus leads you to the very heart of our loving Heavenly Father.

I was born and baptized into the Catholic Faith. As a cradle Catholic, my praying grandma’s good example and the instruction of the sisters in Catholic School nourished my faith. I still can remember the nuns saying,

Who made you? God made you. Why did God make you? God made you to know him, to love him, to serve him and to be happy with him one day in heaven.

I grew to know and love my Catholic Faith. I longed to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. What a glorious day it was, when I dressed all in white as a bride, and walked to the altar singing, “Jesus, Jesus, come to me.” God knew it was truly my heart’s desire, and he answered that prayer. As I received Jesus “Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity” for the first time, the truth of our Faith was written on my soul. Jesus revealed himself to me. I gave my life to him and he began to lead me. I went to daily Mass, frequented the Sacrament of Reconciliation, sang to Jesus and prayed about everything.

Struggling with my faith

High School found me in a public school where it was not in vogue to be a committed Catholic. In order to be popular, I went undercover, but my faith suffered greatly. My family went to Mass on Sunday, and I continued to pray before I went to bed. However, I had no support from other Catholics, no opportunity for daily Eucharist, and I did not grow in the Faith. The day I graduated from high school, my family moved back to the South.

I tried a college in Georgia and one in Florida, and both were a culture shock. Drugs, drinking and sex were rampant, and I was appalled. I knew it would be impossible for me to grow close to Jesus in this environment.

My friend Peggy moved with me to Florida to fulfill my dream to be a stewardess. We were soon flying the friendly skies as flight attendants for Air Florida. Again my faith suffered, Jesus was no longer first in my life. The unfortunate part, I was not even aware of it!

The cookie dough dream

At age 19, I met and fell in love with the man of my dreams, Patrick, who was studying to be a physician at the University of Miami. He happened to be Peggy’s cousin. During this season of my life, God tried to get my attention through a dream. In the dream, I was stirring some cookie dough in a bowl. As I gazed into the bowl, Jesus appeared, saying,

I am the way and the truth and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.

Since this was not an ordinary experience for me, I sought advice but did not get clear direction, so I dismissed it. Pat and I married, on May 1, 1974. After a one-month honeymoon and graduation, we moved to Gainesville, Florida, for Pat’s residency.

Scripture confirms the dream

We soon had a little boy, a little girl, and lived in suburbia. In a worldly sense, we had made it. I was so happy that I went back to Church. During my four-year lapse in practicing my faith, the charismatic renewal had evolved. I went to a prayer meeting where a woman read the same scripture Jesus quoted in my dream. I knew I was home. That was the day I gave my heart back to Jesus. I promised him that I did not care who knew I was a Catholic; I would live for him.

When Pat decided to go into practice, I prayed we would go where Pat, then a pagan, would find Jesus. After a year in Vernal, Utah, Pat gave his heart to Jesus too.

The Alleluia Community

Together we decided to move back to the South to be close to family and to join the Alleluia Charismatic Community in Augusta, Georgia. God blessed us with many children, friendships, teachings and great graces. God trained us up, nourished us and established us. The Alleluia people were trying to live radically for Jesus. Then God called Pat to become a Permanent Deacon. We both embraced full-time ministry and agreed to pour our lives into building the Church.

I believe God has called me to pass the faith down to the next generation and to help young mothers find the joy in their vocation as wife and mother. I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak about Jesus on TV, radio, mom’s clubs, and churches and through the books and Bible studies I have written.

The faith  journey continues

You never know where God will take you. I have journeyed to mountaintops of great joy, into valleys of tears and sadness and through deserts of loneliness, waiting until God parts the Red Sea. I have learned that in the crucible of suffering, you get to know God for yourself. He alone will teach you how to walk on water if you keep your eyes on him. When you begin to sink, he will send a lifeboat in the form of other committed followers.

No one can walk the journey alone. I wake up every morning to pray and seek the face of Jesus, and to take a strong hold on his nail-scarred hand. I ask him, “How I can serve you today?” I try to attend Mass daily, and confession frequently; that is where the grace is. I know I need him. In him alone, I place my trust. I want him to be my everything!

Ellen Mongan is a Christian writer and motivational speaker. She is one of the hosts of Women of Wisdom (WOW} podcasts. Ellen writes a monthly column for the Augusta Chronicle Newspaper, blogs for Catholic Mom.com, Women of Grace and Elizabeth Ministry International. She founded Little Pink Dress Ministry, Women-fest Conferences, Sisters in Christ and also Moms Best Wisdom Ministry. She speaks on radio and television as the Titus II Crew. She the wife of Deacon Patrick Mongan, M.D. They have seven children and thirteen grandchildren. The most important role of all as wife and mother led her to her ministry.