 I'm very happy to be here. My husband, Peter, and I just recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. How many of you know Peter? Anyone ever seen Peter on TV? I know lots of women watch him on Crossing the Goal. I don't know if any men watch him, but I know lots of women tell me they watch him. But we were reminiscing about our early days of marriage. We used to come to the Steubenville Conferences with a couple toddlers in tow and speak and bring youth here, and that was back in the day when they just, this fieldhouse did not exist. I think it was just a big tent. Are there any of you out there that used to come to those? And it would just rain and pour cats and dogs, and they would just come in with these big bales of hay and just put them down in the mud, and young people would actually sleep in sleeping bags. Yeah, those were the days. So I am very glad to be back here in the fieldhouse and not in a tent. And I want to just make a disclaimer here before I begin to speak. And that is I am not an expert in anything that I'm going to talk about tonight. I am like all of you. I'm a disciple who gets up every morning and makes a decision to pray, who makes a decision to love my husband and to love my children and to serve. I'm like, as one saint said, one beggar telling other beggars where the banquet is. So I think I probably overprepared a little tonight. And what I want to do really is try and speak to you mostly from my heart. A few years ago, our family received a very pretty sizable inheritance. And it wasn't one that I necessarily welcomed because it was a result of my father's death. My mom had died about six years ago, and my father died a few years ago. But as I worked through the grief and the loss, and really the feeling of, I don't know if any of you have lost both your parents, but there really is a sense of being an orphan in a certain way when that happens. And it really causes you to reflect a lot on your own death, as Sister Ann Shields once said to me. It means you're next up on the ladder. But as we receive this inheritance, it really caused me to reflect a lot on its meaning, not just from a financial point of view, but really what it meant that my father worked his whole life to provide for our family, not only in this life while he was alive, but after he was gone. And the inheritance that we received really enabled us to do things for ourselves, for our family, that we couldn't do on our own. I was able to get that new kitchen that I'd been wanting for 30 years. We were able to help one of my children with their college tuition. We were able to pay off a mortgage. I should probably stop talking about our financial state right now. But you understand what I mean. There were things we were able to do. And it wasn't because my father gave me this money because I was a perfect child, far from it, or even that my life as an adult had turned out the way he wanted it to. I was converted from Judaism to Catholicism. And that was a very difficult thing for my family. But what I want to say is in spite of all those choices that I made that weren't my father's preference for the way that I live my life, he was so kind and so generous and so loving that he provided and cared for me in this way. And I think just reflecting on this inheritance that we received made me reflect even more on a more important inheritance. And that's what I want to talk to you about tonight. Because it made me think about the inheritance that I've received as a Catholic, as a believer in Jesus Christ. And that is that my Heavenly Father, who owns everything, did for me something that I couldn't do for myself. I was spiritually destitute. And I think it's good sometimes for us to go back to the beginnings, to remember how much God has done for us and where we would be without him. The inheritance that the Lord has given me is not because I did anything to deserve it or to earn it, but it really came out of his merciful love, his abundant love for me. Through baptism and through faith in Christ, we are heirs to the greatest inheritance that there is. Right now, brothers and sisters, you are sitting on a spiritual goldmine. You won the lottery. It's funny, nobody looks like they won the lottery. Show me your face if you won the lottery. All right. We've all won the spiritual lottery, so to speak. Listen to what St. Peter says in the first chapter of his letter. Let me give you a little context, because it helps me to understand the scriptures. He's speaking to those believers who've been exiled, who are under tremendous persecution and hardship. And they're probably wondering, like I would be, is this really worth it? Is it really to live for this and to die for this? And this is what St. Peter says. By his great mercy, we have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. And not to be outdone, St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says that we have everything that we need and could possibly want in Christ. He says, Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And he's destined us in love through Jesus Christ to be his sons. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Now, if the words of scripture are true, and I believe they are, and we've been promised all the riches of the Father's kingdom, why are so many of us living like orphans and like poppers? Are we really living daily in the freedom of Christ? Are we really living like we've won the spiritual lottery, like we're sitting on that goldmine of spiritual wealth? Well, as Dave said, the name of this conference is power and purpose. I think we often live without spiritual power in our lives because we don't understand our purpose or we've forgotten it. We've forgotten our true identity as sons and daughters of God. How many of you have come to this conference seeking more power and more purpose? Can you raise your hand? OK. I will not ask those who don't know why they've come to this conference to say something, but I know you're out there. If you have come to find more greater power and purpose, if you've come to be awakened to a deeper faith, tonight is a good night to start. So I want to talk just really briefly about inheritance, and I'm going to just give you really three solid succinct points. So when I get to point number three, you can say, good, she's almost done. OK. So when I talk about inheritance, the promise of our heavenly inheritance, the down payment of what's to come is what. You can all say this with me. What is it? It's OK. I'm going to give you a little hint. It's a person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the down payment or the promise of what's to come for us. The scriptures say in Ephesians, you are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit, which is the pledge of our inheritance. So if the Holy Spirit is in you, and I know he is because of baptism, that means you've been given a promise that you can hold on to, that there's more to come. When you were baptized, whether you slept through it or you cried through it, you were probably as an infant oblivious to what was happening. Maybe I was not baptized as an infant. I was actually dunked in a swimming pool in a school as a young adult. But however you were baptized, the point is when you were baptized, you received an indelible mark of the Spirit. You were born again to new life in Christ. And our Father, our Heavenly Father, who's the very definition of love, of lavish love, poured out upon you the gift of your spirit. And with that gift, he gives you the first point I'm going to make, and that is the power to become a child of God. I love this passage from 1 John. It's just so beautiful. John says, look and see what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. It's almost as if God was standing around thinking, what's the greatest way I can lavish my love, my children? I'm going to bring my children back to myself. I'm going to give them that identity. So the very first thing is that God gives us the power to become children of God. And this isn't just through a baptismal ceremony. It's not just a theological concept. It's a radical transformation. It's a reception into the family of God. I have four children, and two of them are married. And I have four grandchildren. And our grandchildren numbers have just doubled recently in the past. And besides having your own children, I don't know any greater joy than being a grandparent and watching this new life come into the family and realizing, wow, the Harbeck family is growing. It's really an amazing thing that these two people who you have been given life by their parents now have the power to actually bring children into the world and to be called children. It's the same with us. God's work in us through baptism really brings out a radical transformation. And we really are received into God's family. We move from a state of sin to a state of grace. And what it means is that we're no longer orphans. But it also means that each one of you, myself included, have been given in an estimable dignity and value because God has created you as his son or his daughter in his very image and likeness. And he looks upon you and he says, very good, not just good, but very good. And that means that we have access to everything that belongs to him and, more importantly, to his very own divine nature. Back in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I lead a Catholic Women's Bible study, Help Lead It. And one of the questions that comes up very often are discussions with the women. There are a lot of faith-filled wives and mothers and grandmothers. And they'll always start the question like this. They'll say, I have a son, or I have a daughter, or I have a husband, or I have grandchildren, and they're baptized Catholic. But they're not practicing their faith. Are they OK? I mean, are they going to heaven? I mean, they're baptized. They're OK, right? And what I say to them, to the best of my ability, I say, baptism is an incredibly important initiation right, but it's not an insurance policy. It's not a guarantee. It's a gift or a pledge of life in the spirit, which only grows when we activate it through faith, when we nourish it, when we strengthen it, and when we fight for it. And then they ask me a very important question. How does that happen? And I say usually just two words, meet him. We have to meet the Lord. We have to come into a personal living relationship with Jesus Christ for that identity and that grace and that faith to be activated and to come to life in our own lives. Side note. If you're here this weekend and you haven't met him, that him, God has that for you this weekend. So we've been given power to become children of God. Why is it so often that it's hard to live with power and purpose? How many of you are regular attendees at these Franciscan conferences, been coming for a long time? OK, well, that's great, because it means there's a lot of new people. I think what can happen sometimes when we go to conferences like this that can be powerful and impactful and Holy Spirit filled is we have this kind of mountaintop experience. And then we kind of sink back into the valley and we start to think, what else can I do for that mountaintop experience? And that's where maybe the cycle of coming to these conferences comes from. I mean, keep coming. They're great. That was not a commercial not to come. I think they're great. But it's a bit like we get stuck in daily life and we don't know how to find our identity and to meet the Lord. It's a little bit like this passage in James, which I really like. James says, we become like a man who looks in the mirror and he sees his natural face. And then he goes away and he forgets what he was like. I think we get touched by the Lord sometimes at these conferences. And then we go away and we get bogged down by daily life and the cares and the anxieties and the fears that we deal with. And we forget that we are sons and daughters of the living God. And I think at times we can suffer from this kind of spiritual amnesia. And we allow the enemy and the world and the flesh to rob us of our identity. I think for me, it's when I'm going to talk a little more personally and if it applies to you, great. But I think for me it's when I hear a variation on this one lie and it's the same lie that was recited in the garden. Maybe you hear the same variations yourself. It's a lie that says, did God really say, is he really trustworthy? Can I really depend on him? Does he really have my best interests at heart? Well, I'm not sure. So I guess I have to make my own way. I have to figure out who I am on my own. And I lose sight of who I am in God's eyes. And I begin to put my identity in what I do, in what I have, in what I accomplish. But you know what? Those things are never enough to give me a clear, stable, confident sense of who I am because they're constantly changing. For a lot of my married life, I was a mother with four kids. They're all out of the house now. So I'm not that mother with four kids in the same way that I was. So my identity has to be fixed and grounded in my identity as a daughter of God. I want to ask you a question. You don't have to answer, but I want you to think about it in terms of our identity. If you were to die tomorrow, what would you want written on your tombstone? I know Debbie Downer, right? Need to bring it up. But think about it. Would it be what you had done and accomplished? Or would it be who you are? When I thought about it today, I thought, today I would like it to say Debbie Herbeck, beloved daughter of God. You know, after Jesus was baptized, when he was baptized and he went under, remember, he received his identity. And the Lord said to him, said, behold my beloved son, his identity. And right after Jesus receives his identity, where does he go? Who knows? To the desert. He goes to the desert to battle for his identity. And the devil says to him right away, if you are the son of God, prove it. There's a battle going on for his identity, for his mission. And Jesus overcomes those temptations in the desert in order to be victorious over the temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to in the garden. And he left there, full of the spirit, ready to take on the mission that God had for him and to show us what it means to be an obedient, faithful, trusting son of God. And when he went to the desert, he went to fight for your identity and my identity as well. So we've been given power to become children of God. And everything that belongs to him belongs to us. OK, first point. The second point is that as heirs of the promise, we've been given power to move from death to life. I want to tell you some of my own story to illustrate this point. I think for a long time in my own life growing up, I was really enslaved to sin and to the fear of death. And this fear of death really began, I think, with my mom, who had a tremendous fear of dying. And eventually, this fear of death was realized in a family tragedy. I grew up in a Jewish home. I don't know if I'd say it was a religious home, but it was a very, what would I say? It was not devout, but it was very traditional Jewish home. Had lots of religious education and culture, but I had no sense of a personal God. I had no understanding or knowledge of who Jesus was. It wasn't allowed in our family. And when I was 15, my older brother, who was two years older than myself, was in a very serious car accident. And although I had grown up in a Jewish home and had been taught how to pray in Hebrew, I had never prayed personally to God. I don't even know if I thought God existed or not. The best I can say is that if he did exist, he had no relevance to my life. But that night, when I was away from my family and got news of my brother's car accident, I did something for the very first time. I cried out to God, and I prayed. And I said, God, I don't know if you're real and I don't know if you can hear me and I don't know if you even care. But if you are God, come and save my brother's life. Shortly after I prayed that prayer, we received the news that my brother had died. And I remember very distinctly, besides the grief and the anger, saying to God, where were you? Why didn't you do anything? Where are you, God? If you were real, you would have saved my brother's life. And as I went on through high school and then eventually a few years later, I got to college at the University of Michigan. No matter what I did to distract myself from the grief, whether it was studying or playing sports or going to parties or boys or alcohol or money, any of those things, the reality of death took hold of me. And I began to think, what is the point of life if all we do is die? Well, through a series of circumstances, which I don't have time to tell you the whole story, about two-thirds of the way through my freshman year in college, I found myself in my dormitory in a lounge, sitting on the floor with a bunch of other girls watching a movie that was being shown on TV. I'd never read the Gospels. I didn't really know who Jesus was or what his message was. I knew he was the leader of some kind of some world religion, but I didn't know what he taught. And I remember sitting down with a friend who had brought me to this movie, and she, as the movie came on, I turned to her and I said, what movie is this? I thought it was kind of a strange movie. And she said, nothing. And I said, what movie is this? And she said, it's called Jesus of Nazareth. How many of you have ever seen that movie? Okay. Immediately I wanted to get up out of the room and leave because I knew that I shouldn't be there. But I was so shy and embarrassed to get up in front of all these people that I sat there and I watched as this movie unfolds and the story of Jesus' life from his birth unfolds. And I remember at one point, leaning over to my friend, Sarah, and whispering to her something that I discovered in watching this movie. He's Jewish. I mean, who knew, right? That's kept secret. And I watch as the story of his life unfolds and I feel so drawn to this man. He's Jewish. And not only is he a Jew, he's a good Jew. He goes to the temple. He fulfills the law. He listens to his mother. He's a good Jew. There's a point in the movie near the end of the first segment. They were gonna show it in two segments. Where Jesus comes to a town. It's a town called Bethany. And he's met at that town by a woman who's weeping. And her name is Martha. And Martha comes to the Lord. And she says to him in her tremendous grief and sorrow, Lord, where were you? If you had been here, our brother would not have died. And I watched that scene and I thought, this is a script from my own life. I said those words to God. Where are you, God? Why didn't you do anything? And at that moment, honestly, everything in me wanted to get up out of that room and run. But I felt like this hand was just holding me there, saying, watch. And I watch as that story unfolds. You know the end. I didn't. Jesus goes to that tomb of Lazarus. And I knew as a Jew that he had no business going to a tomb because it was ritually impure. And he goes to that tomb and he calls forth his friend Lazarus from the grave. He raises him from the dead. And I sat there and I watched the scene unfold. And I thought, who are you? Who is this man? Is he the one? Is he the Messiah? Is he the one who has power over death? The death that I feel so acutely in my own life. Is he the one? And I went back to my room that night and I couldn't sleep. And I went down to my friend's room, the one who took me to the movie. And I knocked on her door and she opened her door and she put her Bible out. And I opened it up where that little ribbon was to John. And I read an astounding line where Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will never die. But the one who believes in me will live forever. Honestly, I didn't know what most of those words meant. But I knew in my heart there was an implicit promise that death doesn't have the final answer. That there is something in this world and in this life greater than death that has overcome the power of death for me. And that night I got down on my knees in my dorm room and I prayed for the second time and I said, God, I don't know who you are or if you're real. But if this man Jesus is the Messiah, show me and give me the faith to believe. And I began to read the scriptures, hungry to know and to pray. And I prayed that prayer every single night for nine months. And I don't have time to tell you how it all unfolded. Maybe you'll have to come to my workshop to find out. But I met Jesus. I met the Lord. I met the Messiah. And I understood through faith that love is stronger than death. That he holds the power to conquer death. And my life began to change, began to be transformed. All my life I've been held in slavery really to a way of life that was really directed toward death. And I began to be set free from patterns of destructive way of living, patterns of sin and to really live confidently as a daughter of God. And I wanna say that happened years ago and since I've been involved in ministry and helping other people come to know the Lord, there is nothing more beautiful than to watch others make that journey from death to life. It's like watching captives being set free. It's like watching prisoners who are condemned to die being reprieved. And it's like watching Lazarus being raised from the dead. That power to move from death to life, to conquer sin, to live in a transformed way, to become a new creation is at work and available in each one of us because we have been called children of God. Jesus' power over death also means that I no longer have to fear death because death isn't the final answer, it's just a doorway that leads me to life with him. Recently I was, Peter and I were having dinner with a close friend of ours who's a very holy man and Peter said, John, what are you, what's the Lord doing in your life? And he said, and our friend John said, he's preparing me to die. And I kind of took a stack and thought, what's going on? Are you dying? And he looked at me and he said, Debbie, we're all dying. Am I living in a life that, living my life in a way that's preparing me for the next life? If I die tomorrow or in 25 years, actually my grandmother just died at 102 so I might be around for a while. Am I living in a way that's preparing me to meet the Lord? Am I freeing myself like my friend John is from the distractions of this life enough so that I can really know him more, so that I can really focus on that inheritance that is awaiting me. Okay, so the first one is we have been given power to what? Become children of God. Good, some of you are looking back at your notes, that's good, okay. The second one, he's really given us power to move from death to life. And the third one is that as heirs of the promise we've been given the greatest power of all and that's really the power of love. I'm sure many of you have heard this but I love the definition of the Holy Spirit which is beautifully often called the love between the Father and the Son. That love is so powerful that Jesus loves in us all the things that we find most unlovable about ourselves. I'm gonna say that again because I need to hear it. Jesus loves in us all the things we find the most unlovable about us. Doesn't that blow your mind? I don't know about you but sometimes I just go through this list about why all the reasons God can't love me. And the fact is he loves me in spite of those. I work with young women teenagers and junior high girls and one thing I say to them a lot is there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make him love you less. He just loves you. We've been given a tremendous power to know and comprehend that love and to take that love into our hearts in a way that transforms us and changes us. But one of the ultimate miracles of divine love is that we've actually been given this love not just for us but so that we can reflect Christ's love to others. It's a love that's not powered by emotions or circumstances but by the spirit of God living within us who teaches us how to love sacrificially and unconditionally. A priest friend of mine once said that he thought marriage was the school of love where we learn how to love. How many of you would agree with that? Okay, I want to broaden that. I think life is the school of love and I think that we can go through our day and remember that and think about it like that that we're actually here to learn how to love because what we're gonna be doing for all eternity is what? Loving. I don't know about you but I wanna get a head start on that so I can spend as much time there doing what I've been created to do. The power of love within us enables us to share God's love and to help others actually come to know him. One of the best lines I love when people talk to me and it doesn't happen often but I love it when somebody comes up to me and says I want what you have. Isn't that a great pickup line? I want what you have. That means in those rare moments when I'm yielding myself to the love of God that dwells in me, someone is actually seeing a flicker of light, they're seeing Christ in me. And the greatest thing that God has given us is to be able to reflect Christ to others. Little story I wanna tell you, I've mentioned a number of times that I work with young women and one of the things we talk to them a lot about is how to be God's love in the world today and we say it's so simple. Just start with small things, start with a smile. Mother Teresa talks about that often, the importance of smiling. So this young woman came to one of our meetings and she said, I did it, I did it, I did it. What did you do? She said, let me tell you, I love somebody today. I said, okay, great, how did that happen? She said, I was in the parking lot, I was going to Target, I was in the parking lot and I passed by a woman in the parking lot walking and I stopped and I smiled at her. And she said, an amazing thing happened. I walked by her and I kept walking and the woman came back, ran after me and tapped me on the shoulder and said, excuse me, this sounds kind of funny but I'm kind of having a hard day. Could you pray for me? And the young woman said, sure, I'd be glad to pray for you, why are you asking me? She said, because when you smiled at me, I just experienced God's love. Nobody ever smiles, nobody even hardly looks at me. So there's so many small, simple ways that we can reflect God's love to others. People don't come to me and say, I want what you have because I give talks or because I memorize scripture, which I don't. But people do that and they'll do that in you when they see God's love reflected in your life. First Corinthians 13, love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. At the end of my life and your life, you will come face to face, God willing, with love. That's all that will be left will be love. Not speaking in the tongues of angels, not working miracles, not even giving up your body to be martyred, all that will be left is love. I believe this weekend that God wants to begin to or begin or continue a work of transformation in our hearts through his power. Whether we've been following him for a long time, or this is our first time really stepping into something like this. I believe he wants to show and confirm in each one of you your identity as a son or daughter of God and to say to each one of you, I'm well pleased and I love you. I wanna end with this quote by Pope Francis, which I think is really a wonderful challenge. He says, let the risen Jesus enter your life. Welcome him as a friend with trust. He is life. If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk. You won't be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don't be afraid. Trust him. Be confident that he is close to you. He is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do. Let's.