Conversations with Daniel: Paula Lent (Part 1 of 2)

This article is part of a series of interviews of members of the Ablaze community conducted by Ablaze member Dan Micinski. Today’s interviewee is Paula Lent, a local Office Coordinator who was an initial member of Ablaze Mission's former Bible Study at Little Flower parish, and subsequently participated in all the offered series, becoming a leader in many of them, an intern, Advisory Board member, and the former blog manager. This interview was conducted in June 2025. 

What would you say has personally kept you so connected to God (e.g. holy hour, sense of community etc)? From what I can tell you’ve lived a pretty Christ-centered & service-oriented life. I see you volunteering for various organizations whether it be Ablaze, Voices for Life, or writing articles.

Consistency in seeking Him, and community, have helped me be connected to God. Within those two categories, different things have been helpful during different seasons. Currently, I attend daily Mass during the week, and have a personal prayer time outside of that. 

I find it helpful to spend time with friends who are very consistent and determined in their pursuit of the Lord and share easily/readily about their relationship with Him. 

Initially, Ablaze was a huge blessing to me because of the Bible Study and leadership opportunities. I experienced an increase of the Spirit’s activity in my life when I joined the Bible Study and for the first year of going to it; and I think choosing to serve God through the donation of time and energy in leadership positions that contained accompaniment was also a means of drawing closer to God and receiving more graces as I sought to do his will.

In general, I think living from an awareness of one’s need for the Lord helps me to hear Him and to come to Him with openness and expectation. Additionally, I was very fortunate to experience a lot of graces in my childhood and adolescence which helped me to have a very deep personal relationship with God from a young age. Though all those same graces are no longer flowing, the experience made a mark such that I prioritize a Christ-centered life. And God has given new graces, in part through difficult experiences, which have freed me from previous attachments so that I am more free to have service as a normal, and important, part of my life.

When/where do you feel closest to God (e.g. Adoration)?

I definitely feel close to God when I’m acting from one of my charisms, and when I’m praying over someone. I also often feel close to Him when I’m prayerfully listening to praise & worship music. 

Throughout my day, my moments felt closest to Christ are really dependent on when He chooses to bestow that grace; but asking for the grace to serve Him well in my jobs, and to receive all He wants to offer, helps.  

How do you personally discern where God is calling you (vocation, volunteer work etc)?

The way in which God guides me as I am prayerfully discerning varies a bit, and I’d definitely recommend Timothy Gallagher’s book, Discerning God’s Will to those curious about discernment. But here are some examples from my life:

Working at the Sisters of the Holy Cross: 

While looking for a job, I ran across the posting for the position at the Sisters of Holy Cross and immediately felt God’s presence and clarity (a sense of “knowing” and being called) as I read the description: It was outlining a way of accompaniment I was made for and had practiced since childhood in my relationship with my paternal grandmother (who died suddenly, just the month before)—an attentive accompaniment accomplished by learning the other person and gently melding into their way of life while offering assistance. 

I had a lot of peace that that was where He wanted me, and He very tangibly blessed each step of the interview/orientation process: several friends from college randomly reached out to say they loved me and were thinking of me minutes before the virtual interview, not knowing I was pursuing this job or had an interview; then, a friend randomly dropped off a huge bag of clothes, including interview-appropriate outfits, just days after I received the in-person interview offer; a couple friends’ mothers worked at the convent and gave me advice… I could go on. 

Writing: 

I got into writing through God’s direction in a different way. Because I was an introverted child with a rich interior faith life and grew up in an environment where telling stories of grace (sharing about God’s activity in one’s life) was normal, I’ve always gone through life looking for where/how the Lord is acting. One day I had a pretty non-substantial day but I experienced the Lord in it in various small ways that moved me with a lot of gratitude. Out of nowhere the Holy Spirit prompted me: “Email Kathy (an older friend I've known since adolescence) and tell her how you saw Me today.” I obeyed the prompting and she responded back with a super loving email in which she pointed out even more insights into how the Lord had been at work in the story I shared. We started a regular correspondence, and through that I grew comfortable with storytelling (something I had always been terrible at). Actually, I’d place the ability to tell stories a little further back: I had an experience of a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit in my life (incidentally, that came about due to the prayers of Kathy's brother, Joe), and one of the fruits of that was suddenly having a stronger writing charism and the (new) ability to tell stories. 

During that time, I was trying to discern how I could serve God, and after a couple other experiences where the Spirit led me to write an email to someone and they shared what an impact it had on them or said I had a gift for writing, I began to consider, in the back of my mind, writing. Then one day in my prayer time, I was simply listening for the Lord, not thinking about writing or anything else at all, and I clearly heard him suggest I reach out to someone I knew in Communications and offer to volunteer. I obeyed, and that’s how I got my first foray into journalism, which was a really good experience. 

After consistently feeling the Lord was calling me, over a period of months, to seriously pursue writing, I prayed—telling Him I didn’t really want to be a writer for various reasons including not knowing how it could be a full-time job, and asking for a clear word from someone if He really wanted me to seriously pursue it. Within 20 minutes, a friend emailed me (before 5am—I was up for an early shift at the convent) graciously thanking me for a personal story I’d shared with her and mentioning she’d buy a book if I wrote it; and that same afternoon, right after my shift, another friend shared a beautiful and intricate vision the Lord had given her about her own career path: Taking an unfamiliar and untrodden road which He paved each step at a time. Both those words were confirmation for me. Since then, I’ve pursued various different writing outlets. But I’m still not sure where my ultimate calling with writing may be. 

Volunteer Work: 

There have definitely been times where the Lord has clearly told me (through words or senses) that I should do something. Helping Ablaze with the National Eucharistic Congress  trip was one example. I didn’t even want to go on the trip, but when Sean sent out an email about needing help with housing, God surprised me by firmly saying, “You know people in Indy. You should help.” Other times, it’s as simple as seeing a need and knowing I have gifts to fill it and feeling God’s peace that this is a good way to use those gifts (and my time) to love. 

State-in-life:

Ignatian discernment relies on love for God and detachment—-getting to a place where you’re willing to do anything out of love for Him, free from inordinate attachments to specific desires. However, God is merciful and works with us even when we’re struggling to receive the grace for detachment. When I prayed through my state in life (whether I’m called to marriage or to be single for the Lord in some way), I struggled with detachment (I was scared to get married, honestly, because of my brokenness; and I could imagine a beautiful life of “me and Jesus,” serving together), but eventually God showed me very clearly insights into how and why He had made me for marriage, and He gave me several specific confirmations when I asked. It actually, kind of funnily, landed with me telling God, “I really feel you’ve been steadily calling me to marriage, but please give me confirmation from a friend this week.” As the week went on, I forgot about that prayer, until a friend, clearly prompted by the Holy Spirit (and to my surprise: our conversation was mainly about other things and had just lightly turned to vocation), said to me, “Paula, I just feel really moved to tell you that the Enemy works hardest in the places we’re supposed to bring the most light, and if you feel called to marriage, you need to really take that seriously.” Over time, I’ve only come to see more clearly my call to marriage as a vocation—though it is, as yet, not one I’m living out.  

Return to College: 

Many things went into my discernment back to college, but it was prompted in part by participating regularly in Ablaze’s Bible Study and realizing I wanted to study Scripture more. My discernment was a long process that included explorative information-gathering and prayer. One thing the Lord spoke to me during that time, that came to fruition, was that my experience returning wouldn’t be all about academics but about the people I’d meet and the relationships I’d form through the experience. 

Before discerning to return to school, I had been disappointed that certain doors weren't opening for me. When I took the job I was working at during the bulk of my discernment period, the Lord gave me a passage from Habakkuk 2:2-3 (it was read at Mass, and I felt the Lord speaking to me through it), about a vision coming to fulfillment even if it delays. I took this as encouragement in my hopes of doing ministry work professionally and being more of a writer. 

As I was seriously considering Holy Cross College, I needed to figure out what I wanted to study. I had been in engineering at Notre Dame, but since leaving there the Lord had led me on a journey through work and volunteer experiences through which I realized interests and talents in writing, storytelling (which I wanted to transition into videography) and design, and a strong interest in theology. I didn’t know how I could study everything in only two years while switching majors, and dealing with transfer credits and new core requirements. A very trusted friend wisely told me I essentially had to “kill my darlings” and choose just one thing; but as I prayed about it I kept feeling the Lord say not to give anything (from my desire to study graphic design, videography, theology and english) up. So I set up a meeting with the heads of English and Theology in order to learn more. 

The day I had the meeting with the heads of the English department, I had an encounter with a client over the phone at my workplace. At that time I was offering to pray over people regularly. She was rather angry and rude initially, but then was suddenly convicted and apologized to me, saying God had just convicted her about how she had been acting and she was sorry. She then empathized with my role, noting that I must deal with a lot of angry people. I told her I did, but I had also received permission to offer to pray with people. She responded, “I knew you were a sister in the Lord. I could smell your scent. Are you Pentecostal?” I told her I am charismatic, and she began praying over me immediately, receiving words and images for me. It was very powerful (and unexpected!); I was literally in tears. At the end, one of her final images was of a notepad by my bed and the Lord saying to write down the vision and it would happen—this reminded me of the Habakkuk passage I had received earlier. 

Within an hour or two, I was having the meeting with the English department. As I quickly did final preparations for it, I had a moment of doubt: I felt I was just going to be wasting their time. But then I thought of my work interviewing people, and how I lean into the Holy Spirit for that. So I prayed, asking for the Holy Spirit to be present and guide the meeting. Then I looked over the HCC website again, and, for the first time, noticed a small reference to something called a “Catholic Media Track.” There was no information about it, so I brought it up during the meeting, asking to learn more. “Oh, that’s new,” I was told. And they pulled up a spreadsheet to describe what it was: A blend of english, theology, graphic design & videography. A clear way for me to pursue all the things God had said not to give up on!

The Conversations with Daniel blog post series takes its name (in fun) from an element of the Intentional Discipleship Series. If you’re a young adult looking for a faith sharing community and wanting to grow in your own ability to share about your spiritual life or the Good News, consider signing up for the Alive Series, IDS, or joining another of our community offerings!

---

Daniel (Dan) Micinski has been involved with Ablaze Mission since 2024 and has participated in the Alive Series, the Intentional Discipleship Series, and the Called & Gifted Workshop. Wanting to grow closer to God, he decided to interview people he admires spiritually to learn from their spiritual journeys. We hope these interviews from our community are a blessing to you as well, on your journey into deeper intimacy with God.