I am Christy Wilkens, wife to a tremendously patient and tender husband, Todd, and the mother of six tireless (no, seriously: tireless) children. I love philosophy, breakfast tacos, quiet reading in the wee hours, and Jesus.
We live in a tumbledown farmhouse on five unkempt acres. I drive a 12-passenger van. We fulfill every stereotype you have about orthodox Catholics.
Except the one about a perfect faith life.
We are, as a priest once put it, an “intense” family. Several of us live with disabilities both overt and invisible. We laugh a lot. We yell a lot. We hug a lot, and cry a lot, and we try and usually fail to pray a lot. It is a work in progress.
I write to tell the story of our attempts to be faithful — to God and to each other — even though we are so rarely completely successful.
And I hope you find yourself in some part of our story, because he’s calling you to be faithful, too, even when you’re stumbling through the darkness.
Christy Wilkens is a Catholic wife, mother, nurse, and author of Awakening at Lourdes: How an Unanswered Prayer Restored Our Faith. She is a Dame of Magistral Grace in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a lay religious organization she and her husband joined after the 2017 pilgrimage with their youngest son, described in her book.
Christy serves as a lector at her parish, a peer minister for Be Not Afraid, and a member of the Order of Malta's medical team and communications committee. She has appeared on Catholic Faith Network, Sirius XM's Catholic Channel, Many Hail Marys at a Time, Ave Maria Radio, and The Jennifer Fulwiler Show. Her writing has been featured at CatholicMom.com, Blessed Is She, and Accepting the Gift.
Wilkens earned her bachelor’s degree from Rice University, a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and a nursing degree from Texas A&M University.