Finding a Place to Call Home
Hi there! My name is Theresa Ambat and I’m the newest addition to the Lisieux House community. I’m originally from Marysville, Washington which is about an hour north of Seattle. Some things I enjoy include producing music, playing in my pop/r&b band in Seattle, taking photos, and making pasta! The Lisieux House has been such a blessing in practically every aspect of my life.
That said, before moving into the Lisieux House, I was living amidst the hustle and bustle of Seattle’s University District neighborhood for about 6 years.
If you don’t know, the U-District is a neighborhood located right next to the University of Washington. Its main residents are college students and young professionals and it offers everything any 18 - 21 year-old could need: a short walk to campus, great food and places for community, and frat parties for forgetting about the midterm season.
I moved to the U-District for college in 2016 and continued to live there for about two years after graduating. But toward the last year of my time there, I could no longer keep up with the “go, go, go” pace of the environment. I felt an immense sense of restlessness, anticipation for a new season, and a desire for a simpler, quieter life. I had outgrown the neighborhood full of many cherished memories and wished for a new place to call home.
With a bit of time and discernment, I moved into the Lisieux House in the late summer of 2022 and became the newest “sprout” of the little flowers here at Lisieux.
About one week after my move, we had our Fall Lisieux House retreat, themed “You are Home.” During this retreat, Sophia gave a talk and led us through a meditation on the connection between the garden and home, we heard a talk from Fr. Dominic David on the Feminine Genius, did a few trust exercises with each other in the park, and discussed what home looks like for each of us and ways we can cultivate a home environment at Lisieux.
One key aspect of a home which we discussed was cultivating an environment of rest.
In my few months now at the Lisieux House, I’ve found silence to be of great importance for rest. Oftentimes when we pray, the Lord does not speak with great signs and loud performances. Many times, He speaks by movements of the heart which can only be felt when we are most vulnerable by putting our attachments down and showing our hearts to God. Silence gives us the clarity to hear the Lord’s voice and the intimacy we run from when distracted.
Like many 20-something-year-olds, I’m still learning how to find more rest in my life. But living at the Lisieux House is a constant reminder of my soul’s innate desire to rest in the Lord. At Lisieux, we are constantly likening our spiritual lives to the life of the flower. Gazing upon the flowers in our garden and the old, magnificent trees that frame our surroundings, I remember that each of these living beings went through all sorts of growing, pruning, and uprooting. But most importantly, they receive.
We are all flowers in the garden of the Lord, called to simply receive the living water of Jesus the Gardener. We are constantly absorbing our environments, making it all the more important for us to have spaces we can call home and find rest.
As the changes of the fall season come to a close and Advent and Christmas comes upon us, let us ask the Lord to reveal to us those needed spaces for home and rest so that we can be in closer union with His Son.
