Emily: Hi, and welcome back to another episode of Open Door Policy. I'm your co-host Emily Mentock and I'm joined today by: Fr. Patrick: Fr. Patrick Gonyeau. Hello, Emily. How are ya? Emily: I'm doing great, Father Patrick! What's new in your life? It's been a little bit. Fr. Patrick: Okay. We always talk about the weather, but really I need to talk about the beauty of the water here in Michigan, especially Metro Detroit. We're always blessed with the proximity of the Detroit River, Saint — Lake St. Clair, or if you're up for a day trip out to like, Lake Michigan or lake Huron. And so I get this, I get this craving when the weather gets nice, like this, I just need to get near the water, like sit by the water, pray the rosary, go for a walk by the water park by good old St. Paul's on the east side and go for a walk on Jefferson. So one thing that's new with me is I'm just, right now in my prayer life, I'm in a season of just trying to spend a little more time by the water here and there and enjoy the Lord. And yeah, Our Lady Star of the Sea. What's up with you, Emily? Emily: That's awesome, Father Patrick. I also just feel super drawn to the water. I was actually on a walk right before this episode to kind of give myself a little break between the workday and recording this. So I could feel a little more relaxed and casual. And I just, I also love walking out the water and the river was extra kind of choppy today. So the waves would splash up, and if you're walking on the edge, you could kind of feel some of the splash of things. It's definitely a great season for that. Fr. Patrick: Now this is not planned. We're just casually shooting the breeze and it is so today though, that there are only a few parishes that I'm aware of in the Archdiocese of Detroit that are like right on the waterfront: St. Paul on the Lake, and then St. Edward on the Lake and our awesome guest, who we're going to get to in just a few moments. Her parish is actually St. Edward on the Lake. Isn't that neat? How the Spirit lines that up? Emily: It does. That's a great little alignment for us today and for all people in Southeast Michigan, I think we all are drawn in that same way to be a great reminder thanks, Father Patrick, that we could go visit those parishes and sort of experience the beauty of the water in our visits to Mass. Fr. Patrick: And one of my favorite scriptures, John 7:37, "Come to me, all you who are thirsty and from within you will flow life giving streams." And it's fun to be by the water and think, gosh, I've got something more magnificent — that the rivers of living water through the Holy Spirit pouring out of me to the world around. And yeah, I thinking of the water also thinking about the life-giving waters of baptism and then the gift of the Spirit that we have and how we truly get to pour that out on the world every day if we're open to it. Emily: It is a blessing to be by that beautiful natural reminder of something that God has given us. Coming from landlocked Indiana, it's definitely a great gift too, that you guys get to experience up here in Detroit. Fr. Patrick: Welcome friends to our episode on water. As Catholics we love the sacramental value of water. And just one more: my spiritual director, who's gone to the Lord, Monsignor John Hall, former spiritual director. I still have, I have another one. So he would call water. He would call it Adam's ale, you know, the whole Garden of Eden thing. And like, what's your drink of choice? And he'd say, give me some Adam's ale. Nice, cool glass of water. Emily: Can't be beat, especially in the warm weather that we're getting into this summer. Yeah. Fr. Patrick: Amen. Well, Hey, I think it's time to welcome Laura Sparling. I'll pitch it to you, Emily. Absolutely. Emily: Absolutely. Yeah. We're super excited to welcome Laura to the episode today. A few fun facts about her. She has five kids and is married to an American hero — hopefully we can get a little bit more into that story and learn more about her family once we begin speaking with her — and then also fun fact, her favorite movie is the Sound of Music and she loves oldies music, which is great. It's a classic. I love those classic songs. So without further, do we welcome Laura. Laura: Thank you for having me. Emily: Thanks for joining us today, Laura. We're so happy to speak with you. So let's start by just learning maybe a little bit more about your family. So you have five kids. How old are they? Laura: I do. 11, nine, almost seven, two and a half, and then eight months. Fr. Patrick: Wow. Fr. Patrick: Congratulations. Thank God! Baby in the house. Laura: Yeah, they're awesome. Emily: And how long have you and your husband been married? Laura: Going on 12 years here in August. Emily: And you you called him your American hero. So congratulations, but can you — is there any more you could share about that story? Laura: Yeah! I'm sorry, I didn't really know that that was gonna be, you know, I'm happy to share it. But he is an Iraq veteran, veteran in the Iraq War, and he was actually injured in Iraq. And we met while he was recuperating, following a below the leg or below the knee, sorry, amputation. So to me, I'm just so proud of him and he's not in the military anymore, but he's serving in the, I guess he's prosecuting attorney for our county. So I feel like he's still in the public service, so I'm just so proud of him, but yeah, he can probably be a little — he'd blush if he'd hear me saying that. Emily: Well we just celebrated Independence Day. So it's a great reminder for people like your husband who sacrificed so much. Laura: It was very special. Emily: Yeah, definitely. Fr. Patrick: Laura, how beautiful that you met your husband Mr. Sparling, you met him while he was in rehab. And do you have, we're going to get in this special NFP national— natural, excuse me, National Natural Family Planning Week special episode regarding Natural Family Planning. Are you, do you have a nursing background or a medical field background? Laura: I do. I have a Bachelor's in nursing from Eastern Michigan University and I was a nurse practicing for probably about five years before I decided to stay home after my third child, I decided to stay home. And then after my fourth, I kind of got into the Marquette Method and teaching that. Fr. Patrick: How awesome that this call on your life, this gift from the Lord to have a heart for medicine and a heart for people, caring for people, led you into your vocation with your husband and five beautiful children. And now you're helping other couples to be able to conceive by, you know, getting the Marquette method of Natural Family Planning down that's a good read of your situation, right? Well, tell us more of your story. How did you become a joyful missionary disciple of Jesus and how did he lead you to the Marquette method that the ministry that you're involved in now? Laura: Well, I actually wasn't raised Catholic. I was raised a Methodist and kind of when I got into college and started learning all the nursing classes, all the anatomy and everything, I kind of started to get really preoccupied with death and started to really fear death. And it led me down a road of really searching for who God is. And I realized quickly that I wasn't in the right faith, you know? I wasn't following the true faith. And I took a couple of years off where I wasn't going to church or anything, which I'm not proud of. But when I met my husband, he was in like the same exact boat. He had grown up Baptist and he too felt like there's just something that wasn't clicking. It just —nothing about, you know — it just didn't make sense. So my dad ended up reverting to Catholicism. He was a cradle Catholic, but then stopped practicing at some point, but he became deep in the Church again. And that kind of led us to the RCIA program together. Emily: Was that in, you know, the Southeast Michigan area, did you guys grow up around like St Edward Parish that you're at now? Laura: Yeah, we grew up not too far from where we are now. We we both grew up in, I don't know if you know, Clyde, Michigan, but it's just, it's just like a little small town outside of Port Huron as well. But yeah, I actually went, we went to RCIA through Holy Trinity Parish in port Huron. And while I was in nursing school, I stopped on my way home to Fort Gratiot one day and prayed at Father Solanus Casey's tomb. And I think he had a huge part in it for sure. Emily: That's awesome. Fr. Patrick: Were there lots of awesome discussions when you and your husband were going through RCIA together? Like, you know, some ah-ha moments that you were sharing together? Laura: Yes, absolutely. It was actually originally, it was just going to be me going through RCIA and so that we could get married in the Church. He was kind of like, I don't know, I don't know if I want to become Catholic. Like, I will raise our kids, you know — once we were engaged — he said, I'll raise our kids in the Church, but I don't really want to go and convert. And so I started the classes and when I would talk to him about what we were learning, I mean, he maybe missed one or two classes and then he was like, I'm coming. Because it was just so —I don't know. It was just so profound. And so there was just so much richness to what we were learning that he wanted to convert as well. Emily: Praise God. Oh my gosh. That's so beautiful. Was there a particular thing that you were discussing or just the richness of all of it that he's like, I need to go and hear more. Laura: I think it was a combination, but specifically Transubstantiation and the Biblical foundation of that. I mean, you just can't dispute it when you read it when you read the Gospel. So it was just, it's like, this is it. You know, we found the true faith, so. Emily: Wow, that's incredible. And you said that it — so that you could get married in the Church. So were you guys engaged at the time? Laura: We were. We were engaged and we were looking for a home, you know? Like a home as far as Church goes. You know, we didn't know where we were going to get married because I had kind of left the Methodist faith and he left the Baptist faith and we had gone to some churches together. Non-denominational and things, and it just —without my dad's influence, I mean, I probably never would have thought to even go to a Catholic church, which is sad because when you're Protestant, it's just, it's like another, you know, another world. Catholic Church is like another world, I guess. Fr. Patrick: With with the gift of your father, you know, in your testimony, Laura, is such a, a great encouragement to parents out there who are listening that their sons and daughters might not be walking in any expressible way in Christian faith, but the encouragement that the seed's planted and the intercessory prayers of parents continue to be mighty powerful. And I love your testimony, you know, like whenever somebody believes that Jesus is the Lord that he died on the cross for them, that's, that is an incredible life-changing gift. And then when there's the more that the gift of being able to believe, like you read John six and re— oh my gosh, like, it really is his body. It really is his blood. And this'll be the most important meal I eat every week. And with, as for a couple, a married couple to be able to have that together, it's amazing that that was one of the most profound moments in RCIA. And I got a good little segue point. Peter Kreeft once said that the two places you'll see the most wonderful miracles are on the altar and in the womb. On the altar, the gift of the Eucharist, and in the womb, the gift of human life. And got to ask you, Laura, you are a champion for Natural Family Planning, the Marquette Method. Please, we'd love to hear how the Lord led you into this ministry of helping people understand the Marquette Method of Natural Family Planning. Laura: Well I — originally, when we had converted we didn't know in our marriage for like the first five years, we didn't know anything about NFP. We knew that Catholics weren't really supposed to use birth control, but we didn't really know what that meant, you know, entirely. And so we ended up moving out to Arizona for several years. And — while my husband went to law school out there — and we met another couple who just so lovingly shared the truth about NFP and, well, God's plan for marriage in general. So we learned that we were kind of going about things in a wrong way. And so that led me into learning more about fertility and, you know, learning your body signs and everything like that. And being a little more open to God's plan for our lives and our family than what I had originally envisioned. Laura: But that definitely led us into some tough times as well. So I don't want to sugar coat that. We became open to life again, after our third child, where we had kind of closed the doors and we had a miscarriage and then a still born. And so I just like, that was another point in my life where I felt like my conversion shifted again. And I deepened my faith. As hard as it was, that was the time in my life that I felt God's presence the most. And so, even though it was the hardest thing I had ever been through, I still knew that I was following God's plan and growing in that way. And so after we were blessed with our fourth baby I wanted to learn about NFP so that I could share it with other people. Emily: I was going to say, so before that you had sort of, you had known about it and it was kind of applying it to your own life, but then after going through just that, those heartbreaking experiences and but then assuming you were practicing NFP, were you doing the Marquette Method then as well? For your fourth baby? Laura: Yeah. I used the Marquette Method to achieve the pregnancy there by pinpointing ovulation and all of that. So it, it was a blessing in that respect, but I also, yeah, I wanted to learn more about it and I just — being a nurse and having that nursing background and just wanting to know everything about something, about a certain topic. I just, I found — actually I was looking for an instructor and I found the instructor training website, and I just knew it was like a sign from God. So. Emily: Wow. Fr. Patrick: Did you notice Laura, when you, when you began to embrace Natural Family Planning and start to practice it, did you notice a change, a sense of God's grace moving in your life and in your marriage in a new way? Laura: Absolutely. there have been graces given to us that I didn't know existed. And never in my life did I think I would have five kids and people look at me a lot and they'll say things like, "Oh, I could never have that many kids. It's so much, I have two or three and I'm going crazy." And I just tell them, I never thought I could either, but really when you are open to God's will he really does give you all the gifts and the graces that you need to carry that out. Emily: That's a really great point because, you know, you mentioned earlier being open to life, which of course means being open to, you know, sort of the natural process of that, but really what being open to life in the context of Catholic marriage means is being open to God's plan for your life and for your marriage and for your children's lives. It's not just, you know, sort of being open to life in the biological sense. Fr. Patrick: Now, as a nurse, Laura, I got to ask you to just like riff on that, you know, the wisdom of God in the design of humanity and you as a nurse, like starting to study NFP, like, what was that like for you? I mean, you've probably already had an awe and a wonder at the gift of God's design of humanity, the body, like, there's a design! For you as a nurse, as you started to look into it, what was opening up for you? Laura: As a nurse, I felt just so fascinated by the way that babies are brought into the world and how miraculous it is even for a pregnancy to occur much less an unexpected one, which a lot of people experience, but it really is miraculous. And it's miraculous that that baby can grow for nine months. And then I mean, the whole design is just beautiful. And I enjoy studying all of it a hundred percent. Fr. Patrick: And did you find a new confidence in, you know, these — the gift of the way God has developed these systems, the reproductive organs, a new confidence once you study this, to be able to, not only for yourself and your husband to know when fertile and when not, and, but to really be able to coach others like this, that God has given these secrets of nature to be discovered, science is a gift from the Lord when it's not abused, but did you get like a new confidence in, in like, wow, I can help people do this? God can bring me people that are like trying to conceive and I can help them understand God's design of their body. Did you get like a new confidence in, you know, because of this discovery? Laura: Absolutely. I did not anticipate the spirituality aspect of the teaching. And I am able to give people confidence, obviously not a hundred percent, it's 98.4% effective if you're trying to avoid a pregnancy, which a lot of people are. You know, maybe they have had a C-section and they're trying to heal, or they have a new baby, and they're kind of just trying to get into a new routine and everything, and they just need some time to psychologically get back on their feet. And that's completely understandable. But I do have confidence in the method. And like I tell people that that 1.6% chance of a pregnancy, that's God's, you know, segue into your life. Emily: Leaving some room for the Holy Spirit there. Laura: Exactly. Emily: What has it been like teaching other women as well? You know, you mentioned you discovered the Marquette method, you know, maybe a bit later in life. I don't know if you had learned anything about Natural Family Planning in your nursing studies before, but I have a lot of Catholic friends who, you know, maybe didn't even encounter these options until adulthood who also, you know, grew up in the Catholic faith without really either an awareness of Church teaching about it. Or even if they knew maybe the quote unquote rules, didn't — weren't presented with other options for how to either try to achieve or avoid pregnancy in their marriage, through Natural Family Planning. So what has it been like for you to, like you said, you wanted to dive into it to then share with other women to share those truths with others as well? Laura: Teaching other women, other couples has really given me, it's given me just this beautiful purpose for my nursing degree, because I hadn't been using it for so long. It felt like so long, but really it was just about five years, but I hadn't been using it. And now I'm using it to bring not only medical information to somebody, but God's design for marriage to people. And I've taught people in the marriage prep classes who have strictly told me straight up, I don't want to take this class. I have to take it for Pre-Cana and I don't want to do it. I don't want to chart, and I don't want to do all of this. And then down the road say, I didn't know that. Or, you know, you've given us some things to think about, and it's just so amazing to be able to sow those seeds or plant those seeds. Laura: I've also had a couple who completely opened their life or their their marriage up to new life after learning everything that we teach in the Marquette Method, all the Church's teaching and everything that we kind of give people a quick background lesson on — they've completely opened their lives back up to new children, even though their youngest was 12 and they had a 15 year old and a 12 year old or something like that. And they decided, you know what, we've been missing out on some of the beautiful gifts that God was trying to give us all along. You know, they were converts from hormonal birth control methods and everything. And so it is like the most amazing thing to witness God using you or what you're teaching to change other people's lives. Emily: And to see probably both like the physical and spiritual sort of healing when you come, when you have a — come into an encounter with that truth. I feel like it's been in the news a lot lately is just women, even in secular spaces, kind of pushing back against the effects of hormonal hormonal birth control methods. But then, so it's probably a lot of physical healing. I know that's even been in some of my own experience from things like that. And then to go into also the spiritual healing of aligning your marriage and your life more fully with God's plan, what a beautiful thing you must get to witness in your ministry in that way. Laura: It is beautiful, but I mean, there are struggles with it as well. So I don't want to mislead anybody. There's a lot of times where one or the other, the husband or the wife are fully onboard with NFP and maybe the husband or the wife, the other does not want to practice that. And so that's hard for me to watch because I know how struggle — how much of a struggle that can be. My husband and I, we've grown at different times. So sometimes he would be ahead of me or vice versa. And sometimes it is a kind of a stressor on your marriage when you're not seeing a hundred percent eye to eye on things. And it's just a true opportunity to practice patience and prayer for your spouse and realize that even if they're not fully on board with you, that just your willingness to be there and pray for them. And when they're — when they come back, then you open your arms and welcome them. Fr. Patrick: Laura, God is — God is working an awesome ministry in you. And when I think of the word ministry it's to give, you know? We're giving something from the Lord to others, and it's your nursing background, the medical background, and the spirituality, and your own personal history walking this journey is a powerful combination. And there's times we hear scriptures in a whole new way, like, the Lord sheds a new light on that scripture. And I imagine you with these couples, that sometimes, you know, God, I thank God for his mercy, that he meets us where we're at, loves us where we're at and encourages us to come along. And when you're with a couple, that's like one of them's, "I'm just here to fulfill the obligation," when you're in one of those situations and the words of Jesus, when he says in Matthew chapter four, verse 17, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Fr. Patrick: Now this is so awesome. Like you're carrying this message in your teaching of NFP that you know, to repent is to have a change of mind. And the kingdom of heaven is at hand for couples that — for two disciples of Jesus that are about to become husband and wife, the kingdom of heaven is truly at hand at the heart of the sacrament of marriage. God will be the center of it. God, the author of life, will be the center of the marriage and have a change of mind about how you feel about, what you think about fertility. And, you know, you are opening with this gift of seeing fertility as part of the gift that's given in the marriage act opening up to the creative power of God. So your message, I just think it's so powerful when you're teaching on this. It really is a have a change of mind. Fr. Patrick: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The author of life is the center of your marriage. And he can work wonders with your fertility. And by the way, it really helps the spirituality of your marriage. When you make a full gift of yourself fertility included in every — you know, at the heart of every marriage act because it's your body confirming your marriage vows saying again, I do with everything. I do. I got to ask you, sorry, I'm like a fire hose right now, but we're many people have heard of Natural Family Planning. Laura, I think a lot of people, myself included, haven't heard until very recently the Marquette Natural Family Planning Methods. So please tell us about that method. Laura: Well, it is a sympto-hormonal indicator method. So you look at hormones in urine samples, and then you determine when your most fertile time is based on that. Also you can add in other indicators, like checking your temperature, looking at cervical mucus, other hormonal tests that are kind of extra, but that is basically the nuts and bolts of the Marquette method. As far as what it is compared to others. Emily: And testing hormone hormonal levels. I mean, that's very scientific. I think a lot of people who maybe aren't familiar with Natural Family Planning might have some outside, you know, misconceptions about what it is and how truly, you know, rooted in science a lot of these methods are. And I know that with the Marquette Method in particular in the testing not just monitoring symptoms, it really is. Laura: Yeah. It's a lot more objective. And I think that gives a lot of people, some confidence because especially people who are new to NFP or maybe they are trying it after — trying the Marquette Method after a different method, didn't work for them or whatever. They feel a little nervous trusting their own interpretation of things. So it's really nice to just have something that gives more of a cut and dry answer to some of that. The Marquette Method, isn't always a hundred percent cut and dry, but that's where having an instructor really helps. And we help people through those difficult readings and those difficult cycle irregularities and things like that. Fr. Patrick: Laura, I have to ask you so having — raising five children, I love the age range, an eight month old baby in the house, and then the oldest being 11. And then also thank you for sharing with us about how a stillborn and also the miscarriage, you have two in heaven. So, a mother of seven. Okay. Comment, another question. So I imagine you may have had, when you tell people, "Hey, I'm raising five kids at home," you may have had a person that you look you like, does it, does this really work? Fr. Patrick: But then the question is like, I mean, from your heart as a mother, who's been blessed with seven children. Could you just speak from your heart about like the blessing that having a big family has been? Laura: Thank you for asking me that because I completely thought I was crazy, but sometimes I would start out my introduction, like, yes, Marquette does work if you are here trying to avoid a pregnancy. We were blessed with our children, but we definitely try for them, too. But yeah, so I always thought I was a little crazy starting with that, but I thought, yeah, they probably look at me and think, I don't know if this works, maybe we should get a teacher with like two kids. I don't know. So the children, that was something, another thing that I realized, when I had that stillborn, I realized God kind of gave me this moment of almost like heaven when I was holding that baby that, you know, I wasn't going to get to take home. And I realized that everything that I look at in my life as important is really a lot of materialistic reasons for living. Laura: And I just realized that the most important thing are, for me, my children. My family. Because a new soul, is someone, something you can take to heaven with you when you die, or maybe not when I die, but hopefully after I die, but you get the picture. So I just, it really changed my perspective on children. And when I realized that the reasons that were holding me back from having more children were mainly selfish reasons. And every once in a while, don't get me wrong, I'm still like missing that life where I only had a couple of kids. We could do this or that and go on more dates and people would actually babysit our kids without probably wincing. And it has been the most — the biggest blessing. And the younger children, watching them love on the babies, the baby siblings and everything, that has been so beautiful just to watch a new baby come into the house, through the eyes of the little children. And it just really makes me grateful that God revealed that to me because it wasn't something that I had always known, I guess. Fr. Patrick: Thank you for sharing it. That's incredible. A doctor of the domestic church — there's the doctors of the Church, but then there's a doctor of the domestic church. I grew up in — my mom, oh, so very wise woman. She said she conceived eight children, and one was a stillborn, my brother Robert — St. Robert, I, you know, he's not officially canonized, but to my mom he's a saint. And so she says, after three, just keep going, like the older ones will start to help with the younger ones. And it really does lighten the load. And it sounds like, you know, that's, that's been your experience to some degree too. Laura: It has. And I don't know what saint it was that said a large family is a school of virtues. And I just love that. I don't know who said it, and I've tried to Google it, but someone said it to me before, and I forget what saint they said it was, but if I could get that on a plaque on my wall, it would be a great daily reminder. Fr. Patrick: Awesome. Emily: Thanks so much for sharing that, Laura. And I think this, you know, we were releasing this episode for National Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. And I think that just your testimony here on this episode has been a great gift to awareness, to people being open to it. As you continue your ministry, a question we like to ask people on the podcast is what is their dream? So we would love to hear either, you know, whether it's for your family or in your ministry, what is your dream for Laura Sparling right now? Laura: My dream is to continue raising my large family and possibly welcoming more. Hopefully if my husband hears that he doesn't faint. And having them all leave our house, knowing the faith in and out and knowing who they are in Christ and sharing that with others. And as far as the business the NFP business goes, I am so happy with how busy I have been with Whole Mission and how many opportunities they have given me to meet other people. They do all the business side of the teaching. So that has been a huge load off of me. And I get to just log on and share the Marquette Method with people. So I don't really, I would love to just continue teaching it the way I have been, because it's been so fruitful for me and I think for others, I hope. Emily: Yeah. On that — if people want, if women or men listening to this episode wanted to learn more about the Marquette Method or how to get in touch with you or someone like you to learn more about that, where can they go to find information about Whole Mission? Laura: They can go to their website, which is www.mmnfp, So think — dot com, sorry. So think Marquette Method of NFP .com. So mmnfp.com. Emily: Thank you. And then I guess just maybe one last question, and then maybe Father Patrick can close us with a blessing for Natural Family Planning Week. But what would you say to women, even maybe an unmarried women who might be discerning the vocation of marriage, who want to learn more about their own fertility? Who want to get started on family planning or even married women or men who might hear this, what would you want them to know if they're not practicing NFP right now different joyful missionary disciples. What would you want them to know about it for this awareness week? Laura: Really the earlier you can start becoming aware of your fertility signs the better. And so if you're not married, it's still is beneficial to know when you are fertile and all of that, and you can carry that information with you into your marriage. Also, it's great for figuring out health issues that may be going on. So even if you don't want to get married and you want to join a convent or something, it's still beneficial as a health marker to track your fertility signs. And I would also just say, if it sounds scary, don't be afraid. And just to trust in God, because he really will not leave you alone. And he will walk you through every step. Fr. Patrick: Laura, you honored your husband earlier, and rightfully so as he's served our country beautifully and sacrificing for our country in the — was it the army, you say? An army veteran. Yeah. And really a hero. And you know, your, what you do, on one hand raising five children, heroic, but also a hero helps protect people. It helps to save people. And Jeremiah 29:11 is a famous passage where God says to the prophet, Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have in store for you, plans for your welfare, a future full of hope." And there are people that God is touching through you. You're a treasure to the Church, a treasure to the world. People that God is touching through you, that the enemy is trying to block God's plans. And by being able to offer this light, this truth about fertility and Natural Family Planning and the spirituality that opens people up to God, the Creator, and his plans for their life, there are lives that are coming into being, because people have opened up and said yes to God's creative will. Laura: And I believe you're going to have a day one time, Laura, in the kingdom of heaven, where somebody comes up to you and says, Hey, part of the reason I'm here is because you helped my parents be open to life. Thanks a lot. So Laura, thank you for what you do. And friends, please check out the Marquette Natural Family Planning Method and Natural Family Planning in general, and don't be scared to take a risk and, you know, send a message, an email or a text to, you know, if you know some family that are recently married and stuff, and just always offer it in humility and in love. You never know who might, you know, behind closed doors, might need that little encouragement from the Lord to be open for life to life. Hey, Emily, I feel like I should pitch it to you for the prayer. And I'll just put a blessing at the end, cause I talked too much. Back to Emily Mentock. Emily: Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, we'll close in prayer. Thank you so much, Father Patrick. Thank you, Laura, for being generous with your time, coming on the podcast to talk about the Marquette Method during this Natural Family Planning Week, it's been such a gift to all listeners and we wish you all the best that the Lord may bless you in your ministry and in your family. So we'll just open a prayer. In the name of Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, amen. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for Laura and Father Patrick and our producer, Ron, for bringing us together for this podcast episode. We give you thanks for all the ways that you blessed us in the recording of this episode and led us with your spirit to just share the truth of the way you have designed our bodies and our marriages to give you greater glory through the gift of children and Natural Family Planning. We ask that you continue to bless Laura, her family, her clients, and her ministry and all that she does. And as well as all joyful missionary disciples here in the Archdiocese of Detroit and those who are on the path to becoming joyful missionary disciples, especially anyone who might discover you and encounter your son Jesus, through Natural — the truth of Natural Family Planning. And I ask that father Patrick closes in a blessing. Fr. Patrick: And may almighty God bless every listener, your family, your friends, your desires, may God bless you, that you have all you could ask or imagine with the grace pouring out in this blessing in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Emily: Thanks for listening to another episode of Open Door Policy, where we hear stories of different joyful missionary disciples in Southeast Michigan and how they encounter, grow, and witness in their love for Christ. You can find more episodes at unleashthegospel.org/podcasts or on Spotify, Google, Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts. See you next time.