The Overnight Mom

By Marc Massery

Overnight, Kenzie Mormile of Cleveland, Ohio, became a mother. That is, when she married her husband, he had a 6-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. “He had a big reversion [to the Catholic faith] around the time she was born,” Kenzie said. “We met through church, helping out through Life Teen.”

Being only 23-years old herself, Kenzie tried to find some guidance regarding how best to deal with such a quick transition to motherhood. “I needed advice, so I went to the internet. Everything I was finding was from a secular perspective. The few things from a Christian perspective were not enough that could help me in my struggle. Most stepparents and blended families are accepting of things like divorce. But my husband really was new again, so here we are trying to live the teachings of the Church, and I felt like I had no guidance in this area.”

Since she couldn’t find the resources she was looking for elsewhere, Kenzie decided to create them herself. She started a YouTube page called “The Overnight Mom.” “I had always felt a call to do something with sharing the faith,” she said. She started making videos about her own story, integrating her views about faith and motherhood.

Her husband wasn’t the only blessing that came from volunteering for Life Teen. During the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, one of the teens introduced Kenzie to the message of Divine Mercy. “She was teaching the other teens about the message, but that was the first time I came to understand it,” Kenzie said. “I recognized the Divine Mercy Image because my grandma had it at her house. I had always thought it was just a generic image of Jesus. I never knew where it had originated.”

 For a video series on her YouTube channel one Lent, Kenzie broke down the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska into 40 sections, one video for each day. “I had never read it before … I was just sharing my thoughts on what I had read in that section to the people on my channel. Several people said they got the Diary and followed along.”

The Divine Mercy message and devotion quickly became a great comfort in Kenzie’s life. “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy has helped me so much,” she said.

When Kenzie became pregnant with her second son, she had many complications. “We weren’t sure what was wrong. I was really worked up with anxiety,” she said. So she decided to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet whenever she felt overwhelmed. “All I could do at that point was trust. Of course, God came through. I don’t know why we let ourselves get so anxious and doubt. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is powerful to me.” So enamored by the message of Divine Mercy was Kenzie that she gave her second son the middle name “Faustino,” in honor of St. Faustina, “because [the Chaplet] was such a prominent devotion for me during my pregnancy,” she said.
Today, she keeps a Divine Mercy Image on her fridge and in her pantry as a reminder that Jesus will always provide for her and her family’s needs. “We don’t have to worry so much. We just have to trust in Him.”

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