Personal Narrative: My Identity And Journey With God

I often hear people say “I knew I was called to preach the gospel” or “ministry is in my blood.” For many years, even into adulthood, I thought ministry was only about preaching. I did not understand the depth of ministry until I became intimate with God. I realize that those who said they were called to preach are only seeking out a job because true ministry is a lifestyle. My spiritual journey began in early childhood. However, unlike many others who grew up as pastor kids, the long boring years I spent in church services deterred me from wanting to go into ministry. Even into adulthood, I went to church but that is all I wanted to do. I wanted to go to service, listen to the pastor, give my offering, say amen then go home and proceed with the rest of my life. In fact, this cycle and my view about doing ministry continued until my late 20s. As a seminarian looking back on my childhood, I discovered my family’s church habits were the norm for people at that time. My grandmother did not believe women should to wear pants because they were things that “pertain to a man (Deuteronomy 22:5)” and the skirt should always be a modest length. I could not see it at that time, but, unknowingly, while I was grumbling and complaining about my clothes and the time we spent in church, the other believers were instilling biblical values in me that would manifest later in life. My relationship with God between ages 18 and 26 is similar to the people in the last

It started off slow and by slow I mean really slow. My father was a deacon and my mother was the Sunday school teacher for the kids and adults, My Spirituality was something I don’t think much about as a kid. I was more in to Power Ranger and Ninja Turtle that anything else. My mom and dad tried to make god a part of my life but it don’t work. I was just a little kid and all I want was to play.

HI so for some reson I felt the need to share my testimony with you today and I hope that it is because you could grow and help someone with it and if you have the want to share it with someone you have my my permishion to do so.

To say my faith life has been completely revamped in the last year would be an understatement. I had views and ideas about faith that seem somewhat vile to me know with the experiences I’ve had. From just lectures to the retreats my spiritual side has gone from that of a holiday catholic to a Campus Ministry Student. From little things to big ethic topics I’ve changed in a multitude of ways, my Spiritual Autobiography looks like looks like someone else wrote it compared to any year before it. I think faith is one of the most important aspects of our life and it took me until last year to realize it.

Within Sports Coaching Literature, it has been established that reflection is a generic term for intellectual and effective activities, in which individuals examine their experiences, in order to develop new understanding and intrapersonal appreciation (Knowles, et al., 2006). Research in this field has advocated reflective practice as an approach to professional development which positively impacts coaching effectiveness (Cropley, et al., 2012). This reflective report shall discuss, analyse and evaluate my own personal development throughout my first semester spent studying at UCFB, in order to develop new understanding and intrapersonal appreciation, and help explore my decisions and experiences, increasing understanding of

This is part of my testimony. And it is part of a letter I wrOTE back in December 2005--a month before we were invited to the Salvation Army Church for the first time by our friends Doris and Efrain. “Our church has been closed and we don’t have a church to congregate. Now I am depending on what the Holy Spirit wants for us. I am waiting for Him to tell us where we will be meeting and continue doing his work. Nelson and I know that we tried to do the best we could with the strength that the Lord gave us. It has been a very enjoyable experience and I know that the work in the Lord is not in vain. “While meditating in my years after accepting Jesus Christ as my lORD AND Savior, the following are my lessons learned: 1)I realized that I had been

31.50% of the world is Christian. 22.32% of the world is Islamic. 0.20% of the world is Judaic. 13.95% of the world is Hindu. 5.25% of the world is Buddhist. 15.35% of the world is secular, nonreligious, agnostic, or atheist. 10.58% of the world is made up of other religions. I am among the 15.35% of the world that is secular, nonreligious, agnostic, or atheist. However, I identify as a religion called LaVeyan Satanism, which sprung up into our world on Walpurgisnacht in 1966 and was birthed by Anton Szandor LaVey.

My experiences with being part of the first generation in my family to participate in post secondary studies has been both remarkable as well as challenging. My father came to Canada as a refugee over 30 years ago and dropped out of school when he was only 16 due to the Sikh genocide that occurred in 1984 where thousands of Sikhs were being killed, raped, and tortured daily by the Indian government. He was forced to work to support his family by working long and hard hours at the family farm. When he finally raised enough money, he came to Canada in hopes of a better life not only for himself, but also for his wife and future children. He worked in a factory when first coming to Canada and finally saved enough money to buy a truck. My mother

After years of being under religious manipulation and control, I a rerouted myself into a path of new adventures and learned to have an authentic relationship with God. My life changed, I found a new identity. I obtained the courage to break through the binding religious chains and experienced a new life. My experience stirred a new vision to voice messages that shine light to those blind spots- things or people that become a blockage for living our life with purpose. In my case, the constant condemnations, the judgement, the control of my emotions and thoughts I allowed others to have over my life, robbed me from living to my full potential. I no longer had a unique identity, I had become a religious puppet at a very young age. Fortunately,

The movement on the screen of my monitor was steady as a small telescope crept through the atmosphere. It made its way past the constellation of Sagittarius, the archer. I was assigned to watching the Hubble Space Telescope in its mission to capture photos of the Eagle Nebula, and it felt like a lifetime for the telescope to finally reach it. Every few seconds it would send photographs so I could analyze its journey.

My journey with God started in February of 1993, when I went to a ladies’ conference in Columbus, Texas. It was while the speaker was explaining that she knew there were some of us out in the audience, who felt guilty about something they had done in their past, and they did not feel that God could forgive them for it. But then she quoted from God’s word; “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, no things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39 NASB) The speaker continued on to say that all we need to do is

I don’t know about you, but I don’t often star at myself in the mirror, studying my own face. Does anybody? The longest amount of time I spend looking at myself is when I’m shaving, and even then, I’m just concentrating on not being a klutz and cutting myself open. I’m not being down on myself or looking for attention or any such nonsense like that. I mean, I don’t even have a Facebook. It’s just that, gazing upon my reflection is just not something I do. I get out of the shower, I shave, brush my teeth, and I’m gone, on to whatever the day has in store for me. Another thing I’m not used to is the clarity of the face.

I would like to reflect on a few key moments of my spiritual journey from childhood that has led me to my call to ministry. I do believe that as the prophet Jeremiah was called before his birth (Jeremiah 1:5) that some are called and know their purpose from an early age while others find their path later after stumbling through life. Perhaps it might be that they have heard the call but were uncertain or unwilling to answer the call. Looking back on my life’s journey, I can see the “God moments” and how they have influenced my faith journey.

Whenever people ask me the question: Who are the most important people in your life? I always start with my family which includes my father, my mother, and my brothers and sisters. Though I don’t believe everyone will answer the same to that question, we can all agree that family is very important to everyone. Though I am not coming from a perfect family, I can say that for the most part it was enjoying and satisfying. My family of origin had more structure and was perhaps closer to being excellent than chaotic. There were clear roles and association with my family. In this paper, I will talk about three concepts that I learned from this class that were evident in my family of origin: factor of mate selection (opposite attracts), parenting style (authoritative), and social learning theory in child development.

My journey in faith, the influences that have formed and informed my own life, especially my spiritual life, can be identified by a number of personal experiences. Throughout my faith journey, past experiences, current events, and specific individuals have all impacted my thinking. In the late 80’s I stayed in an all male residence {Field Hall} located on the Memorial University campus, a division of Queen’s College Anglican church. The academic aspect of university was a fraction of the complete university experience. Being an accepted and recognized member in our athletic residence was critical. Approximately 120+ people became your friends and part of your family. The majority of the students were white Anglo-Saxons from rural Newfoundland. We thought we were responsible young adults, on our own for the first time, making decisions and living out our future dreams. Mixed in amongst this lifestyle were senior students in there 3rd, 4th, or final year of study as well to help guide us along the way. We were raised to follow traditional cultural beliefs and values and not to interfere with what was happening in our neighbor’s houses.