I Am An Open Book : How Can She Share Everything Out Of The Blue?

Although religion is not the universal opium of the people, it helps many escape from reality. Sister Cecilia wants to become a saint, which seems to be her goal in life

Perpetua’s father visited her often and begged her to denounce her faith. He pleaded with her to do this for his sake and her infant son’s sake. Perpetua would not do this even knowing what she was facing. Even though her mother and brothers were

It is a warm day in Tegucigalpa, the sun peeking through the cracks of the beat down building Lourdes calls home. But today begins a new chapter of her life, a life in the United States. It is January 29, 1989. Lourdes is a divorced single mother of two. She works hard to provide an income for her family, but it is not enough to purchase education and food for her kids. Like countless other women in the same situation, she decides that she will go to America and make money to send home to her children. Although she plans to leave for only a year, she will not return.

“I have learned that something happens when one makes herself available to God: He starts moving in ways no one could imagine” (Davis 43). Such was the case for Katie Davis in her heart-warming novel, Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption, co-written by Beth Clark. Katie’s nonfiction memoir speaks passionately about her move to Uganda: here she strengthened her relationship with Jesus, adopted thirteen little Ugandan girls, started a nonprofit ministry, and so much more. Katie’s unique journey teaches about sacrifice for the Lord our God and about following Him wholeheartedly with reckless abandonment. Consequently, Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis is a hopeful story that teaches readers about God’s love for us, and

In his book Share Jesus Without Fear, William Fay lays out an easy and attainable way for one to reach people for Christ. A former mobster, and prostitution house owner, Fay says that if “God can take somebody like me and change him, he can take anybody in your life and change him as well.”1 In an easy to understand, comprehensive way, Fay shows how to overcome your fears and witness to those who are lost. By breaking down the six most common excuses one uses not

Perpetua’s background already highlights her significance in the Christian community and even among the Christian women. Since we now have her own narrative of her days in the prison, we as readers can conclude that she was very likely to be literate and maybe well educated. According to W.V. Harris, Perpetua knew Latin, and maybe Greek also. Brent D. Shaw says in his article that Vibia Perpetua’s family name indicates that this was a locally prestigious family that had obtained their Roman citizenship for generations. The high social status of Perpetua is an advocating point in reinforcing the unconditioned devotion to God among Christians, especially among Christian women. As a woman with Perpetua’s significant background, Perpetua became more powerful in delivering the message of her dramatic life experience and her faith. More women in the Christian

An adage everyone has heard at least once in their life is “There is more than meets the eye.” The statement couldn’t be more relevant to those who grew up in religion. There seems to be this lens a religious person sees through based on what they've been taught. A person of faith is finally taught that what they see through this lens and what one has learned is not a concrete and direct reflection of the outside world when their perception of it has been challenged in one way or another. Upon this new realization most often, people would lean towards religion to gain the clarity that is needed. In the case of a child named Antonio, religion only added to his conflict. In the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudulfo Anaya, Antonio instead turns to a woman named Ultima who stimulates his struggle between secular and spiritual thought, all while simultaneously removing the lens that was placed by narrow-minded thought.

Everyday we all make sacrifices for people we love and in rare cases those we do not. The book Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver illuminates one family and the sacrifice they make to journey from their comfortable home in Georgia to the untamed jungle of Africa’s Congo to preach as Baptist missionaries. The story takes place in the 1960s during the withdrawal of Belgian influence in the Congo. One of the family members Orleanna Price the wife and mother of the family sacrifices everything she has to make this journey that her husband so willfully accepted. Through her sacrifice it shows us what she values. This is shown through the sacrifice of her agency, way of life and her happiness.

Today, Latinos are immigrants, this factor plays a large part in how they choose to express beliefs’; otherwise uncompromising Pentecostal churches are known to expand on their religious doctrine to focus more on themes such as struggle, displacement and migration2. Many prayers, testimonies and bible readings focus on this theme; stories such as the Exodus from Egypt receive significantly more attention than would be the norm. The Trinity Cathedral is an excellent example of this, the majority of the congregation were immigrants or children of immigrants who spoke little English; the sermon—according to the deacon—included messages about being away from home, finding faith in a unfamiliar place and traveling. St Clare’s was a bit more general in its message, while many in its congregation were immigrants the sermon’s message didn’t linger on any ‘migrant themes’ over any other theme. The use of iconography was also very important, both churches featured statues of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Charity—the patron saints of Mexico and Cuba respectively—which were visited by various churchgoers and their children3. The children’s interaction with the statues was particularly noteworthy, most did not mimic their parents’ exact practices, some children would touch a statue when their parents would have bowed to it, and others would merely contemplate the statues when their parents said

The country was foreign, a first for me. Dilapidation and ruin scattered the horizon as far as one could see. Guatemala is a place where poverty has a strong grasp on its people. We traveled tirelessly for hours to reach the poorest of the poor. Upon arrival old, young, and natives of all shapes and sizes formed receiving lines, eager to welcome us with gifts of smiles and gratitude. It was an experience that forever changed me. This was the first time I had stepped outside the boundaries of the American culture into a world where nothing is taken for granted. Each day spent on my mission trip brought a fresh awareness of gratefulness. Any pre-trip reluctance quickly became a vague memory as my emotions welled within bring a fresh change to

My body halts up immediately at the sound of the familiar voice and without warning vague memories of the past hours flood back into my brain , the panic , the need for survival , the hell .

While Louie Zamperini is coping with his PTSD with alcohol, religion gives Mr. Zamperini the hope that he required in order to forgive the people who tormented him. After attending a religious revival rent to appease Cynthia, Zamperini feels, “ his rage, his humiliation, his helplessness, had fallen away, his dignity had returned… he was a new creation.” This shows how the pastor had awakened the hope that lay dormant within him, and helped Zamperini get rid of many of the

Just like what I had known my whole life, it was a church that was mostly Latino. At first sight, it appeared homogenous, but with almost ten years there, I realized I was utterly wrong. There were men and women from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Columbia, each with their own lingos, cultural beliefs, and attitudes. For some of the men and women there, just a single border separated them, yet it seemed like they were oceans apart as people. Save for the occasional squabble, they stupefied me with their openness and cooperation toward each other, and even more with the wisdom they shared with me. At that point, I had only known how a Salvadorian lived, but through my time at church, it was as if I was getting a perfect panorama shot of the diversity I never

Lovella Mogere is a native of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands who loves worshiping and the company of God’s people. She was baptized at the age of twelve and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the age of twenty. Her testimony is one of grace, as a PK-Kid, she loved the Lord but did everything to fight against the call on her life. She didn’t understand why anyone would go out of their way to obey man’s tradition – but neglect God’s commands. Later on in life she led a destructive lifestyle due to molestation, rejection, and abandonment that caused her to reject the call of God. She did everything to stifle, to sabotage, to kill the voice, the dreams and the vision of the Lord because she didn’t want religion. She took or wore the identity of shame, guilt, resentment and anger that almost cause

Garcia post a question stating, “How should we be open to the world?” He believes churches must be open to the world because it creates unity among different cultures, and the growth of Latino in the Christian faith. Furthermore, he states when the door is open, the Holy Spirit will bring freshness, and open our hearts and minds, and he believes that the Holy Spirit is a new pattern of Reformation. Dr. Garcia wants people to have Justification by faith, grace, and forgiveness because these are very important to Latino. On the other hand, Dr. Garcia emphasizes about Reformation needed for the church, and he speaks about the difference in other’s perspective in