Jesus For As Long As I

Although we did not regularly attend church, I was introduced to the Christian faith as a child and hold those values. I was raised by my grandparents as my father left my mother before I was born and life’s

Since birth, I was raised a very devout Christian: I spent the school week, eight hours a day, attending a private Christian school from Prekindergarten through the 8th grade; I attended church services all day Sunday, and every Wednesday evening; I had to be skipped into the next age range of Sunday school on two occasions because my knowledge and questions regarding the Bible had gotten too advanced for the rest of the class; by the age of 12, I began doing mini-Sunday sermons before my pastor did his; by 13, I was baptized and began speaking in tongues; throughout the course of public high school, I was a member, and then leader of the Christian Club; I was nicknamed “Preacher Boy” by my fellow church members, with aspirations to become a

I grew up in the Christian faith, where at a young age I probably accepted Christ, but it wasn’t until my twelfth birthday when I decided to rededicate my life to Him after a friend wrote in a birthday card, “Remember what Jesus was doing when He was twelve?”

For my Religious Experience Paper I decided to visit a worship center. I decided to choose this as my project piece because I had already been contemplating out of curiosity how this particular worship center worships based on previous discussions and invitations from a friend of mine that always stemmed from conversations of each other’s religious practices or functions etc. So today I was accompanied by my friend Lenore to experience her church. Multiple times during conversation Lenore has invited me to visit her church, Bandera Road City Church otherwise known as BRCC. I will admit I have wondered what kind of experience goes on behind that door at BRCC each time I’ve passed by it. I grew up Catholic and still practice Catholicism despite my concerns for some of the ways of the church. I won’t get into the personal issues as it would take too long to discuss in this paper and is not the purpose of the paper but have mentioned it in a couple of my posts in our class discussions. The way parishioners treat my sister because she is Lesbian, the outlook the church has towards LGBT is hurtful rather than the loving way of Jesus. As well as the fact that my previous parish advised me that I could no longer teach religious education since I divorced my 1st husband. Therefore, there have been times in my life that I asked myself if I wanted to continue to practice Catholicism and continue to attend Catholic Church Mass. This assignment allowed me to finally accept

Beginning just before my senior year I went through a series of trials that continued through most of my senior year. I wanted to do something for myself, and was encouraged to attend the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). I decide to go, and so in January I set off for Indianapolis. Once at the conference, I listened to music, met other catholic high schoolers, and participated in workshops. I learned a lot about my faith, and about different forms of worship. This was something that I had not previously been exposed to, as while I was a member of one of the largest parishes in Central Ohio, it is a very traditional parish that had not exposed me to much more than the basic teachings of the church, and also had not demonstrated

In the beginning I understood my Christin faith as an academic. I did as I was told, I read my bible, and I followed the Ten Commandments as any teenager does; when it suited me. I wasn’t a horrible teenager, I was raised in a small farm community that really didn’t understand someone with a vole at the end of their name, or someone who wanted to walk to the library and read rather than hang out on the steps of the malt shop/gas station. My formative years were the 1960’s. There was so much conflict and rebellion and hatred. By the time I graduated and was supposed to go out and make my way I was thoroughly confused with and rebellious. Problem was I wasn’t sure what I was rebelling against; the “rebel without a clue.” But, in the end I wound up being a successful trial attorney; I even ran for Congress! I became a Master of the Universe; I was a Goddess that walked on the earth. I believed that God already had enough on his plate, wars, famine, disease, atrocities; why should I plague Him further? After all, the Bible says: “God

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

Divine Street United Methodist Church has been a major facet of my life. This is the establishment that gave my parents the resources to raise me to find solace in a religious community, and witnessed my growth from a caring and involved perspective. The congregation has supported me through the many challenges and successes of my young life.

Growing up, my life was somewhat sheltered compared to the lives of other people my age. I was raised by both my mom and dad in a Christian household, in which I was taught morals based upon our faith. As a result of this upbringing, my parents and I made the decision to enroll me in a private Christian school in sixth grade. In this setting I was protected from the influences of the outside world. All of the language, violence, and temptations were around me, which I began to recognize as I entered my freshman year of high school. Even the walls of the highly respected establishment could not keep the real world out.

My faith mixed with Scrupulosity became a toxic prison and tormented me with obsessive thoughts about my religion, faith and morals. Though I believe that my faith would have been nothing but a positive influence on my development, the OCD turned it into a heavy burden. After my ‘crash’ in the summer of 2015, I almost rejected my faith and everything that I had been taught since childhood. I questioned everything that had been taught to me: the worldview that I was ingrained with was full of holes. Now I am meeting Jesus all over again, in

Over the span of four months, each week I would regularly meet with a former colleague of mine by the name of Terrion Austin. Terrion recently moved from Nebraska to Tennessee, due to his job opening that presented itself that would allow for him to be closer to both him and his wife’s family. Terrion reached out to me over the summer, due to the fact that he was extremely unsure in his faith. He felt that whenever he read the bible he was never felt satisfied once done reading. This frustrated him tremendously. In addition to his frustration, Terrion was often confronted by members from his job that would frequently ask him questions that he did not feel he could answer. Moreover, his inability to answer did not come from a lack of knowing the bible; however, it was quite the opposite. Terrion, like most young Christian, grew up

My journey to CCU started close to 40 years ago. I was five, and was invited by my friend one Sunday morning to attend church with her family. My memory of this event differs from my mothers, and both accounts are important and pertinent to the end result of this pivotal event. Ultimately, it brought my family to the saving grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. My memory, one of only a five year old child, still serves me with my innocent smile, a heart full of joyful happiness, and an excitement for life. I recall walking, maybe even jumping with excitement, into the house asking my mother if I could go to church with my friend. I heard my mother say; “yes,” I then grabbed her Bible and went to church for the first time. Now, my mothers

Throughout the assignment, I have explored key themes that I connected with and considered how they relate to my spiritual and religious growth, both personally and professionally. Perhaps the themes that I connected with from Mackay’s book were not the most obvious, however, they allowed me to experience reflection on my journey of Christian Life. The personal reflection required for this assignment has in itself provided an opportunity for my spiritual growth as I was challenged to recall and deal with previous issues I had, up to this time, intentionally

Before going to Mishawaka Marian, my local Catholic high school, church and God seemed more like a chore than anything. But through those four years, I know that by going through Marian I’ve gained a much deeper knowledge of Christ and how to see him working in my life daily. I’ve had several deep and personal encounters with God and it is through those encounters that I was brought closer to Him and the Christian faith. The most important event that solidified my faith happened first semester of my junior year, when my family got a call from our local hospital saying my grandma was struck by a car and on her way to the emergency room. My whole family’s life was turned upside down by one phone call and things are forever different because of it. Several broken ribs, a broken hip, a major concussion, endless doctors’ appointments and hospital visits later, my grandma was finally back home. We slowly and thankfully began to put the event behind us, but the effect it left on my family will never be able to be put away. Throughout this seemingly endless incident, I learned how important family truly is. I learned great responsibility, how to give and receive help, and not to take a single thing for granted because it could all be gone in just one second. I also felt myself grow nearer to God through this stressful and tragic experience. When you feel like you are alone and have no one to turn to, turn to God. Through Him I am courageously finding my path because I know and trust that God will never leave my side. Through all of these life experiences and memories along the way, I’ve learned so much about myself, how the world works, how God works in my life and where I can begin to see myself fitting into it. It is important to realize that it is through the bad times that we learn the most and