Personal Narrative: My Body As A Religion

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.

My name was announced. The silence in the room allowed me to hear the judges’ pens scratch through my concise, four- letter name. With my baggy blue button- down, and all black dress- pants on, I proceeded down the auditorium aisle and onto the stage. Even though the crowd consisted of only around 30 uninterested students who purposefully displayed their lack of care, I still felt a pressing audience. Turning to my public- speaking teacher, I acknowledged the “you-may-begin” nod and turned back to the crowd, realizing what I had gotten myself into.

I am an atheist, but it wasn't always that way. My entire life there was a constant pressure on me to accept that there was a supreme being that created all. Even at a young age I couldn’t bring myself to fully believe this. I continued grasping for straws because, just like every other religious person, I was scared of the “consequences” that would come with not believing. My Non-Denominational Christian Church promoted telling this to everyone, even children.

I became a Christian in 1982 while in high school. I had never attended church prior to Easter 1982. I found something interesting in the whole of the service and decided to read a Bible. The Bible made some sense to me. I had a few questions about some of the stuff that had happened and was given Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. Well that answered most of my questions. I was also given Mere Christianity which answered more questions. I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit and asked G-d to come into my life and forgive me of my sins.

I am writng these thoughts and addressing it to you, Kyle, not with the intention to come to an agreement (in fact, I would be very upset if a Christian would completely agree with my point of view), but to listen what you have to say and learn from you. To get the knowledge not only about the religion, but about how people live their life, and you Kyle, are insightful, in my opinion. Although our opinions are far apart I still can tell that I enjoy listening the ideas and standards you propose.

One Sunday morning I got up and started getting ready for church. I went into my bathroom and started to take a shower into I realized that my water was curtail because I didn’t pay the water bill. So I went out to the whale and got some water to at least brush my teeth and wash my face. After I got done brushing my teeth and washing my face I went into the kitchen and ate a smattering plate of eggs. Then I went into my room picked out my outfit and headed on to church. When I got into the church the pastor asked everyone if the could support the church and I couldn’t inalienable anything. When church ended I, went to get something to eat at old south, while i was eating I saw two of sister that came in the restaurant and I only showed discriminate

I intensely watched as the landlady drug my body up the stairs. As she took my body up to my room. He started to realize she was more than slightly off her rocker. After she got my body to my room, she left and came back. As I looked closer, I noticed that she had a scalpel, bag of jars. I watched as she cut my body open, and started to put my organs in the jars. After she emptied my body, she started to stuff my body with sawdust. I should’ve left before she showed me around.

I see language as a huge blessing. When utilized properly, it can encourage, teach, and help others. It can also be used to express ourselves to our core. To be able to reflect what is within our hearts, though, we must dive deep into emotions and language. Paired, they allow us to understand one another so that we can communicate and help each other through life, something that is definitely not meant to be done alone—which exactly explains why God gave us all community. With life being like an ocean, I truly believe that we cannot survive without God, first of all, and also without people. Because they are so important to me, I place emphasis on understanding how to properly use the English language so that I may glorify God, showing my thanks to Him with my every sentence whether it is verbal or written or thought. This portfolio, thus, is a reflection of my identity and journey with God—all constructed with language and emotions to portray my love for communicating with Him and His people. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable inyour sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14After being rescued by Him, I gained sight. I no longer saw the things around me and within me with a blurry lens; I took on the clearest lens, as though my eyes became cameras, to see things with truth. With this new vision and mindset, I began to see my own mistakes as well as those around me. Because of this, I understood what needed revision and what

I was born into the church. My parents were both Christians, so were their parents, and so forth. When I was seven, I was baptized at my childhood church. Somewhere along the way, I stopped attending church and grew distant from it, even grew resentful towards the Christian Church at one point. It was until my Junior year of high school that I reentered my walk with God after a life-altering missions trip. Then, I became incredibly involved with my church. I joined a youth group and bible group, I watched kids at my church, whether it be Sunday school, AWANA or VBS, and I began to mentor my peers a few years younger than me. Since then, I have developed a deeper relationship with God, and I'm learning to trust Him more and more each day. As

What kind of person would I be Today if I did not have my Catholic faith? The past two years I have often asked myself this question. Starting my seventh grade year of school I had a difficult time with the girls in my grade. I was ignored, left out, talked about, I always seemed to be alone, and I only had one friend in my class. My eighth grade year seemed much worse because my friend switched schools. I became very close to switching schools multiple times that year; however I managed to stick it out until high school. My freshman year all my new friends were into the boys. It bothered me because most boys would not talk to me because I wanted to stay pure. Through all of this I kept my faith and it lead me through it. At church on Sundays

When I left treatment for alcoholism in June of 2007, the person who picked me up told me I needed to find a church. He told me it was not about religion, but about spirituality. So the search for my spiritual home began. I looked at fundamental Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Metaphysics at Unity. I found my spiritual home with Unity and metaphysics.

The days are becoming colder and our power is slowly running down along with the supply of food. The first lady came over the television screen reminding us that the disease is near. “Doctors and Scientists all over the world have discovered if red, irritated skin with water bumps appear on the body there is a sixty-eight percent chance of having the contagious virus flowing through the body”. Hearing that, I had the urge to search over mine and my family’s body a trillion times to make sure we were safe.

What does this have to do with my religion you might ask? How is that good, true, and beautiful to me? First of all, my church was always a great place to be during the week for mutual and for sacrament meeting on Sundays back in Oregon. Mostly I’m not good meeting new people, I thought it was going to be difficult in Arizona. But everyone greeted me with open arms and I started to see good in my life again. As I went to the new Gilbert temple and took place in the dedication, I felt one of the strongest feelings of peace I’ve had in a very long time. I started to realize my life wasn’t bad as I made new friends in high school and accepted who I am as a

It was 1996. I had written a guest column for The Dispatch for a number of years when, out of the blue, the Lord gave me the opportunity to write a monthly religion column for the paper. I easily say that it was the Lord who opened this door for me because I had never heard of a religion column written by anyone other than a pastor. Yet the Dispatch took a chance on me, just another stay-at-home mommy at the time, and today, I’ve written this monthly religion column for over 20 years.

When I am not spending my time within a class room, I spend most of my time trying to better myself as a person spiritually and physically. To enhance my spiritual side, I invest my time reading books about religion, watching lecture videos or even attending a lecture at a mosque with the Iman. Obtaining knowledge about my religion helps me to develop a connection and better understanding of my beliefs, instead of blindly following them. Not only do I obtain knowledge about my religion, but also of other religions as well. By doing so, it helps me develop an understanding of other’s beliefs and their perspective on certain topics and why they believe what they do. Religion in general simply fascinates me and I strive to learn more each and