Personal Narrative: My Personal Religious Experiences

Since I was born, I have lived in a religious household, gone through catholic education, and have been bred by the morals, attitude, and rules of a Roman Catholic lifestyle. This was not my choice, but how I was raised. These ways have shaped who I have become, and who I will grow to be. Although my catholic experience has been bad at times, it has formed who I am as a person and has been a guideline for the life I would like to live.

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.

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.

Ever since I was a little girl, my family always pushed Christianity. We would all go to church every Sunday and every big holiday, like Easter or Christmas. All of the grandchildren, including me, had to be in the holiday plays, where we would sing and dance for the whole church. We also were all in the choir, we had practice every Saturday, so that we could sing that Sunday. During the service, when I was younger, I would fall asleep to the preacher preaching. Once I turned 9, I couldn’t do that anymore. It was seen as disrespectful because I was old enough to stay awake during church. I always struggled to stay awake while the preacher preached. As my cousins and I grew older, we started going to church less and less, while the adults still pushed the idea.

Let me start by saying that this trip was great! when you take into account the strides that you would have seen in our kids it truly amazes you. Our youth here stepped up in an environment that they were uncomfortable in. They worked in a thrift store, the thrift store is a building that takes donations and sells the donated items back to the community for a low price to help the people out. Our kids here, along with a group with the Waxahachie congregation, each took a kid, sometimes multiple under their wings and showed them the love and compassion of Christ. All this work that we did was alongside the Compassion 21 group, an inner city ministry group. our last night in Alabama, we had a devotional period in which all of us were asked what we would walk away with.

October 22, 2017- I sent Faith a message on Facebook asking her if she had any free time within the next week to meet. I asked her if she had any questions, needed help with anything, wanted to talk, and asked her about the course. I didn’t hear anything back from her.

“To the plane!” We started to run. When we got inside the plane I asked James, “Tell me again how we didn’t go flying off the plane wing with the high winds while it’s flying?”

The clouds, the gray, the darkness, all gave way to the most pure and splendid light I have ever seen. The new environment was even more enriched in warmth and peace, but I was not yet accustomed to such a profound setting. I squinted as its ethereal radiance remained too bright for my eyes.

“Sir Yes Sir” we said as we exited the control room and headed towards the hangar.

I was very lucky to have the opportunity to interview one of my husband’s friends through his church. I interviewed a 51 years old woman who was born in Belle Plaine, Minnesota and has been living in Belle Plaine, Minnesota for the entire time. I apologized to her at first and thank her for the times she gave to me because I will ask her many questions.

In my version, I would like to improve the religious structure by eliminating the hatred from nonbelievers to be free to continue worshipping who we want. Then if some individuals don’t feel like a certain religion is for them they are free to transfer without hatred. There wouldn’t be anyone criticizing others based on what they believe and worship. Instead of hatred, there would be harmony and understanding within each religion in existence. From this version, peace, charity ,and social justice would be strongly emphasized and supported to spread kindness within the world. People would not need to feel obligated to follow a religion they don’t want to follow due to family or peer pressure. Nonbelievers wouldn’t be criticized and instead will

After my parent’s divorce we moved to Newton. It was so much more different than what I had experienced up to that point in my life. Previously I had only been exposed to a viewpoint about the workings of the world and it’s inhabitants. From the start of my life I had been told that all people knew in their hearts that there was a god. Those who claimed they didn’t know there was a god were simply denying the lord’s power in order to continue sinning. However, as I spent time in this new place I immediately learned that not everyone had the same strict ideas about the world. Through many years I went on with the same ideas I had always held. All this changed when one friend of mine was willing to challenge my ideas.

We made it onto the flight. As we fasten our seat belts, the pilot gets ready to lift off the ground. The plane

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

“Here comes a two and a half hour car ride!” I yelled with a little laughter in my voice.