Personal Narrative: Religious/Spiritual Identity

The results from my summary reveal that my number one personal value is religious. I was not surprised by the outcome at all because I am very much into my religion. I love to have my own time when I can sit back and read my bible in peace and reflect back over what I just read. Leaning on the Bible gives me a sense of peace, and it reassures me that I can face and overcome any obstacles.

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.

Pastor Ed, it was so wonderful to meet you and your team. I was sitting down today to write a thank you note to the Connect Team for your wonderful hospitality and love. I have been telling everyone about the amazing ministry that Gateway has that ministers to the Body of Christ and Churches. We are now discussing ways to implement some of the things that we heard. I spoke with Pastor Aeneas about some the things we can implement quickly, like weekly meeting with key leaders, establishing a pray team for him and his family, and rotating volunteers so that they can get a break. We have a lot to accomplish, and as you know it is sometimes a challenge for The Spirit Church.

it was late, and my ears were still ringing from the scream-fest my mother decided to have with my dad.

This week’s assignment in retrospection has taken me through a whirlwind of memories, as my past is scattered with times of great joy and other times of despair and intense loss. All of this has ended up being useful. Some of the most growth in character has come from hard times. In reading the book Courage and Calling by Smith (2011) Smith spoke of looking for “footprints of the Spirit throughout our stories”. This focus gave me great joy and revelation.

The two categories that have made me who I am as a person were my religion and my family influence. Growing up in a Christian based household has shaped me as a person since the ten commandments have helped guide my life. My family has really shaped who I am, my parents have always taught me right from wrong and have helped become the good person I am today. That’s why both of these categories are rated as 30% because they both have equally influenced me to be who I am today and have helped get to where I am today.

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

Currently on our Earth, there are 6.6 billion human beings living everyday, and out of the 6.6 billion, 33% of the whole population (2.2 billion) are Christians. Let me put it this way. In a room with 3 people, 1 person is Christian. Christianity is a religion that has been picking people back up when they are down, comforting people when they are in doubt, and performing miracles everyday.

As a person that had a religious upbringing, I think it is interesting to view myself where I was and where I am at this moment in time. I do not have a religion; in fact, ever since I was around 15 years old I rejected religion immensely. My mother and the rest of my family used religion as a way to “put me in my place” as they would say. Right now, I see religion as just that; a way to keep people in order. I’ve always been an inquisitive person, someone that strives for the truth, and anything that hindered me from doing so I refrained from putting my trust into it. With that said, I went into this interview with low expectations. I’m not too keen on things that put me out of my comfort zone, but one thing that being in college has taught is that in order to grow sometimes you are going to have to be uncomfortable. Since I got to Old Dominion in 2014 there has been this Christian group on campus that has been more than persistent in harassing me and some other people on campus. I never considered giving them the time of the day until this assignment required me to interview someone from a culture group that I do not share a membership in.

I study the bible , pray and worship God, it's my favorite thing to do every day,besides teaching everyone I know what I have learned from Gods word. I have two grown daughters from a previous marriage who inspire me always to continue in the word of God. I am blessed to be married for the last 25 yrs.

Think of the best thing you have ever done, the thing that just makes you feel happy inside for doing it. Maybe you went on a mission trip and helped someone struggling in another country, or you secretly gave someone struggling some money to help them out, and you didn't do it for the recognition, or maybe you just did something as simple as making someone who was sad smile, and feel a little better. Regardless of what it is you made a big impact on that person or people. Some people do these things on their own, but if you are a Christian you probably did it because the Holy Spirit inside of you moved you to do it. The Holy Spirit, or also referred to as Christianity, is a powerful force that will always bring good to those who accept

If someone were to describe me based on the outside information that they are able to see they would probably say that I am a Caucasian female. They would also describe my religious beliefs as being a Christian. Also they would describe my sexual orientation as being heterosexual. I would hope that people would describe me in a positive way, however if people learn those things about me they might start judging me either positively or negatively.

I beleive I am very open to many religions because I have personally explored many throughout my 16 years of life. As well as my parents they did not baptize us because they wanted us to choose our own religion, they also believe in different things. I have never judged someone based off their religion because it's their life not mne but I also surround myself with people that don't judge me

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked (Psalms 84:10 NIV).

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.