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Articles The Conversion Story of a Washington MI leader This is for all of you who have ever wondered, or wanted to know why I chose answer God's call for my life by becoming a Catholic. Feel free to pass this along to whoever you think may want or need to hear this, whoever you think could benefit from it. I love you all. I am praying for you. "The Greatest Gift God Ever Gave Me" Indeed, throughout the course of my life God has given me an infinite amount of blessings. I believe he offers all persons these great blessings in his pure goodness and divine Love, and that it is up to us to come forth to receive these graces. The Eternal Father, in his goodness, has given me one particularly amazing gift. I am a convert to the Catholic faith, and I believe the greatest gift God has given me is the fullness of truth that is found only in the Catholic faith, and along with this he has given me his own body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Holy Eucharist. The Catholic faith is the greatest gift God ever gave me because it has set me free in a way much greater than I am able to understand. Prior to becoming Catholic, I grew and learned about the faith for several years before finally entering God‚s Kingdom on Earth. As I learned God‚s truth about humanity, I found the freedom to be exactly what I was created to be. In receiving the sacraments these truths were sealed in my soul and I have been strengthened beyond what I can comprehend in this life. My joy and peace are now truly complete. What I have spent my entire life thus far searching for, praying for has at last been given to me. My desperate prayers and cries for truth have been heard; God met me in my weakness, lifted me up, and drew me unto himself. My journey began when I was a young girl. God was always very real to me and I always felt he was very near. It seemed I was always praying, reading scriptures, leading a rich spiritual life at a very young age. This was all incredibly alarming and puzzling to my parents, who were not religious at all and never had the desire to be. In fact, I was raised in a rather dysfunctional home, my father suffering from alcoholism from before I was born, and my mother suffering from severe mental illness among other great debilatating health problems. In addition to this, I watched my younger sister endure great misery as she was led into a lonely and angst filled adolescence because of our chaotic family structure. Growing up was not easy. My childhood has been my greatest cross and some of the effects of it I still bear today. However, in all truth, if given a magic wand right now I would not undo or change a single event, a single moment, a single day. God is loving and God is good, and I know that His plan is to get all souls to Heaven. I have faith that every second of my life, every breath, has been a gift of Mercy and Love. Christ‚s love offered itself to suffering and humiliation of the maximum. If we say we love him, our lives, even our most frightening and painful experiences, ought to be offered in the same way. I have chosen to offer my life and all that it has been and will be, with the greatest of joy to Jesus Christ, my King. My relentless pursuit for divine truth finally climaxed when I was fifteen years old. I had been attending a non-denominational protestant Church for the past three years with friends. In the depths of me I knew there had to be more to God and to knowing God than what was offered through church, reading, and communicating with other Christians about their faith. Spiritually I was starving to death, and it was at this time that the Holy Spirit began to lead me into all truth. When I was a sophomore in high school I had a running coach who was Catholic. He was only a few years older than myself, and I looked up to this person for his dedication to young athletes and for the outstanding Christian example he set in a very secular atmosphere. Slowly we become good friends and he began to share his Catholic faith with me. It was not long until I knew in my heart that I would become a Catholic. The first time my friend took me to Mass, I knew Jesus was there. I just knew and there was no trace of doubt in my soul whatsoever. Jesus Christ was in the Eucharist and wanted to be inside of me! After I attended my first Mass, though just as an observer, I was never the same again. As God in his fathomless Love revealed the perfect truth to me, I went forward to receive the graces he began to offer. I attended RCIA classes for two years, I read a vast amount of historical, spiritual and theological books, (still do) and eventually I was received into full communion with Christ‚s Holy Catholic Church. My journey has been one of great sacrifice, and to this day I am still humbled to my knees as I realize that for every sacrifice, there has been a return of joy and strength one hundred fold. I never asked to be Catholic. If you asked me why God called me to become Catholic, I would have to tell you that I have no idea, save the fact that He knew I would never make it to Him in Heaven unless He came to me in the Eucharist. I am completely unworthy of this gift, yet I am so happy that it is mine. This is why I say with full confidence and incomprehensible joy that the Catholic Faith, the Eucharist, the fullness of Truth, is the greatest gift that God in his Love has ever given me. |
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