AJ the Irish Lass' Ramblings

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My spiritual journey has been a long, and interesting one. Here is my story of how God lead me back to where I needed to be after an exploration of other faiths.

I had been baptized and raised in a church-going family, but stopped going for a time just before adolescence. Despite my mother’s efforts to bring me up in the faith, I had no interest in religion, and, to top things off, I encountered some other girls in middle school claimed to be believing Christians but took delight in harrassing and hurting others. I mistakingly got the idea that if this was what Christianity was about, I wanted no part of it.

It wasn’t until after my mom took me out of public school and started homeschooling me that I started to look for answers to life’s questions. I took an interest in the New Age movement and occult, and while it was fulfilling at the time, it still left me with a lot of questions. The New Agers I’d met had a high opinion of Jesus, and I realized that He wasn’t the bad guy, it was just that some of His followers misunderstood His teachings.

In my search for a faith with more structured beliefs, I studied Judaism. Before I seriously thought of converting, I asked myself exactly who I believed Jesus to be: a rabbi? one who tried to show us the “diety within”? the Messiah? the Son of God? When I realized that I answered yes to the last two, I knew I couldn’t convert to Judaism, because it wouldn’t have been honest to join a faith whose beliefs I didn’t share on a major issue.

One Saturday, out of the blue, I asked my mom if she’d take me to church the next morning. We went to the same church I’d been brought up in, and I knew I was truly home. On April 25, 1998, I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church. I know the returning to the Christian faith was the right decision, and I’m glad I made it. When I think of the negative attitude I’d had towards other Christians, I’m reminded of St. Paul (Acts 9:1-22) and his conversion.

It is my prayer that all who are seeking God will both find God, and have the support of family and community as well.