Religion has played an essential role in my development as a person and overcoming adversity. I grew up in a Catholic household and learned about God through attending church and my parents' teachings. One lesson that I repeatedly heard from my mother was that it was okay to question your faith. Before my parents divorced, I did not realize how significant that lesson would later be.
I was in third grade when my parents went through an ugly, painful divorce. I was challenged with the burden of taking sides and processing my emotions of anger, sadness, and pain. It was during this time period that I started questioning why God was letting all of this happen. I prayed every day and asked God to help me overcome adversity and explain why things had to be the way they were. For the first time in my life, I felt angry towards God and abandoned. Little did I know that this was merely a test of how strong my faith was in myself and in God.
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God was with me every second of every day and helped me realize that it was not the end of the world. In addition, faith allowed me to realize that there are certain situations that are out of my control. I learned that it is much easier to give the difficult situations to God and ask him for guidance and assistance. While I felt angry at God at the time, I was shown that if you have a positive attitude and mindset, positive things will happen. In conclusion, my faith has taught me patience and understanding when overcoming
Whenever I learned to trust and turn to God, I found His comfort to satisfy my soul. Almost two years ago, one of my best friends became extremely ill and had to leave home and go to a treatment clinic. (For her privacy, I will not say the illness). She had to immediately leave for she was due to die in two weeks if she did not find help. Whenever she told me the news, my whole world flipped upside down. My life had been pretty okay before this, just a few ups and downs. This was the first major trial in my life and I was not prepared. Of course, I prayed for her but I did not grasp the fact that God was going to save her. I was extremely emotionally unstable and I tried to fix myself on my own. This never worked, I may have had temporarily relief but the fear came back. One day I finally gave up trying to fix myself and turned to God. I asked Him to forgive me for not turning to Him first and I allowed him to fix me. I placed my trust in him and ran to him for comfort. Even when it was difficult, I knew I had to trust in Him. Once I placed my faith in Him, my comfort came. I had faith that He would heal her and she will not
The first thing one must discuss in spirituality and resilience is that spirituality is different from being religious. Religion is general traditional and organized while spirituality is how a person essential relates to their higher power. There is much debate on which will help you have more resilience and how you cope with different trauma or stressors. While still others feel that religion and spiritual resilience go hand in hand.
down by this religion state a man must have a calling in life, or in
I went to a Catholic grade school and was taught to trust in God for guidance. I would ask myself, hoping for an answer, why God would allow for the situation I was in. Why couldn't I have the ideal family life? It concerned me, especially because I was told by priests how awful divorce was and how it was a great sin. Was I really suppose to think that my parents were sinners because they weren't right for each other? This experience made me dislike parts of the faith that I was told to love. Never God, but the people seemed tainted by preaching a "holier than though" message to children in grade school. I became confident that my parents had made a proper decision as I became older, it would have been unhealthy to stay in a toxic environment and even a bit selfish. Putting a child through divorce is a bad experience, but I still remember being a preschooler and my parents arguing in our kitchen late at night. I even remember contemplating if there was sow thing I could do to help; I also remember just trying to pretend it wasn't there. Putting child through years of that is worse. Just as lying is worse than being honest, staying together to keep appearances (which some of my friend's parents did) is much worse. No one is happy in that
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
When I was thirteen, I was told that my grandmother would pass away within weeks, and He gave me the strength that I needed to continue living without her. I felt as though I was going to lose everything, but I knew that God would protect her far better than I could. I resorted to adding prayer into my daily routine, and I convinced myself that God would help her look after me from Heaven for the remainder of my lifetime. Turning prayer into a habitual activity definitely comforted me, because I felt as though God was listening. Had my family and I not been so religious, the loss of my grandma would have been undoubtedly more difficult. I am positive that my connection with God is what made her passing easier to understand. Having substantial faith allowed me to endure this challenging situation, because it was evident that I would never have to experience it
Religion has always been a vital exercise in my life. Whether it was going to a private catholic school, or attending church every Friday and Saturday, religion consumed my family's everyday lives. My mother was the main reason for the huge presence of religion. She grew up with father who doubled as her pastor. This naturally influenced her beliefs, actions, and decisions. I chose to interview my mother simply because I was curious to see how having a pastor as a father molded her into the person she is today.
In 2009 and 2010, I was involved in a physically abusive relationship. Due to my reliance of him and feelings involved in the relationship, I was unable to leave as soon as I should. I prayed to the lord every night to help me get out of the situation I was in. I prayed that the lord would not allow him to kill me. It was my darkest time in life but I never lost faith that the lord would see me through it. And he did. In May of 2010, I found out that I was pregnant. At that moment, I knew I could no longer allow myself to be abused and walked away from the relationship. It was heartbreaking. It was difficult. It was emotional. It was a struggle. It was empowering. I felt like a new woman. I felt like I finally had control in my life and would
I believe Christianity is a religion of resistance because the early Christians refused to comply to the Roman authority that wished for them to disband their religion and practice commonplace pagan worship of the age. However, I think that Christianity is best described as a religion of passive resistance, rather than active resistance. Active resistance implies that the early Christians outright defied the ancient laws through physical confrontation. However, the texts that we have read express that the violence that occurred is one-sided, implying that the Christians themselves did not initiate or participating in the violence. Thus, I believe that Christianity is a religion of passive resistance, meaning that the early Christians exhibited a nonviolent refusal to cooperate with the religious standards to the Roman authority and quietly accepted the consequences of their choice.
Religion and faith have been a part of my life since the day I was born. My grandfather has been a pastor at Selma Church of God for 39 years and my mom, along with my grandmother and aunts, run our churches worship team. One could only assume, I have spent much of my life in the church. From years of children 's church and Sunday school, I learned of God 's unconditional love for me and His constant willingness to forgive me of my sins. My family and teachers explained the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. As a child, I knew all these things, these wonderful things about my God and my religion, but it was not until my early teens that I began to thirst for more.
I am fortunate to have realized my faith in god in early years of my life and experiences in life have only strengthened my faith; I was born and raised in a small town in India and my elementary to undergraduate education has been from a Christian, catholic school, Convent of Jesus & Mary, a congregation established by Mother Claudine Thevnet who wanted to undertake the education of girls in India. It was in school, I first experienced the introduction to Christianity and my family being Hindu resonated a lot of common values being taught at school. Since there was no conflict in my values learnt at school and those at home, these were only deepened and have become an important part of my personality. As a result of my upbringing and my education, memories of my faith are amongst my earliest. I believe in the presence of god and I believe that god has bigger plans for me. My education and my family has integrated values in me for respecting, accepting, understanding other members of the society. Hinduism taught me how to be respectful and tolerant to others, it taught me that I need to understand that I am a human and I am here to serve and help others in need. There have been times when faced with difficult challenges in life and I have followed the path laid by god, ignorance went away and I found solutions and answers to the problems and challenges that I faced.
Just a few simple words can always change your perspective on so many different things. From that point on, I found God in most of my day-to-day activities. I talk to Him like a close personal friend, I confide in Him in my times of need and thank Him for all the wonderful things He has blessed me with, including just life itself. He showed me how to live life to the fullest, or “grab life by the horns” and “live for the now, for today. Not for tomorrow.”
This experience was the hardest on me emotionally. As a child, you view your parents as almost invincible and losing them is never a thought that crosses your mind. After my mom had surgery, the procedure caused peritonitis, which is a very severe complication. At the time, I feared losing my mom, but Christ gave me peace in the situation. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (KJV, Phil. 4:13). Through the power of prayer and God, my mom survived the emergency surgery. Even the medical bills were miraculously provided for by many gifts from family and friends. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3). The possibility of losing a parent was the most difficult experience of my life; however, during this trial, I experienced enourmous growth in Christ. After my mom healed from her surgery, God called my father to Source of Light Ministries in Madison, Georgia. My family moved to Madison, which is where I would spend the next seven years of my life. My spiritual growth continued a little slower throughout those peaceful
and faith guide me to try to better myself and get more closer with god. It help me with so many
The faith that I have, and my parents’ example, have both had a large impact on who I am