Being born and raised in a practicing Catholic family, attending a Catholic school and numerous prayer meetings will get one to conclude that this was what contributed to my walk of faith today. On the contrary, it led to an overdose of religiosity, far from appealing, irrelevant and definitely not cool.
Not only did I block God but I started finding ‘comfort’ in blaming him when things didn’t go according to plan particularly my teenage pregnancy. Having lost all my ‘friends’, no work and raising a young kid, who else was to blame if not God?
When things got dark, HE surely was there, ready to get the blame. Matters got worse when I discovered my daughter was born with a medical condition. I felt alone, helpless and desperate but little did I knew that God
would make use of this to get me back on track
Community life means having a family, reassuring when things get tough. They remind me of God’s promise that he will always be with us. I was given a second chance to live a meaningful life; through Community I had my
first taste of God’s goodness and true love. I know I’m here for a purpose.
This is where I belong.
After challenging God to prove His existence He replied in the most amazing of ways, during a healing service I was so skeptical about, I felt something extraordinary. Not only was my daughter physically healed, but that day
healing had started within me. I went on a search to meet this God, the one who proved me wrong in such a loving way.
One thing led to another and I found myself at the Oratory. It felt different. Maybe it was the music, the serenity on people’s faces, but for the first time in my life, I was there with my daughter with all my weaknesses and didn’t feel judged. For the first time, I was in a place where I needed no masks… I felt genuinely loved for who I was. It was the last place I thought I would find this.
As I grew in this community the questions grew. Where do these people get their strength from despite all their hardships? How can they forgive those who harmed them? The answer was definitely their true relationship with God and support from the community.
The way the community carried me helped get to know who I am deep inside; my strengths and weaknesses, to embrace it. Only then could I get closer to God and see Him in others. This definitely doesn’t mean that things are plain sailing, but that’s the beauty of a community, one can surely not journey alone, they support me in prayer and emotionally; something I try to do for others. I attend regularly and wouldn’t imagine it any other way.
I am part of a community of people who are fragments, but once put together, irrespective of their story form part of a beautiful masterpiece. For a long time, I felt alone, but I sure wasn’t anymore and realised I never was.
My life was anything but what I planned it to be. That’s when I saw life from a different perspective.
Community life means having a family, reassuring when things get tough. They remind me of God’s promise that He will always be with us. I was given a second chance to live a meaningful life; through the Community, I had my
first taste of God’s goodness and true love. I know I’m here for a purpose.
This is where I belong!