I grew up in a Christian home. Where we went to church every Sunday, we pray together as a family etc. I never really thought about it. I just went through the words not thinking abaout the meaning. Not taking it to heart. When I grew older, prayer became an indepedant thing.
Every time I would go to bed, say a prayer...
Every time I would wake up, say a prayer...
I would just go through the words. Again, not taking it to heart, not thinking how big the impact it is to pray. Not thinking that God actually plays a big part of my life. At the time, He really did play a big role in my life, in a sense. I always had seen my parents pray really hard, and as a child, I was really influenced by my parents. So, I would go through the actions like my parents. Even when I pray independently. FOLLOWING??
Okay, let's fast forward to my GRADE 8 year. This was the year of when I got confirmed in the Catholic-Christian faith. This was the year when I was graduating and moving on into high school!! Exciting stuff eh?? After June came, when I graduated, I started to.... I guess... not care about praying often. So I started to gradually not pray as frequently and consistently as I did before. So going into high school, I was excited for the new year and everything!! GRADE 9 was a year of discovery of a new school and finding out how that system works. At that same time, my faith and spiritual life seemed to start fading slowly. Along with my faith was my sense of identity and pride. Less praying, Less interested to go to church, I wasn't interested to live a faith-filled life like I was when I was growing up. That is what my parents implemented in me from the very start!! Come GRADE 10 and my relationship with God was non-existent. My faith and spiritual life was not there anymore.
At this point of my life... everything was a wreck!!
- Faith/ Spirituality
- My sense of identity
- My emotions
- My family
- My grades
and just to add to that is that I was lonely!! and I was walking on this earth lost, not knowing what I was doing and why I was living!! I was walking around confused!!....................... yeah..................... things were not going good for me at this point!!
Well, when I was finishing up my GRADE 10 year, My life had made a full 360!! I had a life changing experience. I am not going to tell you about it cause we will be here forever!! This life changing experience taught my how to pray again. Not just go through the actions, but really meaning what I say to God!! I started to pray through my heart. I started to have a true relationship with him!!
You know, I am really strong in my faith now. But I am not a perfect person. So, sometimes I would not pray for like a month and a little bit, and in that time I literary start to get "emotionally sick."
So with the power of the prayer keeps me alive, and keeps me healthy and keeps me on the right track. I ACCEPT GOD IN MY LIFE AND HE IS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE!!