My Religion

I sit here, trying to decipher what exactly religion is. Is it your beliefs shared by others? Is it a community that you belong to to worship a God or higher being? When I think about religion, I automatically think about God, and the belief in something greater than ourselves, that we are not alone and not all there is in this world, and that there is a purpose to everything in life and every human being.

When I was a baby, I was baptized in the Catholic church. Shortly thereafter, my family began attending a non-denominational church. I grew up in a home believing in God, praying before meals and at bedtime, and going to church every Sunday. However, in all of those years, I felt like something was missing, like I wasn't quite connected. I had studied the bible and had taken classes, but still felt like my relationship with God was missing something... that is, up until two years ago. My mom had encouraged me to consider being baptized as a young adult to reconfirm my relationship with God. While participating in the music ministry at my church, I began to observe several of the members and how dedicated they were to their music ministry. I made the decision to get baptized. My brother began to work with me on a weekly basis to better understand my spirituality versus religion. I realized for the first time in all of my life, that it wasn't just about the stories and the classes but about my developing an intimate relationship with God. That was the important part. For the first time, it was what felt most real to me. I see how tremendously I have been blessed and I feel like I finally know what my purpose is, what I am going to do in life. My relationship with God and knowing Him has changed every part of me, who I am as a person, what I believe in, and what is most important to me. It has affected the decisions that I make, the relationships and experiences that I have in life. It has made me want share with others this great life experience. I also think it is so great that there was the religious "wire" last night between our two presidential candidates, to hear their opinions and views. That is crucial because what they believe in and what they hold strongly to is going to affect the decisions that they make when running our country. I feel that their religion and belief-structure has everything to do with who they are.