Where my family has come from in the past year

I know I should be blogging more often, but I just haven't gotten around to it. In the past week, I have been meaning to and meaning to, and there were even times where I sat down and meant to, but I just haven't had quite the inspiration. I know there's a lot I need to update on and a lot that has happened, but maybe I just don't know where to begin.

When I first started going to Open Door last year, at first my family was against it. Both mom and dad would tell me that I needed to do what I was told until I was 18 (I was 17 when I started going) and that I was brought up Catholic, and that is what I was to stay. Well, I knew God was calling me and telling me what to do, and it wasn't to go back to St. Mary's. After a few weeks of going alone, Mom began to notice that I was actually looking forward to church for the first time in my life, and I had kept on asking her if she would come with me. Finally, she did, and she did enjoy it, but all she knew was the Catholic church her entire life, so she was warning me about potential false teachings and things like that. But, she continued to come with me almost every week, arranging when she would go to an Open Door service around when she would go to St. Mary's or St. Peter's.

A few weeks later, i invited my brothers to come with me, and they did, and they didn't understand how it was "church." Again, all they knew was the Catholic church and a service at Open Door was NOTHING like a Catholic mass. They said the service was waaayyy too long and "it didn't count as church."

A few weeks later, I finally was able to take my entire family: Mom, Dad, John and Joe. But, the only reason they all came with me was because after we went to the early service, then we all went to the late service at St. Peter's. I had been going to Open Door for almost two months at this time, and I absolutely loved it. I also hadn't gone to a Catholic church during this time. I had never really gotten much out of a Catholic mass before, but that Sunday, I can honestly say it was a wasted hour. I really really didn't get it. It amazed me that I could feel so alive with the spirit in me and singing praise songs and actually reading and learning from the bible, and then I go sit for an hour and recite chants that I had memorized since I was five years old and participate in the same mindless rituals and just didn't feel the precense of God like I did before.

Well, Dad didn't care much for Open Door. He is a very closeminded person. I started praying for him and mom, that they would be more accepting of me and my walk with the Lord. Even though mom was going with me almost every week, she still was uncomfortable with the fact that I had broken away with what I had been raised up in. Dad, on the other hand, was not so accepting. He thought that what I was doing was wrong because it wasn't how I was raised.

I had made it clear that I couldn't go to Catholic church anymore because it wasn't doing anything for me and there were a lot of things that I didn't agree with in Catholicism. Then, Mom started telling me about how she felt like a failure because her and Dad had brought me up one way and I was totally deserting that and leaving it behind. I have assured them over and over that they weren't failures, that because of them raising me in a church and I had a Christian base, I had never doubted that there was a God. I had just started seeking more, I needed to fill my spiritual viod and that they should be happy for me.

Everything that was going on put Mom in a difficult position. On one side was me: I was on fire for God and was looking forward to Sunday mornings and was reading in my bible for the first time in my life, and I just had a new attitude towards things. All good changes. On the other side was Dad: he was against me breaking away from the Catholic church because that's how I was raised, that I had just gotten confirmed the previous year, I was baptized Catholic at just a few weeks old, and what would Grandma think? Mom was, in a sense, torn between us. She liked going with me Sunday mornings and loved reading in her bible and learning from the sermons, but she still was going with Dad and my brothers to St. Peter's or St. Mary's. Her and Dad have had countless discussions about it all.

Fast forward to Summer. Dad had gone with Mom and me to a welcome class at Open Door where we all learned about the church's history, questions about the denomination, we learned about the church doctrine, what they believed, etc. It was really informative. That ended in summer of last year. By this point, both Mom and Dad came to terms with my spiritual choice. They were okay with me going. But, Mom continued to go with me, and go with my brothers and Dad to their service.

From last summer until January of this year, I had been growing in my faith. I got baptized last July as a new believer. My faith was stronger than it had been my entire life, and it felt fantastic.

From November of last year until about the middle of January this year, I had gone through some not so great relationships, both of which were with unbelievers. I struggled with a lot of different things during this time period. But then, towards the end of January, I met someone new, and he was a Christian! On our first date, we talked openly about our churches, where we were at in our walk with God, and more and this was all new to me because I had never been with a Christian before.

We had met on January 25, and decided to make ourselves "official" on the 28th. That was about a month and a half ago, almost two months. Coincedently, during the past month and a half, my passion for God and sharing the gospel intensified A LOT. I have felt so on fire for God in the past month and a half. It's an amazing feeling. I have been reading in my bible a lot lately, and I can just spout off all these verses. I redid the back of my car, taking off nearly all of my old bumper stickers and replacing them with Christian stickers. Adam and I have just sat down and read scripture, and we have asked each other to pray for certain situations in our lives. It's wonderful.

Because of my new passion for God that has really taken off in the past month and a half, I really want to share my story, to teach others about what God has done for me and what he can do for them. I even attended a prospective student weekend at New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha a few weeks ago.

During the past few weeks, I really started thinking about Catholicism and it's many errors. Now, what Open Door follows and where they get their beliefs from and what we read from every Sunday is the bible. What the Catholic church follows is something called Catechism. It's a list of nearly 3000 rules and phrases that are made up by man, and basically states their beliefs. Aside from the fact that we follow the bible and Catholics follow the catechism, which is wrong in itself, there are a lot of things that the Catholic church teaches and follows that are not mentioned in the bible and in some cases, straight out contradict the bible. I'm not going to name off all of them now, but it really made me uneasy.

The biggest thing that breaks my heart about what the Catholic church teaches is that you can never know if you're going to heaven or not. What we are taught is that you have to earn your way to salvation by doing good works. That if you follow the sacrements like baptism, communion, reconciliation and confirmation, you have a better chance of going to heaven. That if you confess your sins to a priest, he somehow has the power to forgive you of your sins but only if you pray the rosary or perform some act of pennace. All of that contradicts the bible.

See, for the first 17 years of my life, I had often wondered to myself if I was good enough to go to heaven. I never knew, so i lived in constant worry and wondered if I could do more "good things" to outweigh all the "bad things" I had done. I've discussed this with Mom and my brothers, and because Mom was going with me to church, she learned as I did that we CAN know where we are going to spend eternity. Last year we learned that by putting our faith in Christ alone and trusting in him, and believing that Jesus died for our sins and if we depend on that, we can know we are going to heaven! When I learned that last year, it was like I finally got it. A new life began for me. It was that simple! It just breaks my heart that Catholics aren't taught that.

Over the past few weeks I began to educate myself and learned more about the differences between Catholicism and Christianity, and it became very obvious that my brothers and dad were on a very differnt page than I was, and with mom going to two contradictory churches at the same time, I really started to have a problem with it. To me, it was like my mom was living a double life. She had put her trust in Jesus as her savior as I did, but was still going to St. Peter's with my family and participating in meaningless Catholic traditions. I have explained to her over and over that it's one or the other, you can't do both. We got into quite a few arguments about this.

Last week, mom and me spent some time together. We went out for dinner on Friday night and Saturday morning we went to The Cracked Shoe and sat there for a good two hours, and we talked about where everyone was at. She said that she is so proud of me of where I'm at, and she admires my passion for God. I explained to her about a lot of the ways that the Catholic church contradicts the bible and why it hurts me how every Sunday I am either alone or with Mom in church, and I'm surrounded by families that are all on the same page. We had again talked about her dilema, about how she feels torn. She said how especially over the past few weeks she has been struggling because I had such a desire to share, and there had been some tension in the house because of it. She also told me that she gets way more out of a service at Open Door and that she is learning there, and she doesn't get that at a Catholic church. She was just afraid to stop going because of potential arguments with Dad and what that might do to our family. I said that it isn't right for her to compromise her beliefs to please others, and she needs to start standing up for herself. If Christ is in her heart, that's all that matters. By the time we left the Cracked Shoe, she came to the decision that she wasn't going to St. Peter's anymore, just Open Door. I was so proud of her!

We got home saturday afternoon from there, and Joe was home. John was spending the day with Shelby, and Dad was out of state. We both sat down with Joe, and I did most of the talking. We asked him, "what are you trusting in to get to heaven? If you died right now, do you know where you're going?" He gave me the same answer that I would've answered with two years ago. He didn't know, and he mentioned the thing about "well if I'm a good person" and then, by the grace of God, I shared the gospel with him. I explained about God's love for us, about original sin that separates us from God, God sending Jesus to pay for our sins, and by faith alone is what saves us. It was a lot of information for him to take in. Then, we asked Joe when he was going to church, and he said he would go with Mom to Open Door that night. During the Saturday night service, I worked in the nursery, so i could hear the sermon. Pastor Sid had started a 3 part series on the ressurection, and during that service last Saturday night, he basically resated a lot of what I just told Joe at home. Of course, he did a better job of it than I did, because when church was over, Joe told me that he just got saved! I was so proud of him! I then went to babysit in Sheboygan, and Joe kept texting me, thanking me.

I continue to pray for my family, that hopefully we will all be on the same page. Joe told me that he will come with mom and me every weekend to Open Door. He even wrote on his calendar "saved" on last Saturday's date.

God almighty, I see your grace everyday in my life. Your beauty is all around me in the beautiful earth you created. I want to pray for me, that your love with continue to live in me and that I can be an instrument used by you to reach others. I want to pray for Mom, that you will continue to work in her heart and overcome any struggles she may still be having. I want to lift Joe up to you as he is a new believer, help him to grow in his newfound faith. I want to pray for John and Dad, as their eyes haven't been opened up yet. It's all in your time, and only you know what's on their hearts. I ask this all in your name, amen.