My faith journey has been a very important one for me over the past year. It’s shifted my perspective, motivated me in many aspects of my life, and truly given me peace in moments when I’ve needed it most.

I thought I’d get personal today and share a little bit about that journey with you because it hasn’t been something that just came naturally or hit me, but rather something I put a lot of work into.

I grew up going to Church like I’m sure many of you did too. We went to a non-denominational congregation in the Chicago suburb of Kenilworth and we went every single Sunday. I remember my parents getting all 5 of us kids showered and dressed up and ready every weekend and I’m not sure how they managed it, but it was important, so they did.

I learned the same Bible stories everyone else did and then when I went to college, I took quite a hiatus from Church. All those stories have become fuzzy to me over the years and only after Eric and I got married and started going back to Church did I think about them again.

I think we all go through transformations as we become young adults and part of that for me was revisiting my faith. I’ve always been spiritual, believed in the life of Jesus, and felt my Christian values as essential to directing my moral compass, but as I’ve gotten older, I realized that hasn’t felt like enough.

And then I became a mom. And this urgency to dive deeper, and really re-discover my faith moved to the top of my priority list. So we joined a Church, participated in a Sunday school class, and committed ourselves to becoming better Christians.

As you inch along your thirties, life’s uncertainties and unexpected begin happening. You start knowing more people getting divorced, losing parents, battling their own illnesses/addictions/demons. Politics and war create so much tension and fear and it’s so easy to wonder where there could be a God in all of this suffering. Yet I’ve seen convicted friends stand unwavering in their faith, holding their heads up high as these things unfold, and I’ve had this confusing envy wash over me as I’ve dealt with my own doubts.

How can someone just feel in their bones that everything will be alright? How can someone just believe? How do you stand unwavering in faith in God when horrible things happen to good people?

All of these questions have flooded my head and I decided that if I really want to ever have that deeper faith and believe, I would have to do something about it. I couldn’t sit around waiting to see if something would hit me.

So I did two things. I committed myself to a bible study and Eric and I joined a new Church that spoke to us. I know it may sound silly to some of you but these two things in under a year have turned me into a Believer. I have my moments of doubt and weakness, but at my core, I feel uplifted, inspired, and peaceful. Knowledge is power. And just by committing myself to learn more about these stories, how they connect to today, and what they mean- well, it has been life changing.

I have a long road ahead of me. I don’t have all the answers. In fact, there are so many questions I have that I feel may never be answered, but I truly feel I’m on a path toward discovery. I know that we all have suffering in life and I believe having a strong faith is the only way I’m going to be able to endure the bumps in the road ahead of me.

Anyway, that’s where I am in my journey right now. I’m at the beginning. I kind of fired off these thoughts without much editing so I hope it all makes sense. And maybe inspires a few of you to look deeper into your own paths. Thanks for reading!