Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. It was a rather different anniversary, as our lives have been in turmoil or a while now. In the past 18 months so much has happened that you would think I would have lost faith in God rather than focus solely on Him.

In January of 2009 I was laid off from the job I held for almost 10 years. Through the grace of God I was able to start my own business to keep the roof over our heads, to keep our vehicle in the driveway, to keep the lights on, and to keep food on the table. After a year and half full of stress, our mortgage company pulled a fast one on us and we found out we are losing our home. At this point you would think I would have cracked, and I will tell you one thing. If it wasn’t for my faith in God, I would have.

While I could have curled up in a ball and cried about our ordeal, instead I focused on God and prayed that He would give me the strength I needed to get through it. I figure if He has a plan for us (which He does), there is no sense in breaking down and losing my mind. The past month has been quite chaotic, yet peaceful at the same time. We began searching for a new place to live, letting Him guide us in our journey. Our work paid off, and God showed us His mercy when we found a great new home and received the keys yesterday, an anniversary present of sorts. To tell you how stressful it has been, we both forgot our anniversary until late last night.

Through the good and the bad, we have grown as a couple (and individuals) each and every day of our marriage. We’ve moved from coast to coast, we’ve brought three awesome children into the world, and most of all, we have both grown closer to God than either of us thought we ever would. I’ve definitely grown closer to Him than I ever thought I would.

It seems as though I am just beginning this journey, but I also know I’ve had a long road to travel just to get here.

Several years ago I attended a funeral for a young girl who was murdered. The funeral was held in a small Catholic Church in my hometown, and I was appalled at the behavior of the priest. During the funeral Mass he yelled at the dead girl’s younger sister when she could not stop crying. She was expressing her grief for her sister, but the priest said it was no time to cry, that we should all be celebrating her life. When the young girl could still not control her tears, he slapped her. The sound of his hand hitting her cheek stunned us all.

I was baptized in a Southern Baptist church in Las Vegas just weeks before my friend’s funeral and I was so disgusted by what I had witnessed that I vowed never to step into a Catholic Church again in my lifetime. I figured that any church that condoned this type of behavior was no place for me. Over the course of the next few years my disdain for all things Catholic grew and my heart hardened. I had bottled up that anger for so long that I couldn’t even verbalize what I was truly feeling. It wasn’t until I met my wife 14 years ago that I was able to talk about that day, and the actions of that priest.

At the time, I considered myself a spiritual man. I was willing to accept whatever God had planned for me. I didn’t realize at the time that I was already on a journey that would eventually bring me full circle right back into a Catholic Church.

Sitting here, as I write this, I realize that I have been on a spiritual journey since that day in 1984 when a priest who was a poor representative of the Catholic clergy slapped a young girl simply for expressing her grief. I realize that my path to God was much longer than it should have been, but I needed to walk that path in order to find myself, let alone the God I have so desired.

Throughout the years I have felt the Holy Spirit calling me, although ‘the world’ kept coming between us. Earlier this year I decided to become more committed to my faith. Leaving the world behind, I make sure to read the Scripture every night, so I can spend time with God.

I have a lot more to say about my journey and that’s why I have decided to write about it here, on this website. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven.

As I venture down the path of enlightenment to learn about and become a member of the Catholic Church, I realize this is my time, this is my season. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again somewhere down the path.