One year ago, I was in India.
One year ago, my grandmother was alive.
And one year ago, I was still a Protestant.
What am I getting at you may ask? Well my point might be that "alot can happen in a year," or the nifty observation that "things change."
Actually, I wanted to point out that I fully believe that God has a plan for our lives and although we may not know what it is - He does - and that's all that matters.
Sometimes life takes us beautiful (or scary) places , where we meet interesting (or disturbing) people, and somehow that changes us for the better (or worse). The bottom line is that we all have a personal journey that we make- so no matter where you are coming from - true joy will come when one listens to God in the little things and then begins searching His will out.
We don't need to know exactly what God's plan for our life is, but obedience to Christ is a good place to start.
Last summer, one year ago, I was in India studying Hindi in Jaipur. While there, I probably called my (current) parish 3 times via Skype trying to decipher which day the RCIA classes would start in the fall (I was a bit enthusiatic) - but I could not get Catholicism out of my system or the question of "Is this God's will for me to become a Catholic?" out of my mind.
Luckily, I had brought 5 books with me, and quickly went through all of them. I turned to the wonders of the internet to quench my thirst for knowledge of the Catholic Church (which I was beginning to believe held the fullness of the Christian faith), and for solace in the testimonies of former Protestants that had made the same leap I was considering...to become a Catholic.
This blog exists to highlight some of those wonderful resources (see sidebar) - but I also want to say how humbled I have been to see all types of different people and different countries (Singapore, Nigeria, Mexico, England, Malta, France, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Phillipines, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, Germany and etc) whom have made contact with this website.
It has been a blessing to witness the search terms used by those that arrive here. I imagine those are some of the same Google searches that I made myself - a year ago, while I was trying to understand why there was such this intense desire to learn about Catholicism going on inside of me. It is fantastic that this website has been coming up on the first page of google for searches such as:
One year ago, my grandmother was alive.
And one year ago, I was still a Protestant.
What am I getting at you may ask? Well my point might be that "alot can happen in a year," or the nifty observation that "things change."
Actually, I wanted to point out that I fully believe that God has a plan for our lives and although we may not know what it is - He does - and that's all that matters.
Sometimes life takes us beautiful (or scary) places , where we meet interesting (or disturbing) people, and somehow that changes us for the better (or worse). The bottom line is that we all have a personal journey that we make- so no matter where you are coming from - true joy will come when one listens to God in the little things and then begins searching His will out.
We don't need to know exactly what God's plan for our life is, but obedience to Christ is a good place to start.
Last summer, one year ago, I was in India studying Hindi in Jaipur. While there, I probably called my (current) parish 3 times via Skype trying to decipher which day the RCIA classes would start in the fall (I was a bit enthusiatic) - but I could not get Catholicism out of my system or the question of "Is this God's will for me to become a Catholic?" out of my mind.
Luckily, I had brought 5 books with me, and quickly went through all of them. I turned to the wonders of the internet to quench my thirst for knowledge of the Catholic Church (which I was beginning to believe held the fullness of the Christian faith), and for solace in the testimonies of former Protestants that had made the same leap I was considering...to become a Catholic.
This blog exists to highlight some of those wonderful resources (see sidebar) - but I also want to say how humbled I have been to see all types of different people and different countries (Singapore, Nigeria, Mexico, England, Malta, France, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Phillipines, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, Germany and etc) whom have made contact with this website.
It has been a blessing to witness the search terms used by those that arrive here. I imagine those are some of the same Google searches that I made myself - a year ago, while I was trying to understand why there was such this intense desire to learn about Catholicism going on inside of me. It is fantastic that this website has been coming up on the first page of google for searches such as:
- becoming catholic my journey
- how does a protestant become a catholic
- protestants becoming catholic
- why do protestants become catholic
- RCIA classes
and my FAVORITE search goes to someone from Cincinnati, OHIO who searched for:
EXACTLY! It's not a simple thing to explain to others, but it is important. Further, I have done very little to promote this website - but it has definitely been a blessing to me - and I hope to you. For those whom have contacted me - thank you so much. It is wonderful to be able to hear from you. If you visit the site - and have something to say - please feel free to comment 0R email me at dcmeolsen@gmail.com.
Thanks! And joyful searching to you...
Thanks! And joyful searching to you...
4 comments:
Dear Deanna,
This is Fernando from Vertebral. Thanks for you visit and comment. It is a pleasure and a duty to share with people good blogs like yours.
So you’ve been to Fortaleza! I can’t believe the coincidence. I was born and have lived there for 25 years. I hope you have enjoyed it.
Bye, and take care you too!
Fernando de Morais.
I'm also a PCUSA person converting to the Roman Catholic Church, and blogging a bit about my conversion experience (http://colematson.com - series on "Why I'm Becoming Catholic"). I also enjoy seeing how many people looking to explain to others about their faith journey have found my blog. I'm glad our stories have been of use to others.
Have added you to my RSS feed, and God bless!
-Cole
I am glad I found your website. I have a similar, yet quite different, experience since I went from Protestant (childhood) to atheism (mot of my life) to Catholicism (recently). Please keep writing!
Thank you for the encouragement. I grew up Catholic (nominal with superficial knowledge of Jesus) who became Protestant (finally knowing Jesus as my Savior) and now becoming Catholic again (with even deeper understanding of Jesus and His Church - thanks to Matthew 16:18). My friends are perplexed and I'm getting some backlash. But I know I am called in the Catholic Church and the Lord's Supper. Praise Jesus!
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