My Grace Filled Life

Archive for July, 2011

I came to you and you showed me happiness
As you drew me closer I saw your holiness,
But the fear in me took over
I was afraid of letting go and getting sober.
I feared your greatness because I was weak
So I drifted and stopped waiting for you to speak,
Little did I know that loneliness would settle about
Even the beauty of the flowers I started to doubt.
Then I realized that one cannot live without water
As I gasped for air the weather became hotter,
That’s when I came back begging for your grace
Thanking you every moment for rescuing me from that phase.
Now I am here and I am stronger than ever
Leaving you again is an absolute never,
For how can I allow for the darkness to reoccur
How much more of it can I endure.
Without you wounds and daggers were all around
A ray of sunshine was not to be found,
That place was like a dry land waiting for a tear of rain
But the clouds were completely drained.
I came back ashamed not knowing what to say
But still you asked me to stay,
Before you I was blinded and could not see
I was drowning in my own materialistic sea.
You opened my eyes to feel your love
With you around me nothing is tough,
Everything is gorgeous and full of beauty
Serving you is the most glorious duty.
That great happiness returned to me as soon as I arrived
Your holiness became essential for me to survive,
The world no longer revolved around me
But rather around the world which bows to thee.

On April 23, 2011 I celebrated two milestones. The first was my son’s 8th birthday and second was my confirmation into the Catholic Church.

The funny thing is when I began my faith journey 4 years ago it was not my goal to become Catholic. Although I was baptized and married in the church it was not my vision to continue on that path.

You see I came to faith in a Protestant Church and that is where I wanted to continue my faith journey with my family, but God showed me that His ways were greater than my ways.

You see it was my constant prayer that God would open my wife’s eyes to what was wrong with the Catholic Church. What God did instead was show me what was right in the Catholic Church.

It was my prayer that God would light a fire upon my wife’s heart for Him. What God did was show me that I was blowing out her flames.

It was my prayer that I would be a useful tool for the kingdom of God. What God showed me was that it would be done in the Catholic Church.

Coming from a Protestant background I had some reservations about that call upon my life. I had many questions about the doctrines of the church and when I posed them the answers I received were not compelling enough for me to give my all.

Then one day I was introduced to the Author Matthew Kelly and his book Rediscover Catholicism. After reading his book my questions were answered, my doubts were removed, and my mission was now clear. It is my mission to aid in the awakening of a sleeping giant known as the Catholic Church.

It is now my mission to inspire others to embrace their faith through sharing my story of a transformed life. A life once plagued with addictions, now a life filled with God’s grace.

I have been attending the Catholic Family Conference here in Southern California for a number of years and each time I attend it just refreshes my soul and I’m so thankful for all that goes into the conference. I try and live my life walking in the ways of our Lord but you know, this world is sooo busy and consuming and you just get caught up in it; of course going to weekly Mass you get that Sunday burst of the Holy Spirit and we see our Lord come right before our eyes, which is such so Holy. Now, we as a church are so blessed to have our Priests but they are so busy with so many things and we really need to keep up our walk during the week and to feed our souls and that’s why I’m so thankful for ministries such as CRC, who are always looking for ways to feed our souls. I belong to the CD of the month which is awesome, from time to time I’ll stop in at the chapel on Weds. evening to see John and just get fed the knowledge that God has given him and Terry. How many times do I pop in a CD of Jesse Romero and Father Calloway and just get blessed. I guess what I’m trying to say is we have such a great resource here in Southern California to be able to increase our faith and its not just on Sundays. I really like the idea of Catholics Blogging, I don’t belong to social media sites such as facebook, but you know this is something like a “gracebook” and I hope it catches fire. Oh, also wanted to share that in Diamond Bar at St. Denis they have week day 5:30pm evening mass followed by the exposition of the blessed sacrament. Pray, Pray your Rosary’s for our Lady’s intentions at Fatima and if you can read the book “Fatima for Today” it was the grace I received to pray the Rosary Daily! God Bless my fellow Catholics. Keep Blogging.