Discovering, Following and Sharing Christ

I was born on a rainy night in San Diego, California. it was December 9th 1985 .

I grew up in a non-practicing protestant family. We occasionally went to church and the only time we prayed together was at mealtime. I can’t recall my parents ever reading the bible to us.

We moved around a lot due to my dad’s job, which that we didn’t stay at one church very long if we did at all. So we wound up doing a lot of what I like to refer to as church hopping. This made it very difficult for us to stay grounded in our faith. So as I went from church to church denomination to denomination I never truly felt at home in any of them.

I was born with a condition called Spina Bifida, which basically without getting very scientific just means that my spine and spinal cord weren’t developed properly and this caused a lot of damage to my body. Over the years I’ve had over 20 surgeries the first of which occurred within 24 hours of my birth.

Growing up with Spina Bifida presented it's challenges. It automatically gave me the label of "disabled". It shaped the sort of childhood I would have in that many kids didn't want to be friends with me because they saw me as different and many other less kind variations of the word.

I was often made fun of laughed at and even bullied. As a result I have struggled off and on with depression, Lucky for me I have an older brother who would stand up for me and take care of the bullies. Although not always in the best way, but he always took care of them one way or another.

Although I always believed in God, I was angry and resentful towards him for the things I had been through, for the pain and suffering I had endured as a result of my body being the way it is. I very rarely went to church. I even more rarely read the bible or prayed. If I did pray it was most likely for this suffering to come to an end. To my disappointment at the time it never did come to an end and it still hasn't, but today I'm ok with that. Even through all of that, I still considered myself a "Christian".

During the summer of 2009, I was invited by one of my mom’s co-workers to attend a course called Discovering Christ by ChristLife, a ministry for evangelization that also has other courses called Following and Sharing Christ, which i have also been involved in. You can visit their website at christlife.org . The course was being presented for young adults. I was reluctant at first because this was something completely new to me. In all honesty, it was the free meal that was being offered that ultimately convinced me. Toward the end of Discovering Christ there was a retreat and on that retreat, I experienced a conversion. This experience occured as I was being prayed over by others. I was overwhelmed by the unconditional love of the Lord. This experience was beyond words and something I had no idea was even possible, it was life changing.

As a result of the experience, I coverted to Catholicism on April 23rd, 2011 and I attend Mass weekly at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, MD. I have been involved in the Ministry of ChristLife through the ChristLife Young Adult Community and ChristLife Missionary Community since. I have had multiple opportunities to share my conversion experience through sharing my testimony at conferences and on video through ChristLife. I have learned that the Christian Journey does not end with an initial conversion. It is only the beginning, and the journey is a life long ongoing conversion.