I am a cradle Catholic. From a very early age, the hand of the Lord was upon me and he greatly blessed me. At a very young age, I began to read a children's Bible and read it many times over. Then, in my early teens, I began to be drawn deeper closer to the Lord in a more personal way. I found myself drawn to visit him in an adoration chapel and my prayer life began to grow. I was around 14 at that time. Then I got a copy of the Good News Bible and read that very eagerly. In my late teens I was very actively involved in a Catholic youth prayer group. We had praise and worship, talks. reflections, group discussions, etc. During this time, I grew personally by being mentored through a share group, but most of all because the Lord himself drew me close to him and I would often spend a lot of time before him in prayer. I then "upgraded" to an NRSV Bible and now I use the RSV-CE and have read that and the Catechism as well. I read and reflect upon God's word everyday as he leads me.
To be sure, my life has had its struggles, but since the time I have known the Lord personally (and even before that!), he has led me towards him and I am more and more drawn to him now. The story in my 20s is pretty much along the lines of following the Lord, making mistakes and learning from them, repenting and returning to the Lord, and following him again. The Lord has now brought me to a point where I can truly say I love him and it is my heart's desire to love him more and to draw other people to him.
I don't have any links to promote as such. I am not an active blogger. But a cause that is very close to my heart is Saint Paul's Outreach. Their website is http://www.spoweb.org/
I work as a Software Engineer in downtown Manhattan. I also play chess a lot and I have a National Master Title from the US Chess Federation. But my main interest is still the Lord and I'm willing to go wherever he takes me from here.