Sharing of Stories

A friend I met online, right here on Facebook, asked me to write a little story a couple of weeks ago.  It is linked here.  http://jenniferslatterylivesoutloud.com/

Many of my friends and family may not know a lot about my religious side.  I'd like to take this opportunity to let them meet me where I am today.

Growing up as a child I was not raised in a home where religion was discussed, we didn't attend church, we didn't say a blessing at the dinner table, we didn't say our prayers before bed.  I don't think my parents are anti-religion and in fact, I honestly don't know.  I can't tell you right now if they attended church as children and if so what type of church or why they stopped going.  I guess that is something I should find out...just because.

Well I recall for a short time a blue church bus that picked me up at home and I went by myself.  Perhaps a friend went and that is why I did, I am not sure as I don't recall.  All I do know is that didn't seem to go on for very long.  A long time passed before I entered through the doors of a church again to attend services.  In fact it was probably a decade.  In 1987 I was 20 years old and started attending the First Presbyterian Church of Independence Missouri with my best friend Dena and her family (mom, Rose Marie, and sisters, Diana and Dawn Marie).  It was June 4th, 1987 that I chose to be baptised and received membership to the church.  Shortly after that my enlistment into the U.S. Army began.  I turned 21 in September 1987 during my Basic Training.  Upon arriving at Fort Jackson, South Carolina the Gideons International folks hand out those tiny little orange Bibles.  That little book was my first Bible and I am not sure what happened to it all those years ago.  But each night after our long days of training (and they were long days as we were only required to be allowed to sleep for 4 hours a day) I would read a little bit before falling asleep.  Somewhere along the line, the reading faded away and so did attending services.  Again my religion was nicely boxed up and put away.  I wasn't a "non-believer", I was just a non-participator.

I think over the years I may have attended 2 or 3 services since joining back in 1987.  Early in 2010, I was reunited with my cousin Robin and so my reintroduction with the Almighty as well.  Having Robin back in my life was the first of my blessings this year (as it pertains to this portion of my life) she is someone with such a strong faith and hope, it was something I was drawn to.  All my wishing and waiting for luck to come my way, just wasn't panning out as much as I would've liked.  I began to realize that I just had to accept the gift that belief in God gives us.  It gives up hope without worry.  It's a gift that keeps giving and grows the more you use it.  You don't have to throw a penny in a fountain or wish upon a star or be sure you blow out all your candles with one breathe...you just have to say YES.  So I did.  It was pretty simple and pretty profound.

I took myself to my favorite store - the book store - and bought a Bible of my own.  I began reading and have gotten almost half way through.  A short time thereafter I found a book "Women of the Bible" at a second hand store that hand never been opened and bought that and have found that miraculously whatever I seem to be reading in there pertains exactly to what my Bible is telling me. 

I had decided that maybe I should go to church again too.  I went to a few different services at a few different churches but none seem to feel right for me.  There are a lot of different churches! I began to worry because I thought I was being too picky, but then came to the mindset that when the right place came along I would know it.  So I haven't forced that too much, being a believer isn't in attending a brick and mortar structure, it's in us - in our heart.  I decided for the time being I would get my "word" from my reading, but then starting listening to our local Christian radio station.  Now I would've made fun of rock-n-roll religion in the past, but once I listened, I liked.  They are songs with beats just like your pop station or country station but with a good message, there is no hate or cursing or demeaning lyrics.  So if you see me beebopping around town I am just as likely to be listening to Christian Contemporary as I am to country western, pop, alternative, hip hop, whatever.  I am not prejudice on my likes of music - although I do now tend to turn off or switch channels when something I don't think is appropriate is playing.

For Christmas my cousin sent me a few more books to add to my reading.  So now each night there are a couple devotionals added in to my nightly routine.  What has this belief changed for me this year?  Well for a few...I am more forgiving, more peaceful in general, more hopeful for the future no matter what it holds because I know that whatever it is that happens I can handle it.  When I tell people I will pray for them, I mean it.  My prayers are more about other people; friends, family; strangers and less about me.  I feel free.