The Catholic Church was on a hill not far from the public library so I thought “why not?”. One of my new flat mates encouraged me. And it felt right to be going to church again.
I remember saying the Nicene Creed (“Lord I want to believe please help my unbelief ")
Also at this time I read “By Searching” by Isabel Kuhn. This book had a big influence. I went out and bought a Bible and wrote the verse “Canst thou by searching find God?” Quickly I added to it “if you search for me with all your heart…”
Of course I thought in my ignorance that it was all about me finding God, I little realized that He had not given up offering Himself to me all along.
Then things started to get confused, a fellow teacher and friend invited me to her Baptist Bible study. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, their pastor mentioned the need for “believers baptism”(wow I’d thought I was already baptized) but he informed me this wasn’t a proper baptism. Ah well I wanted to get Christianity correct and he certainly spoke with authority and like my good old dad could quote Bible verses with authority! So I went ahead and got baptized in the Baptist church …but for good measure the week before I still went ahead with my confirmation in the Catholic Church!
I’ll fast forward a bit now, the next year I continued teaching but on the opposite side of the North island. Became part of a “cell group” of young people from a whole range of church backgrounds. We met once a week for prayer and Bible study, went on retreats, had a garage sale to raise funds for missionaries in PNG and met and then supported a missionary family in India
And so the following year I gave up teaching and went to a Bible school. Nothing Catholic about it and no Catholics present. But what a wonderful year!
There were people from Fiji, Tonga, Canada and even Australia. (!)We taught "Bible in schools" held "happy hours" at college , lead services in different churches.
I had never felt so awake to the community of God's people before!
3 comments:
Hi Alison,
I have often wondered what it would be like to go to Bible College, but obviously God has me where He wants me right now.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your 'conversion' from Baptist to Catholic, and I guess that it's not over, so I'll look forward to the next part?
Thank you so much for posting this. It's interesting to see other people's walks with Him, and by the sound of it, yours has never been dull.
Hi Jillian
A friend and I are heading up to PA to visit AussieTherese next Wednesday , just wondering if that is near you. It would be nice to meet. Feel free to e-mail me. I can't find your e-mail if you gave it to me!
Hi Alison,
I have emailed you. :) Yes, it would be nice to meet. It's wonderful to be able to put a face to the name, and be able to 'hear' the tone of what people are saying in their blog posts.
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