I am posting about my own journey and do not even dream of speaking or others on this issue.
I am Catholic. My faith has been part of me since I was born. My mother is Catholic, and my father was a man whobelieved strongly in God, but held an extremely strong dislike of organized religion after being raised as "hard shell southern baptist" according to him.
I was raised with Catholic beliefs, but was a Catechumen (un-baptized at all) until I was 20. Things happened in my babyhood with my family that led my lack of baptism. I was a typical teen and questioned God, whether He was real or made up, and all sorts of things teens may do when questioning everything ever taught to them because, well, they're teenagers.
I was diagnosed at age 15, smack in the middle of that questioning phase. I never felt atheist, it was more a period of agnosticism, I guess?
As I learned to live with this illness, and got through the stages of grief associated with a life changing diagnosis, my faith became stronger. I had the event of dating my first boyfriend shortly before turning 17, who was a practicing Catholic and began attending Mass regularly when he was home from college. It sparked in me the desire to get married in the church and to do that, I needed to be fully be a member of the church.
It wasn't until I was 18 that I began RCIA classes, but due to my lack of consistent self care, my health deteriorated and I stopped attending classes for a while, a year passed, and I returned with a renewed desire to becoming Catholic. In the spring of 2005, I was baptized, confirmed, and received the Eucharist. My faith felt stronger than ever, but college and my health were at the forefront of my mind, and so my health went downhill yet again.
I stopped attending Mass, emotionally, I was drowning in the failures of high A1cs, being put on another lifelong medication thanks to a second autoimmune diagnosis, and just feeling crappy.
Through all this, I still believed in God, the church, and have felt at peace and at home as a Catholic.
After a number of years dating one guy, we ended things. The affection just went stagnant. To this day, I am happy we ended things, and am quite thankful God led me to my husband instead.
Gods been a huge part of my life, even when I was ignoring Him.
He was there when people prayed for me, and when I got over my teen angst and prayed for myself and others. He was there, comforting me when I lost my father to complications from heart surgery. He was there when I lost my childhood dog of twelve years, and my best friend ended her own life. He was there when I met my husband, when we married, when my grandmother died, when my children were born, He is there for it all.
I find great comfort in my faith, through the good and terrible times.
I have people in my life whom I love like family who are atheists, agnostics, those who are faithful to other religions, and that is okay. My faith is a very personal journey, and I am not one o judge for another's faith or lack thereof. That's for them to have, that relationship with Him, or lack of. It's not for me to judge, condemn, celebrate, or bemoan.
For me, my faith helps ease the darkness of depression, the loneliness of living far from extended family, and lessens the fear and frustration of not being able to depend on the physical presence of my husband, who travels for work.
He is there for me in the really bad days of having a chronic illness. He is there to listen when I cry and scream in utter hopeless moments when I am fighting with every thing I have to get my bloodsugars to just stay in range. When I am struggling against insomnia and exhaustion caused by an under active thyroid, when my skin cracks and bleeds because a patch of skin has a psoriasis flare-up, He is there to offer comfort, to listen as I beg for the patience to get through it. He is there for me.
God is how I cope, and I thank Him every day for my faith.
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