I have been of CF for several years. I lurked for at least two before making a handle here. After returning to Christ in adulthood, I felt a great hunger know know more about my faith and what various denominations believed to see where I fit in to it all.
After my initial research, I was sure I would fit well into the LCMS Lutheran denomination. I had grown up Lutheran and I knew I believed in Real Presence because the Holy Spirit kept pushing me (hard) to go get communion after so many years away. I read Luther's theses and mostly agreed with them, although I didn't really have an in depth understanding of what some of the Catholic traditions were, but on the surface, the theses seemed to make common sense. I liked the Lutheran label because it was the church of my childhood and it wouldn't demand very much of me obligation-wise. I was looking for a church to check all the boxes that I personally agreed with and that was the one that fit me. It hadn't occurred to me yet that this might be a backward approach... that perhaps I should be looking for the Truth even if it was something that I didn't agree with or wasn't culturally popular. I mean... who am I, anyway? Truth will not be molded to what I think!
But, God. Yes, He had other plans!
Out of due diligence, I started researching Catholicism, initially here on OBOB and on CA and the CA forums, to make sense of the Reformation. At this point, Catholicism still wasn't even on my radar as a possibility for me. It was too far out there from what I knew. Like most Protestants, I could not get my head around a lot of the theology that I thought wasn't in the Bible, and I only had a very surface understanding of the Traditions and Sacraments and I no idea where they came from and how ancient they were.
Then I needed to understand the Mass, since that is where the Lutheran Divine Service came from, as well as all the other Protestant Sunday services. I could feel that there was something deep I was missing about it after watching a few Masses on YouTube. So I decided to attend a Mass in my small town, just to observe, to figure it out. It all snowballed from there, and I ended up in RCIA months later after spending hours and hours (days, maybe even weeks cumulatively) voraciously reading about the Church, early Church history, the Church Fathers, the Catholic Reformation and the Council of Trent (with the Church's responses to Luther's 95 Theses... some were actually agreed upon), Vatican 2, Bible canon history, works written by the Saints, the Catechism, and everything else I could get my hands on.
So here I am! I read a lot and don't post as much as I like because I visit when I am at work. My home life is busy because my husband and I live on a smaller rural acreage with
a horse, mule, two donkeys, a cat, and a dog, mostly rescues with issues. A co-worker calls my place the Island of Misfit Animals. I dabble in vegetable gardening but I am not great at it because I don't put enough time into it. My job requires overtime and my equines require a lot of daily chores to keep them happy, healthy, exercised, medicated, watered and fed. My husband is at home all the time due to a disabling injury that medically retired him from work. I work, and it can be rough on me health wise, but God keeps me strong enough to hold it together day by day. If I could choose to stay home, I would, not just because I am usually exhausted and in pain, but also because then I could expend all of my energy caring for my loved ones instead of them getting whatever is left over after work. No kids yet. Maybe someday. Maybe not. It is in God's hands. God is good.
In sum (and sorry for the long post), OBOB helped make me Catholic! It is part of my daily life and I love the interaction here as well as the great articles. OBOB rocks!
