Most of my life I never gave much thought about god. I believed that god existed, how can someone see a sunset or the Grand Canyon and NOT see the hand of god? However I didn’t think that god much cared about my life and what I was doing. Looking back now I see how wrong I was.
There are many signs over the years that have pointed me to god. I think about the long chain of circumstance that led me to meet the woman who is now my wife of over sixteen years. The fact that she is catholic and insisted that our children would also be catholic. Years later her explaining to me that attending mass with three small children was hard and asking me to attend mass with them. Watching my children grow in their own faith and the concern they all showed as they became old enough to realize that I was not catholic. My wife’s uncle calling out of the blue one night telling me that RCIA was starting and he would like to be my sponsor. A long road with many signs but one that I am happy has led me to the Catholic Church.
I can see the times that god protected me and helped keep me from harm. There were a couple of times in Iraq that odd circumstances kept us out of harms way. The times we all were unharmed when there was potential for serious injuries or death. Now the sacrifice of serving overseas is paying for me to return to school.
I look back now and see the subtle hints and nudges that god gave me to lead me to where I am now. I am thankful for all the graces that I have received even though at the time I didn’t realize they were there. I love my faith and I burn to learn everything I can about the Catholic Church and it’s teachings.
