Thatās a great story Cricket2!
Iāve always believed there was a God ever since my mom told me about Him when I was 2. So, while I didnāt understand God in any real sense, I knew there had to be a supreme being. My mom was not particularly religious though. We moved around a good bit (my mom was divorced from my father because he couldnāt stay out of trouble with the law).
We eventually moved to a neighborhood where a very religious person lived. His name was Brother Mike. Previously he had been a monk in a cloister. He took care of kids while their parents (almost all were single moms) worked. My mom worked on weekends and at night a lot of times. Since he was usually watching my brother and I, Bro. Mike took us to church with him on Saturday evening and Sunday mornings. To be perfectly honest, this was my first real experience with going to church.
I eventually went to a Catholic school in Junior High. At this point, I had already been Baptized and Confirmed in the Catholic Church. While I took the classes and met with Priests and other lay people, I donāt think I had a very good understanding of it all. Still, I did try to take my faith very seriously at first ā as seriously as you can when youāre a kid. I did notice that many of the kids my age never exercised their faith much, so eventually I started to slip. I used to ask a lot of questions of Priests, Sisters and others but I didnāt get good answers to a lot of those questions.
In high school my mom, my brother and I moved to another state. In the new area there was no Catholic church for many miles. We really couldnāt afford to drive every Sunday so I just stopped going to church. At this point, my Mom started to get into a bunch of new age stuff and I followed. I started to get into beliefs like karma and reincarnation. I would go to some Protestant churches (mainly Baptist and Presbyterian USA churches) with my friends but I didnāt believe any of it then ā even the parts that were definitely true. I was pretty confused.
Later I joined the military but only was āreligiousā during boot camp and during Desert Storm. There really are no atheists when under mortal duress. I have to admit it was good to go to a Catholic church though. Strangely enough, it gave me some comfort. The rest of my time in the military, I was not really a moral person. I eventually married a young lady who was a Baptist. She did appear to be a decent person but I had no desire to go to a Baptist church so I compromised with her and we joined a Presbyterian PCA church. I have to admit this was where I really did begin to believe in God and have something of an understanding of Him from a Christian standpoint ā more so than when I was younger in the Catholic Church. I never believed in the 5-point TULIP or that God wills people to hell but I thought many times, this is very similar to a Catholic Church just without the antiquities and superstitions of it. It seemed like a very good compromise to me.
Later for no reason I understand even today, my wife at that time left me and my young son. I think she had some mental illness maybe. I was very angry with God at that time but I was still a marginal believer. I was a single dad and life was tough for a few years. Eventually, it did get better and I came back to the Lord. Later, I married a lady who was raised Catholic like myself but at this time, I had started going to a Lutheran Church. It was ālikeā a Catholic church. I still believed in sola scriptura.
Like I said, Iāve always been something of a truth seeker. I would examine scripture to try to find which Protestant denomination had the most of the truth. To me then, the Lutheran way made the most sense but something was missing. I finally decided to sit down and begin working on a list of things that Lutherans and other Protestants believe vs what was taught by the Catholic Church. Mostly these were concepts/interpretations that were at odds with each. I figured I would get down to the meat of it.
I started an exhaustive search through the Bible examining original translations, reading commentary by theologians of different faiths and that sort of thing. I came to find that the only Christian āgroupā that had 100% of the truth and was the closest to Christ was the Roman Catholic Church. Everything in the catechism is backed up even in scripture of all things! Even Tradition is, believe it or not.
It was amazing to me to finally come to terms with this and say yes: the Catholic Church
is doing it the right way! Now, I have nothing against Protestants and I respect that most of them are truly holy people and want to do the will of God but for me, this is home.
So I guess my conversion is not necessarily one of great visions (though I know those happen for many people!) or even great āfeelingsā. Itās been more of a long road. It started as more of a mental one for me and
now is being fulfilled in the other senses. Since coming to Christ at the Presbyterian Church, Iāve always known that God was real, that His Son was real and the Holy Spirit was real and even that the Virgin Mary was real but I just didnāt understand their natures. I still donāt fully (and probably wonāt until I meet with the Lord one day) but what Iāve learned blows away any other teaching on the subject.
I would challenge anyone to take whatever belief or disagreement you have with the Catholic Church and examine it with scripture. We Catholics like many other Christians can be an imperfect lot but you will find the Church to be the real deal. Jesus will welcome you home. Catholics will too
Right now, Iām calling myself a āCatholic-in-trainingā. 
