G
Gratias_Grace
Guest
I’m glad I found this thread! I’m the only catholic (converted) in a “cafeteria-protestant” family.
First of all I think that they saw the conversion as very odd. They never understood that I had read a lot and prayed for God’s guidance before I converted. Later on they couldn’t understand that I could “support the AIDS-epidemic” by being against condoms etc. etc. They do, however, respect my abstinence and fast at Ash-Wednesday and Good Friday .
If I try to talk about faith, there is silence!
All this has been hard to live with and still is (sometimes). I am concerned for their souls and I feel a deep deep loneliness since the catholic church is a non-topic (and also because they adjust to the secular world (“there is a God, but we decide what is his will”) .
In some way I have come to believe that to suffer for them (the feeling of being lonely and isolated) is a way to serve God.
I try to enjoy their company (they are also God’s created people that he loves) when we do things together, and do not try to push my faith on them. I have come to the conclusion that it’s best to wait and be willing to answer when they ask and stop the conversation when they signalize that it’s enough for today. I pray for their conversion every day. I know that God will do his part to help them believe, but I also know that I have to accept their free will to say yes or no to God. God accepts it and so I have to do, too!
I also see a danger in being the only "strong believer"in the family. It could be so easy to give in, to give faith away piece by piece, to adjust a little. I try to pray for God’s help to not fall for **that **temptation!
:knight1:
First of all I think that they saw the conversion as very odd. They never understood that I had read a lot and prayed for God’s guidance before I converted. Later on they couldn’t understand that I could “support the AIDS-epidemic” by being against condoms etc. etc. They do, however, respect my abstinence and fast at Ash-Wednesday and Good Friday .
If I try to talk about faith, there is silence!
All this has been hard to live with and still is (sometimes). I am concerned for their souls and I feel a deep deep loneliness since the catholic church is a non-topic (and also because they adjust to the secular world (“there is a God, but we decide what is his will”) .
In some way I have come to believe that to suffer for them (the feeling of being lonely and isolated) is a way to serve God.
I try to enjoy their company (they are also God’s created people that he loves) when we do things together, and do not try to push my faith on them. I have come to the conclusion that it’s best to wait and be willing to answer when they ask and stop the conversation when they signalize that it’s enough for today. I pray for their conversion every day. I know that God will do his part to help them believe, but I also know that I have to accept their free will to say yes or no to God. God accepts it and so I have to do, too!
I also see a danger in being the only "strong believer"in the family. It could be so easy to give in, to give faith away piece by piece, to adjust a little. I try to pray for God’s help to not fall for **that **temptation!
:knight1: 