It was Mary First

  • Thread starter Thread starter love4mary
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

love4mary

Guest
I titled this thread “It was Mary First” for a reason. I was reared and spent most of my adult life (40) as an atheist. I did not give God a second thought, thankfully, He did not give up on me. As God is want to do sometimes, He touched my heart through our Blessed Mother Mary.

Without going into my ultimate conversion experience, in of all places, a Southern Baptist Church, (I will never forget their kindness:) ) the first true heavenly encounter I had was with our Blessed Mother. At this time, I still had no idea about God other then in the abstract, it was Mary who was very real to me. I felt such a “pull” to find out as much as I could on who she was(is). I realize now, that “pull” was the Holy Spirit leading me home, He chose Mary to get my attention.👍

Funny thing happened on my way to learning about Mary, I met her SON!!!😉 I met my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by way of His most Holy Mother. God was no longer an abstract concept to me. He was/is/will always be, very real.

I read in these forums from non Catholics that we don’t need to go through anyone to get to God, that is very true. But God has demonstrated all through Salvation History, that He sometimes goes through others to reach us, and He chose Mary to reach me.

Just thought I would share that with you all. I have been a Practicing Catholic since my conversion in 2004 and I continually ask Mary to continue to walk with me as I follow her Son where ever He leads me.

We serve an Awesome God:thumbsup:
 
I personally would love to hear the whole story 🙂

May God continue to bless you.
 
Yeah - do the whole story. It will be an inspiration to all of us.

God bless and walk with Mary.
Subrosa
 
:o Writting is not a gift of mine,God instead gave me a “Big Mouth”:rolleyes: but I will try and convey my story as best I can.

I grew up an Atheist, thinking and totally believing that God was simply a “feel good” abstract idea invented by people to help them explain the unexplainable. If He helped them, then fine,just leave me Alone and don’t preach to me about it. Amazing how silly that sounds to me now.

Fast forward to 2002. This is the year that I lost my best friend and husband, he died on our son’s 9th birthday and my world came to a sudden and horrific end, (or so I completely believed at the time) btw. he was a fallen away cradle Catholic, (important info inlite of my lifes journey). For reasons only known to the Holy Spirit, my son has always believed in God and would be confused about my non-belief, to him it made perfect sense. Then, 6 months after the death of my husband, a couple of missionaries from a local Southern Baptist church came to our door, I was in deep depression and really was not interested in their message of our Lord,(again how silly that sounds now), but my son heard.

They found out fast I could not care less what they had to say about Jesus Christ, but their talk about their Youth Program got my attention. My son had been abandoned by all his friends after his fathers death and he was alone and lonely, so I figured this would be a good chance for him to make new friends and be with other kids his own age. So I told him it would be ok if he went to the youth gatherings, but NOT to church. The church would pick him up and bring him back, and because I knew alot who attended the church, I felt confident that he would be safe. After weeks and weeks of pestering, I finally relented and allowed him to attend church one Sunday. In this church, the youth attend a childrens church away from the adults, and hear the Gospel in a language they can better understand. Almost 6 months to the day, he came home and said he wanted to be baptised.:eek: <<<My reaction. I asked him why he wanted this and his response was that he was “saved” and that the preacher said this was important. He was happy, and because I love my son, I felt it important to support him and be with him, even if I didn’t personally believe in it myself. So I went to church with him the day he was to be baptised.
 
It was then that I realized that only God could have caused the gases and dust to appear. A simple thing now, but at the time it really shook me to my core. I just started to cry and cry, admitting that I had been so completely wrong all of my life. Then in frustration, I screamed, OK GOD, I know now that You have always exited, now Where can I find You?

Again, back to every protestant site I could find, with the same nagging problems as before. To many differnet churches all proclaiming to follow Jesus Christ and yet they all dont believe EXACTLY the same thing. That simply did not make any sense to me. But I remembered Mary. She gave birth to our Lord, so who better to show me where He is. I started to research her again, from a different mind set now. I needed to know where I could find the Only One God and she, by way of the Holy Spirit, led me back to that page where they gave the dates of the different denominations. what I failed to see the first time, was the one at the very bottom of the page, the Catholic Church started in 33AD by Jesus Christ Himself.👍 I FOUND HIM.!!!

This is how I know that I am truly in the Church started on the Rock of Peter by Jesus Christ Himself. There are many hateful sites out there in cyberworld, Jack Chick to name one, but every Catholic Site I went to was faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church, this very site being one of the first I visited. The more I read, the more I wanted to know. This was no longer enough for me now, I needed to know where to go inwhich I could truly Worship Him and get to know Him better. Again, the Holy Spirit to the rescue.

It was on a Thursday afternoon, around 3:30 that I went to the nearest Catholic Church. I saw all the movies, you know, those where you walk into a Catholic Church and are face to face with the most beautiful Altar and while praying a kindly priest shows up?,.,well that didn’t happen with me. The parish doors were locked for the day, with no way of getting in. Again in frustration I screamed at God,OK GOD, you wanted me here, so why lock me out now?

I could have just gave up at that point, thinking I was loosing my mind and this was not where I would find Him, but for some strange reason I decided to give it One more try. The next day, which was Friday, at the same time, I went to the church, only difference was, the church office was open. I entered and must have looked like the most confused and pitiful creature, because the first question they asked me was,“Do you need a priest?” I said I didn’t know, I just knew I was suppose to be here. The priest, a very holy and wonderful man, came out and greeted me, but said he only had 5 minutes do to prior commitments, but he gave me the number of the woman incharge of the RCIA program.

This was June of 2003, by Easter Vigil of 2004, I was fully received into Holy Mother Church, the Catholic Church. I still tear up thinking about it.

Now the year is 2007 and I am the Assistent Mass Coordinator and Extra-Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion and an Altar Server for daily Mass. My son, now 13, is an Altar Server and my grandson just received his Sacrament of Reconciliation, and will receive First Communion this May.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how wonderful all the people at that church Baptist were. It was there that the seeds of faith were planted and they are a truly God fearing and beautiful people of faith, I will forever greatful for their kindness and love.

I am home now. Home with a faith that is full and rewarding. As I continue to walk with Mary and all the Angels and Saints, I grow ever closer to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank You Mary for showing and leading me to your Son, Jesus Christ.

As I stated in the opening of my conversion story, writting is not my gift, if I could tell my story verbally, all would have a better understanding of what I am saying, but you get the main points I hope.

Turn to Mary and ask her to lead you to her Son Jesus Christ. She will show you Him then she steps aside.
 
Valke2 said:
isn’t this the wrong place for this thread .
Click to expand...
You knew you could send the Mod for this.

Could you put this worry aside for just one second and praise the Lord that someone who did not believe in God at all and now has found Him?

Love4Mary, Thank you for sharing the story. I will need to read your messge word by word.

:blessyou:
 
love4mary said:
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how wonderful all the people at that church Baptist were. It was there that the seeds of faith were planted and they are a truly God fearing and beautiful people of faith, I will forever greatful for their kindness and love.
Click to expand...
love4mary, thank you for taking your time and sharing with us. Indeed, many converts think the same thing as you do. They apprecipate where they brought up.
 
Hi love4mary -

Your story brings a tear to my eye! ❤️ How wonderful that your journey led you to Christ’s own church.

Truly an inspiration!

God bless you and your family-
Subrosa
 
Valke2,I thought for awhile on where to place this post…I was not sure for which it fit best. I decided the Non-Catholic forum was the best.

I wanted to share with everyone how Mary not only does NOT interfer with our relationship and journey with Jesus Christ, but how she can and does LEAD us directly to Him, at least that is how it happened with me.

I pray the Rosary daily, and as I walk through the scriptures with Mary, I feel God speaking to my heart. Sometimes I can place myself right there, as the event was happening. My love for the Rosary is best saved for another thread, as I could write a book, or in my case, Speak a book on how the Rosary has helped me grow in my faith and love of my Lord.

I make just one humble request. Give Mary a try, Go to her and ask that she help you on your spiritual journey. God revealed Himself in the flesh through Mary, why can we not all go through Mary to reach a closer union with God?

If the moderators feel this should be moved to another forum, then please accept my apologies and move it to the correct one.
 
That is a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us all.
 
love4mary said:
Valke2,I thought for awhile on where to place this post…I was not sure for which it fit best. I decided the Non-Catholic forum was the best.

I wanted to share with everyone how Mary not only does NOT interfer with our relationship and journey with Jesus Christ, but how she can and does LEAD us directly to Him, at least that is how it happened with me.

I pray the Rosary daily, and as I walk through the scriptures with Mary, I feel God speaking to my heart. Sometimes I can place myself right there, as the event was happening. My love for the Rosary is best saved for another thread, as I could write a book, or in my case, Speak a book on how the Rosary has helped me grow in my faith and love of my Lord.

I make just one humble request. Give Mary a try, Go to her and ask that she help you on your spiritual journey. God revealed Himself in the flesh through Mary, why can we not all go through Mary to reach a closer union with God?

If the moderators feel this should be moved to another forum, then please accept my apologies and move it to the correct one.
Click to expand...
I don’t think Mary is for me, thanks. I just meant it seemed you were a catholic talking about the catholic faith in a non-catholic forum. But maybe you are a non-catholic talking about Mary and I misunderstood.
 
What an awesome story, **love4mary! **

You have been truly blessed! 🙂

May the Holy Spirit now use your example as a blessing to others, and may those who most need to hear this story be led here to find it.

~~ the phoenix
 
Valke2,I am A Catholic convert from Atheism. It was Mary who lead me home to the Catholic Church and to her Son, Jesus Christ.

I just thought my story of how Mary helped me.

As for Mary not being for you. Fair enough, but Mary sure was for Jesus hence the reason God the Father chose her. I guess because I am a convert, I tend to be a bit more enthusiastic and can’t for the life of me understand why Everyone does not go through Mary. I am still learning.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top