The Search

Growing up, I always loved adventure. My whole life has always been about searching for adventure. Now I was raised Catholic but it was a very cultural thing. I went to Mass on Sundays and I prayed before eating meals. As I grew older, I became more and more disinterested in my Catholic faith. So as a teenager, I pushed God out of my life, and searched for adventure in all the wrong ways. I didn’t see anything wrong with what I was doing though, so I got more and more into the partying life style. I thought my life was being fulfilled in what I thought was love, fun and adventure but what it actually was was substance abuse, unhealthy relationships, and a whole lot of emptiness. 

The Discovery

As I went onto university, I was on my search for another adventure. My adventure in my faith life was not one I was looking for but God had different plans for me. I was looking for ways to find friends on campus and I walked by the Catholic club’s table and out of curiosity I stopped by. Little did I know that me stopping at the table would lead me to the greatest adventure of my life. I eventually became friends with the people at that table and I noticed something very different about them, they had this contagious joy and I wanted to know how I could have that. So I ended up taking a faith study led by these people and they taught me all about God’s love and who Jesus Christ was. I learned what Jesus dying on the cross meant. I wanted to learn more so I went to a conference where I knew many other students my age discovering their faith would be. And at that conference there was one night were there was Eucharistic Adoration. As the Eucharist processed right by me, it all of a sudden made me realize that Jesus was real. He was present. And he was present in my life. I had this sudden urge to go to confession and so I went for the first time since I was a kid. Then I heard the words of the prayer of absolution as my sins were forgiven… “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of your son, you have reconciled the world to yourself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.” GOD THE FATHER OF MERCIES forgave me. I finally understood what it meant that God loved me so much that He sent His only son to die for my sins. How could I not accept this love? At that moment I placed Jesus at the centre of my life and started this adventure of love, mercy, and fulfillment.

The Fulfilment

It hasn’t always been easy since that moment. I had a hard time letting go of my old lifestyle to fully enter into this adventure God called me to but with each “yes” to this invitation, I have fallen more deeply in love with Him as He showed His loving mercy to me. Through this decision, I have made the most amazing friends that share with me the joy of the Gospel, He introduced me to my husband who imitates God’s unconditional love, and I have been on this amazing journey to share this joy, this love, this mercy to those who were in the same place as me on university campuses. I have even been able to share Jesus throughout Canada and the world. The Lord has allowed me to go on adventures with Him in places like Uganda and India. My journey of receiving our Heavenly Father’s mercy has sent me on the greatest adventure of life. The Lord fulfills and He has fulfilled my life.