Hello everyone! Today I would like to share with you my story of how I encounted Jesus in my life. I was born and raised a cradle Catholic. My parents and I use to go to church every Sunday and I started Catechism classes by the time I was 4 years old. I always loved going for Catechism classes as I would learn more things about Jesus. I would literally throw a tantrum whenever my parents said I couldn’t go for class the next day. Moving forward, my father encouraged me to join the parish Youth Bible Group after my exams when I was 15. So my weekends became pretty dedicated to Christ. Saturday evenings were Bible classes and Sunday mornings at Catechism classes. But that was also when everything started going downhill.

My parents started arguing everyday. My father would come back home late after drinking at the bar and start shouting at my mother. I would stay awake till late at night, hearing their arguments. My father started becoming very violent to me to a point that he started hitting me. By June 10th 2010, my mother and I moved out of the house. Being an only child, I didn’t know how to cope with the situation. To make things worst I found out that my boyfriend of 2 years was cheating on me. I felt like all my pillars of strength were crumbling before me. I felt really alone. In the midst of all this I was also preparing for my Confirmation. I was so lost in my world of problems but there was Christ waiting for me without me realizing.

Confirmation came and went. I was still going to church and being active in youth activities. Then I got called to facilitate a confirmation camp at a parish in another state. I was so excited to be chosen to facilitate and there I was preparing myself to share Christ with people but little did I know that Christ had something big planned for me. During the inner healing session I was sitting at the front row. It had been a long day and I dozed off without realizing it. When I woke up, I heard the speaker say things about me, it was a message to me that he had got from God and I started crying. I felt this weight life off my shoulder. The following day when they had the praying over session and I fell and felt the Holy Spirit’s warmth embrace me. I felt peace that I had never felt before.

Since I have received Christ peace, I have become an even more active youth in church. I am a Catechism teacher – I have helped facilitate confirmation camps at church for 5 years now. I am also a part of the core team in the parish youth ministry. I have also fixed my relationship with my father after months of not talking to him. I’m in a 3 year relationship with a boy who has also fallen in love with Jesus and is part of the youths. When I look back I am so grateful that my pillars crumbled because now Christ is my pillar of strength and with Him anything is possible. He now wants me to come to Krakow for World Youth Day and I am so excited to be able to see the one universal Church. So see you there!