And so began the search...for exactly what, we weren't sure. We just knew there had to be something more exciting out there. Maybe another denomination? Maybe just another parish? God is so good, though, that He didn't make us search long. What was born next was what allowed our subsequent children to come into the world. Without this birth, none of the others would have been likely to occur.
About that same time, our Catholic parish was holding 40 hours of Eucharistic Adoration. I had no idea what it was, but I felt compelled to sign up. I showed up at my appointed time feeling pretty good about myself for doing something so holy (even though I still wasn't sure exactly what it was I was doing :). I grabbed a book on my way in about examination of conscience. I began thumbing through it and boy did my mind start to reel.
What did they mean that birth control was wrong? Why weren't other denominations the "true" church? You mean I couldn't pick and choose what I wanted to believe?
Believe it or not, this was all news to me. Still unknown to me was that this was the beginning of the birth of my faith. God used a childhood friend of mine to begin to bring the truth to me, as well as a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit. My short search ended right then and there. I believed in everything the Catholic church teaches - lock, stock and barrel.
But back to that birth control thing. Our second daughter was only 6 months old. I still wasn't convinced I wanted more children, although I knew it was wrong to use birth control to prevent them. What to do? We called our parish and took a crash course on Natural Family Planning.
God was so patient with us as we learned about our faith and learned to trust Him. We might not have been completely ready (but then again how many times are you really ready?) but five months later we found out that our third baby was on its way. Our first post-conversion baby! How exciting! Finally I would know what to do with all that suffering...
