As you all can see, this is the Christian part of my website.
Here you can learn about the religious side of my life.
There's also many great graphics on here that you are free to use.
OK, now I shall get onto my story.

I was raised Catholic. I even went to a Catholic school from
grade 3 through grade 8. Religion was something that I never
got all that much into. Sure, I thought, "Well I believe in God and
Jesus and all that good stuff, and Mom says if I am good, that is
how I should believe and then I will make God happy and he will
want me in Heaven." I never thought I really had to do much more
than that. The only time I would ever go to church is when I was in
school and we would go every so often or when Mom actually made
me go. (And about the only time she made me go was Christmas Eve
and Easter.) I never wanted to go to church. It was a drag. It was
boring to sit there and listen to the priest and have no clue what
he was talking about. Plus, if you have ever been to a Catholic
church, then you know that the service is the exact same every
time. (Yes, I know that there is a reason for that. But it doesn't
help the fact that it's boring.) So anytime I'd actually get dragged
to church, I would ignore what was going on anyway. There was no
point in my being there if I was not even getting the point and
enjoying worshipping God. At any rate, once I got out of 8th
grade, I went to a public high school. So during high school
I was definitely only going to church twice a year. Around my
sophomore and junior years in high school, I went to a youth group
at a non-denominational church with some friends a few times.
Unfortunately, however, we weren't all too interested in actually
being in the youth group. Most of the times we'd go, we'd go inside
the church for a little bit and listen to the Christian band play,
but then we'd end up going outside and just walking around and
having fun joking around and stuff. Graduation from high school
finally came around in June of 2000. At the end of August of that
summer, I broke up with my boyfriend of six months. Within a month
of that incident, several other things happened. I ended a friendship
with someone who I had once upon a time considered my best friend.
I was in two car accidents. One I was almost put in jail for because
it was a hit and run. After all this had happened, I started having
some serious stomach problems. I would begin to feel sick to my
stomach all the time. Finally, after about a month of having this
problem, my mom convinced me to go to the doctor. At first, he
thought I might have an acid reflux problem. So he prescribed
Prevacid. It sort of worked, but not as well as I thought it should
have. While all of this was going on, I found myself blaming God for
it all. I thought he was punishing me for some sort of evil sin I had
inadvertantly committed or something. It was not the first time in my
life I had felt God was punishing me for something. When I went back
to the doctor and told him the Prevacid was not working as well as I
thought it should be, he asked me if I had a lot of stress in my life.
I told him I definitely do and once he asked if that could be causing
my stomach problems, I immediately decided that's what it was. He
asked if I was depressed a lot, and I said yes. I have always been
depressed, pretty much my whole life. So he prescribed Celexa, an
anti-depressant to me. He also started me on a different medication,
Axid, for my stomach acid. He referred me to a counselor, who I have
been seeing weekly since January 2001 or so. However, I decided that
taking an anti-depressant and seeing a counselor for some reason just
wasn't enough. I needed something more. My boyfriend that I had been
with since the end of October 2000, had been trying to get me to go
to a college/career Bible study his church had every Tuesday night.
So I finally decided I would try it out. I went, and was blown away.
It wasn't boring; it wasn't a drag. It was so interesting. I had a
hard time admitting that though. I was still hesitant. I didn't want
to become a "religious freak", the term I have always used towards
those who purposely go out of their way to do something religious.
But, he convinced me to go again... and again... and again... you get
the point. I couldn't stay away. The discussions got me thinking, the
other people were all so nice... I couldn't not go. I was actually
ENJOYING this. Wow. About a month or two later, our group, 212, started
a worship type thing for every Sunday night. I immediately wanted to go.
And am I ever glad I did. It is even better than our Bible Study. Usually
we start off by having the band play some contemporary Christian songs,
then we have a short lesson, then the band plays some more and then we
have food afterwards. It is so much fun. I fell in love with most of
the songs, and actually went out and bought a praise and worship CD that
has several of the songs we sing on it. Even a year ago, I never would
have thought that I'd be listening to Christian music and actually
LIKING it. I also went out and bought some Christian T-shirts, another
thing I could NEVER have imagined myself doing. I also have a keychain
that states simply, "I Love Jesus". I also for the first time in my life
read all the way through my Bible. I decided to start that after my mom
bought me a new Bible for my birthday in February 2001. It is the New
International Version Teen Study Bible. And the most amazing thing yet
probably is the fact that my boyfriend finally talked me into going to
church with him sometime in April 2001. And I have been going just about
every Sunday morning since, I am happy to announce. Since then, I have
stopped taking my medications, have stopped seeing my counselor and have
broken up with my boyfriend. I am actually doing pretty darn good without
all these things. My ex-boyfriend and I are still friends and I believe
I have learned how to live with my depression. All I really need is God. :-)
I am still working to get where I need to be. To come home. For now, I am
just happy to find that I have finally become a "religious freak". I am
proud to be one. :-)


The Chapel In North Canton

My Favorite Christian Songs

Would You Like To Be Saved?