How I live my faith

Although I was born into the Church and baptized at age eight, it wasn't until my early teens where I became "born again." Thru a loving father who realized that his son was entering a troubled stage that could lead toward disaster, he recognized and re-taught me principles that I had taken for granted. Foremost of these was the principle of repentance and that we could overcome our mistakes thru exercising this practice and relying on Christ and taking advantage of his sacrifice. I felt a powerful, cleansing influence come upon me, a joy and confidence I had never known before. The effect of it was that I no longer wanted to get involved with those who would've led me down the wrong path. It gave me the ability to discern those people or friends who would affect my life for good or evil. I knew that if I went astray, I would lose this wonderful light and influence for good that I was experiencing. It also gave me a greater ability to love and serve those around me and to help out where I saw a need or to look out for friends who were in trouble. My twin sister has had similar experiences and we share that "twin connection" where we often will call each other with an idea, an email, or the exact same song a the same time. When we were 16 years old, we lost our mother and six children were left behind, including a 9-month old infant. It was hard going, but we had been taught to be self-reliant, to have faith in God, and take care of one another. We felt a strong assurance that, although our mother had departed this mortal existence, that she was well and we would be reunited one day. While now motherless children, we experienced the loving support of our fellow church members who helped with the nurturing duties of the younger siblings during the day whlle we older kids were at high school. My life's experiences with the church have shown me that it is the restored Kingdom of God on earth and that it has the ability to uplift and unify all of mankind.