I haven't posted for awhile. Been busy. Here is a post that I first posted last month on a forum that I participate in at The Coming Home International website.
There is a praise song from the Hillsong Australia folks, a Protestant group, that I love. It is called Forever Reign. The chorus speaks of us individually running to His arms, finding in Him our refuge and help to meet our needs in often desperate situations that we find ourselves in that the verses so powerfully describe. Here are a summaries of a few of the phrases in the verses.
He is the light in the midst of darkness which is enveloping us.
He is the peace in the midst of great fear which is paralyzing us.
He is the truth that anchors our wandering hearts.
As I sing this song, tears of identification and gratitude often are running down my face. And I am also often thinking of the Catholic Church and of now being a Catholic and thanking Jesus for helping me find His arms through the Catholic Church.
Even though I was an evangelical Protestant, lay bible teacher and preacher for many years, I couldn't find the way into the arms of Jesus. I had asked Him into my life to be my Lord and Savior at age 20. I had learned some things about Him in my parents' church growing up. I prayed extemporaneously (in my own words) inconsistently. I studied the Scriptures and learned how study inductively and how to teach book by book expository style so I came to know a lot about Him.
But I still couldn't find the way into His arms. I looked into the Protestant charismatic movement, the Keswick movement and various other Protestant movements past and present. I started looking into more liturgical traditions, Anglican and Lutheran. I looked into Eastern Orthodoxy. I still couldn't find the way into the arms of Jesus. Either the religious experiences didn't occur when I prayed for them or there weren't any churches of those traditions available in our current area or I was skeptical of the orthodoxy (in the holding to the Truth sense) of the churches in our current area.
Finally the Lord led me to the Catholic Church, first through the music of John Michael Talbot, then through fellowship with members of his group and other Catholics online, then through the prayers of the Catholic Church (Finally! Words for what was going on inside me!), then through the growing conviction of the truth of the Catholic Church and Faith, then finally entering the Church through RCIA in January, 2010.
And guess what? I finally have found the way into His arms through the Sacraments, the prayers, the liturgies, the teachings and the guidance of the Catholic Church and the Communion of the Saints! Hallelujah, what a Savior!
That's my story, short and sweet, and I am sticking to it, safe in the arms of Jesus. Hope you don't mind me sharing. It helped collect my thoughts and feelings of gratitude to Jesus for leading me home.
