Why did I become a Catholic? The longer answer Part 1

When and why did my journey towards the Catholic Church start?
We were living in the Sierra foothills.  I had been an evangelical Christian for about 15 years and married to my godly wife for about 14 years and we had 4 wonderful children.  I was an adult Bible study leader and teacher at our church.

I was wrestling with my work and feeling a lot of fear and isolation.  Even though I knew the Bible and theology pretty well, I had a hard time praying and spending time with the Lord.  I also had idols (not the figurines from the biblical times, but the lifestyle substitutes for God) in my life that I ran to for comfort to try to make the fear bearable.  I was beginning to despair of life and was sitting on the floor of one of our bathrooms at 2 am one morning thinking that no one understood the fear I was feeling which was crushing the life out of me.  It was then that Jesus spoke to me.  He said, "I know how you feel."  I responded with an incredulous "You do?"  And He said, "Yes, remember the Garden of Gethsemane where I was in anguish and sweat great drops like blood?  I know how you feel."  I said, "Oh yeah, I guess you do."  That was the end of the conversation and I felt hope start coming back into my heart.  Jesus really did know how I felt and so I was not alone.

All for now.  I am tired.