I am on a spiritual journey characterized by experiences that have taught me what life really is about especially when you are the subject of a Superior being, God. From when I was young, I have had a journey that has deepened and widened my understanding of the Christian tradition, having been brought up on the basis of the foundations of the teachings of the Church of Christ, by my late father, who was a preacher.
When I became fully committed to Christ, I underwent a transformation of life through illumination, God taught me about who He is and who I am myself and I have experienced the Christian faith through salvation and deliverance from evil and iniquity. My life changed and is now full of newness, positive energy, hope, joy and love and union with God than ever before, that there has been no distinction between my God and I. I received salvation and conversion, previously I felt the sense of guilt which have now been replaced with a vision of goodness, all which made me a devoted to the Church of Christ. It also made me realize I should never be judgmental about denominations and other churches as I came to realise that the most important thing is a personal relationship with God.
It was then time to learn to relate to daily occurrences and handle them in ways that I would not have been able to it not for my spirituality and belief in the Christian tradition. Having been involved with drug, disobedience and immorality, my past experience as part of my journey is what led me to the present, and that one only finds peace and well-being when they do things that are in accordance with Christian tradition. The grace that God granted me by seeing me through all the tough times like when I was in the war made me realize that believing and trusting in Him is what makes life better and fulfilling. With God in my life, I need not fear and should, therefore, be an example to others going through what I went through before and show them that there is hope (Schnitker et al., 2017).
The Bible became my greatest source of inspiration, with the greatest collection of sacred writings to ever exist containing the word of God. It revealed to me certain sacred things which made me establish, develop and maintain a very strong relationship with God. Through my participation in the religious rituals practiced at my church like baptism, worship and prayer and now teaching on Sunday morning in Bible class, I felt a sense of solitude and peace, unity and salvation acceptance which has me to have a strong urge to commit to certain principles of my belief. The feelings of peace and love are the core values guiding spirituality (Hood Jr, Hill, " Spilka, 2015).
I became an active participant in Christian traditions, inclusive of common elements that are adhered to by Christians Practices like worship, sacraments and calendar observation. Through worship, prayer, reading of scriptures and giving of tithes, I realized how my religious experience links to the Christian faith. These including prayers brought closer to God and confessed my sins, thanking Him as well through giving back, and these have seen me strengthen in my spiritual journey.
God knew that I was seeking Him genuinely so He came and filled me with Himself, the Holy Spirit, which has comforted me, directed me and has led me through my spiritual journey. Believing in God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit I live a righteous life and avoid the state of sin that would need redemption. It became my obligation as a father and a Christian to show the Christian way of life and values to my family and those I teach of how great God is and how we should obey his commands. As my father before me, I have made sure that my family lives under God, although I believe in the freedom of worship and therefore I don’t force Christ on anyone, I believe following Christ is a choice.
I learned the equality of everyone before God and so I treat everybody equally. My spirituality has however disagreed with certain Christian traditions that sinners are declared righteous by the free gift of God's grace, human works can't make right with God. Confession in the Catholic Church is unnecessary; authority of scriptures alone, no authority in the church; each believer has a direct relationship with God, no need for priest intermediary. Now I fully identify with Christ and have a social network in my church whom I intend to continue serving along my spiritual journey, as an elder (Heelas 2017). It is my belief that I am yet to encounter more in my spiritual journey now that I am in the process of being appointed as an elder of the congregation by the end of this year.
References
Heelas, P. (2017). Predicting religion: Christian, secular and alternative futures. California, CA: Taylor " Francis.
Hood Jr, R. W., Hill, P. C., " Spilka, B. (2015). The psychology of religion: An empirical approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Schnitker, S. A., Houltberg, B., Dyrness, W., " Redmond, N. (2017). The virtue of patience, spirituality, and suffering: Integrating lessons from positive psychology, the psychology of religion, and Christian theology. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 9(3), 264.
