Gaeta

Well Fluffy you said you wanted to hear my testimony so here you go.

I was brought up in a Roman Catholic Italian house hold by my grandparents. They were very religious because they were suppose to be....but didn't really know why. I went to church till I was 14 but never read the Bible and never understood what I was doing. At 14 I was suppose to do my confirmation but my Grandfather told me not to unless I wanted to do it because it was a big commitment and I needed to do it with my whole heart and soul.

I turn away from the church and tried other churches....Baptist, Methodist, even dabbled in being an atheist. I realized I was more confused then anything. at 14 I started to drink, do drugs, and sleep around. I started failing school and it took me 5 years to graduate high school...not four. After High School I packed my car and left Houston behind to start a new life. In college I met a bad guy who got me even more hooked on drugs and had me convinced I didn’t need anyone but him. He was emotionally and mentally abusing me and I lost all of my friends because of it. He ending up going to jail for drugs and I left him. I was only 20 at this time.

A few months later I met a man and with in a month I was pregnant. I thought about abortion but I couldn't do it. I was going to give him up but I remembered I was given up by my parents and I have always wondered why I wasn't good enough for them and I didn't want my child feeling that way. I had a beautiful baby boy and I will never regret having him. I got off the drugs and his father and I decided to get married. We both were past Catholic so we went back to the church to get married and have my son baptized but they called my son the son of Satan and that no matter what we did we would go to hell for what I did. I left the church and didn't look back...a few months later we were married in Vegas.

After three years of marriage I had to leave. My husband was a drinker and at one point I feared for my life. I left and a year later we got a divorce. I felt awful. Here I was 25 with a child and divorced. I thought it was the end for me....I was a bad person. A few months later I met this amazing guy who was in the Navy. After just a few months he said he loved me and wanted me and my son to go to Italy with him as a family. We eloped at the court house after 4 months of meeting and have been together for 5 years to this day.

After we got married he said he want to go back to the church....he was also a fallen Catholic. We went back and went through the process of getting married in the church. I annulled my first marriage and we married a year to the day or our elopement in a church in Italy. We stayed with the church for a few years but had the same problems has before...not being told to read the Bible and no one willing to answer our questions. We again left the church. (I want to say I have no hard feelings for the Catholic church...I had a few people do wrong to me in the church so I left....but in no way, shape or form do I think all Catholics are bad...It was just not for me).

When we got back to the states I felt very lost but never told my husband. I guess he was felling the same way and never told me. Finally he told me one day he had asked God back into his life and wanted me to join him. We found a local church (non-denominational Christian Church) and went to mass. We loved it. It felt right. March will be one year that we have been going to this church. We became members, got baptized, took some classes, and are now active members. We are on the baptismal team, the new member’s team, and I have joined the choir. We are starting to ready the Bible as a family and are starting to pray and bring God into our life. We still have a lot to learn but I feel that we can do it as long as we keep an open heart and mind.

Sorry this is so long but I feel the need to share so others can see that you can come back if you have strayed. Thanks you for listening and allowing me to share with you. I hope I can learn from the people on this site and I hope I can give to some too.

Donna