Ah, faith...one of my favorite topics. I appreciate the kindess and respect everyone is showing one another. It's nice to have a place where so many different beliefs are shared.

I've shared some of this in the forums in the past, but will repeat for the sake of those who may not have read all the posts.

I was raised Catholic. I went to 13 years of Catholic school with the nuns, priests, Catholic morals and values for which I am most grateful. I'm aware of some of the funky stuff that went on through the years, but I've chosen to focus on all the good that resulted from my Catholic upbringing.

Even though I went to church almost every Sunday as a child, I never accepted the endless, undying love God had for me. I didn't get it. I had inhereited my parent's beliefs, but hadn't accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.

As adults, my husband and I experienced several heartbreaking events. It was then that we realized we weren't in charge of this life and we sought help from a minister who told us about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It was then that we chose to follow him and picked a denomination and church that both of us liked. We chose to join the Presbyterain church.

Now we find that the Presbyterian church has it's own set of issues.

Honestly, no church is perfect because all churches are hospitals for sinners. None are museums for saints because all of us have free will and choose to please ourselves often before pleasing God.

I have to say that I have learned so much about faith, families, relationships, love, forgiveness, joy, peace, prayer, etc. simply by being in a church community and becoming involved.

We have found tremendous love and support from our church family during good times and bad, and hopefully, we have been there for members of our church family as well.

What we need to realize is that we are human and we sometimes get too wrapped up with doctrine, rules, and regulations, instead of just loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.