The Difference Between Being Religious and Being a Christian

As far back as I can remember, I had a longing for God. There was a void in my life that I just didn't know how to fill. My parents considered themselves Catholic, but we never really talked about God. Church was just a place we went to off and on to do our religious duty. My parents enrolled me in catechism because it was the "right" thing to do. There I learned about the Catholic sacraments and doctrine. I thought if I tried hard enough, I would sense God's presence in my life and fill that emptiness that I carried with me all of those years. I tried to really focus when I was in church. I thought if I said all the right prayers and really confessed all my sins to the priest, I would be overcome with the love of God. It didn't happen. I still felt empty and lifeless.

So I gave up on religion, and just went through life as the rest of the world does. I went to college, got married, had children, and was still unfulfilled. Something was missing. My marriage started to really decline, and I found myself in a place where I couldn't even remember what it was I loved about my husband. Everything about him irritated me. We got into a pattern of avoiding each other during the week and arguing incessantly throughout the weekend.

On one of those Sunday mornings in the middle of a heated argument, my husband said, "We need to go to church. This is ridiculous." I immediately shot back, "You go. You're the one who needs it." And I went into my bedroom. As I lay on my bed with tears in my eyes, it dawned on me that my marriage was over. The only hope that I had was to agree to give this church thing a try. So I started getting ready for church, and for the first time, our family spent Sunday morning in church.