"The Day My Wife Told Me She Was Pregnant Was One Such Time..."

Joel Garrison, like yours truly, is a revert.  Someone born into the Catholic faith who leaves but comes back.  As regular readers know, I'm pretty fond of these sorts of stories and Joel's is no exception:

I believe very strongly that there are certain times in our lives where God places forks in our paths, challenging us to choose Him. The day my wife told me she was pregnant was one such time, and for the first time in several years, I chose to commit myself to my future child and my future wife, and in so doing I chose Him. This was my first step down my road toward redemption. I began to recognize the importance of going to church and leading a more wholesome life, if not for myself than at least to be a good example to my children.

It was in planning our wedding where problems with religion began to surface, and where my weakness, immaturity and lack of knowledge of my Catholic faith began to show. I slowly began to compromise on issues regarding church practices and teaching. By this time, of course, I had already compromised on so much that I really didn’t see how little issues such as the manner in which we were married or who performed the ceremony would matter. In my mind, it mattered more that we were getting married to begin with.

Lukewarm for the Faith

Of course, more out of obligation than understanding, I asked her for a Catholic wedding, which she declined because, wasn’t it obvious that the Catholic church was wrong about everything? Instead, her church’s preacher presided over the ceremony. The wedding was performed in a secular chapel, with no priest present.

None of this, at the time, was a big deal to me. I believed very strongly (and still do) that God is everywhere, and wherever two or more are gathered in His name, there He is. I knew my wife was a Christian and that she believed in the triune God, as did I. She was adamantly opposed to Catholicism, because she had been taught her entire life that her church was the only true and correct church.

Both my wife and I recognized the need to raise our soon-to-be born child in a Christian church. Unfortunately, however, there was tremendous disagreement on just what church that should be. You see, as much as we loved each other, as strong as our relationship was, and as much as we were convinced we needed God to be part of our lives, we couldn’t agree on just how we were going to let Him in.

I hope that's enough to whet your appetite.

Read it all.

Know and understand that one huge reason for children is God's use of them as instruments to awaken us to His presence.

He certainly did for me.