why I left the RCC after 34 years of being a "devout" Catholic

[hopefilled]

I am a first time poster here on this forum…..and have been praying about the following testimony….I have decided to put it in this category as I feel it may be found by those Catholics who have come searching for answers….

I came to know Jesus as my Saviour when I was 17yrs old, but stayed within the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) until this past year as I genuinely believed it was the “one true church”.

We are taught that from an early age and believed that our Protestant Christian brothers and sisters had sadly strayed from the one true faith and continue to keep “protesting” against one another and creating new churches….

Yes we viewed them as “Christians” but they sadly did not believe in the Eucharist nor the spiritual nourishment that it provides…along with a number of other rich “traditions”.

After my conversion, the Holy Spirit did what He does best….slowly convicting me of areas of sin in my life and guiding me in my search for truth.

I was very involved in the RCC…my entire school education was in Catholic Schools, I was involved in various Catholic ministries and so on…

Doctrine by doctrine I searched thru the RCC teachings to gain a better understanding of living as a Christian. The trouble being that the more I searched, read and prayed…the more Catholic conferences and leadership seminars I attended….the greater my doubts became.

I have also travelled to Rome and been in St Peters, visited the Vatican museum and so on….

I write this because I want to make it quite clear that I was not a non-practicing Catholic nor was I one that was un-educated in the teachings of the Catholic faith and the catechism….

One by one I found myself disagreeing with the RCC teachings – eventually I realised that there was more I disagreed with than I agreed with.
In essence I stopped being “catholic” as to be truly catholic one needs to be in agreement with all the churches teachings - submitting to the magisterium of the church in regard to dogmas and doctrine.

I have always strived to live an honest life with integrity…I realised that I could not really call myself a Catholic when I disagreed with so many of the Churches teachings.

I had seen many of my Christian friends “Church hopping and shopping” and that lifestyle did not really appeal to me or seem at all encouraging….

I prayed that God would convict me and lead me….

The 2 things that I had always believed was 1. The Papacy and 2. the Eucharist.
Therefore I had stayed in the RCC…..

But God was about to remove the final scales from my eyes…..it is amazing to me now when I look back on it. You know, for years and years I could read thru John chapter 6 and could only see it for the Catholic interpretation of it….and for many years I failed to understand how my Christian friends could read thru the “I am the bread of life” discourse and not see the truth of the Eucharist in it!!

Perhaps the Holy Spirit decided at what time it was best to remove those scales …or perhaps me not attending the RCC consistently over a period of 18 months was a catalyst….maybe both.

You see I have 3 young children. Following the birth of my youngest I have had a number of health problems…that coupled with littlies getting childhood sickness – meant that I was not attending church as frequently as I would have liked to.

When I could not attend church – I would spend some time at home in prayer and praise and reading God’s word – in an attempt to unite myself with my brothers and sisters in Christ who were attending church.

It was my desire to be fellowshipping and I believe God honoured that – He took me by the hand and fed me Himself from His word.

Then one day when I was reading the scripture from Matthew 16 13-20 ( this is where Catholics believe that Christ made Peter the first pope and thus began the papal succession).

However I read that particular passage and the Holy Spirit peeled the scales off my eyes and showed me that this verse does not mean that at all!!

Wow – what a revelation…..so now if I could not trust the papal succession and it’s “authority” what else of the RCC teachings could I trust? Surely the Eucharist is based on truth???
Well I opened up my Bible and read the whole of John 6 (in fact John 5-7) and the Holy Spirit set to work removing the scales from my eyes again……I was dumbfounded at first…..I could not believe that I had read theses passages so many times over the years and suddenly I saw them for what they truly were….

And I realised that the truth of the Eucharist is – that it is not transformed into the body and blood of Jesus at all…..this came as quite a shock for me…..as a catholic I had always shown great reverence and respect for the Eucharist….I believed (as all good Catholics do) that we had been given this gift by Jesus himself to strengthen us in our spiritually journey here….

And here came the biggie…..if I was worshipping the consecrated host as Jesus (which we are taught and which I did) and it is not Jesus…..then I am worshipping a false idol!!!

I repeat…worshipping the Eucharist as God - if it is not – is idolatry!!!

Well you could have blown me down with a feather!!

I find it rather interesting that many Christians take Catholics to task re idol worship and statues and so on…..the truth is that whilst there may be some Catholics who use religious artwork/sculptures as idols…most actually do not….all Catholics however do participate in the Eucharist! And when I say all – I mean those who are practicing Catholics as opposed to nominal or cultural Catholics.

So after reading these scriptures with eyes opened – I had a serious think about what the teachings surrounding the Eucharist involve….and I was brought to great sorrow.

I repented and asked God for forgiveness for participating in this and I thanked the Holy Spirit for convicting my heart of this….and then I realised…I must have no more to do with this falsehood….God convicted my heart to leave the catholic church.

In some ways it was easy to do – one does not argue with God when He gives marching orders lol!!

However – this had been my “spiritual place of belonging” for so long – people I had grown up with since birth…people I regarded as my brothers and sisters in Christ….wonderful, kind people who I believe are genuinely seeking after The Lord as best they can….even the parish priest was a lovely man with a huge heart of love and compassion….

But God is so very kind and merciful…and He provides the strength we need when our own fails us!

I have reason to believe that there is indeed a “spiritual” nature to the Eucharist….only I don’t believe this spirit to be that of God!
I believe that one of the reasons so many Catholics who find Jesus as their saviour – but stay in the church – is because of the spiritual blindness inflicted by participation in the Eucharist….
When I broke the news to my devout Catholic mum about my decision – she asked how did I get on without the spiritual nourishment of the Eucharist as she believed this had been so beneficial to her in her spiritual life…..I told her that God is so good and faithful and loves me so much that His word provides me with the spiritual nourishment that I need….that indeed Jesus has chosen to live in me and because I am sealed with the Holy spirit I can trust in Him and the promise of salvation that He has given me so freely!

So I would say to those Catholics who are reading this…be not afraid….ask God to guide you with His Holy Spirit….

There are many who speak very ill of Catholics and the RCC….and even though I have left – I want to say this …..despite what some may have said on this board or elsewhere…the Spirit of God is moving in and working in the hearts of many within the RCC….leading people to the knowledge and joy of salvation, convicting people of their sinfulness, strengthening and guiding those who are genuinely seeking after God!
Just as He is working in all Christian Churches despite their false teachings and sinful greedy practices….it is the Father’s desire that no one be lost and that all would come to repentance and belief and trust in who Jesus is and what He accomplished on the cross for us!

Yes there is false teachings in many churches….some minor ones and some very serious ones – we must all ask God to guide us in His truth and be open to His leading in our lives.

I thank God for setting me free from falsehood and my prayer is that many others will also come to have their spiritual blindness healed

[Chris]

Wow, what a wonderful testimony. I sure do hope that the Catholics out there will read your testimony and come out of the RCC. We want all Catholics to be saved and go to Heaven. Salvation is by grace thru faith, not works, lest any man boast.

Jesus said he came to free the captives, not to force them into new rituals and spiritual bondage.

God bless you for sharing that with us and may the Lord continue to help Catholics see the truth of His Word.

Here's a section on our main site that can help Catholics see through the "smoke and mirrors" of the RCC: The Roman Catholic Church - Roman Catholicism

[mattfivefour]

I agree: awesome testimony! Thank you for sharing. And welcome to RF.

[BuzzardHut]

I am a first time poster here on this forum…..and have been praying about the following testimony….I have decided to put it in this category as I feel it may be found by those Catholics who have come searching for answers….

I came to know Jesus as my Saviour when I was 17yrs old, but stayed within the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) until this past year as I genuinely believed it was the “one true church”.

We are taught that from an early age and believed that our Protestant Christian brothers and sisters had sadly strayed from the one true faith and continue to keep “protesting” against one another and creating new churches….

Yes we viewed them as “Christians” but they sadly did not believe in the Eucharist nor the spiritual nourishment that it provides…along with a number of other rich “traditions”.

After my conversion, the Holy Spirit did what He does best….slowly convicting me of areas of sin in my life and guiding me in my search for truth.

I was very involved in the RCC…my entire school education was in Catholic Schools, I was involved in various Catholic ministries and so on…

Doctrine by doctrine I searched thru the RCC teachings to gain a better understanding of living as a Christian. The trouble being that the more I searched, read and prayed…the more Catholic conferences and leadership seminars I attended….the greater my doubts became.

I have also travelled to Rome and been in St Peters, visited the Vatican museum and so on….

I write this because I want to make it quite clear that I was not a non-practicing Catholic nor was I one that was un-educated in the teachings of the Catholic faith and the catechism….

One by one I found myself disagreeing with the RCC teachings – eventually I realised that there was more I disagreed with than I agreed with.
In essence I stopped being “catholic” as to be truly catholic one needs to be in agreement with all the churches teachings - submitting to the magisterium of the church in regard to dogmas and doctrine.

I have always strived to live an honest life with integrity…I realised that I could not really call myself a Catholic when I disagreed with so many of the Churches teachings.

I had seen many of my Christian friends “Church hopping and shopping” and that lifestyle did not really appeal to me or seem at all encouraging….

I prayed that God would convict me and lead me….

The 2 things that I had always believed was 1. The Papacy and 2. the Eucharist.
Therefore I had stayed in the RCC…..

But God was about to remove the final scales from my eyes…..it is amazing to me now when I look back on it. You know, for years and years I could read thru John chapter 6 and could only see it for the Catholic interpretation of it….and for many years I failed to understand how my Christian friends could read thru the “I am the bread of life” discourse and not see the truth of the Eucharist in it!!

Perhaps the Holy Spirit decided at what time it was best to remove those scales …or perhaps me not attending the RCC consistently over a period of 18 months was a catalyst….maybe both.

You see I have 3 young children. Following the birth of my youngest I have had a number of health problems…that coupled with littlies getting childhood sickness – meant that I was not attending church as frequently as I would have liked to.

When I could not attend church – I would spend some time at home in prayer and praise and reading God’s word – in an attempt to unite myself with my brothers and sisters in Christ who were attending church.

It was my desire to be fellowshipping and I believe God honoured that – He took me by the hand and fed me Himself from His word.

Then one day when I was reading the scripture from Matthew 16 13-20 ( this is where Catholics believe that Christ made Peter the first pope and thus began the papal succession).

However I read that particular passage and the Holy Spirit peeled the scales off my eyes and showed me that this verse does not mean that at all!!

Wow – what a revelation…..so now if I could not trust the papal succession and it’s “authority” what else of the RCC teachings could I trust? Surely the Eucharist is based on truth???
Well I opened up my Bible and read the whole of John 6 (in fact John 5-7) and the Holy Spirit set to work removing the scales from my eyes again……I was dumbfounded at first…..I could not believe that I had read theses passages so many times over the years and suddenly I saw them for what they truly were….

And I realised that the truth of the Eucharist is – that it is not transformed into the body and blood of Jesus at all…..this came as quite a shock for me…..as a catholic I had always shown great reverence and respect for the Eucharist….I believed (as all good Catholics do) that we had been given this gift by Jesus himself to strengthen us in our spiritually journey here….

And here came the biggie…..if I was worshipping the consecrated host as Jesus (which we are taught and which I did) and it is not Jesus…..then I am worshipping a false idol!!!

I repeat…worshipping the Eucharist as God - if it is not – is idolatry!!!

Well you could have blown me down with a feather!!

I find it rather interesting that many Christians take Catholics to task re idol worship and statues and so on…..the truth is that whilst there may be some Catholics who use religious artwork/sculptures as idols…most actually do not….all Catholics however do participate in the Eucharist! And when I say all – I mean those who are practicing Catholics as opposed to nominal or cultural Catholics.

So after reading these scriptures with eyes opened – I had a serious think about what the teachings surrounding the Eucharist involve….and I was brought to great sorrow.

I repented and asked God for forgiveness for participating in this and I thanked the Holy Spirit for convicting my heart of this….and then I realised…I must have no more to do with this falsehood….God convicted my heart to leave the catholic church.

In some ways it was easy to do – one does not argue with God when He gives marching orders lol!!

However – this had been my “spiritual place of belonging” for so long – people I had grown up with since birth…people I regarded as my brothers and sisters in Christ….wonderful, kind people who I believe are genuinely seeking after The Lord as best they can….even the parish priest was a lovely man with a huge heart of love and compassion….

But God is so very kind and merciful…and He provides the strength we need when our own fails us!

I have reason to believe that there is indeed a “spiritual” nature to the Eucharist….only I don’t believe this spirit to be that of God!
I believe that one of the reasons so many Catholics who find Jesus as their saviour – but stay in the church – is because of the spiritual blindness inflicted by participation in the Eucharist….
When I broke the news to my devout Catholic mum about my decision – she asked how did I get on without the spiritual nourishment of the Eucharist as she believed this had been so beneficial to her in her spiritual life…..I told her that God is so good and faithful and loves me so much that His word provides me with the spiritual nourishment that I need….that indeed Jesus has chosen to live in me and because I am sealed with the Holy spirit I can trust in Him and the promise of salvation that He has given me so freely!

So I would say to those Catholics who are reading this…be not afraid….ask God to guide you with His Holy Spirit….

There are many who speak very ill of Catholics and the RCC….and even though I have left – I want to say this …..despite what some may have said on this board or elsewhere…the Spirit of God is moving in and working in the hearts of many within the RCC….leading people to the knowledge and joy of salvation, convicting people of their sinfulness, strengthening and guiding those who are genuinely seeking after God!
Just as He is working in all Christian Churches despite their false teachings and sinful greedy practices….it is the Father’s desire that no one be lost and that all would come to repentance and belief and trust in who Jesus is and what He accomplished on the cross for us!

Yes there is false teachings in many churches….some minor ones and some very serious ones – we must all ask God to guide us in His truth and be open to His leading in our lives.

I thank God for setting me free from falsehood and my prayer is that many others will also come to have their spiritual blindness healed

Awesome! Thanks for waking up in the darkness of Romanism and escaping the flames of hell!

[Carl]

I rejoice each time that I know of someone that finds the real truth of life. I'm happy for you. Congratulations what you did took courage. Throwing away a lifetime of learning.

[followerofjesus]

What a wonderful tesimony; thanks for sharing it with us. God is so good!

[Hannah]

Thanks for the testimony.

We are all the same no matter what our backgrounds - Steeped in Sin and wanting to Believe what we want to Believe in but God calls us to Himself. For those who sincerely Seek the True Creator God and His Truth will find it! Praise God we do find His Truth even in the midst of all the False Teaching and Deception found amongst those who call themselves Christian.

[JC1949]

I am a first time poster here on this forum…..and have been praying about the following testimony….I have decided to put it in this category as I feel it may be found by those Catholics who have come searching for answers….

I came to know Jesus as my Saviour when I was 17yrs old, but stayed within the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) until this past year as I genuinely believed it was the “one true church”.

We are taught that from an early age and believed that our Protestant Christian brothers and sisters had sadly strayed from the one true faith and continue to keep “protesting” against one another and creating new churches….

Yes we viewed them as “Christians” but they sadly did not believe in the Eucharist nor the spiritual nourishment that it provides…along with a number of other rich “traditions”.

After my conversion, the Holy Spirit did what He does best….slowly convicting me of areas of sin in my life and guiding me in my search for truth.

I was very involved in the RCC…my entire school education was in Catholic Schools, I was involved in various Catholic ministries and so on…

Doctrine by doctrine I searched thru the RCC teachings to gain a better understanding of living as a Christian. The trouble being that the more I searched, read and prayed…the more Catholic conferences and leadership seminars I attended….the greater my doubts became.

I have also travelled to Rome and been in St Peters, visited the Vatican museum and so on….

I write this because I want to make it quite clear that I was not a non-practicing Catholic nor was I one that was un-educated in the teachings of the Catholic faith and the catechism….

One by one I found myself disagreeing with the RCC teachings – eventually I realised that there was more I disagreed with than I agreed with.
In essence I stopped being “catholic” as to be truly catholic one needs to be in agreement with all the churches teachings - submitting to the magisterium of the church in regard to dogmas and doctrine.

I have always strived to live an honest life with integrity…I realised that I could not really call myself a Catholic when I disagreed with so many of the Churches teachings.

I had seen many of my Christian friends “Church hopping and shopping” and that lifestyle did not really appeal to me or seem at all encouraging….

I prayed that God would convict me and lead me….

The 2 things that I had always believed was 1. The Papacy and 2. the Eucharist.
Therefore I had stayed in the RCC…..

But God was about to remove the final scales from my eyes…..it is amazing to me now when I look back on it. You know, for years and years I could read thru John chapter 6 and could only see it for the Catholic interpretation of it….and for many years I failed to understand how my Christian friends could read thru the “I am the bread of life” discourse and not see the truth of the Eucharist in it!!

Perhaps the Holy Spirit decided at what time it was best to remove those scales …or perhaps me not attending the RCC consistently over a period of 18 months was a catalyst….maybe both.

You see I have 3 young children. Following the birth of my youngest I have had a number of health problems…that coupled with littlies getting childhood sickness – meant that I was not attending church as frequently as I would have liked to.

When I could not attend church – I would spend some time at home in prayer and praise and reading God’s word – in an attempt to unite myself with my brothers and sisters in Christ who were attending church.

It was my desire to be fellowshipping and I believe God honoured that – He took me by the hand and fed me Himself from His word.

Then one day when I was reading the scripture from Matthew 16 13-20 ( this is where Catholics believe that Christ made Peter the first pope and thus began the papal succession).

However I read that particular passage and the Holy Spirit peeled the scales off my eyes and showed me that this verse does not mean that at all!!

Wow – what a revelation…..so now if I could not trust the papal succession and it’s “authority” what else of the RCC teachings could I trust? Surely the Eucharist is based on truth???
Well I opened up my Bible and read the whole of John 6 (in fact John 5-7) and the Holy Spirit set to work removing the scales from my eyes again……I was dumbfounded at first…..I could not believe that I had read theses passages so many times over the years and suddenly I saw them for what they truly were….

And I realised that the truth of the Eucharist is – that it is not transformed into the body and blood of Jesus at all…..this came as quite a shock for me…..as a catholic I had always shown great reverence and respect for the Eucharist….I believed (as all good Catholics do) that we had been given this gift by Jesus himself to strengthen us in our spiritually journey here….

And here came the biggie…..if I was worshipping the consecrated host as Jesus (which we are taught and which I did) and it is not Jesus…..then I am worshipping a false idol!!!

I repeat…worshipping the Eucharist as God - if it is not – is idolatry!!!

Well you could have blown me down with a feather!!

I find it rather interesting that many Christians take Catholics to task re idol worship and statues and so on…..the truth is that whilst there may be some Catholics who use religious artwork/sculptures as idols…most actually do not….all Catholics however do participate in the Eucharist! And when I say all – I mean those who are practicing Catholics as opposed to nominal or cultural Catholics.

So after reading these scriptures with eyes opened – I had a serious think about what the teachings surrounding the Eucharist involve….and I was brought to great sorrow.

I repented and asked God for forgiveness for participating in this and I thanked the Holy Spirit for convicting my heart of this….and then I realised…I must have no more to do with this falsehood….God convicted my heart to leave the catholic church.

In some ways it was easy to do – one does not argue with God when He gives marching orders lol!!

However – this had been my “spiritual place of belonging” for so long – people I had grown up with since birth…people I regarded as my brothers and sisters in Christ….wonderful, kind people who I believe are genuinely seeking after The Lord as best they can….even the parish priest was a lovely man with a huge heart of love and compassion….

But God is so very kind and merciful…and He provides the strength we need when our own fails us!

I have reason to believe that there is indeed a “spiritual” nature to the Eucharist….only I don’t believe this spirit to be that of God!
I believe that one of the reasons so many Catholics who find Jesus as their saviour – but stay in the church – is because of the spiritual blindness inflicted by participation in the Eucharist….
When I broke the news to my devout Catholic mum about my decision – she asked how did I get on without the spiritual nourishment of the Eucharist as she believed this had been so beneficial to her in her spiritual life…..I told her that God is so good and faithful and loves me so much that His word provides me with the spiritual nourishment that I need….that indeed Jesus has chosen to live in me and because I am sealed with the Holy spirit I can trust in Him and the promise of salvation that He has given me so freely!

So I would say to those Catholics who are reading this…be not afraid….ask God to guide you with His Holy Spirit….

There are many who speak very ill of Catholics and the RCC….and even though I have left – I want to say this …..despite what some may have said on this board or elsewhere…the Spirit of God is moving in and working in the hearts of many within the RCC….leading people to the knowledge and joy of salvation, convicting people of their sinfulness, strengthening and guiding those who are genuinely seeking after God!
Just as He is working in all Christian Churches despite their false teachings and sinful greedy practices….it is the Father’s desire that no one be lost and that all would come to repentance and belief and trust in who Jesus is and what He accomplished on the cross for us!

Yes there is false teachings in many churches….some minor ones and some very serious ones – we must all ask God to guide us in His truth and be open to His leading in our lives.

I thank God for setting me free from falsehood and my prayer is that many others will also come to have their spiritual blindness healed

Great testimony,thank you.
If I can,in the love of our Lord,let me encourage to keep your eyes on JESUS.
It takes no time at all for The Lord to perform what I call the miracle of The New Birth,and we start as babies in Christ,but it will take diligent study of The Word of God to allow His Word and Spirit to cleanse us from false doctrine and wrong understanding of His Grace.
I am saved 40 years now and I am an ex RCC,being Italian I was born and raised that way,and i still find in myself many attitudes and behavior that stem from that,so I am a work in progress,we all are here,so,please be alert and vigilant,always be a "BEREAN",
Acts 17:10-12 and do not let anyone discourage you in the new walk with Christ,because you will be persecuted too.
Blessings in Jesus

[daygo]

hopefilled, that was awesome.

[Longing2cJesus]

hopefilled, thank you and Welcome to RF.

Praising our LORD for His work in you!!!

[Meg]

Welcome to RF, Hopefilled, and thank you for sharing your testimony.

[ShilohRose]

You have a wonderful testimony!

[IamPJ]

Welcome to RF, Hopefilled, and thank you for sharing your testimony.

I welcome you too!

[hopefilled]

Thanks for the testimony.

We are all the same no matter what our backgrounds - Steeped in Sin and wanting to Believe what we want to Believe in but God calls us to Himself. For those who sincerely Seek the True Creator God and His Truth will find it! Praise God we do find His Truth even in the midst of all the False Teaching and Deception found amongst those who call themselves Christian.

Hi all and thankyou for the warm welcome and kind words....indeed to God be the glory!

I very much agree with what you have written here Hannah and I think that we should always remain hopeful for those who we know and love that remain in the RCC....because we may not always be aware of where they are at on their spiritual journey....for myself...I did not talk to too many people about what God was doing in me until I had reached a confident conclusion as I did not want to be swayed by those closest to me emotionally - I wanted my decision to be Holy Spirit led!
As I mentioned I came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ when I was 17 and it has been the Lord's work in me over years that finally led me to leave the RCC. I understand that God works in all of us uniquely...His timing is perfect...and I believe that it truly is His desire that no one be lost....and that all come to repentance and belief in Jesus as our Saviour.

I can see how I have experienced many amazing things and met people who I may not have met had God opened my eyes completely back when I was 17yrs old...had He done that then...my life would have gone a completly different route no doubt. You see I submitted my life to God way back then and asked Him to begin the wonderful work of transformation according to His will....and He did...in His way and in His time!

I do believe that if one is sincerely seeking God and the truth....if one is searching for it as if for treasure...that God will let Himself be found by us....because that is His will!!

I say this to encourage all Catholics who read this to really trust God to lead you in your life.....and to all who know Catholics - to continue praying for them and to continue to witness in love to them.
I have encountered some who seem to like more the conquest of spiritual arguements than to really witness to the saving message of the gospel!
And then there have been those dear Christians who have in fact LOVED me and simply PROCLAIMED the truth and allowed the Holy Sprirt to do the convicting!!

I pray that we may all continue in love to reach out to all with the wonderful and HOPE -FILLED message of the salvation freely offered to us!

Thanks again all and may God bless you each this day and strengthen you to continue running the race with your eyes fixed firmly on the prize!!

[Hannah]

HopeFilled

My family are Serbian and as such mainly Serbian Orthodox but I have Catholic (married into the family and still go to Catholic church) relatives.

Some of my family that still attend Orthodox and Catholic Church, who like you, I know are Saved Believers. I do share scriptures with them when God gives me the opportunity to do so. I get them to take out their own Bibles and look up scriptures together with them. This helps them to receive what I am sharing with them is truly from God because it is from their own Bibles.

The reason my family do not leave the Orthodox/Catholic denomination is that they have been deceived by the teaching that other Christian Churches or Christian organisations do not have the Truth of God. They are afraid of being led into deception.

I don't go to an Orthodox church but an Anglican Church which is acceptable to most of my family (especially since my hubby is an Australian from a Protestant background and the wife goes to the Church of the husband).

I have certainly been encouraged by your testimony. I am sure God is working in their hearts and minds drawing them slowly to His truth more and more. I of course have been praying but will be parying now with more HOPE than before because of your wonderful testimony.

Praise God!!!

[hopefilled]

Hi Hannah - thanks so much for sharing that...your family is very blest to have you be such an awesome and loving witness. Fear not - the seeds you have been planting and watering are not in vain! It is really great that they trust you enough to get out their Bibles to check stuff out I can imagine our Heavenly Father's huge smile watching your faithfullness and eager desire to share the truth with them!!

I too will pray for your family (and mine as both my family and my in-laws are all generational Catholics)...may God continue to love them thru us and bring them to true knowledge of what Jesus has done for us!!

What can I say Hannah - you have married an Aussie - and being an Aussie gal you get a big from me!!

May God bless you sister!!

[livin_in_the_Son]

Hopefilled...your testimony and subsequent posts have given me much hope indeed! I have family members who are catholic, and take any kind of witnessing as an attack on them personally. I pray always for their salvation, and deliverance from their spiritual blindness. Thank you for giving me renewed hope.

[hopefilled]

Hopefilled...your testimony and subsequent posts have given me much hope indeed! I have family members who are catholic, and take any kind of witnessing as an attack on them personally. I pray always for their salvation, and deliverance from their spiritual blindness. Thank you for giving me renewed hope.

Hi there LivinintheSon!!!

so glad that your hope has be renewed we all have much to be hopeful for - our God is an awesome God and no one is beyond His reach or love!! Keep at it....just be gentle...so many Catholics get "harrassed" by well-intentioned Christians who sadly approach proclaiming the Gospel a little too agressively.....love....love....love....and speak the truth in love

[daygo]

Hi there LivinintheSon!!!

so glad that your hope has be renewed we all have much to be hopeful for - our God is an awesome God and no one is beyond His reach or love!! Keep at it....just be gentle...so many Catholics get "harrassed" by well-intentioned Christians who sadly approach proclaiming the Gospel a little too agressively.....love....love....love....and speak the truth in love

Spot on hopefilled.

[mikhen7]

Praise God. Awesome testimony!! Hopefilled, you are not alone. There are many opening their eyes. This Sunday I will be baptizing a young Lady who has been devout RCC for 24 years. She would go to church almost daily. Surrendered her life to the Lord recently and requested on her own volition to be Baptized since her faith.
Praise God