Hey, my name is Rahel, I am 19 and I grew up in a practising Catholic family in Germany. We went to mass every sunday, prayed before meals, said the rosary together and even ate no sweets during lent. But actually, I never really thought much about God; faith was more of a family tradition as opposed to an essential part of my life. Even though I had many people around me who told me lots about God, I did not really know God.
When I was 14 years old, I went to a youth prayer meeting in our town, there I met other christians my age - I was simply fascinated by the way that they lived their faith. They were so joyful, they loved praying and reading the bible. But what surprised me most was the way they were talking about God – they seem to really know and love him.
I saw that their relationship with God seemed to be not boring at all, so I started to think more about my relationship and prayerlife. I quickly realized, God wasn't part of my daily life; I prayed during the prayer group and during mass on Sunday, but I didn't think about God during the rest of the week. Although I would still say a prayer before each meal, my heart wasn't praying at all.
But I still had this great longing in my heart to get to know God more and to see him working in my life. Somehow, I knew that God's plan for me was bigger than praying only once a week. I knew from my Childrens Bible that God has done great things with the people of the Old and New Testament. I wanted to experience some excitement with God in my life, too.
I made the decsion to stop being a Sunday Christian and let God be part of every day of the week. I tried to start and end every day in prayer and asked God for help in situations when I felt stressed, sad or angry. For example I prayed while cycling to school or while shopping in town and it was a great experience to spent my whole day with Jesus.
Nevertheless it has not always been easy, I still have a lot of questions and doubts. Especially in times when Gods seems distant I find it hard to keep praying, keep going to mass and keep trusting in God. When I look back on my life, I see that God has been there all the time; it was during the times where I struggled most when my faith grew stronger.
I don't want to only root my faith in emotions, I want to root my faith in trust – because faith is far more than praying once a week or feeling good. Faith is about following God wherever he leads you – even if he wants you to go to England.
When I was 14 years old, I went to a youth prayer meeting in our town, there I met other christians my age - I was simply fascinated by the way that they lived their faith. They were so joyful, they loved praying and reading the bible. But what surprised me most was the way they were talking about God – they seem to really know and love him.
I saw that their relationship with God seemed to be not boring at all, so I started to think more about my relationship and prayerlife. I quickly realized, God wasn't part of my daily life; I prayed during the prayer group and during mass on Sunday, but I didn't think about God during the rest of the week. Although I would still say a prayer before each meal, my heart wasn't praying at all.
But I still had this great longing in my heart to get to know God more and to see him working in my life. Somehow, I knew that God's plan for me was bigger than praying only once a week. I knew from my Childrens Bible that God has done great things with the people of the Old and New Testament. I wanted to experience some excitement with God in my life, too.
I made the decsion to stop being a Sunday Christian and let God be part of every day of the week. I tried to start and end every day in prayer and asked God for help in situations when I felt stressed, sad or angry. For example I prayed while cycling to school or while shopping in town and it was a great experience to spent my whole day with Jesus.
Nevertheless it has not always been easy, I still have a lot of questions and doubts. Especially in times when Gods seems distant I find it hard to keep praying, keep going to mass and keep trusting in God. When I look back on my life, I see that God has been there all the time; it was during the times where I struggled most when my faith grew stronger.
I don't want to only root my faith in emotions, I want to root my faith in trust – because faith is far more than praying once a week or feeling good. Faith is about following God wherever he leads you – even if he wants you to go to England.
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