Psalm 89:1-29
2 Samuel 7:4,8-16
Romans 4:13-18
Luke 2:41-52
The very first place my mom and dad ever took me was the Episcopal Church.  As a small baby, I was baptized and sealed as Christ’s own forever.  Nevertheless, when I left home for college at age seventeen, I had turned away from the Church.  I decided that there was too much hypocrisy amongst Christians, and I didn’t want to be affiliated with them anymore.
Although I’d left my faith, it hadn’t left me. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand in my early twenties, I decided to go and volunteer with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity in Calcutta. Her example of following Christ inspired me. I also read Mohandas Gandhi’s autobiography, in which he described his own spiritual journey. A Hindu from birth, he tried on other religions but ultimately decided to embrace his own faith and be the best Hindu he could be.  Surprisingly, reading a Hindu’s spiritual journey inspired me to return to my own faith. I re-embraced Christianity and have since endeavored to walk in love as Christ loved us.
Today as a working mom with a full-time job, husband, and two wonderful children, I walk with Christ beside me, knowing that He is with me through it all. Every night my children and I pray together, “Oh Lord support us all the day long, till the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed, and our work is done, and the fever of life is over. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging a holy rest, and peace at the last.”  I thank God for a faith that sustains me through all my wanderings and helps me remember what is truly important—faith and family. 

– Celia Thompson