I grew up in a family that wasn’t particularly religious, but attended church for a while. I never doubted the existence of God. I could never even imagine this world just coming into existence by chance. To be honest, I was very concerned about death. I knew God existed, but I didn’t really understand what was necessary for me to be in heaven when I died. So, like so many people seemed to do, I made some assumptions. I believed that if I lived a good enough life that God might let me into His heaven and I certainly hoped He would.
-
Ray-unfulfilled
-
Adelee-
beauty for ashes
On September 1st, 2013, my dad committed suicide. He put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, ending his life. We were devastated, but while his death came as a horrifying shock, I felt as if I had lost him long before that. I guess you could say I never really had a father.
I was the youngest of three, with two older brothers. My mom was a loving, devoted, Christian woman. She made sure we made it to church, and she always tried to instill in us a faith in God…
-
jay-
fear not
I was born into a military family in Louisiana, moved to Germany, moved to Alabama and then finally ended up in Indiana at the age of 6. My mother did a lot of the parenting up until then, which caused a lot of stress on my parents' marriage. We did not grow up going to church very much; my mother tried to take me when she could. There was a lot of fighting in the home and my dad often was stressed or angry about work. I was also dealing with mean kids in school and often struggled to find genuine friends. Middle school was a very low period of time for me and I was trying to find joy in many wrong places.
-
michele-
a craving
My parents were hard-working, faithful people who loved one another and us kids. They set a good example in many ways. We were middle class folks in a small city. My brothers and sister and I went to good public schools, and each of us had the opportunity for higher education.
