I consider all the ways I have been enveloped in religion, and I cant but come away with the feeling that it has defined the most momentous and challenging points in my life and led me to a greater future that I had not envisioned when I was in the throes of my darkest moments.
As I was growing up at home, I would sing Bible songs and read stories from children’s books about the figures and historical events in the Bible, and learn the teachings of Jesus and the Twelve Disciples.
This was brought together by my parents and other family members here in the Seattle area by organizing churches and Sunday schools to help us grow together and learn the word of God.
With my closest family members we would bond over get togethers and play dates playing video games and watching movies, and sharing moments together.
Later in adolescence, I was invited into to a welcoming community of Presbyterian worshipers who brought me stories of hymns, the Apostles, activities, and church trips that showed me faith and fortification of spirit.
I spent time in high school at gatherings of like mined worshipers of my international background at times, though at times taking note of secular beliefs, other faiths, and observing many of the cultures in the world through school and independent study.
After high school I was poorly expressing my creative outlets and was unable to perform my duties in school, so I did not have a full scope of my life and the direction it was headed. I would perform acts of petty theft, disturb my mind by drinking, smoking, and consuming all types of drugs, the list if described would upset the mind and soul.
Involved in my studies during college were visting concerts, clubs, and shows at all sorts of venues, that would let me bond with creative people as well as going to museums and hanging out in parks. This was exiting to me in the moment, but was not handled the right way and sorely affected me later academically.
Shortly after, I did not complete college and instead I was hopping back and forth from community college to jobs to staying at home trying to make music. This was interrupted by the dissolution of our family structure bit by bit since there was so much conflict between my brothers and I, and none of us were taking our studies seriously.
We journeyed to Kenya to spend time with relatives and meet with friends that my parents had not seen in a long time. The best part is how I would go to Kenyatta University and study there with other students and learn computer classes, while being involved in shopping at malls and having a change of pace.
During this time I was involved in my church community there, where I was baptized, and I found a renewed relationship with God by becoming saved. My life changed at this point and I was certainly on the path to healing.
To describe the enlightenment that I feel when I think of my Creator is overwhelming. I am overcome and totally filled by his grace and overwhelmed by his mercy. I feel like righteousness is a blessing to be given, and I have received my portion from God.
Hopefully during my trip to Kenya I will be able to seek more inner peace and be able to live a lifestyle that I would be comfortable with. And the best way I can do that is to be able to instill in others faith and help them to resolve the issues that they were concerned about.
I seriously think that when I think of things they become naturally real in the world, like how I dream of things and they occur in the world. Similarly, I believe that when you imagine something it becomes real in that moment as if you have created it out of thin air, just as how if you make a drawing or paint a picture it has gone from your conceptual imagination to the physical world in the form of that piece of art.
This has transformed how I believe things in my own world, and allowed me to release horrible afflictions of violence, aimlessness, and unsettlement to seek more inner peace, wisdom, and praise of the Ultimate Alpha and Omega Jehova the God of Abraham and Isaac and believe more in my own will on this Earth.
I try to exemplify this in my actions toward others to hopefully leave a good mark on the world and tell people how God has saved me from how I used to be. I wish I could instill this nature onto my brothers and hope that they would be more decisive in their hopes from this world and make better decisions.
If I learn throughout my life and bring more skills to my actions then I will hopefully allow myself to take as much as I need from the world and better yet resolve tensions and replace and provide truer actions to those who I meet and interact with.