Discussion About Spirituality Dear Lovely Universe

This discussion happened by pure chance! I truly hope it helps someone out there! Thank you Rachel for joining me and making this possible.Disclaimer: This podcast is simply to share with individuals that there are other options out there in relation to spirituality. My intention is not to bash Catholicism or any other religion. Please note the script is not word for word with the audio. I had a lot of fun with this. Enjoy. 
 
Me: Rachel can you please tell me a little bit about your childhood and give me a general idea?
Rachel: Growing up, I grew up in a Catholic home. My parents were Catholic and we would go to church every Sunday, that was kind of the thing so I was immersed in the Catholic faith until I was about 15 years old because that’s when you make your confirmation with the church. When I was going through confirmation classes, things started to hit me because now I was older and I could really start to understand the scriptures and such. I started to question what I was reading and would bring up those questions and it almost felt like I was being judged. It started to hit me that maybe the Catholic faith isn’t for me because it didn’t resonate with me. After my confirmation, which I did because my parents wanted me to,  I started looking into other religions because I knew that there was something else out there for me. I looked into multiple religions such as Wicca, Paganism, Christianity, and older religions that people just don’t practice openly. For me, I couldn’t go down just one path because there were certain things from different religions that would resonate me and other things that wouldn’t from different religions. That is really what started my spiritual journey, going outside the Catholic church and looking into other religions.
Me: That is really interesting. You said your parents made you do your confirmation, how did that make you feel?
Rachel: It was difficult for me because when you are told by the priest, they tell you that you are becoming an adult and part of the church. So you’re making the decision yourself to be a part of the church and I didn’t want to part of it. It felt like the religion was being forced upon me, but honestly, I didn’t know anything else before that because it was what I grew up in. Once I got older and I was around more people and access to the internet. It made it easier to look into other religions. Being around people of different beliefs around the school made it easier for me to kind of find out about other religions as well.
Me: I know that when we talked you had mentioned that you had a spiritual epiphany. Do you mind talking a little bit about that?
Rachel: My spiritual epiphany came after I had my first child, I was 18. I had given birth to her just a few months after turning 19. I was a single mother, working three jobs, and trying to go to school full time. It was hard. Part of it was and I knew it was wrong, but I blamed God for my trials and tribulations. It felt to me that my life was spiraling into this huge pile of mistakes. I was trying to make ends meet and it was really hard. One night I was just in tears and I was like “God, I don’t know if I can do this anymore.” I felt like a horrible parent and I’m not doing something right because all of these bad things just keep happening. I just broke down. I got on my knees and cried and I just prayed.  I was like “God, what do I need to do? I’m at my witts end, I don’t know what to do.” I started apologizing for blaming God because I knew was wrong for doing that and was asking what should I do because I was at that point. All of a sudden, I had a feeling of a presence next to me. I felt an extreme warmth like someone was hugging me. All of a sudden I felt this warmth and this white over my heart and just started crying but they were happy tears not sad and then all of a sudden I just knew what I needed to do and it was just the o...