Struggling...

Anyone that knows me well will know that I don't talk about religion too much. The only reason I am posting this entry is because it's something that's been bothering me a lot lately. I thought that writing about it might help me.

As most of you know, I was raised Catholic. Growing up, I never questioned anything that was taught to me about being Catholic. Lately, however, I have really been struggling with the Catholic Church. ***I will say that my faith in God hasn't changed. That is still as strong as ever. ***

There are certain things in the Catholic Church that I disagree with. (I am not going to go into detail on that because that is not the point of this post.) Because I don't believe in every thing the Church does or believes, I have been considering myself a failure as a Catholic. I have even been wondering if this is the way I want to raise my children.

Because of this, I decided to do some research about the Catholic Church so I can learn more and shake away this doubt I have. Both my and Andy's families are Catholic, and have been for generations. I thought to myself, there are obviously many positive things about the Catholic Church if our families have believed in it for so many years.

I bought a book on amazon.com called "Setting the Record Straight- What Catholics Really Believe: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions about the Catholic Faith." I thought it might help me understand the Church a little better and get over my negative feelings toward the Church. Wrong! Do not read this book unless you want to feel like the worst Catholic on this earth! I felt like even more of a failure after reading this book.... and I haven't even finished it! And I am not sure if I will...

I was discussing this book (and my Church issues) with my sister and she thinks I am being too hard on myself. She said no one is perfect and as long as you make an effort to do what you can, you aren't a bad Catholic. I do feel like I am basically a good person who does make mistakes.... don't we all?

You are probably wondering what led me to writing this post... my friend Shelley posted on her blog today about one of her favorite Bible verses. Honestly, I am not that familiar with the Bible.... another Catholic thing... Anyway, the verse she wrote about really spoke to me and I wanted to share it with you.

"And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after awhile we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged and give up." Galatians 6:9

Because of this, I am not going to give up on the Catholic Church. I am going to keep trying to do what is right...