Personal Narrative: How Religion Has Changed My Life

I laid there in bed at nearly 3 o’clock in the morning, but falling asleep was the last thing on my mind. My heart was beating like a jackhammer and I had this feeling inside of me that I had never felt before. It felt as though my old self had died and been replaced by someone else. My entire perspective on life was thrown out the window and replaced with something new. I laid there silently, knowing that what I just witnessed would change my life forever.
Throughout my childhood I had always considered myself to be a relatively religous person. Like many others, I grew up in a catholic family where sunday church was a mandatory part of life. I never resented going to church, but I saw it as just another arbitrary thing that people do …show more content…
I wasn’t a bad kid by any means, but I had lacked a certain moral compass to guide my decisions and beliefs. Like most kids that age, I was starting to develop both physically and mentally and carried quite a high opinion of myself. The school year was over and some friends and I had decided to go to bible camp in the summer, a place we could be found many days throughout our childhood but hadn’t been to in a few years. I always enjoyed the religious aspect of camp, but it was far from the main reason I went. The truth was I went for the same reasons as many others, to have fun with my friends and meet some new people. So I said goodbye to my parents and brother and left for camp, completely oblivious as to the impact that week would have on the rest of my life. After the first few days camp was going pretty well and I was having a lot of fun. Throughout the week I kept hearing this same message about Jesus that I had heard a thousand times, but for the first time in my life it finally started to resonate in my head, and I could feel the transformation in my mind begin. While I was a long ways from being fully sold, I knew it was a start. The only real exposure to Jesus I had up to this point was from priests and other people who were usually of significant age. But seeing the counselors at camp, who were young and relatable to myself, being passionate about their faith almost left me in awe. Many of them were kids from the area who I had really looked up to growing up. The week went on and every day I felt more compelled by what I was hearing. I wanted more and more to just accept Christ and move forward with a newly found purpose in life, but I was missing something. I was missing a defining moment where everything just came together and I would be overcome with ambition to dedicate myself to my recently