No offense intended

Apparently I have unintentionally offended my dear Father-in-law. He's a wonderful man and I love him deeply. I would never set out to hurt or embarrass him, but it seems that I have. Matt's parents accessed our blog for the first time yesterday and Dad told Matt that I'm now on his "list" because I identified myself as "a Roman Catholic Army wife". He doesn't understand why I didn't just call myself a Christian and leave it at that; and he felt that I put that description on there to "rub it in his face". "It", of course, being our recent conversion to the authentic, historic Christianity preserved in the Catholic church. I was more than a little surprised that those two words were the sole source of his displeasure with me, given that I've tried to so hard to be sensitive to our mostly Protestant blog readers, ergo this separate blog.

On Christmas Dad called and told us he'd "come to terms" with our being Catholic. His Baptist theology gives him the assurance that Matt and I and our older kids who've previously made a Profession of Faith (read: been "born again") are safe because nothing we can do could ever cause us to lose our salvation. We've never fully bought into the once-saved-always-saved theology of our Baptist family members, but I'm thankful that it's provided a demilitarized zone for us. I'm guessing that Dad was hoping if he didn't argue with us over this and instead offered to "let it go" that our Catholicism might someday, quietly go away. My public declaration of our alignment with Rome must have shot that hope out of the water, so he's unhappy with me.

I don't enjoy conflict and usually avoid it like the plague. Honestly, if conflict is "here" I'm running full speed ahead to get as close to "there" as possible before it hits. One of the big things I struggled with in our conversion was the potential for mass relational casualties due to ugly religious conflicts. But something fundamentally shifted in me when I received my First Communion. I'm no longer afraid of people. I'm no longer concerned about who will or won't understand or who will choose to remain our friends. To Catholics this kind of division over religion doesn't make a lot of sense and often sounds ridiculous, but in the Protestant camp it's very, very real. When the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus entered my body He healed me of the fear that had guided most of my adult life. The fear of people not liking me. The fear of people I love thinking I've lost my mind. (How pathetically self-focused!) The first time I heard the prayer "Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I SHALL be healed." I knew in my heart that Jesus would completely set me free. But I anticipated a slow, gradual freedom, not this surprising about-face that has completely unshackled me! Pleasing my Lord is the only thing that truly matters to me anymore. That single goal is what drives me to be the best wife and mother I can be. To love and encourage and support my husband with everything that I am. To love and nurture and form each one of our children and prepare them to live lives in obedience to His will. To love those He places in my path, encouraging the tired and overwhelmed, blessing those in need, exhorting as His Spirit leads. When Christ physically entered me my eyes suddenly turned outward. I'd had no idea how inward I was focused until then.

So if others are offended or embarrassed by my proud declaration that I'm a Roman Catholic, I make no apologies. I can not and will not deny my Lord and what He's done for me! I have already come to know Him more intimately and tangibly in His Church than I ever imagined was possible this side of Heaven.

"Whoever confesses me before others I will confess before my Father in Heaven. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." Mt. 10:32-33