So Mich....

[Dichotomy Girl]

Originally Posted by ILG

Mich, how old were you when you got into the UPC and how many years were you there?

Ah, my story is weird and on and off....

My first time I went to an Apostolic church I was 18 years old. It was the summer between my first and second year of college and I was working 3rd shift at a gas station. This guy would come in every early morning for coffee and we would talk about life, the universe and everything.

One night he asked if I wanted to come to a movie at his church. I thought it was a date, but it turned out that he had a girlfriend, and he really just wanted to set me up with Jesus. (He's a good guy, and I am still facebook friends with him and his wife...but it wasn't the smartest way to handle witnessing, LOL)

The movie was actually a taped copy of the passion play that was put on by the big church in Alexandria, I think it was... Anyway, all I remember was crying through the entire thing and being so embarrassed, and trying to sink as far down into my little metal folding chair as I could.

It was so long ago, and short, that I don't really remember a lot. I went to church for a couple months. I did decide to get baptized. I never got the Holy ghost though. And once my 2nd year of college started up, I was ready to return to "normal". I didn't care about standards, but there were a lot of other things I didn't want to give up. I remember quite clearly trying to get the Pastor's wife to give me a specific of what I would physically be able to do with my on again boyfriend, and her being quite red in the face as I was quite graphic and we were at a church picnic! (I wasn't just being obnoxious, I was raised completely secular and this was pre-internet, I had no clue, everyone I knew was catholic and drank and smoked and had premarital sex).

Anyway, fast forward 6 years, I've been married to Matt less than 6 months, and I know it was a horrible mistake, but I'm too proud to admit it. I was miserable and started seeking again. As it was my only experience with church, I decided to visit that apostolic church from my past.

The church and my marriage ended up being very intertwined. I remember sharing with one of my "mentors" that I was afraid my marriage had been a mistake and not at all God's will. And she said to me "It no longer matters if it was God's will for you to get married, it's God's will for you to stay married."

So, I stayed married because church said God demanded it, and I stayed in the church because it was the only way I could deal with my marriage.

Anyway, I was about 24. I was about 33-34 when I left.