My Baha'i Story

I suppose I should start this by telling my "Baha'i story," as Baha'is often ask me when we meet. I grew up in Georgia, which is very Christian. As a child, my parents took my sister and I to church, but were never very religious. I think they more felt responsible for giving us a background with those kind of values. My mom (and I think my dad too) did Bible study while my sister and I went to Sunday school. I hated Sunday school. Hated it. Hated it a lot. I always felt uncomfortable and it just didn't feel right to me. However, I would sometimes ask my mom if we could go to church. I guess I always felt this longing to understand God, but Christianity never really drew me in as much as I think I wished it would. Soon, we quit going to church and for several years, I just didn't deal with the issue of religion. I never called myself agnostic or atheist, but I didn't feel comfortable with God or really discussing religion at all.

In May of 2009, my then-boyfriend Evan asked me to go to church with him. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I agreed. His church, North Point Community Church, drew me in instantly. It is very modern and the messages didn't feel like they were being shoved down my throat. The pastor, Andy Stanley, was amazing and took passages from the Bible and related them to everyday life. I loved North Point and started going with Evan every Sunday.

This put religion back in my life, though I was still not comfortable calling myself a Christian. The next year, my senior year of high school, I took a semester-long religion class. We didn't study the Baha'i Faith, but I somehow stumbled across it on my own. The values and principles drew me in immediately and I began doing a lot of reading and I discussed it some with my teacher. However, I didn't go any further with it and forgot about it over the summer. Then, somehow I stumbled across the Faith again in my first semester of college. I did some more reading and went online and requested more information. Once again, I was hooked. I also was missing North Point, but knew I wanted something more and something different.

I decided to take it a step further and meet with the Baha'is in Boston. This is when I met Norah. I think I have mentioned her at some point before, but if not, Norah is wonderful. I went over to her house and we talked and she taught me more about the Faith. I was interested, but still not committed. Then, several weeks later, I went to a Ridvan celebration with Norah and her husband at the Boston Baha'i Center. This was my first Baha'i event, and it is a lot of the reason I have declared. The sense of community was truly amazing and I felt completely welcomed and accepted by everyone there. This is also where I met Navid, who I will talk about later. This was the end of April so a few days later, I came home for summer.

I did a lot of thinking and reflecting and some praying (which I still am becoming truly comfortable with) and, after a few weeks of being home, decided to declare. About a week later, Norah called me very excited because she had been notified. Like I said, she is fantastic. She worked with her contacts to put me in contact with the Baha'is here. So last Saturday, I got a call from someone named Caleb who is in charge of organizing the Baha'is in my area welcoming me and introducing himself.

That brings us to this week. On Tuesday, Caleb and I (and his girlfriend, Christie, who is not Baha'i but is very involved nonetheless) met for coffee after work and ended up talking at Starbucks for two and a half hours. Partly about the Faith, but also just talking in general. I certainly did not expect to be there that long, but it was wonderful conversation. That is one thing I love about all the Baha'is I have met: everyone is so knowledgable and involved and interesting. I have nothing bad to say about any of them. Anyway, then on Thursday my "neighborhood" (the north part of my county) had a gathering at a Pizzeria here. They do this every other Thursday just as a get-together so everyone can get to know each other. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed meeting other members of the community. Tonight was the Feast of Mercy. It was my first Baha'i Feast, though it was organized much the same as the Ridvan celebration I went to in Boston. There I met many more people because the entire county is involved, not just the north neighborhood.

So, that is my story. I still have far to go, but I am getting there. Growing up, I think I always had a longing for God somewhere deep within me because I considered talking to the minister personally about religion when I was younger. I never did, though. Norah has said that I was always a Baha'i because I told her how all of the religions have always fascinated me and how I have always tried to piece them together. It took me 18 years, but here I am.

Also, I said I would talk about Navid but I want to talk about him in the context of my struggle with gossip and backbiting, so I will do another post on that.

I think I will close each Baha'i related blog with a quotation, so here is one I have given a lot of thought lately:
"When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love." (Abdu'l-Baha)