Conversion Journey

For many years, my youngest son, who is severely retarded but full of faith, hoped and prayed that his parents would give up their atheism and adopt his belief in a personal God. When God reached out to me about three years ago, that happened. I was shocked by the contact, but I could not deny what all my senses were telling me -- and not only me but also a friend who was with me. (The full story is in the book, Blest Atheist, and is the purpose and message of the book.)

The book ends with the start of the journey. Conversion is not a one-time happening, but, as I have since discovered, a long journey with some interesting twists and turns. I love reading Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary website (www.conversiondiary.com). She began the journey about two years before I did, and her experiences frequently parallel and occasionally foreshadow mine. I wonder how she is managing this experience with her family, and I look forward to the book she is writing about herself.

With my family, I worked hard to raise atheists. I sent my children to a parochial school because the education was better but insisted that they not be required to go to the chapel and that they be exempted from catechism of any sort. (How ironic! I am now a catechist!) Nonetheless, two of my children--the retarded youngest son and the daughter with spina bifida--both became strong believers. They were apparently experiencing the presence of God all those years that I was trying to dissuade them from believing what they were experiencing. My son, who is pretty much incapable of deception, given an IQ of 52, has all his life talked about talking to God and, more important, listening to God.

It should not have been surprising then that he was so concerned that his parents meet this very special entity in his life. I was quite amused (his father less so), when he said grace one morning after I had had my conversion experience: "Thank you, God, for bringing Mommy to church, but You forgot about Daddy!" Out of the mouths of babes!

I think God has not forgotten about his father, however, for his atheism has slowly turned to agnosticism and from agnosticism to curiosity. Perhaps the next step will come sooner rather than later.

I would be very interested in hearing from believers who are married to non-believers. How are you handling your relationship, given this significant difference?