What Makes Me A Sinner? Can I be forgiven?

Yes, I am a christian that sins! I am 42 years old and I have sinned my entire life. I believe that I am a good person, a good christian and I know that I will go to heaven. I grew up in a strict Catholic home. We attended mass every Sunday and Catholic Holy days. I truly believe in what I was taught and know that religion is the basis for a strong foundation of who you are as a person. The months grew into years and as I got older I lost some of my basic foundation of my roots, of my faith. I felt like I had committed many sins. I was struggling with being a Catholic girl and learning how to forgive myself and most of all maintain my strong faith within my religion.

Growing up Catholic was not hard. Being a christian and having the faith in Jesus is not hard either.

But when I reached a young adult and I was on my own I started sinning more and more. I was lying to my family and friends. It was a time when I forgot about my religion, stopped going to church and become self-absorbed. The years started passing by and I realized I did not like the person I had become. I was so self-absorbed and did whatever I wanted regardless of others. I was confused and overwhelmed with guilt that I felt ashamed of whom I was. During this journey of self-loathing and continuous acts of sinfulness, I realized I was the exact person I did not want to become. At the lowest point in my life I needed to reflect on my faith and learn to become a better person, a better christian.

The hardest part of self-reflecting is learning to forgive yourself. I know that most families love their loved ones unconditionally, through the good and bad times. I had to ask my family for forgiveness and just apologize for my behavior an explain that I am trying, to make changes. That was the easy part. Trying to forgive myself was much more difficult. I was insecure and had a lot of self-pity within me. I took responsibility for all my mistakes and sins that I had committed over the years. I learned how to forgive myself by praying, praying that God will forgive me and help me to learn to forgive myself. I started going back to church, learning how to be a christian, forgiving myself and others, plus, I started reading the bible.

In learning how to forgive myself, I started to look at my faith. I was a Catholic girl by heart and it was time for me to have the faith in myself and give it back to God. During this troubling time in my life my faith gave me the strength to self-reflect, to look in the mirror and see the bad and good within my soul. My belief and willfulness drove me to understand and accept the sins but to propel into a better person. My faith gave me the gift of self-change and self-acceptance. Faith in yourself and in your religion is very important.

Yes, I am a sinner. I believe we are all sinners one way or another. But being a sinner does not make us a bad person. Learn how to minimize your sins, understand the power of self forgiveness, understand that being a christian is about forgiving, but most of all have faith in your religion, your church, in yourself and in God.