These stories are from real life people who have experienced the joy of Christ through the Catholic Evangelization Training Center. Read their testimonies and learn how you too can find a new, living, and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ.

Beatrice - Live every day and have faith in yourself - A cancer patient's battle strengthened her spirit and enriched those around her.

Carol - I knew about God in my childhood and teenage years but never understood the meaning of Jesus dying on the cross for me, His infinite love for me.

Dennis - As I grew up and went to college, I felt that I would live the life of a saint. Then, God would really be pleased with me. I would do it. Pride is a terrible thing. I did not realize that it was only through Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit that I could do anything good. As a result, I fell flat on my face. Frustrated and discouraged, I knew that I would never become a saint. What was the use? I drifted away from the Church.

Bob - Why did coming to know Jesus, in a personal way, prove to be such a challenge for me? As a boy l had learned to believe and as a mature, married man with 3 children, I had lived out: "Grab hold of life by the throat and be a man; be in control; be strong." But Jesus says: "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

Sr. Jan - The Lord has done great things for me and holy is His name, although I didn't recognize Him or His action in my life until I was 24. Before that time, I did not know the Lord Jesus in an alive, personal way. I just expected great things to be done for me. ...Carefree and easy is the way life was meant to be. Life owed me, God owed me, my parents owed me.

Ken - Right after high school I joined the Navy and lived my life thinking only of what I wanted. I was not leading too good a life. Jesus was not the Person I followed. However, He knew what I needed to become His follower.

Lance - As I grew older I became influenced by my friends. Any free time between classes was spent drinking beer. Soon it became an everyday thing. And then came the drugs. The more I gave in to drink and dope, the more I began to lose my personality. Hate and anger filled my life. I didn't respect anyone, especially myself. Finally that point in my life came where I was very empty and sad. My life had become meaningless. Troubles arose between my girlfriend and me.

Berlinda - By the time I was 21 I was desperately in need of the Lord in my life. I had come to the mistaken idea that. because of my sins. God no longer loved me and I had no right to go to church or even to pray, much less to ask Him for anything. Another 12 years of life passed before I found out this way of thinking was wrong. I was married and had two children by now. When my son was four years old I realized that I needed to teach him about God. With that came the horrifying realization that I didn't know God myself. What was I going to teach my children?

Maureen - Most of my activities were carefully supervised and well guided right up through high school, so I had little opportunity to test my spiritual and moral strength against the temptations of the world. Because I was not without sin, weekly confession was a must. Then I fell in love and met the biggest temptation of my 18 years. Realizing my need for help, I sought help in the confessional, and what I experienced there was rejection and condemnation. I walked away from the church. From now on it was going to be just God and me.

Dick - In the fall of 1973 my wife Rita and I heard about prayer meetings, but I felt no need for them. After all, wasn't I doing what was required to get to heaven? Why I attended that first prayer meeting is beyond me, except that I promised my brother in law I would go. After going a couple of times, I began to realize something was missing in my life. I had been living a varnished religious life, and I needed to get under that glossed over exterior and acknowledge how dependent I was on God.

Josie - In 1966 my father died and three years later so did my mother. Because of her death I thought my world had ended. Who was I to live for? Who really cared for me? All I am, and all I ever hope to be I owe to my mother. And now she was gone. Although I had my husband and children I felt very alone.

Omar - During the first few years of our marriage I spent all of my time either working or drinking with my friends. After several years of this way of living I began to feel spiritually empty. I felt a necessity to know the Lord, to find a purpose for my life and so I began to search. Jesus says, "Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 3:2).

Rita - I lived over forty years taking, receiving, grumbling, fearing, vacillating, and taking my blessings for granted. I enjoyed life but never really took time to thank God for the "coincidences" in my life. I remember being uncomfortable at Mass when the gospels mentioned "now you have new life" and wondering how to get it!

Jeanne - "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." Phil.3:8 N.A.S. This scripture verse became very real to me eight years ago when I questioned: do I "know" Jesus Christ in this way? Even after being raised in a beautiful Catholic home, educated in Catholic schools, and attending the sacraments regularly, I still questioned.

Steve - As I look back over my childhood and young adult years, I now realize that my parents expected the Catholic school system to teach me in five or six hours each day how to be "Christ-centered," when in reality, they should have, through their own lives as Catholics, set the example.

Susan - Five years ago I sat in a friend's living room, drinking tea and telling her I didn't know why I was Catholic. I had stopped going to Mass because I didn't know WHY I was doing it. I had felt like a hypocrite going to church because the reason I went was in case I saw my Mom that particular Sunday, I'd be able to say I had gone. Eventually that didn't matter any more either. I walked into church with a dead, dry feeling and walked out the same way. so why go?

Bobbie - Five years ago I struggled with deep emptiness, frustration and many questions. This experience brought me to a point of anger, hatred, resentment,loneliness, bitterness and finally reached a crisis point. At this time, a dear friend shared with me her experience of Jesus' love and forgiveness which led me to turn all my troubles over to him As a result, I found myself experiencing a deep peace and hope in Jesus who was now becoming more real in my life.

Shelly - Through junior high and high school, although the seed was planted in me as a child, I began to drift away from the Lord, going only to Mass on Sundays and receiving Communion then, but that was it. I had fulfilled my duty for the week. Routinely, I prayed before meals and at bedtime. Growing up, working, going out, and dating was all I had time for. In April, 1983, I began going to prayer meetings and learned there that I could actually have a personal relationship with the Lord, that I could have Him as Leader through all my daily activities, "a Friend." Jesus was way up there, so I thought before, but never right next to me.