It is difficult to determine which is the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life. One regards relationships; the other touches on a lifetime of spiritual understanding.
Relationships
Not many months ago, there was a final choice that had to be made. It was uncomfortable. And the potential for losing connection with those I loved most was a very real possibility.
But it had to be done.
Earlier this year before the Lenten season had officially begun, a decision to cause my daughter’s family to move out of my home to a place of their own was made. It was abrupt, and it was not something I ever wanted to have happen. But God had other plans.
At a final breaking point, God made it clear that I was hanging on to something that was neither healthy nor allowed for growth for either party involved. I forced the arrangement and felt that I had betrayed trust.
I kept trusting that God knew best and that He would handle the situation.
In the end, not only did it become crystal clear that it was what needed to happen, our relationships grew stronger. Each of us was able to grow exponentially spiritually and emotionally in ways never before imagined.
It allowed not only for unprecedented growth, but opened the doors to opportunities for business endeavors that had been on the back burner for too long.
I wouldn’t have gone through any of this by my own choice. But my Faith that God would direct it all helped carry all of us through the hardest time of our lives.
But there was another decision equally as hard…
There was another change that happened at the same time. A change in something far deeper and held greater meaning than just my close relationship with my family. Another big change that God was making in the lives of my daughter and myself.
The religion we were a part of for most of our lives was crumbling before our eyes. But having grown up in this Faith, it was very difficult to reject it. Too much learned, too many teachings, and the guilt from those who surrounded us threatening the salvation of our very souls should be leave.
But we couldn’t resist the inner urge that we all felt.
After a long time of reflection, increasing urgency to move on, and much study, we sought answers. And we got them.
What was begun in the beginning of the year to move our relationships forward became culminated at the end of the year after 1 1/2 years of this critical juncture.
We left a lifelong Faith and embraced one that is far older, far more ancient in not only origin, but in it unchangeable nature. Our family, now in separate households, we are now Orthodox.
Life doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes there are changes that must take place in order to grow. For us, these two moments in our lives gave us just that.