My Journey to the Church of Saint Luke

-Dana Weadock

Dana dressed up as the Blessed Virgin Mary for Halloween

I was born on March 15,1996 in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, raised by a family that was not quite religious. Both of my parents let my siblings, and I choose our own path regarding which denomination of faith to follow, if any. My father is Catholic, and my mother is Methodist, and they chose to baptize me at St. Elizabeth Church of Hungary down the street from where we lived. After that my own journey to Christ laid in my own hands.

Growing up in grade school, I didn't have many friends, two, at most. I was different than most students, therefore I was treated unkindly. Those two companions and their families were nice enough to share their faith with me and brought me to church with them.

Throughout my whole life I had struggled with severe depression and PTSD from experiencing several traumatic situations. These experiences made it hard for me to feel loved and I was left feeling very unattended to. This led me to look for compassion and attention from the outside world, not knowing it wasn't genuine and was secretly motivated making matters worse for me. 

 After a very traumatic experience with two people, I met that I once considered as my adoption parents who were very often very abusive towards me, I finally got away after a course of seven years and looked into Section 8 Housing and found a safer place to live. I had many unpleasant roommates, but just two and a half years ago the Lord blessed me with a great friend and housemate by the name of Sydney. Her presence alone healed me. She told me about the church she was going to which was the Church of Saint Luke! After I lost my job, I began to attend mass with her on Saturdays and eventually went through the OCIA Program where I was confirmed and officially became a parish member. 

 In conclusion, coming to the Church of Saint Luke was literally the best thing that ever happened to me. I was able to find true, genuine love and happiness from the Lord and from the parish which I consider to be my family now. From encountering intimacy with the Lord and coming to church daily it inspired me to share the good news with the outside world on Instagram. As well, encouraging others who have had similar situations such as myself and who go through depression, that they may come to know Christ, where true love and happiness exist.