I grew up Catholic and yet after 12 years of catholic schooling I still wasn’t sure if I had a belief in God.
I left home at 17 and quickly became mixed up in the wrong crowd. I found myself addicted to narcotics and in an abusive relationship.
I fell pregnant with Molly (now 9) and managed to abstain from drugs until my Mum died when she was 3 months old and I coped with it the only way I knew how.
I knew I wasn’t living upto my potential and I knew that I wasn’t giving my daughter the life she deserved. It took me 4 years to rid myself of those addictions and just as I had the Elders knocked at my door.
I was still living with a very violent and aggressive man and its a miracle that the Elders knocked on my door a few minutes after he had gone out and they left a few minutes before he returned home.
In that first meeting they shared with me the Plan of Salvation and told me how I could be with my mum again. That hour long lesson answered every question that 12 years of Catholic school had left me with.
They presented me with a Book of Mormon and challenged me to pray about it. I didn’t need to, as I read it that night I wept because I knew it was what I had been searching for. I knew that the church was the true church of God and it was where I needed to be. I started attending that Sunday and Molly and I would make the 1.5hr journey on 2 buses to reach the chapel every week without fail.
My partner tried to sabotage my baptism by now allowing lessons in the home but I had learnt to stand for what I believed in and by doing so I got the courage to leave him, moving out shortly after my baptism just a couple of weeks after my first lesson.
From then on I’ve gone from strength to strength, I know the Lord is moulding me into what he wants me to become. I am reaching my potential. I am proving the life that Molly deserves.
A few months after joining the church I met Cameron , another recent convert at a dance and we became firm friends and eventually we started dating. In July 2011 we got married and in February 2013 we were sealed to each other, and Molly in the Preston, England Temple.
Since then we’ve had Tabitha (7 months) and we’re so grateful for the gospel and the missionaries that gave their time to teach us it.
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What an amazing story! And what a beautiful family. Thank you for sharing. <3
Wow Kat…… you’ve come a long way 🙂 love you, keep your family and the seal you have close to your heart.
gone from “strength to strength”…I love it!
Wonderful!! Many hugs to you xoxoxoxox <3 <3
Kathryn- you were blessed not only with a believing heart, but a strong one as well. Thank you for your great example! 🙂
Kathryn shares something that has a familiar ring for me. “They presented me with a Book of Mormon and challenged me to pray about it. I didn’t need to, as I read it that night I wept because I knew it was what I had been searching for.” I’ve felt that, too and it is a remarkable gift . . . and a beautiful conversion story.
I’m so happy for you. What a beautiful family!
What a beautiful story Kathryn. Thank you for sharing.
What a beautiful testimony you share, Kathryn! Thank you for sharing your story!