Your Voice and Pen of Inspiration and Encouragement
So, who am I coming at you with this faith inspired living?
I am Christine McDonald, the founder and writer behind Living Life in the Faith Lane. I was born in Boston, bred in its surrounding communities, writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil and a thought and living a faith-fueled lifestyle without realizing what that meant, without really trying and without realizing that it is not the way everyone lives. You see when you live a certain way, when that way is your default, especially when you’ve been doing it your whole life, to you it’s just a natural way of life, a way that you assume the whole entire world lives.
Then as you get out into the world more you realize it is not a way of living that everyone follows. And you don’t really know where living your life following faith came from. It was just there. But it was always my comfort zone and a lifestyle that I felt safe and protected navigating.
Does this mean my life is utter bliss and perfection? Absolutely not.
When you live life in the faith lane, as I do, you are going to experience ups and downs, struggles and hardships. My journey is not perfect. I make mistakes. I get lost. I get scared, worried, aggravated. But it’s at those times that I realize I have strayed from my GPS, my divine, inner GPS that knows the best route to my destination; a GPS that I did not have to program. It came preloaded in my soul. I just had to choose it as my default navigation system.
Now, not to disappoint you but here’s my disclaimer: I am not a preacher, monk, minister or any other formal religious figure. I have not studied world religions, theology or even the Bible. Growing up, my favorite part of Sunday mass was the homily, the point in the service where the priest tells a story, usually related to the readings for that day. But it was a story I could understand, a story I looked forward to hearing, a story I could relate to my life and things that were happening around me. To this day I still love the homily.
I must, however, give credit for my love of the homily to my mother. You see, there were four of us sitting there in that pew Sunday mornings. A fifth sibling came later. And we were all pretty close in age. So, how exactly do you keep a pew of kids quiet? You tell them there is going to be a test. What!!?? Yup, a test. One Sunday morning, my mother quietly leaned into her little tribe sitting between her and my dad and said, you’d better pay attention because one of these days I’m going to ask you what the homily was about. I’m not going to tell you which day it will be. But if you can’t tell me then I’ll know you weren’t listening. Talk about the fear of everything holy. Now, I speak only for myself. I have no idea what my other siblings did. But from that test threat forward I was tuned into the homily like radar. And looking back, it enriched my love of storytelling. I loved hearing stories. I loved telling stories. I loved relating things about God to everyday life. Yup, mom’s homily test strengthened all that. Oh, and there never was a test. Not from mom, anyway. I guess the test came from God. Did I hear? Did I understand? Will I use this in my life? And perhaps moreso, was He preparing me for exactly what the homily did for me, sharing stories about God and living in faith so that others could understand?
So, here I am with my love of writing, storytelling, God and following faith, finding ways to share with you stories that uplift, encourage and inspire you on your journey in life.
Thanks for joining me here on my highway through life. I hope you enjoy your travels.
Living Life in the Faith Lane 