Reviews of In Christ I am a New Creation,
Part I,
Taking up my Cross
on May 25, 2017
Reading Veronica's book was a very profound experience for me. I had a long circuitous route through many different religious traditions and New Age thought philosophies before finally stumbling upon Orthodox Christianity. Although I was baptized as an Orthodox Christian in 2005, there was a part of me that continued dabbling in some of these other spiritual ideas. I was sort of trying to pick and choose the "best" parts of each belief system that I liked.
As a result, I ended up falling away from the Church between 2010-2015 and immersing myself in the New Age "Teachings of Abraham." Then, over a period of a few months, my life fell apart totally and completely - and it was like I woke up from a deep, dark sleep and I realized that I need to return to the Church. So, I packed up everything and moved back to live near my "home" Church where I had been baptized.
I had become heavily involved in a Facebook group dedicated to the "Teachings of Abraham" and was having a difficult time figuring out how to extricate myself from it. These teachings no longer resonated with me, but I had not yet found the courage to tell all my "Abraham" friends that I no longer wanted to endorse these ideas. I hemmed and hawed and stayed on the fence about it for a full year after returning to the Church, and it was really source of inner turmoil for me.
Then my priest, Father Lawrence Margitich, asked me to read Veronica's book and give him some feedback. He thought I would benefit from reading about her struggle with chronic illness since I have my own struggles in this area as well. But surprisingly, the part of the book that ended up having the most significant effect on me was that section that discusses her own involvement in the New Age practices of channeling, psychic readings, and communicating with Angels and Ascended Masters, etc.
Reading about Veronica's experiences, and her own decision to finally remove herself from the New Age community and close the business she had built around it, was exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment to help me do the same! God works in mysterious ways and He somehow manages to to brings us back to Him little by little in perfect timing. I am so glad He never gives up on us and receives us with open arms when we come running back to Him.
As a result, I ended up falling away from the Church between 2010-2015 and immersing myself in the New Age "Teachings of Abraham." Then, over a period of a few months, my life fell apart totally and completely - and it was like I woke up from a deep, dark sleep and I realized that I need to return to the Church. So, I packed up everything and moved back to live near my "home" Church where I had been baptized.
I had become heavily involved in a Facebook group dedicated to the "Teachings of Abraham" and was having a difficult time figuring out how to extricate myself from it. These teachings no longer resonated with me, but I had not yet found the courage to tell all my "Abraham" friends that I no longer wanted to endorse these ideas. I hemmed and hawed and stayed on the fence about it for a full year after returning to the Church, and it was really source of inner turmoil for me.
Then my priest, Father Lawrence Margitich, asked me to read Veronica's book and give him some feedback. He thought I would benefit from reading about her struggle with chronic illness since I have my own struggles in this area as well. But surprisingly, the part of the book that ended up having the most significant effect on me was that section that discusses her own involvement in the New Age practices of channeling, psychic readings, and communicating with Angels and Ascended Masters, etc.
Reading about Veronica's experiences, and her own decision to finally remove herself from the New Age community and close the business she had built around it, was exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment to help me do the same! God works in mysterious ways and He somehow manages to to brings us back to Him little by little in perfect timing. I am so glad He never gives up on us and receives us with open arms when we come running back to Him.