Personal Reflective Essay: My Personal Beliefs

Though our beliefs differ, we will always be sisters.

My entire life my sister and I have had different beliefs in regards to religion. Growing up, we were raised as Catholics. Now, she follows the faith of Christianity, while I consider myself an atheist. Throughout the years, we have had major discussions on the topic of religion.

When my sister once asked me why I never went to church with her, it only led to an intense conversation. A heated discussion erupted when we talked about the existence of a higher power. She persisted on the assurance that one existed, while my mind reflected otherwise. Being as stubborn as we are, we were not going to change our minds. However, she gave me reasons as to why she believed that a god existed. For example, one time she needed money to travel out of town on a trip, and the following day at work she received a $100 tip. Another time, she said that once while driving home from work, a horrible storm blew in and she could only see inches in front of her car. Once she pulled over and the storm passed, the realization that a few feet ahead lay a

disguised ditch, overcame her. Pastor Pepe, the pastor of the church she went to, being cured of cancer served as another instance as to why she believed in a god.
Initially, I reasoned that maybe if I devoted myself to be a Christian, positive occurrences would happen to me periodically. On the other hand, I knew that deep down I would not have been able to fully understand the concept of Christianity. With this, I would not be able to fully dedicate myself to the religion. Thus, without being able to inject myself 100 percent into something, I would want not to be a part of it.
With the fact that those instances my sister experienced being able to be only coincidences and not the works of a higher being, I continued to tell her my personal beliefs.

Furthermore, I also explained that it was troublesome for me to believe in something that wasn’t physical. Physical proof was vital for me to understand something completely. Consequently, being able to see, hear, feel or calculate something is essential for me to believe it is true. I told her I that I always focus on finding absolute answers to everything I come in contact with. By the end of our conversation, she realized that her amount of hope amazed me the most. I marveled at her optimism and how she readily waited for something positive to happen out of everything. She always stayed alert for whatever was going to come her way. The belief that God provided aid to promote her success,

prevailed.
By the end of our discussion, we came to a conclusion that our beliefs didn’t procure that we were any less of sisters. We still love each other to the extreme, and we would fulfill anything to help each other out. By addressing our feelings toward the touchy subject of religion, we became closer as sisters. Finally, she no longer bothered or questioned me as to why I never attended church with her again. I came to a realization that believing in a god genuinely made her complete, and knowing that, I became at peace with myself.