My spiritual route contrary to St. Augustine

An incident that I felt really turned me more towards a more religious cautious way, was the night I basically saved my Aunt’s life. I was eleven years old and had been sleeping in my room with was right across from my Aunt’s room. My auntie Celestina has diabetes and sometimes goes through periods when it is very bad and she has to constantly check her blood level, and blood pressure to make sure they are stable and not high. I remember having this really wonderful dream, however all of a sudden this moaning sound enters my dreams and I can tell that it is not coming from my dreams and that is where I wake up. The moaning sounds come from my aunt’s room and I see in her eyes that she is in pain; I sprint up two flights of stairs to reach my parents room and wake them up telling them that something is wrong with Auntie. They dial 911 and she is taken to the hospital, it is at that time that it hits me that if I had been just a little more of a deep sleeper, my aunt would most likely not be with us today. That event changed my whole perspective on life in sense of making sure I am taking care of my body, my temple that God wants us to keep sacred.

Unlike Saint Augustine, I did not once doubt my faith in God or doubt his powers after the event. In book IV.8 Augustine wonders what God has done for him and for his friend who is sick. I know that God does things for us all the time and we should not question what those deeds are. We should instead strive to show God that we are not only thankful for what he has done but we will continue to put him in all our actions. I feel that it was by God’s grace that I awoke from my sleep to alert the rest of the household of the condition of my aunt. I never had series of questions or turned towards other faiths in search of what was right. I realized that helping people was what God wanted me to do from that very night. It showed me that I should not question why things happen the way they do because God has a reason for all things in life and we as people and followers of Christ should not only accept it but go beyond the borders.

Since I was raised up in a Christian environment, I had no means to venture to other ideas and accept them instead of God’s; St. Augustine could not recognize the true reality of God in book III.12, he admits that he was “maneuvered into accepting the views of those stupid deceivers by the questions they constantly asked [him] about the origin of evil”. He gave into Gnostics beliefs, which I have never given into. Ultimately, St. Augustine found the true path and put his focus on God as I try to do every day.