Mom was a polish catholic, Dads family was baptist. World war three almost started when Grampa baptised me without Dads permission.

\'Course, I was only a baby then so I didn\'t much care.

I think I remember prayers before bed when I was little, but we didn\'t actually go to church and most religious duties were done at Christmas via various polish traditions.

By the time I was in my teens I didn\'t remember much about God at all and anyone who tried to push their religion on me was evil.

The psychics were completely cool though and I learned enough to be asked to read a few of them, maybe even do a few fairs.

Still, I was open enough in high school to talk to a christian and actually join a methodist church with my mom. I prayed to Jesus all the time.

After that I was seriously into karate under a Japanese sen sei so I learned about Shinto and Buddhisim.

When I found out about the hiv and began public speaking programs I worked with a Lakota Medicine man for several years. Learned a lot about personal power and intuition, spirituality and human behavior.

Around the same time I became fascinated with Alchemy and philosophy. Still am, actually. I\'ve always liked science.

I didn\'t know anything about Islam until well after 9/11 when I started talking to an Egyptian guy online. He was afraid people thought all muslims were terrorists.

He introduced me to a guy in turkey, someone I now consider to be my best friend. Months and many hours of conversations, research, and questioning later I said shahada (an affirmation of faith in one God and Mohammed as His prophet) to my online friend and became a muslim.

After everything else I\'m pretty sure my family thought it was just another phase or something. But Islam gave me the one thing nothing else ever had, a one on one, close relationship with God.  Not Jesus, no saints or prophets, the big guy himself.  God\'s cool because you can rant to him, ask for help, learn from him and be comforted by him in very real ways. At least, I have.

I like the prayers. Taking a few minutes out a few times a day to just stop, focus on one thing, say thank you, maybe chat a bit, does me a world of good. No matter how I was before, I always feel better after prayers. Always.

I appreciate having had the chance to explore so many different paths. They\'ve all contributed to my growth in positive ways. I\'m a hundred times more tolerant than I used to be and can talk to pretty much anyone. 

I\'m not as afraid of things as I used to be. That\'s important.

I still don\'t like when people push their own beliefs on me and I try not to do it myself.

I\'m not  the best example of a muslim but it\'s definately helped me become a better human being (I think).

I wish that no matter what you beleive in, that it\'s strong enough to get you through tough times and be remembered when things are good.

No idea what prompted this post. Something about God on a poll probably, hehe.  Maybe I just needed to get something out. I don\'t know.