Patrick Madrid - Surprised by Life

Other books by Patrick Madrid
from Sophia Institute Press:

Search and Rescue

Surprised by Truth 2

Surprised by Truth 3

Scripture and Tradition in the Church

Surprised by

LIFE

10 Converts Explain How
Catholic Teachings on Life
Led Them to the Church

Edited by Patrick Madrid

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS
Manchester, New Hampshire

Dedicated with gratitude and all my love to Nancy my wife of thirty-six years, mother of our eleven children, and grandmother of our twenty-one grandchildren (so far). You, my dear, have taught me more than you realize about the joys and blessings of being surprised by life.

Contents

Introduction

Patrick Madrid

Twenty-three years ago, Surprised by Truth , the first volume in my Surprised By series of conversion-story books debuted, followed in 2000 by Surprised by Truth 2 and in 2002 by Surprised by Truth 3 . In those days, the hot-ticket items among Catholic readers were apologetics-heavy, first-person stories of conversion to the Catholic Church the more biblical and historical, the better.

Two of the elements that have made the Surprised By testimonies stand out from other conversion stories are their compelling honesty about doctrinal struggles and their candid accounts of the often enormous obstacles these converts strove to surmount along their way into the Catholic Church.

Numerous readers of these books have told me how profoundly these testimonies affected them, speaking directly to their hearts, catching them by surprise, breaking down their prejudices, strengthening their convictions, answering their objections, dispelling falsehoods and half-truths, gladdening their hearts, and changing their lives in many other ways.

God has used these Surprised By testimonies to move their readers in mysterious ways, shining His healing rays of grace into those hard-to-reach, often hidden, and humanly inaccessible redoubts of the human heart in which we often seek shelter from the truth.

Jesus promised that we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free. Often, God uses heartfelt personal testimonies like keys to open the prison cells of our minds. The previously locked door swings open, the truth enters in, and another captive heart is set free. As the teachings and miracles of Jesus demonstrate so often in the Gospels, many of us are utterly unaware that we even need to be set free!

A quarter century and half a million copies later (including foreign and foreign-language editions) comes the fourth volume in the Surprised By series Surprised by Life . Here are ten new personal testimonies that go beyond scriptural, historical, and doctrinal apologetics and deep into the tumultuous territory of life issues, including the tragic and sudden loss of a young-adult child, the pain of miscarriage, abortion, contraception, hedonism, promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, and even prostitution. None of these testimonies of Gods forgiveness and healing love are titillating or salacious, but all are raw and honest, in ways reminiscent of St. Augustines raw and honest, but never titillating, Confessions .

Each of these testimonies brims with the real-life life issues faced today by many folks, including persons we love and even those in our families.

As you turn the page and enter into these captivating human dramas tragedy and triumph, trial and error, hitting rock bottom and rising above my prayer is that, like these remarkable men and women, you, too, will be surprised by life, surprised by truth, and surprised by Gods boundless grace and love.

Patrick Madrid is a lifelong Catholic. He hosts the popular daily Patrick Madrid Show on Immaculate Heart/Relevant Radio (Monday through Friday, 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Pacific, ihradio.com/patrick). Before launching that show, he hosted Right Here, Right Now , broadcast on approximately 350 AM and FM stations across the United States as well as on Sirius Satellite Radio and globally via shortwave. He is a frequent guest and occasional guest host on the Catholic Answers Live radio program.

Patrick has authored or edited twenty-five books on Catholic themes, including Life Lessons: Fifty Things I Learned in My First Fifty Years , Why Be Catholic? , Search and Rescue , Does the Bible Really Say That? and the acclaimed Surprised by Truth series.

Commenting publicly on the effectiveness of Patricks approach to apologetics, the late Cardinal Edward Egan said, How do you bring a friend or relative back into the Church? First you pray. Then, you follow Patrick Madrids advice in Search and Rescue .

Patrick worked at Catholic Answers for eight years, where he served as vice president. A veteran of a dozen formal, public debates with Protestant ministers, Mormon leaders, and other non-Catholic spokesmen, Patrick has presented countless seminars on Catholic themes, in English and in Spanish, at parishes, universities, and conferences across the United States and around the world.

For some thirty years, Patrick has published numerous popular articles on Scripture, Church history, patristics, apologetics, and evangelization in various Catholic and Protestant periodicals, and he has contributed scholarly articles on apologetics to the New Catholic Encyclopedia . He earned a bachelor of science in business at the University of Phoenix, as well as a B.Phil. in philosophy and a masters in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum (Columbus, Ohio).

Patrick has served as an adjunct professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and currently teaches as an adjunct professor of theology in the graduate theology program at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut (holyapostles.edu/patrick).

Married for thirty-six years, Patrick and his wife, Nancy, have been blessed by the Lord with eleven children and twenty-one grandchildren (so far).

Patrickmadrid.com

ihradio.com/patrick

holyapostles.edu/patrick

Twitter: @patrickmadrid

Aunt Amy Saves My Baby

Heather Schieder

I am the daughter of hardworking parents. My father is an immigrant from Cairo, Egypt, who moved to Buffalo, New York, learned the language, and worked hard to be a good citizen. He succeeded.

My mom, who is of Irish and English descent, was born and raised here in America. After she and my father married and began having children, she went back to school and became a nurse.

When I was a high school freshman, my mom gave me a book that described in detail what happens during an abortion. I quickly read that thing from cover to cover, and I was completely shocked and sickened.

My parents raised us Maronite Catholic. We went to church every Sunday. I didnt like church all that much. I didnt speak Arabic like most of the other children my age, so I felt like an outsider. I made my sacraments but didnt have a relationship with God at all.

I loved making people laugh. I learned very early that being funny could protect my sensitive heart and could help me anytime I felt vulnerable. As an adult, Im still very much this way, though Ive learned since then that vulnerability is not weakness, but strength. I still love making people laugh, but I also love connecting with others through a mutual sharing of our stories, vulnerability, and honesty.

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