Andrea Jackson grew up in Massachusetts in a nominally Catholic environment. Even though she received all her sacraments “on schedule” and her faith was important to her, it wasn’t a big part of her everyday life.
It wasn’t until she went off to college that faith started to take a more prominent place in her life. As a freshman at Harvard University, she was introduced to many different people and ideas from different backgrounds and contexts. This led her to start grappling with the big questions of life: “Who am I?”, “What do I truly believe?”
Deep into a long-term romantic relationship at the time, Andrea found herself at odds with the church’s teaching on chastity and sexuality. She was frustrated and angry with the church. She questioned what she had been taught all her life, and was torn between what she felt and what the church said.
It was then that a youth minister she knew back home invited her to go as a chaperone on a high school retreat. Andrea hesitated. “I don’t know if I can be a chaperone. I’m not sure I believe any of this.” She felt she wasn’t the right person for this, but she knew her friend was desperate to find someone.
While on retreat, she started praying about the big questions she had. She knew she couldn’t simply read something in a book, or even the Bible, and follow it blindly. She prayed, “Lord, I need to really feel as though it’s the right thing to do.”
To her surprise, the very next speaker stepped onto the stage, and the first words that came out of their mouth were, “Faith is not a feeling, it’s a decision.” That short phrase had a lasting impact on Andrea. They were just the words she needed to hear. She felt like God had heard her prayer and had an answer for her. She felt seen and cared for. She now knew her issues were important to God.
And that was so freeing for her. As a 19-year-old young woman, she felt, in some ways, a slave to her emotions. What she felt dictated how she acted. This answered prayer gave her the freedom to distance herself from that a bit and make the decisions that she knew were right. By bringing this particular struggle to God in prayer, she realized that the church teachings were there to protect and guide her.
This set Andrea up on a new trajectory. She went to Confession, and had a good conversation with her boyfriend. She started going to Mass more often when she returned to campus, and connected with the campus ministry there. And yes, she ended up reading a lot of books on the topic!
Just within a few months, Andrea renewed her Catholic faith and found a home in the church. This encounter with Jesus was the start of what has now been many years of continuing to seek and find the Lord, particularly through her work with the Evangelical Catholic.
Throughout the years, Andrea has learned the importance of lay people accompanying others in faith through the power of friendship. She recognizes that it’s sometimes hard to break through people’s well-curated image of themselves. Yet, genuine friendship allows them to let down their guards and share what’s really going on in their lives—both the joys and challenges.
This opens the door to sharing the good news of Jesus in the spaces of brokenness. It allows the person to be seen and known for who they truly are, paving the way for the joy, love, and mercy of Jesus to be felt. Andrea thinks of friendship as a sacred place because it is where we get to know someone at the level of real human experience.
As a tool for growing in faith and friendship with the Lord and others, Andrea recommends The 10:10 Challenge: 10 Weeks, 10 Ways to a Jesus Led Life. Describing it as a retreat in everyday life, she highly encourages grabbing a friend or small group and going through the book together. With conversation prompts, discussion questions, and a daily at-home prayer guide, this book leads people into a deeper experience of the abundant life of Jesus.
Andrea also offers some words of encouragement and wisdom for people that are considering embracing the Catholic faith or Catholics who are looking to rekindle their faith. She reminds us that we can’t do any of this without God, and she encourages us to be open to God’s presence—open to a life with him. “Don’t feel like you have to swallow it all at once, because Jesus guides us forward.”
Want to hear more about this conversation? Check out Andrea’s recent appearance on Cathy Jo Lang’s podcast, “The Unplanned Joyful Life.”
