Inspiration

Bobbie grew up with a Buddhist mother and an atheist father (who later became a Catholic). When Bobbie asked her parents one day if she could go to Sunday school with her friends, they told her that only crazy folks go to church. Although Bobbie’s mother never taught Bobbie about buddhism, she demanded that Bobbie pray to the statue of Buddha whenever they visited a temple…so Bobbie obeyed her mother and prayed to Buddha to make her smart, pretty and happy. Ironically though, whenever Bobbie’s parents got into an argument and/or physical fight, Bobbie would run to her room and pray to this “God” whom she hardly knew. She only heard of girls, in her elementary school, talk about this book called, “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?” Bobbie often prayed to God to stop her parents from fighting all the time. One day, she prayed that they get a divorce, because she gave up on them. God answered her prayer. She would also pray to God to make her better. She found herself very curious about God and deeply yearned for his presence and unconditional love. From her late teens to mid twenties, she experimented with many different types of churches to find out where she belonged, whether they were American, Korean, Baptist, Catholic, Protestant, Latter Day Saints, etc. One day, she just gave up the search. She was turned off by all the hypocrisy, strict rules and regulations, judgment, craziness, etc. Then, she met her neighbor. The neighbor not only talked the talk, but she walked the walk. She didn’t have to convince Bobbie to believe what she believed in. She wasn’t the typical Korean lady who tried to recruit people into her religion as soon as she met them. Bobbie eventually saw God in her…she was like an angel, with a great sense of humor and a strong personality. She was a badass, and she inspired Bobbie like no other. She taught her that it doesn’t matter what church you go to, or even if you attend church; it doesn’t matter if you don’t wear fancy clothes to church; it doesn’t matter if you don’t use flowery words to pray to God, or be in a particular position during prayer….because God is all around us and inside us…like Jesus said. She made sense, and there was a ring of truth to her kind and gentle words of wisdom. She changed Bobbie’s life, and Bobbie thanked God that they crossed each other’s paths. Bobbie will always remember and treasure her. That same timeframe, Bobbie discovered a spiritual book called, “Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch. It was the most amazing, combined experience of a lifetime.