Emmanuel Lozano

Professor Bruner
English 120-01
3 February 2015

This I Believe

Throughout the many years, beliefs and ideologies have changed drastically. Many of
these pertaining to social, political, and religious beliefs. In the religious category, I believe that
faith is one of the most important things a person could have. Having confidence or trust in a
being, object, or teachings of a religion will help you through any difficulty in life. Being raised
in a Roman Catholic household has molded me as the person I am today. Faith will always be
one of the main factors contributing to my success to this day.
If you ask a random individual to define faith, it will take them a reasonable amount of
time to give a response. Faith is a difficult word to define. Many people associate faith with the
words hope, trust, and belief, which can be correct to a certain extent. According to the article
What is the Meaning Faith?, faith is belief with strong conviction; firm belief in something for
which there may be no tangible proof; complete trust in or devotion to. This is like believing in
God, even though he is not present as a human you still believe he exists. I interviewed a very
close friend of mine in regards to faith. I asked Mary what faith meant to her and she responded
by saying, Faith is believing in something even though there may not be proof backing it up.

When I asked her about a time she needed to use faith, she told me a story about her
grandmothers fight with breast cancer. Having such a serious health concern, the odds were not
in favor of her grandmothers survival. Although the chemotherapy and radiation were prescribed
to treat the cancer, Mary and her family relied more on faith to believe that her grandmother
could beat the cancer and be healthy once again.
I grew up in a very religious household with strict rules when it came to religion. My
parents would drag my siblings and I to church every Sunday morning, and bible study on Friday
nights at our local Catholic Church. It took me some time to understand what the true meaning of
faith was. As I grew older, my knowledge increased in every aspect. I remember one Sunday
morning when our priest spoke about having faith even when times looked very difficult. He
spoke about how we must believe in God, and trust in him even though we cannot feel him
physically. I would question myself for a while until my belief was tested.
I had always wanted to play collegiate soccer since I was a child. It was not until my
senior year that I had decided to play at the next level. I did not know where I wanted to go to
school, and I did not have any offers. Many things ran through my head in the fall of my senior
year. We had one last exhibition tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina, and this was my last
opportunity to impress college coaches. I had worked hard all my life for this moment and I had
faith that I was going to play my best. The weekend passed and I was pleased with my
performance at the tournament, but I had no calls or emails. Monday afternoon during lunch I
received a call from the head coach at Erskine College. I was shocked and had no words after I
was invited to visit the campus. I had faith that God will bless me with a great opportunity. I
eventually was invited to visit schools. One of the schools that I fell in love with was Queens
University. I did not see myself going anywhere else, but here.

Although I did not attend Erskine or the other colleges I was invited to, I prayed and had
faith that God would open doors for me in my future. I could not ask for a better place than being
at Queens. Sometimes it is very difficult to have faith when things are not looking up, but when
it becomes all you have it can be a pretty powerful thing.

Works Cited
Pritts, Mary A. "Faith." Personal interview. 12 Feb. 2015.
Fairchild, Mary. "What Is Faith in the Bible?" About Religion. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb.
2015.

Emmanuel Lozano
Professor Bruner
English 120-01
12 February 2015

Reflection Letter

In my writing assignment, I wrote about the importance of having faith. I defined faith
and gave a primary example on how it has affected my life in a positive manner. Along with the
paper I included two outside sources that gave their perspective on faith. I made numerous
changes to the rough draft after peer editing in class. All this helped contribute to my paper and
stating my position and belief in regards to faith.
The hardest part of the assignment was finding sources in regards to faith. I interviewed a
close friend and she told me what faith was to her. I also used a religious website to explain faith
to me from their perspective. The most significant change I made to my paper was adding
descriptive details and including experience about how faith has helped influence my life as well
as Marys.
If I had more time to work on my essay I would include more sources. I would also
include more personal experiences of others and how they view faith. Overall, I am pleased with
how my paper turned out.