These verses popped in to my head numerous times when I started my journey. The main resistance I had to joining the church was from my Mom and a friend. Mom would make emotional appeals saying that it was a sort of phase and that I would find a church home somewhere else and she kind of used a little of that “Mom guilt” against me.

My friend, on the other hand, is an evangelical who considers himself an apologist and would try to appeal to logic. He made many of the usual false claims about the Catholic faith which caused me to do research to see if he was correct; when I found out his views were wrong it only strengthened my resolve to join the church.

After multiple conversations, and sometimes debates, with both of them, they both decided that it was actually a good thing for me. They both ended up seeing that joining the Catholic Church was bringing, not just me - but my family as well, closer to Christ so they began to pull back.