“Lord, bless my future plans: good studies, a good job, a wife and wonderful children… “ These were the plans that Alex Kowalkowski had for his life. Here he tells us how he discovered that he was living in a society full of lies that imposed on him how he had to be. He went from dreaming of “his plans” to accepting God’s plans. He is currently a seminarian in Rome.

Fr. Luuk Jansen was born in the Netherlands, where he never received a religious education nor met a single Catholic. As a graduate in chemical engineering, he moved to Ireland to work on a project. The conversations that he had with another engineer made him question the existence of God, which eventually led to his entry in the Catholic Church and later on to discover his call to the religious life.

Paige Mechling left home when she was sixteen. She was determined to make it on her own, but a series of wrong decisions left her practically on the street. Going to a retreat and talking with a Catholic priest —despite being an atheist—led Paige to begin “devouring” the Bible, and, with her characteristic radicalism, to convert to Catholicism.

Martin Kelly grew up in a family that suffered from sheer poverty and domestic violence. His father’s alcoholism caused his mother to have severe breakdowns, which led Martin and his siblings to spend a lot of time in orphanages. He lost hope in God after his best friend was strangled to death at age twelve, starting him off on the path of alcohol, drugs, and crime, ending up in prison. Looking for an excuse to at least leave his cell for a few minutes, he went to Mass. Returning to his confinement, he experienced great restlessness, a call, and a desire to see the light again.

Rich Mauro was born in Jacksonville, Florida, into a dysfunctional family marked by selfishness and arguments. He was practically educated by television. His studies at the Film Academy drove him to lead an even more superficial, violent, and vicious lifestyle. A pilgrimage to Medjugorje, which he joined because by his adventurous spirit, was the first step to radically changing his life.

From a very early age, the center of Michelle López's life was soccer, fashion, and parties. In her childhood she began her career as a model, and it seemed like she was going to achieve all her goals in life until she was diagnosed with an illness that shattered all her materialistic dreams. One day she met a woman with the same illness, Michelle started investigating: How could this woman be so happy when her life looked miserable? Through her search she received the eyes of faith and discovered that God still loved her and in His merciful love wanted to forgive her.