One of my favorite stories gleaned from my genealogy research is about one of my direct ancestors from the early days of America. Mary Hobson was born and raised in a coastal village in Ireland. Raids by British Pirates were common and her parents were killed in one such raid and she was taken to America where she was sold as a slave (yep, that happened back then). After serving an early American family for many years she was given her freedom to marry.

Her husband was not a Christian but she was devout in her Catholic faith. Her first official act in their new frontier home was to set up an altar in the log cabin where she prayed routinely. Her fervent Catholic faith led to the founding of the first Catholic church in that part of the Allegheny Mountains. Although her husband never responded to faith in Christ, her children all became faithful supporters of local churches as they migrated westward, most Catholics, but some Protestants.

Her negative beginnings as a child never caused her to relinquish her faith in God. That’s an Irish example I want to follow. I’m wearing green today to honor my Irish g-g-g-g-g-?-grandmother.

Tags: faith, obstacles, St. Patrick, trouble