How I Became a Baha’i by Meghan Zalewski

I met my future husband Leif my senior year of high school. He was immediately open about being a Baha’i, which I had never heard of, but I appreciated the focus on the equality of all people and that he wasn’t pushing his beliefs on me.

Over the first few years of our relationship, the Faith would come up occasionally, but I was still in the midst of finding my way as a young adult, so I wasn’t interested or became skittish on those occasions. Leif understood that I was looking for something to ground me and gave me several books on philosophy and world religions to explore. They stayed on the shelf untouched for quite some time until eventually I got to a place where I was so desperate to find purpose and meaning, especially given my paralyzing fear of death at the time, that I began leafing through the world religions book.

While reading excerpts from different scriptures, I felt a sense of comfort from the words, and seeing as the texts were organized by themes, I saw the overlap between religions and began understanding the unity of God’s Word. I eventually started utilizing the excerpts in my own personal makeshift Devotions (which I didn’t even realize were Devotions at the time) and found myself thanking God for bringing Leif into my life on a daily basis. This went on privately for some time, and then one evening, I told Leif about my practices, and honestly, he was floored and joked that he didn’t know I was really a “jedi!”

Shortly afterward, he invited me to join a Ruhi Book 1 study circle with who would become dear friends: Jan King, Karen and Sridip Mukhopadhyaya, Linda Abernathy, Karla Strom, and Patti Andrews. Throughout the study circle, I experienced a roller coaster of emotions as I navigated my hesitation toward organized religion while nurturing my budding sense of faith and trust in God and my friends helping me along my journey. I also received a special book of hand-selected prayers and prayer beads handmade by Leif. Toward the end of the study circle, I experienced a profound moment while saying a prayer for spiritual growth in my college dorm room. Out of nowhere, itt felt as though a current of electricity coursed through my body, bringing tears to my eyes. Combined with all of my experiences leading up to that moment, I was moved toward declaring as a Baha’i. Shortly afterward, I told Leif that I was interested in participating in the upcoming Fast, and he said “you don’t have to do that if you’re not Baha’i…   do you want to be Baha’i?” I said “yes,” and we looked up the Declaration form on his computer and I completed it on the spot.