‘My parents separated when I was only three years old and this affected me greatly. I didn’t feel loved. My upbringing was very difficult, so I began to hate my parents. I was then sent to boarding school, where I stayed for five years. I would only go home twice a year and, when I moved back home, our relationship was very cold.

Growing up, I thought that leaving my country would change everything. When I saw an advert in the newspaper
about a job in the UK, that was the perfect opportunity to leave everything behind. So, I left Portugal to work but my mother and I did not part on good terms. The rift was so bad that I cut all communication with her; I neither spoke to her nor travelled back home to visit her.

The first time I understood that the grudge I held towards her was only hurting me was at the Universal Church. It hurt because I didn’t want to do it, but I understood that I needed to set myself free—how long would I accept carrying hate inside? Deep down, I wanted us to have a good mother-son relationship. Forgiving wasn’t easy, but what spurred me to really do it was the Challenge of Faith; it was one of the things I chose to sacrifice to be a better me.

Initially, my mother didn’t accept my apologies, but I persevered and, with time, she accepted and we made peace. Little by little, we worked on our relationship and today our relationship is completely different. My mother and I speak almost very day and, from time to time, I go back home to visit her.

As I continued to attend the meetings at the Universal, I began to have an inner peace that I had never had before; there was a difference in me from the inside out. But it doesn’t finish there – today I am also happily married. My wife completes me and I am truly happy!’

Blimath Da Silva