My Augustinian Conversion

A Catholic friend of mine recently described her  conversion as a "Pauline" conversion.  Wiktionary gives the definition of this as:

1. the conversion of Paul of Tarsus to Christianity on the road to Damascus
2. (by extension) any life-changing event in which one's views are significantly altered

This got me thinking about my own conversion experience and what it might be called.  I can't find a definition for "Augustinian conversion"  but I'm sure that's what it was.  St. Augustine of Hippo, of the 4th c. was seriously astray as a young man and lived a hedonistic life that resulted in having a child out of wedlock.  Eventually, with the many prayers and tears of his mother, St. Monica, he began his search for truth. But, he was stubborn and although at some point he intellectually had to admit his boyhood faith (Catholicism) was true, his attachment to sin, particularly sexual sin, kept his heart from following his head, until FINALLY he got it.
Oh, how familiar this is.  I remember being asked some questions by an Episcopal friend of mine a few years ago.  She didn't understand how in the world as a Catholic I would not let my future daughter take birth control. She asked me if I actually believed all that stuff the Church teaches about sex and birth control.  The sad thing is I said yes, I believe they are right about all of it but was I LIVING that?  No.  I was so stubborn and prideful that I didn't even realize how hypocritical it was of me to believe it but to think it didn't apply to ME.  I used birth control, I shacked up, as if I could be immune from their consequences.  
I'm not sure why I didn't feel compelled to change my ways, but I know that attachment to sin was the main reason I wouldn't even entertain the thought.  Pride should have been my middle name at that point.  Of course, the interesting thing is I only realize that in retrospect. I entered the Catholic Church in 2002 but it took until 2009 for me to even realize what that meant.  Thank God for the gift of my children who taught me that you can't be a hypocrite when you are a parent.  You need to live what you preach! And thank you, Blessed John Paul II for the Theology of the Body.  Within my Augustinian conversion, I did have a mini-Pauline conversion when I discovered that treasure on the true meaning of human sexuality. For anyone interested in learning more about it you can go here:


http://www.theologyofthebody.net/


It was not until I learned about that, finally picked up my Catechism and started reading Scripture that I GOT it.  The Church is a beautiful painting where all the brush strokes work together to form the whole; if you leave some of them out, you will not have that beautiful painting that is coherent, reflects reality and feeds the soul. Of course, this is what Christ asked of us.  To lay down our life for him, no more and no less...