Hi, my name is Elizabeth Suh. I started coming to Wy'east after I moved to Portland about two years ago. Coming here, I've been part of a religious community for the first time in a while, and today I'd like to share with you what I've discovered in the process.

As I think happens for many people, I've come to realize I'm thankful for the religious upbringing I had, and that many of the values and concepts I learned from that upbringing continue to help me.

The country of my parents, South Korea, is a one-time Buddhist nation now dominated by Christianity. There, my grandparents on both sides converted to being Jehovah's Witnesses, and my parents met through their congregation.

After they moved to the United States, my parents had my three siblings and me and were very active in the Korean congregations in the United States. In Florida, where I grew up, we attended weekday meetings at our English-language congregation in Tampa and, on Sundays, we traveled to Orlando to attend the Korean-language congregation.

As Jehovah's Witnesses, we attended meetings three times a week, including one sometimes held at our home.

Every week, we had a family bible study, in which we prepared to participate in the Sunday question-and-answer study meetings at the Kingdom Hall - or church. Just as every Jehovah's Witness family is encouraged to do, we read and discussed a Scripture from the Bible each night before dinner.

And of course, every week, we walked door to door, preaching what we called "the truth." The ways in which Jehovah's Witnesses incorporate God and religion into their lives extends deep - in accordance with the Witness belief that most holidays are ungodly because of pagan origins, and we did not even participate in chorus at school because of the holiday-themed songs.

In order to devote our lives only to the service of God and not worldly systems, we never recited the pledge of allegiance - and I still never have, and did not participate in extra-curricular activities at school, partly because we were not to associate any more than necessary with people outside of the faith.

My father was a well-known and devout elder - or spiritual leader, especially in the Korean Witness community. So, it was shocking when he announced we were going to sever our ties with Jehovah's Witnesses when I was in high school.

The Jehovah's Witness religion is one that many people leave with anger. They feel they have been robbed of a life outside of the religion. They are bitter about how restrictive the religion is, and they want to be liberated from being a slave to God or a prescribed code of living.

For me at 14 years old, that was pretty how much I felt. I wasn't so much angry at that point, because I hadn't experienced so many of the restrictions - on socializing and dating - that are so difficult for teenagers. But I was happy I no longer had to feel guilty about wanting to do what everyone else did, have friends and go to dances.

But in the case of my family, we left the religion not because we wanted to have less to do with God but because my dad decided the religion was not Godly enough. The institution was bureaucratic, dogmatic and stubborn - my dad had decided that if this were truly Jehovah's organization, it would never be wrong in its beliefs - for example that Armageddon was going to come in 1975, and it would be more willing to admit mistakes. As a result, my dad has come to believe no religion can be trusted, because they are all man-made and flawed, and he would rather serve God directly.

A man of fierce zeal my whole life suddenly rebuked everything we had known as a family.

From then through college, I veered toward the same philosophy as my dad, rejecting religion, even judging and losing respect for people who were religion.

But now, I've come to realize how many good people are religious, whether they're in a liberal or conservative faith. The Jehovah's Witness faith can easily be categorized as a conservative, intolerant religion.

But I've come to value everything good that it's taught me.

I learned to cultivate godly traits such as generosity and selflessness. I learned to put God, family and others before myself.

And as a result of all the restrictions on indulgements and excess, such as partying, drinking and generally doing whatever you wanted to, I came to appreciate the reward that comes from discipline and doing what you believe in, even if it means being left out or sacrificing fun.

I've always admired how Jehovah's Witnesses in countries such as Korea where the draft is still in place, routinely go to jail rather than serve in the military, because of their pacifist and apolitical stances.

I learned a strong commitment to family -- a husband and wife should act as one body, children should care for their parents.

Not all of these are universally accepted values.

But what I value most about these stances is that they are rooted in conviction.

That they are beliefs of people who are not afraid to stand for something. They're not afraid to humble themselves to be in reverence of God. Those are the kinds of lessons I try to take away from any religion.

To this day, I have some stirrings of the conservative upbringing I had. I have a pretty unwavering idea of right and wrong.

But one thing I now appreciate most is that, whether God exists or not - and I don't think I can say he does or not -- he's always been a fact of life for me. It's as if you always knew the earth was round, or that apples fell from trees, if every day you spoke to God through prayer, how could you one day decide he didn't matter?

Whenever I am sad, or struggling, or need something to lift me up, I can pray to Jehovah and feel comforted and be reminded of cultivating godliness in myself. I can reflect on the kindness and compassion of this God, and I am driven to be more like him.

I take a largely secular approach to my spirituality. Rather than focusing on a higher knowledge or a life after this one, my religious focus is about bettering myself and helping others, but I revere the faith and devotion espoused by religious traditions and try to better myself by welcoming those values. By welcoming God, I become a better person.