"My faith was strengthened when my children were born."
RTÉ News spoke to people of different faiths in Ireland in 2018.
Andrius Rakauskas, a Reformed Protestant, who is originally from Lithuania, speaks about what faith means to him.
"I came to Ireland a while back, about 15 years ago. We settled here in Drogheda from the beginning, and we stayed here.
"I have a wife and I have two children, and another one is on the way in January. My faith was strengthened when my children were born. During my daughter’s birth, especially, that was a time of real joy, and to reflect and say ‘thank you God for this awesome blessing that we have in our family now’. That was the same with my son being born. That love is instant, and it’s awesome.
"Faith to me is following the teachings of the scripture and loving Jesus with all my heart. It's very important in my life because it goes to every aspect of my life. It's work, family, everything.... It makes me feel secure and knowing that whatever happens, God is in control. Bad things happen, good things happen. He’s in control of all of those things. And through those things we grow in our faith.
"So I attend church here and ... It is an essential part of my life here in Drogheda. We come here often and we know we can rely on people here because we come and if there's any trouble or anything like that you can go to people and talk about it. It is a big family and there's so many different backgrounds in the church as well, from different ethnicities. It's great."
