For roughly 24 years before deciding to convert to Catholicism, I was an atheist. The reality of why and how such a person goes from one to the other isn't often illuminated upon to the degree that it should be. When it happens, the cautious atheist is generally not forthcoming about the details of the thought process that pushed them into the transformation, as lifelong religious people, with a broad waving of their hands, praise God that the lost sheep found its way home. They're not wrong to do so. But there is another layer to the story, one that only the former atheist knows and keeps to himself because it is not glamorous. But it is the truth that sheds light on the reality of finding God.