Jason Dolloff of Peru is seen with his daughters, Deanna, left, and Lyndzi. His faith journey includes being thankful and acknowledging all of his blessings. “I thank God for all the blessings of my children, Deanna and Lyndzi. I thank Him for the blessings of where I grew up. I thank him for good people,” he said. Submitted photo

PERU — Jason Dolloff, 50, has found, especially over the past year, that his faith is inspiring him to live his life “for clarity.”

Part of living for clarity means he has recently removed piercings from his face and ears, and he’s covering up his tattoos because it might help prevent others from being “either turned off or totally distracted,” he said.

He describes himself as the type of person who would “give my shirt off my back to help somebody out,” but sometimes he found that he was actually “enabling them to make worse choices.”

One example is when he would give people money to put groceries in their refrigerator only to find that the money went toward their drug or alcohol habit.

So, he talked with Pastor David Wilhoite of the Apostolic Church in Mexico, whom he knew from the wrestling community at the Greater Rumford Community Center.

“I reached out to him because I know he helps a lot of people and (I wanted to) find the key and how to help somebody without being used; how to help somebody without enabling them,” Dolloff said.

Jason Dolloff of Peru is seen with his mother, Janis Dolloff, who died five years ago. He said his faith comforts him when he thinks of all the family members who have died, especially his grandparents, his parents, his brother, Jamie, and his nephews Joseph and Lucas. Submitted photo

His conversations with the pastor led him to go with more of his feelings or intuition about people and to pray more for people. In March he also began attending the church and was baptized in June.

He also likes to pray and think about his favorite Bible passages such as Matthew 7:1, which he describes as “Don’t judge (others) and let God do the judging.”

His faith also gives him comfort when he thinks of all the family members who have died, especially his grandparents, his parents, his brother Jamie, and his nephews, Joseph and Lucas. He’s seen signs from his deceased loved ones, he said. On the night his father died, shortly afterward, he went outside and saw five shooting stars, which he felt was a message from his father, sent to comfort him as he stood outside grieving his passing.

Another part of his faith involves being thankful and acknowledging all of his blessings.

“I thank God for all the blessings of my children, Deanna and Lyndzi. I thank Him for the blessings of where I grew up. I thank him for good people,” Dolloff said.

He acknowledges that the Bible says, “Love thy neighbor,” and that we should also love God and ourselves. Those words from the Bible inspire him to try to be a better person, he said, and he’s been volunteering a couple of times a month at the Old School Food Pantry in Mexico, where he’s helped carry delivery packages inside and sort the food.

He said volunteer work is part of how he can give to his community and better himself at the same time.

“I was trying to lose weight, and I don’t just mean the physical weight, but the mental weight, and the stress weight,” Dolloff said.