Pagan Life in the Bible Belt

I have been born and raised smack dab in the middle of the USA in the good ole land of oz. That's Kansas for those of you who aren't familiar with the wizard of oz movie. I was raised in the Roman Catholic church and attended catholic school through 7th grade. At that point in my life I was starting to notice the hippocracy of it all. After starting to attend public schools I was fascinated to see all the different backgrounds that people came from. Especially in the way of faith and religion. For years I bounced back and forth. Wrestling with my choice of being Pagan. I have been practicing for over 7years now, and am mostly self taught. I have been through the "bad" covens, where the energy is just ookey, and the people are not quite on the level. At this point in my life, yet again I find myself in a solitary path.
Being Pagan in the Bible belt has been quite a trip. I am open about my beliefs to people, and wear my pentacle every day where people can see. I have no fear of people's reactions anymore. I still deal with the daily, Reborn Christians missionaries, witnesses etc etc... And trust me they will witness as long as you let them. I have had people try to witness to me for over an hour at my job about how "I will burn in hell for all eternity for my sins against the one true god".
These witnesses are firm in their faith and I'm happy for them. However I am throughly sick and tired of dealing with this on a daily basis. And no matter how firm I am in my path I still find it difficult to say...."thank you but I'm Pagan", at least at work. It has taken me years and years to come to grips with the fact that it is okay for me to be Pagan. For so long I had a horrible time with justifying my choice within myself. But as far back as I can remember I could fell the ebb and flow of energy during the turn of the seasons, and moon phases. When I would try to turn to my mother she would tell me that this natural, gentle energy that I felt wasn't natural or gentle at all and that it was evil. That it was of the devil.
Although it doesn't seem at this point that there is much of a point to this post believe me there is. My point is to let everyone out there know:
that no matter how alone you feel, or are,
and how much you are struggling with who you are or what your choice of religion is,
be strong and do not let people push you around.
There is nothing wrong with who you are and what faith that you have chosen. There may not always be a strong community for you to fall back onto, but don't give up and remember that there are people out there that are willing to help.

Blessed Be
Arrianna