Former secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at a United Methodist Women Assembly in Louisville over the weekend and said it was her grandmother's hymns and the bedtime prayers from her stern Navy father that shaped faith in God.

According to The Associated Press, Clinton spoke candidly on Saturday, tying faith into some of the decisions she made in her politics. 7,000 women gathered for three days of teaching, singing, and service while a special guest speaker began to tell the crowd about her faith.

She talked about how her father, a hard working, independent man, would "humble himself before God" by her bedside every night, and her grandmother would sing hymns as she braided Clinton's hair when she was just a girl.

As she considers a run for president, the conference gave Clinton a chance to speak openly about her own belief and the church she attended growing up in Illinois.

"I love that church. I love how it made me feel about myself," Clinton said. "I love the doors that it opened in my understanding of the world, I loved the way it helped to deepen my faith and ground it."

She went on to praise the Methodist church, "I have always cherished the Methodist Church because it gave us the great gift of personal salvation but also the great obligation of social gospel," she stated. "And I took that very seriously and have tried, tried to be guided in my own life ever since as an advocate for children and families, for women and men around the world who are oppressed and persecuted, denied their human rights and human dignity."

Clinton said she struggled as a young woman because her parents were very different. Her father was self-reliant and her mother was always concerned for compassion. She said the Biblical story of Jesus instructing his disciples to feed 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish helped her reconcile those differences.

"The disciples come to Jesus and suggest they send away the people to find food to fend for themselves. But Jesus said, 'No. You feed them,'" Clinton explained. "He was teaching a lesson about the responsibility we all share."

Clinton said that while she served as secretary of state, her Christian faith led her to start initiatives that fought against human trafficking, promoted maternal health care in developing countries and, more than anything, it inspired her to fight for women's rights.

"The truth is there are too many women in our country today trying to build a life and a family that don't just face ceilings on their aspirations and opportunities; it's as if the floor is collapsing beneath them," Clinton said. "These are our sisters, our daughters, granddaughters. Some are hungry, not just for nutritious food but for opportunity, for chance to thrive, for their own piece of the American dream."

"Don't think we can sit back and wait for someone else to step forward and solve these problems," Clinton added.

Her comments about women come as Democrats and Republicans across the country are appealing to women voters.

However, many Christians have expressed opposition to Clinton because of her outspoken advocacy for abortion and support of homosexual "marriage." In March, while speaking to the United Nations on International Women's Day, she reiterated her beliefs about abortion.

"There is one lesson from the past, in particular, that we cannot afford to ignore: You cannot make progress on gender equality or broader human development, without safeguarding women's reproductive health and rights. That is a bedrock truth," she said. "This remains the great unfinished business of the 21st century. No country in the world, including my own, has achieved full participation."

Do you think Clinton's stance on abortion contradicts or supports her faith and her initiatives for women and children around the world? Leave your answers on the comments section below.