How to Nourish One's Faith!

It's marvelously magnificent miraculous Monday and it is the last one we'll have this year! What a crazy year this one has been for me. From finally getting it through my head that God forgave me for all my sins way before I was even born and had had the chance to sin, to the truth that He has forgiven every transgression I will commit until the day I die. That in itself was major!

The big deal for me this year would have to have been the testing of my faith. As I begin to put various posts together for my first e-book, I have of course been going back and reading much of what I have shared this year. I am amazed at what all I have witnessed even though it was through Faith that God always has me that carried me through it. Regardless, when you look in the rear view mirror, your faith can sometimes be increased. This is definitely the case for me.

One of the most amazing things I witnessed this last year would have to be the change in my brother. God led me to help him last year. I even blogged about it for I had no idea how I could help him. As it turned out God needed me to pray for him.

You see, back in 1998, my brother went into a stress center and came out diagnosed as bipolar II. I never thought that was the correct diagnosis for my brother but I had no say when it came to him. For 15 long years my brother was not my brother. The medicine they placed him on turned him into a drone. Every now and then, he'd stop taking all that medication and sadly he would always land himself in some type of trouble and find himself placed on even worse medication. The kind of medication that I believe throws a person in a deep dark well that they cannot communicate from. Therefore, when they do come out, they have years of thoughts all trying to come out at once. I knew in my heart that was the case for my brother but finding someone in the medical field willing to take the time to listen and actually figure things out is next to impossible. That is, until you reach out to God for help. I had enough faith that I did as I was led to do by the spirit and I prayed for my brother as well as anyone else that might be fighting the same type of demon. This took place right before Christmas for the details of all of this are in a post where I was trying to view Christmas in a different way. I think I called it Mas Christ in an attempt to add more of the teaching of Jesus into not only that one day but all year long.

Shortly after I prayed for my brother, he was incarcerated for the first time in his life. Personally I hated it, but I knew God is always faithful and I knew he uses anything bad for something good so, I continued to pray for him to receive true help in the medical field. He was released from jail late January of this year and our sister had him move in with her for she lived in one of two counties where they have a medical establishment set up that is designed to truly help a person, not just over medicate them. The only thing we needed was for my brother to comply on his own to go see them. That did not happen so, I continued to pray for him. Within the first month of living with my sister, my brother had a panic attack and called 911. Very quickly the staff knew he needed the help of this facility and they took him there. As it turns out, my brother is not bipolar and he truly was being medicated incorrectly. Today my brother is himself again. He has his own place, he smiles and laughs and is capable of living a normal life. No longer held in the bondage of over medication with no hope out of the dark well he'd been cast into. This was a gigantic reminder for me that God is always faithful and He truly loves all of us.

This morning I awoke refreshed and excited for this next big step I am taking. When I arrived at work and opened my email, this is the encouraging word I found courtesy of K-Love:

Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. ~ 1 Corinthians 16:11, NLT

If I was to give anyone advice, I think this would be it in a nutshell. I know many people get in a jam, they throw up a half heartfelt prayer, but it has no faith within it. They base their belief in God's power on the results they allow themselves to see and sadly many buy into some lie about God not being for them or not being powerful enough or even worse that He is not good or faithful. My heart breaks for them.

Faith is something that truly grows over time. It can begin with a burst, but it is something you need to nourish. How do you nourish Faith? By feeding it with the Word of God, continually seeking and praying, and opening your eyes a little wider so you can see the silver lining around things. 

Satan will do anything and everything to destroy your faith. I know this for I allowed the father of lies to keep me busy and off track for decades. Read my story and you will quickly see how even those full of faith can be tricked through the evil one's connivery.

Over the weekend, I began a new journey. All year I have been saying I want to write a book, I need to write a book. Now I can actually say, "I have begun the process of having my book edited and prepared for publishing!" I am not going to get it done before the end of this year, but I will have more than one published by this time next year!

How did it all begin? I stepped out in Faith 

Be blessed and be a blessing 

Wendy, walks with God,
Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013

Mas Christ Everyone! Glory be to God!

Mas Christ everyone! I say let's not let the world ruin the joy we get by giving . . . however if giving at this time of year is either stressful on your budget or your time I say to you: Nowhere in the Holy Bible does God tell us when to celebrate the birth of Christ . . . the Glory of what Jesus did for us happened through his Death and Resurrection . . . perhaps the best solution is to give as the Holy Spirit instructs you . . . all throughout the year. I think this will allow us to honor everything we love about the tradition of "Christmas" and at the same time appease the non-believers who relish in tormenting us with the truth of what the holiday has come to represent . . . insane greed.


** This morning I started out at 3:33 AM reading Romans! Thank you for loaning me your bible Jordan! God's message to me today was to help my brother! I was confused as to what that meant... but my brother means the world to me. He too has had a rough life. I barely see him even though we work together so I asked God, "How am I supposed to help him? What am I supposed to do for him?" All I saw in my head was the bible Jordan had loaned me so willingly I sat up and turned to Romans. Why Romans? Because it is written by Paul who was Saul and I learned last night thanks to Jordan that the Glory of God is only written about in Acts and Romans. You know I just had a rough time wrapping my head around that one. How could the Glory of God not be in every chapter. You may be surprised to know that until 18 months ago I had never really read anything out of the bible. So many people argue over what it says in a way I feared it. Funny enough because just yesterday I discovered that someone had stated I needed to pick up my bible and read it because I had posted I would pray for patience. She ripped me a good one . . . I saw that post . . . the one where she chastised me for praying for patience for this friend of ours asking for prayers. I ended up deleting my comment and crying. Someone had deleted her second post to me for fear it may hurt my feelings and begin some trouble. In a gist the deleted post said, "Sister Wendy, you need to pick up your bible so you know what to pray for!" My heart almost exploded in my chest at her words but I immediately felt sorry for her. You see, I have walked with God. I have heard him laugh like a father does with a child that tickles him with their simpleness. God told me all I needed to know about the world. Like most children you will see I rebelled with anger over the years . . . even with all of my junk he loves me. Wait until I write the chapter about how he let me know he had heard my prayers! That one will be fun!

Anyway, I decided I wanted a cup of coffee this morning but when I pulled into McDonald's the line was ridiculously long. Right then I realized I only had $1 . . . I needed $1.09. I thought to myself, "I'll just park and go inside I know a lot of the girls on the gas station side and I was sure one of them would let me borrow .09 from them if I promised to pay the penny fund back." As I approached where I was going to park I saw the back of a work truck that looked like my brother's and again I heard, "Help your brother" As I pulled up next to the truck on the other side of the pump I realized indeed it was my brother. He has been on medicine for too long. Recently due to a missed appointment and the health care insurance fiasco he had been off his meds for almost 6 months! There were signs that he was beginning to have some rumblings of anger. In my heart I think that is only natural to be overwhelmed with emotions when you've been locked in a dungeon for years upon years. In my heart if I could put a name on what it was that was killing my brother I would call it Jealousy! Anyway, I ran over to his window and tapped on it . . . he had not seen me pull up next to him. He rolled down the window and smiled at me. I said, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a dime on you would you?" He gave me a dollar. We chatted for a moment. I commented on something being human nature and he said, "You're my nature" I laughed and he said he'd see me at work. Just as he pulled off someone honked at me. Mike. I smiled at him and said, "Long line, I'm going in for coffee. I had to borrow money from Tommy so I can't pay for yours." He handed me two dollars and I ran in ordered our coffee. They said it would be like 3 minutes before the pot was done brewing so I went over to the Shell side and chatted with one of my favorite cashiers named Bev. She had a customer come up so I wished her well and left her to her work. Iwent back over to grab our coffee. They were just finishing it up. I grabbed both cups, gave Mike his and headed off to work. When I pulled in I saw my brother getting out of his truck. He walked around the front of the truck and smacked the hood. I yelled, "Hey! What are you angry about?" He snapped his son (his pride and joy) had lied to him and he stormed in the back door. I ran in the front door and flew to the back of the office. I grabbed him and pulled him back outside. No need for everyone to begin jumping to conclusions. I asked him, "Did we lie to our parents?" He paused sideways smiled at me and said, "Yea". I gently pryed while smiling at him, "So, what did he lie about?" in a gist it was a hurtful lie and my brother loves his son so much it breaks my heart to see him hurt so bad. I told him, "Tommy, you are NOT mad, you are hurt." We cried together and laughed too. I hugged him. I asked him if he ever read his bible? He said no. I told him about Ephesians and how you are warned to put on your spiritual armor. I told him about God waking me up and how I'd read 1/2 of Romans this morning. He laughed and said, "You read the bible and tell me about it." I laughed and said, "Deal" I asked him to do me a favor. I said, "Every time you feel yourself getting angry, I want you to put that thing that is causing you to feel that way to the side and reach for a memory that makes you laugh and continue to do that until you have calmed yourself." Then I told him about this story of mine and asked if he'd be willing to read it. He informed me my book would be the only book he'd ever read. I gave him the biggest hug and he hugged me back. I told him with a smile, "You know, us Irish Twins have to stick together!" That made him giggle again. In a gist, I listened to God. I didn't know how I was going to help my brother . . . God just needed me to be a willing servant and through me he reached out to my brother. Glory be to God!

That is all for now. I wondered why I'd not been given my next title and this I believe is why . . . I was meant to share with you all of this. I hope in some way it helps someone come a little closer to belief. May you all have a blessed day!

Wendy, Mom of Many.