The Essence of Faith

It's Fantastically Fabulous Fun Filled Friends and Family Friday! Man oh man!! It is only 10 AM and I am on top of the world. So Joyous I feel like dancing! Starting your day with God is so the way to start.

I have gotten in the habit of checking out the encouraging word from K-Love each morning before I do much of anything else. This year, the encouraging words have truly lifted me up into the clouds.

The more you walk with God, the more supernatural things you witness take place. These events strengthen your Faith and I promise you, the stronger your Faith, the more supernatural events you will witness. It truly is an awesome flywheel to spark.

This morning on Facebook, I had this to say when I shared the encouraging word from K-Love:

I just love the encouraging word via K-Love today:

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. ~ 1 John 5:14-15, NLT

I am confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. My heart soars when I read truths like this. For within various chapters of my life are testimonials regarding answered prayers, some of them in the craziest ways. It pleases God for us to pray for each other. I just realized I need to get a blog going for my heart is overflowing. I leave you with a link to a story from my past regarding a prayer I said for my mother and the answer I received.  Be blessed and be a blessing 

http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/01/awoken-by-answer-to-prayer.html

I am truly blessed to have had my faith strengthened again and again. Faith allows you to drop to your knees and share all that is on you heart because you know He hears you. Even though the Lord already knows your every thought, He Loves to see your heart at work. Secretly I think He even gets a chuckle out of the fit prayers we throw for within those we reveal passion. God is Love in it's most unconditional form. 

Faith helps with your ability to stay in today and not fret about tomorrow for you know God has always got you. You may even have even taken the time to armor yourself with a bit of scripture to help you with anxiety regarding the future. This is my personal favorite reminder: From Matthew 6:34 NIV:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~ Matthew 6:34, NIV

Anxiety is a weapon the evil one uses. If you don't believe in spiritual warfare, you should! I dress for battle every day. Even though I know my God is bigger and I have nothing to fear, I am not foolish about such things. Even Jesus tangled with the Devil. If you don't think he is a formidable foe, well, you don't truly understand how he works. 

As children, we all quickly learned what silent but deadly meant and when someone said that we quickly exited the room. I promise you that the evil one is as close to silent and deadly as a paid assassin. You don't see him right away and often you are already in a fight for your life before you even realize he has entered the picture. 

I read a lot and I listen to great teachings on Moody Radio when I get the chance so you will have to forgive me for I cannot recall where I first heard this but the truth in it is undeniable. Forgive me for this is not the exact quote either. I have a way of compiling information and consolidating it. With that being said, in a gist this is what I took away from the lesson; 'If you think the devil hasn't come across the likes of you, your ego is too big. He has been at this war for a couple thousand years. To date, Jesus is the only one that defeated him. Don't you think you ought to get to know Jesus?' 

When I first started seeking God with all my heart and joined a bible study group, one of the first books of the bible we studied was Ephesians. That is where I learned about the armor to wear and how best to protect yourself against Satan. I would like to take you right to the book of Ephesians, beginning with Chapter 6, verse 10:

verse 10: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

verse 11: Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

verse 12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

verse 13: Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.

verse 14: Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH THE TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

verse 15: and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;

verse 16: in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

verse 17: And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Quite an impressive list of armor don't you think. Today I am mainly focusing on the shield of faith and how taking it up you are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Flaming arrows, that paints quite the picture. The flaming arrows are thoughts meant to take you out. Don't fool yourself for one second. The devil is here to steal, kill and destroy. He will do that by any means possible. Including getting you to believe crazy lies. Think crazy thoughts. Do things you would not do without something, someone pushing you over the edge. These things all stem from you being bombarded with flaming arrows. Put up your shield of faith and protect yourself. Life is a completely different scene as you learn that you truly can make a difference in this battle. All you need is Faith. Don't let the Lord say of you, "Oh ye of little faith". Stand strong in the Lord, remain firm in your belief. He came so you could live this life abundantly. That my friends is some really good news in a world that longs to beat you down, you have a Savior. He is right here with you, waiting for you to call out so He can reveal more of His glory. It is never ending. It is a bright new day. Make the most of it.

Father, I come before you today with great joy in my heart. As a child entering into the age of consent, I knew nothing about armor. I have often wondered how different my life might have turned out had I known all the truths I know today. As you tell us not to worry about tomorrow or yesterday for that matter, I know in my heart that nothing that has taken place in the past was for waste. You use all events for good. You are faithful. Your love is unconditional and I am so grateful for that. I am thankful that I recognize evil for what evil is and that I am today fully aware of my armor needed. I am so blessed to have learned about it when I did. Your timing is always perfect. I know you would have protected me through all of my recent battles regardless. In that I am confident. I also know by wearing my armor, I was able to better withstand the onslaught of attacks I faced this summer. Not only did I withstand, with your strength, I persevered. Here I am, with your help, reaching back in hopes of finding others held in the chains of bondage. Help me with this task Father. Help me be a better leader, help me to be a brighter light, help me call out to the lost and lonely, as well as the overwhelmed. Help my fellow brothers and sisters find their way home. Help them to lift their heads and see the truth. You love your children no matter what! In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Be blessed my friends and always be a blessing to others <3

Wendy Glidden, walks with God
Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2014

Photo Accessed on 1/13/2017 from: https://www.google.com/search?q=Free+Picture+of+shield+of+faith&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS711US711&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=557&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYj57D4L_RAhWF2YMKHbM8AskQ7AkIKg&dpr=1.1#imgrc=PPcQRqWNRdLN7M%3A

Awoken by an Answer to a Prayer!

This is the last title I was given to write on. Again it is way out of order but I find it interesting that this is what God wants me to share. This by far is one of the strangest things I have ever witnessed. Allow me to paint the scene.

Jeffrey Thomas was born. He came to work with me every day like many of my babies have. I breast feed the majority of my children and having your baby with you is much more pleasant than having to pump! Anyway, at this time my mother was my assistant at work. She always came by the house to allow me to get to work on time and she would stay with the other children to get them on the school bus.

One morning when she showed up I immediately realized something was wrong with her face. In a panic I called my father and told him what was going on. My brother was sent to my house and he rushed my mom to the emergency room. I thought she was having a stroke.

Up until that point I had never heard of an illness titled "Bells Palsy". If you have yourself never heard of it, the symptoms are a lot like a stroke. My mom had lost use of one side of her face. The hospital informed her there is no cure. They prescribed blood pressure medicine and antibiotics. The most awful thing about this disease is it leaves you with no control over one side of your face.

My mom has always been one of those people that pays attention to looks. How pretty, how thin . . . they matter to her. I know looking in the mirror was too much for her. I cannot fathom what it would be like to not be able to close your eye or to smile on both sides of your face. My heart broke for her.

After a few days of antibiotics and no change I was on my knees praying for God to heal her. I told him this, "I need my mom. If this paralysis of her face doesn't improve I think she will go insane. Please God, you have to heal her. You have to. Thank you in advance." and I went to bed.

That morning I awoke to this, "Put your breast milk in your mother's ear."

I sat straight up in bed. I was taken aback. Shocked. Perplexed. Confused. Worried on how to even approach the matter. I was in such a state of fear that I didn't even say anything at first. I spent the first 4 hours of my day searching the Internet for Bells Palsy information. Somehow I stumbled upon an article regarding the 7th cranial nerve as this is the one responsible for the face having no movement response. I then spent another hour researching the 7th cranial nerve and that is when I found the picture of a baby's ear. Ironically, it showed the 7th cranial nerve and how it travels through the ear. Now I was stunned. I knew in my heart I had to approach the subject.

With a moment of courage, I spun my chair around and said, "Mom, this is going to sound so crazy but I went to bed praying for you to be healed by God and this morning I was awoken by a message. I was told to put some of my breast milk in your ear." Then I showed her the diagram I had found of the 7th cranial nerve and asked her how she felt about us trying that. She looked at me and said, "Wendy, I'm willing to try anything at this point. I just want to be able to shut my eye."

I went into the bathroom and pumped out some milk. Luckily, since I have raised children here in the office, I even had a medicine dropper handy. I soaked up some of my milk into the dropper and dripped it into her ear. I sat down and within a minute she kind of jumped in her chair and said, "I felt something pop." and then she blinked her eye. Next she moved her cheek slightly. My eyes teared and I said, "I'm pumping some for you to take home and just do this every three hours over the weekend." I ran into the bathroom more to give thanks and to weep than to pump. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

We couldn't get any doctors to take notice of what had transpired. After more research, I discovered there are laws against even sharing bodily fluids (such as breast milk). I am thankful that God heard my plea and gave me a solution. The joke in our family for a while was that I should bottle my breast milk and call it "miracle milk".

Now I realize what happened is even bigger than my milk curing my mom. I would have never thought of that on my own. Obviously so by my simple minded need to research endlessly regarding what I had heard. Indeed Jeffrey has been a blessing in many many many ways. Had I not given birth to him I would not have been lactating and there would not have been breast milk on hand to use in my mother's ear. While all prayers aren't answered immediately and all of our loved ones are not miraculously healed please do not allow yourself to believe that for one minute God doesn't feel for you or your loved ones. He sent his only begotten son to save us. This life span of ours is nothing more than a vapor . . . we are nothing more than a blimp when it comes to time. We all in the end face the same fate: bodily death. The bigger picture is this: eternal life.

My prayer for you if you are currently a non believer or one who has doubts when it comes to God is that you do your due diligence in educating yourself on your beliefs and how you came to form them. I am currently reading a book titled 'How Now Shall we Live' written by Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey. It covers evolution, naturalism along with many other kinds of science. The most fascinating thing to me is how many times science actually has proven there is a single designer behind the curtain. Even the big bang theory leads the biggest atheist to the truth. God exists.

Just like in the days of Jesus, many of our religious leaders have done a complete injustice to God. In a world of children killing children, perhaps it's something we, as parents, should at least be curious enough about to do some serious soul searching ourselves. I challenge all non believers to read this book. It's not the bible . . . it is however an amazing intellectual read.

My prayer for everyone today is that you take a moment of silence at the end of each day to question. Where did I come from? What is my purpose? What am I to teach my children about life?

Blessings to all who take me up on this Challenge. The journey itself is worthwhile!

Wendy, Mom of Many