New found Faith

   I was raised by a very strict baptist preacher,  my father.  He was very strict and took the Bible very literally.  Especially the part about sparing the rod spoils the child.  My dad only knew one form  punishment and that was to whoop our butts for any infraction mo matter how small or unintentional. 
  My dad was a good preacher but he was one of those hell-fire and damnation preachers.  And he was very dogmatic about it.  If you didn't believe that way he did then you were the one that was wrong.  My sisters and I have literally had the Bible beat into us.
  I was raised in the church.  Knew my hymns and Bible verses,  can still name all the books of the Bible by heart.  We went to church everytime the doors were open.  We went twice on Sunday and then again on Wednesday.  Never got a sick day, always had to be there.   You see, with my dad,  God and church came before family.
  Somewhere along the way,  I seemed to have lost my faith.  Well,  not really lost it,  just misplaced it.  I just don't think that God intended for a building and the people in it to be more important than your family.  I also don't beleive that one religion or denomination is more important to God over the others.  I mean baptists don't have a monopoly on heaven or God's love.
  When I married Ricky,  I found a freedom.  I didn't HAVE to go to church if I didn't want to.  It has become a habit not to go.  Then I stopped reading the Bible and eventually I even stopped praying.
  A few years ago,  God decided to remind me that I still needed him.  I mean we literally lost everything and had to start over.  Ricky lost his job, we lost our home.  He was out of work for almost 2 years.  And I started praying.  I began telling Ricky to be patient that God had something good in store for him.   I started believing it and so did he.  Finally afer months of praying and asking for God's will,  he was hired at Blue Bird.  He is very happy with his job.  He loves to weld.  He told me once that I had enough faith for both us.  Lea once said to me that God doesn't put more on you than you can handle and I replied back to that I was at my limit. Sometimes I felt like God was up there , looking down at me saying "HMMM,  she hasn't cracked yet,  let's see what else we can throw at her."
  I am back to reading my Bible and praying.  I can see God working daily in little things.  I post alot of bible verses on my facebook wall. Sometimes I see a verse that fits my life at that particular moment and I just have to share.  I still don't go to church.  Churches to me have become nothing more than a social club.  But I will work on this.
  So don't misplace your faith.  If you look and pay attenttion,  you can see God working.  You just have to know in your heart that He is.
  I have forgiven my dad.  After all the way I was raised helped to make me the person I am today.