Returning to the Past – 71th Part

The difficulties I had with my Portuguese and this new challenge were continuously present.

But just as the difficulties were present, so was my faith. I did what I could. Some of the things I did in order to get better contradicted my will. One of those things was watching myself doing the programs to make the corrections not on my Portuguese but on the theme.

Besides praying, I was willing to learn with whoever wanted to teach me. I wanted to learn. I wanted to get better to honor and glorify God. I didn’t want to honor God in an emotional way on the contrary, I was aware that regardless of who was doing the program with me, I would have to learn to adjust myself because this is the work of God.

And you know something? The Work of God can’t stop because of my conflicts. I had to overcome them and pass life to others. The difficulties we face help us learn to exercise our faith. For me, I always had to discover how to exercise my faith this doesn’t come with a manual.

Along with the difficulties we are given the opportunity to build friendships. I had a chance to meet a wife who was African who came to do the program with me. She did not speak Portuguese well because she had learned to speak it from living amongst other pastors. But for me she stood out even though there was another wife who was Portuguese, and spoke well too. We all had the same initial conflicts. But we were there, every week battling our flesh, will and negative thoughts.

With that, we built nice friendships! In fact, in the Universal Church, we are always building friendships. Even with the wife who wasn’t to patient with me at times, I saw she had patience for other things. Those who take advantage of their difficulties, and correct their mistakes are capable of learning to understand others. This is living by faith. Faith isn’t there to favor our emotions, but to help us do what is right.

Because of the Women’s program, I did not invest in my English. I chose to do what was most important at the moment…

With faith, I was learning how to give myself in each area at a time. When we exercise our faith, watch, pay attention, we discover our mistakes and therefore able to correct them. As we are exercising our faith, we improve and make exist what doesn’t exist. This way you broaden your vision for things because you do not shy away from the challenges.

The challenges I faced helped me depend more on God. And it makes you see things differently because you are no longer stay stuck in the same place.

It is wonderful to use the faith that God gives us, and learn from it.