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Making My Own Freewill Decision to Believe

Romans 12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I have had the unique privilege of being born and raised in The Way Ministry. My parents have stood faithfully on the Word in this ministry for many years, and my siblings and I were blessed to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to become standing disciples. I have always noticed that this ministry is set apart from the rest. The root of everything we teach and do is the Word, and we live this lifestyle too. But, even though I was raised living the lifestyle of a Christian believer of The Way, I still had to grow and make my own freewill decision to believe and live my life for God.

When I was young, I had a tough time understanding on my own how to trust God, and many of the promises I was taught, I had a hard time grasping. My most frequent prayer to God was “to understand.” Another aspect of my life that caused discouragement in my desire for understanding was that I struggled in my school classes and did not excel academically. I had talent in art and music, but in all the “important” subjects, not so much. I had a lack of self-esteem and confidence, as well as several sources outside myself that caused frustration in my heart. An “I can do” attitude and renewing my mind had not yet become strengths.

For a short period of time before I reached my twenties, I became withdrawn and disengaged in household fellowships and the ministry. I began seeking fulfillment in all the wrong places, and before long I noticed that the path I was walking down was leading me away from God. At this point in my life, I had reached a major crossroads—to stay dormant or to take believing action to blossom and grow. As I turned back around towards God, He opened up a door.

The Branch I grew up in didn’t have many young people my age, so I decided to move to a different city and got involved in a Branch full of young people who loved God and were moving the Word. These believers showered me with love, friendship, and patience. My freewill choice to surround myself with dynamic young believers changed my life dramatically, and I received incredible deliverance. And the best part is, I grew in my understanding and maturity! As I renewed my mind and continued following God’s direction for my life, God was able to show me many truths I wasn’t grasping before. The greatest truth that God revealed to me in that season of my life was that studying the Word allows us to know God, knowing God allows us to trust Him, and trusting God allows us to believe the Word greater.

Proverbs 16:9:
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

Because of the Word I have learned in The Way Ministry, my understanding of God and the meaning of life continues to increase; I have developed confidence in my identity in Christ; I have recognized my long suits, and been able to utilize them to give; and there are many other ways my life has been enriched with blessings because of the Word taught. Joshua 24:15 says, “…choose you this day whom ye will serve….” I am very thankful that I chose to serve God and be a functioning disciple in the household of The Way.

Proverbs 4:18 [The Amplified Bible]:
But the path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day [to be prepared].

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“In the name of Jesus Christ, LIVE.”

Taking time to consider all I have enjoyed and lived because of my involvement with The Way Ministry is quite extraordinary. To bring the victories in my life to the forefront of my mind is a wonderful exercise in thankfulness! Having been raised in this ministry, and now serving in its mighty Way Corps, you can imagine that my life is full of victories, great and small, from my heavenly Father. My sweetest and most exciting times, however, all stem from opportunities when I have been able to give others examples of God’s mighty power.

Professionally, I work as a nurse. Each time I arrive at work, I thank God for my patients and for the staff that I am working with. I believe that He will help guide my decisions to keep people safe and happy. One particular day, I was supervising my unit and helping a nurse with a patient admission. This particular patient was quite elderly and had been admitted for surgery after a bad fall that had left her in poor health. She was alone at the hospital, and her family was traveling in from a far distance. Rather suddenly, this woman took a turn for the worse, and we had to call in our emergency team to work to revive her heart, which had stopped beating. Our team was excellent, but the medical care we provided was not enough, and the patient fell asleep. This is a very hard event to experience, and our team was terribly upset. As the supervisor, I remained a part of the whole process and was speaking in tongues mightily throughout the event. As people left the room, I stayed behind, praying for her family and for my team who still had hours to go in our shift. As I was praying, I recalled what Jesus Christ said in John 14:12.

John 14:12:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Well, who was I? Was I a son of God? Doesn’t He tell me in Acts 1:8 that I have His great power within me? Yes, He does! I was a disciplined follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I knew that I could do the works of Jesus Christ and greater! “Not on my watch,” I said. I stood alone in her room at the foot of her bed and prayed to God for this woman to be healed, because her family was on the way and they needed to arrive to a woman who was alive. In a barely audible whisper, I commanded, “In the name of Jesus Christ, LIVE.” And then I waited. And I waited. Nothing happened. Another nurse came in to start getting the patient cleaned up, and I left, a little disheartened, but thankful to God for His protection and His Word. Moments later, I heard a call from her room. “A PULSE! I FOUND A PULSE!” I ran back to her room, and her pulse was so strong we could see it pounding through her gown. She was alive! God brought her back from the dead. To God be the glory!

If I had not been taught with all confidence that I am able to operate my gift of holy spirit, I may have never known to listen to God and use that great power that is available to every born-again believer. The Way International has taught me that the Word is the truth and that I can do all the things I read about within its pages.

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The Promises of God Are for Me

I had the privilege of growing up as part of the household of The Way. My parents were witnessed to when my brothers and I were children, around seven years of age; my parents were part of the leadership for many years, serving with all their hearts.

Knowing and understanding the Word of God from a young age has helped me face the challenges of life. Each of us has challenges; what makes a difference is how we face each one of them, and the Word of God gives us the tools to win. Philippians 4:13 is one of the promises that I have always remembered. I remind myself that the promises of God are for me, and they are for you too. God has not failed me.

For more than seventy-five years, The Way International has made available the Word of God rightly divided through its household fellowships, classes, and training, for those who want to know exactly what God’s will is for their life. This is one of the reasons why I feel so proud to be part of this household of believers.

As a child of God, I have done my best to please Him with my walk. We do not walk perfectly, but we are FAITHFUL, acting according to what we have seen and learned in the Word of God. The Word of God is the genuine answer to the meaning of my life, and this ministry has taught it to me.

Growing in the Word has allowed me to develop that love and respect for the Word of God.

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Aligning My Life with the Word of God

The Word of God has given me direction in life from the time I was seventeen. This direction came from aligning my life and the choices I have made with the Word of God. The verse of scripture I credit for this is…

John 14:6:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The Word of God has freed me incrementally from fear as I put it in my mind regularly, consistently, and by deliberate decision. I remember a time in my life when I lived in so much fear it was paralyzing. However, making the choice to deliberately walk out on the truth of God’s Word has filled me with power. The scripture I credit for this is…

II Timothy 1:7:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The Word of God has helped me become selfless. I no longer see everything through the prism of myself or how I can advance my life or my career; but my question now is, “How can I bring glory to God and be of service to Him?” My desire now is to serve. The scripture I credit for this is…

Matthew 6:25:
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

The Word of God has taught me to be a leader, living by a higher example and standard. In a world and time when leadership is in peril and crisis and people wonder, “Where are the true leaders?” I now know that true leadership is about service, and this service is most essential and understood in the household of God.

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My Heart Opened to My Heavenly Father

I was sitting in a ministry meeting in a large auditorium, enjoying the Word that was being taught. More and more, the crowd that was there seemed to go into the background, and it was just the teacher and me. Then it got more personal. I remember thinking about so many great things God had done for me and how much my life had changed since being in the ministry. My heart was full—full of love and peace and thankfulness. Everything in the room by this time had gone into the background, and it was just God and me at this point. It was a very distinct moment when I comfortably felt “at home” with growing and developing my relationship with God and desiring to help others do the same. I decided at that time that it was the direction I wanted to go in my future.

College was fun, especially with a believing household to stand with. But soon I would be moving on, and decision making was crucial. God’s timing is always perfect. This was a pivotal time in my life. I had thought of going into The Way Corps training many times, but this was different. It was like the door to my heart flew open to my heavenly Father in the fullest way ever. After graduation from college, I began The Way Corps training program.

And I would like to add that after serving as a Way Corps minister for over forty years and having had many assignments, if needed I would do them all over again! Avenues to serve God are multiple, and He always honors our hearts of service. With the attitude of giving with love and peace and thankfulness, regardless of the avenue chosen, we can daily expect to receive “heaven’s best”! I know that I have received God’s best over the years, and what is so exciting is that I still experience being “at home”—my God and I.

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God Worked Mightily in My Career

I’m thankful to God for this great opportunity I have to share my heart on one of the great principles in the Word of God that I have learned since I got in this ministry and took the foundational class on Power for Abundant Living for the first time in February 1986. That law is about giving and receiving in the category of tithing and abundant sharing. I have proved the hand of God in many categories of my life. Today, I would like to share on how God blessed me in my professional progress, or ascent, as I practiced this principle.

Our Branch coordinator, while he was teaching on Luke 6:38, put a great emphasis on the measure that shall be measured to us as we give. So I made up my mind to give a great measure when I abundantly share. And since I’ve learned this great law of giving and receiving, I’ve decided to practice this law faithfully in spite of the mental pressures or the financial pressures I had in my life. Once I got my salary or a gift, the first thing I did was just to put aside my ten percent tithe. Then I also put aside my abundant sharing for all the household fellowship meetings of the month and plurality for the different needs of the household.

As a result, three times I was promoted in my career with God’s assistance. The first time, I was commissioned as an assistant head of department for six months, and before the end of the six-month term, our head of the department was sent on a temporary assignment, the position was vacant, and in a four-month period I was promoted from chief clerk to head of the department. I stepped up two ranks. I was always faithful in the application of the law of giving.

Once again God worked mightily in my career or profession when I was promoted as an assistant manager. I was doing temp work while the position of manager was vacant. Five of us who were chief clerks were expecting to be appointed as a manager. Three months later, the board of directors and the senior officers decided to change my position. As a result, I was commissioned as the assistant manager. Usually, whenever someone is commissioned as a manager or a member of the senior management, the board of directors has to make that decision and then send the decision to the administrative supervision for approval. This procedure takes time, and as far as I was concerned, God’s hand was on me. I was acting as an assistant manager for five months, and at the same time the board of directors was changed. The end result was that I was confirmed as the assistant manager. I kept tithing and abundantly sharing faithfully and giving pluralities.

At that time, it was not possible for me to become a manager since the manager was still there and the only way for me to become the manager was to wait until he retired. Because of the financial crisis that many companies or enterprises were facing, it was no longer easy to send people on retirement. As far as I was concerned, I was content with my position as assistant manager, simply because the full manager was still around. Once again, for the third time, God found a way out for me. My manager asked to be put temporarily under the care of Human Resources and wait for his retirement. The result was that I became the manager of Human Resources.

I would like to point out that I got promoted during the period of time when I was not paid regularly. We went through tough times; but whenever I got paid, I kept tithing, sharing abundantly, and giving pluralities. And God did not forsake me. In times of trouble, II Corinthians 9:8 always came in my mind: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

So, I am confirming that whenever we faithfully practice in our lives this great law of giving and receiving, we will profit.

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My Life Really Changed for the Better

When I was five years old, I used to think of going to household fellowship as taking a walk: putting on nice clothes and going out with my family. Sometimes (many times) I fell asleep and my mother looked for a way to make me understand the importance of listening to the Word of God. As I grew older, I became involved in ministry activities, in service to the believing household and to God. I helped with the setup, preparation for the fellowship, and also setting up the snack. I really enjoyed giving.

At a young age, I saw how God blesses us as we commit—because the more I served, the more I received. In every area of my life, I saw God at work: at school, at home, everything. The biggest emotion of my life came from seeing God’s answers to my prayers for things as simple as electric power in my country.

I thought that everything was great, but then I took the foundational class on The Way of Abundance and Power, and my life really changed for the better. I learned about so many things that God makes available, and I wanted all of that. Many people see me and say, “It’s amazing how things turn out,” and I answer that there is nothing unbelievable. On the contrary, everything is due to believing.

I remember a time when I needed a job. I thought about a teaching from our Country coordinator about writing down what we were believing for, and that’s what I did. I wrote, “I need a job from Monday to Friday, working until three in the afternoon, with a good salary.” And that’s how it was—I received what I was believing for.

I have always put God first, serving with all my heart and living the Word. At college, for example, I met one of those teachers who does not give an A even for “Albert Einstein” quality work. “CD” was his nickname because C and D were the only grades he gave. On my graduation day I was expecting to graduate cum laude (with honors), but I thought that because of “CD,” it was impossible for that to happen. And do you know what? It was impossible for me, but not for God. I was very surprised to see my name on the graduate page with honors, and it was not cum laude but magna cum laude. God is good.

A little over two years ago, I made the commitment to coordinate a household fellowship. This was a big challenge, and many people told me I was too young for that; but others have given me wise advice that is only found in The Way Ministry.

I understood that God called me, and my answer was “Here am I, send me!”

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Prayer Brought Sunny Skies

The week of my wedding day, I was checking on the weather. The weatherman on the news was saying it was going to be cold and wet all weekend. I was getting concerned that the boat we were to get married on would not be able to be on the river because of the weather and that they would not open the dam for the boat, but my future husband and I continued with our plan. We got to the hotel and it was cold, windy, with no sun in sight. This was on a Thursday. Friday came and it was still cold as ever, windy, and still raining. So my fiancé and I prayed for sunny skies with no wind or rain. We also prayed for the dam to be opened up so that we could get married on a running boat. We claimed God’s promise in Matthew 21:22—that with believing all things are possible. The next morning, I opened the curtains from our hotel room and I could not believe it. It was so awesome—God had answered our prayer! There was no rain, no wind, no cloudy skies. And it was not even cold. The next news was that the boat was going to be running on the river because they had opened up the dam. Now, on the day following our wedding, the cold weather came back, cold and raining just like before. Because we had been taught how to believe God and trust His Word, our day was awesome!

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Faithful to Believe

I’d been standing faithfully on God’s Word for seventeen years when I found myself a single mom with two young boys, four years old and nine months old. This was certainly not a situation I desired or ever envisioned for my life. With the help of wise counsel from my ministry leadership, I moved to a different area of the country to heal and start fresh. I chose the specific area I moved to so I could be close to a Way Corps couple who’d known me when I was a young believer in college. The wife and I were dear friends, and I knew they would believe with me during the challenges ahead.

I thought back to how God had cared for me in the past as I stood on His Word. This wasn’t the first time that I’d had to trust God to be my sufficiency in a challenging situation. I recalled when I had just taken the Foundational Class and decided to stand on the accuracy of the Word I was taught. This decision came with the need to become self-reliant; so at eighteen years old I moved out of my parents’ home and began living on my own, financially independent of them. God supplied my need again and again during that time, with believers to live with, jobs to work heartily at, college scholarships so I could complete my chemistry degree debt-free, and a great job in my profession after I graduated. I had proven the promises of God before and stood faithfully. Surely God would be with me again as I faced this upset in my life!

A family of faithful believers welcomed us into their home to stay until I was back on my feet. The mom even provided in-home day care for my boys. I’d been a stay-at-home mom for the past four years, but now needed to find full-time employment to support my family. I had a goal to secure a job within two weeks. Although I was diligent to take believing action to apply for jobs in my field as a chemist, no doors were opening. Because I was determined to secure a job by my two-week deadline, I applied for and got a job with a fast-food restaurant. When I got home from securing that job, I received a call from a temporary staffing agency that I’d previously contacted after seeing a job opening for a customer service representative for a scientific product distributor. They were specifically looking for people with degrees in chemistry or biology.

The temp agency scheduled me for an interview with the company on the day I was to start at the fast-food restaurant. I contacted the restaurant and received permission to start a day later. I went on the interview and got the job! (Needless to say, I called the fast-food restaurant and let them know I would need to decline their position.) I worked as a temp for three months, was then hired on full time, and still, over twenty years later, am with this same company and have worked my way up into management. As I’ve heard it said before, “God’s never late! He cuts corners pretty close sometimes, but He is never late!”

God supplied my need abundantly with housing, day care, and a job. I improved my mental tenacity to believe the promises of God, moment by moment, living one day at a time. I was determined to raise my boys in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, doing the best I could as a single mom. Today I can see how I lived this quote from the Give and Share Series booklet Refusing to Quit: Faithful to Believe: “Life can be, and is at times, filled with challenges that many times are beyond our control, but we can always decide to believe the Word of God that applies to our specific situation.” No matter the circumstance, no matter the situation, God is there and His Word is faithful to come to pass as we believe it. Because of the Word of God I’ve learned in The Way Ministry, I was able to overcome and be victorious.

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We Can Claim What Is Ours

My husband and I were visiting my son and his family for lunch one day. While we were there, the air conditioner at my son’s home stopped working, and he and my husband went up on the roof to check the air conditioner. After about ten minutes, I heard a very strong crash. I quickly ran outside with others from the family to see what had happened. To my surprise, I found my husband lying on the ground unconscious in a pool of blood. Everyone was yelling, “Don’t touch him—let him lie there.” He had fallen on his head from about ten feet. With all the commotion, I couldn’t concentrate on praying; so I told my son to get everyone out of the area. They brought me a towel. I rolled it and put it under his head, and I held him next to my body. In my mind came the thought, “fractured skull.” Then immediately I claimed his life in the name of Jesus Christ. I said, “This is a lie, and the Devil is the father of lies, and the Devil has no right to take him from me. He is my husband and a righteous man with the nature of God in Christ in him.” Then I leaned next to his ear and told him, “You do not belong to the Devil. Remember who you are. You are a righteous man, and you are sanctified!” I looked at his face again. He was still bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose. I claimed his life again in the name of Jesus Christ, and at that moment the bleeding stopped and he breathed in deeply and became alive. It was then that I realized the intensity of the situation and was completely confident that God had performed a miracle. I instructed my family not to magnify the intensity of the situation because God had already healed him.

We went to the hospital, and they did all the necessary checks and tests. The diagnosis came back that he was fine and that he had no skull fracture. My other son who is a paramedic insisted on taking him to a private doctor who verified that he was just fine—no fracture or internal problems. Two days later my husband and I were sitting in our household fellowship coordinators’ training.

Thanks to God and His rightly divided Word that our ministry has taught us, my husband and I have no doubt that as we believe in God by living righteously as His sons and daughters according to our legal, God given rights, we can claim what is ours—like the life of my husband.