Surrendering Fear. Exercising Faith. Living Free.

I started going to a new church several months ago. I was raised Catholic but recently started going to Crossroads, a Christian church close to where I live. This church offers something called The Journey, which consists of three courses that help Christians better understand and grow in their faith. I am taking my first class, Spiritual Development, right now. This week's class was about the Bible; understanding its significance, how to read it, and ways to study it. We talked about how to know what to read on any given day, and praying for the Lord to reveal whatever you will need (ahead of time) for your day. I've tried to "find" passages that were what I needed at the time before, but I did it on my own. That was before I was saved and received the Holy Spirit. Greg, the man teaching our class, talked about how the Bible is alive (the living word) when we read it with the Holy Spirit. I've been starting to crave reading the Word and understanding it in ways I

I gave my life to The Lord several months ago and have been experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit ever since. He has been convicting me left and right of so many of my sins. This week I received a lesson in true trust and gratitude, and thought it might be worth sharing. So many of you have been inspiring me lately, so perhaps God will speak through me today to touch one of you. On Wednesday night my 11-month-old baby Caleb, started throwing up as soon as we got home from church around 8 p.m. I was shocked and didn't know what was happening at first. Caleb was totally fine one minute and then suddenly vomiting repeatedly the next. As soon as I realized what was going on I held him and hugged him, trying to comfort him as much as possible. By the time I got him upstairs to change his wet shirt, it happened again. And again. I felt fear rising in me, especially after reading online about some warning signs that Caleb seemed to be exhibiting, so I turned to God in prayer. I prayed