[Faith-talk] pray for my brother and family

[Debby Phillips]

Hi Andrew, I understand having a hard time fighting for things.  
Many families tell their blind children not to fight, but to sit 
back and wait for things to happen.  Just because there is 
resistance doesn't mean always that it's something God doesn't 
want you to do.  In fact, it can be quite the opposite.  When I 
look at the life of Paul, Saint Paul, not our Paul on list, 
though I'm sure he has his battles too, but anyway Saint Paul 
struggled his whole life.  He was persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, 
shipwrecked, and eventually killed for his faith.  Now, you most 
likely won't get killed if you go to a Center.  But you may learn 
to stand up for yourself.  All of us can advocate for you, help 
you, support you should you choose to go to a Center or wherever 
else you might go, but ultimately it will be up to you.  God will 
help you, He will strengthen you.  But have you noticed that when 
Jesus healed people He often asked them to do something? He put 
clay mixed with spittle on the eyes of a blind man and told him 
to go wash himself at the Pool of Siloam.  There was always 
something that He asked people to do.  The Samaritan Woman was 
told to go get her husband.  Now, Jesus very well knew that she 
didn't have a husband, so in a way He was confronting her with 
the truth about her life.  But after she came to believe that 
Jesus was the MESSIAH, she went and told everyone in the village 
about him.  So many other times that are coming to my memory from 
Scripture.  Andrew, you don't have to sit back and do nothing 
just because that's what your family has taught you.  You are 26, 
you are an adult.  You can decide that you will NOT sit back and 
do nothing.  I know you are afraid.  I can sense it in everything 
you write.  It's okay to be afraid, but you have to sometimes 
face your fears and decide to do stuff anyway.  My family, 
especially when I was first starting out didn't always want me to 
do some of the things I did.  But I proved to them that I could 
be okay on my own, and that I could have a good life, too.  
Andrew, with God's help, fight for what you want!!! You can do 
it.    Blessings,    Debby