FAITH! BOOK OF VIRTUES BY ETHAN SPENRATH “ Skepticism is just the beginning of Faith ”

I believe that faith is having a belief that upcoming events will be positive. I also believe that it means having great trust in your beliefs, values and your God. I believe this because I believe you need to have something to look forward to in life and believing that you God will make the bad go to good. Having faith in things is not based on knowledge, but on believing, for example you do not know if your God is alive, but you sure can believe that your God is real, or is the center of life. It is all up to what you decide, and have faith in! MY DEFINITION OF FAITH! “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”

MY FAITH! I believe that God is the higher power of all life, I also believe that faith is one of the most important aspects in my life. I pray to God usually before I go to bed, and I believe that God and Jesus are relatively the same Person. I only have one problem with faith, but I still have faith I God. The problem is that when I turn on the news in the morning or go on a news website I see all the war, and hatred in the world, and I think back of all the great people who have died, where was God when all of this was happening? Why did those great people deserve to die, more than anybody else? This is one of the things I find my self always contemplating this idea but I can never find a straight answer. I believe that we are here on this Earth for a bigger and better purpose. Maybe it is to carry out God’s purpose maybe it is to be the best we can be, but I know it’s something important. I always feel God is with me, but I feel God is with me, when I look at family memories, because God gave me this great family, and I thank him for this. I also feel God is with me when a miracle happens, like when my sister has been in so many car crashes (4 I believe) and she remains good as new, I believe God is watching over her. These are times when I believe in faith. “Faith In Family”

WHAT IS PRAYER? Prayer to me is talking and having a 1 on 1 conversation with God, and asking for forgiveness. It can be many different things such as asking for something, or just talking to God. There are five types of main prayer, and they go as follows. Adoration is the first type of prayer, and it is a symbol or a type of worship to God. Glory to God is one of many prayers under this section. The second is expiation and that is prayer for forgiveness of sins, or reconciling. The third type is the act of love and it is expressing our love for Jesus, or a higher being. Act of Charity is a prayer of love. The fourth type is petition, and it is asking God for something, like a good harvest, or faith in a time of hardship. The final is thanksgiving, and it is thanking God for all that he provides. This would be like grace, or Johnny Appleseed before meals.

HOW PRAYER AFFECTS ME I pray usually before I go to bed, or before a sports game. I enjoy doing before I go to bed, because it is usually the last think I think of before I lay my head to sleep. Also before I go to bed I usually have a clear head and I can focus on my prayer and have a clear head. I usually just talk to God when I pray rather than doing a common prayer, its like doing a custom prayer. I plan to keep praying before I go to bed as a daily routine and I would like to continue this for the future.

WHO IS OPRAH WINFREY? Oprah Winfrey Is an award winning talk show host, actress, and a philantrophist. Her show has been the highest watched talk show of all time. To many she is very influential and she is very know for helping all different types of people, no matter who. Oprah was born is Mississippi and was sent to live with her father, who was a barber in Tennessee. Even though as a child she went through big hardship such as being sexually assaulted, and impregnated at 14, she did not let that bring her down. She became a radio host and got brought up to primetime. After this she moved to Chicago at starred In the show “At the Movies”, and this later became one of the most know shows in United States and Canada as The Oprah Winfrey Show!

HOW HAS FAITH GUIDED OPRAH? Even with the hard childhood she did not give up right then, but she pushed harder than ever, and she had faith that it would get better. She had always had faith that she could do better than the way she was raised, so she kept going to make a name for herself. She also shows that with faith you can reach any goal, because she started out as a small radio host, and is now the richest African American person the world has ever seen. She has been criticized on her Christianity religion, because people say it is unjust. She has been judged because she is a person who isn’t of the right religion. She remains a spirtual person, and just keeps her head up and remains helping people.

HOW IS PRAYER IMPORTANT TO HER? Oprah ends off most of her show “with much prayer” and she prays for all of the people she wants to help, and she believes that prayer is a base for friends and for family. She also believes that because of all the good that has came after the bad parts of her life, it is her duty to pray for thanks for all of her success and fortune.

HOW HAS HER LIFE CHANGED? Her life has gotten a lot better, from the fortune and the fame, but that isn’t all she has found herself. She has also found something she loves to do and something she will continue to love to love to do possibly for the rest of her life. With the combination of faith, and prayer she has made her way up, with the help of God, and with her motivation to strive to the top, and be a role model to many people across the US and Canada. She has also influenced many, even approximately 1 million votes for the democratic party. This is why Oprah is a person of Faith!

THIS IS WHY….. I am filled with FAITH!!!!