Thursday, June 29, 2006

Happy weekend

Search For God
I wish everyone a happy and healthy July 4th weekend. Have a lot of fun and don't forget to continue your search for God.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

GRANDMA’S SECRET POTION OF FAITH

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Grandma Jenny had a secret way of communicating with God

Grandma Jenny slipped shoveling snow off the front steps of our home in the midst of a fearsome snow storm at the age of ninety-six and broke her hip. She was a feisty little woman who weighed only ninety-five pounds and stood four feet-nine inches tall. The shovel was bigger than Grandma. You might wonder why she was out shoveling snow early in the morning at her advanced age, but it was part of her stubborn and cantankerous nature. And it was a part of her tradition. She didn’t want my father going to work and getting his feet wet in the snow. It was a matter of respect for the man of the house. It was a matter of faith in her traditions. It was her way.

Grandma was from the old country – Russia to be specific. She came to the United States as a girl of fourteen traveling for fifteen days on a tramp steamer, and surviving on bread and water. She lost her provisions, her money, and her clothes on the trip over to thieves that hounded naïve, unsuspecting young girls such as her as a normal part of refugee voyages in those days. Most people though it was the work of greedy members of the crew. She arrived in this country penniless and literally with only the clothes on her back. But nothing could stop Grandma from making a new life in the land of her dreams, or bringing with her the rituals and traditions that were an innate part of her heritage, her faith in God, and of her very being.

Until she slipped and broke her hip, Grandma Jenny had always been healthy. None of us in the family could remember her having a cold. She attributed her good health to a secret potion of Elderberry Brandy that she distilled in the attic of our Georgian Colonial House. I have no idea where she got the Elderberries from or how she prepared the brew. We were never allowed up to her special place in the attic to see what she was doing. Everything that Grandma did was a secret.

Grandma had a shot of the special potion when she woke up in the morning and when she went to bed at night, that much she told us. To the best of my knowledge it was the only medicine she ever took. On rare occasions such as holidays and birthdays, we were all invited to join her for a sip of her Elderberry Brandy. I was allowed to participate from the time I was a teenager. Boy did that stuff pack a wallop. It is no wonder that Grandma was never sick. The brandy must have killed the germs. My dad didn’t really like it. He was a scotch man. My mother struggled to swallow it. She didn’t drink. We all participated in the ritual. No one in the family was about to insult Grandma Jenny. She was too tough a cookie to be trifled with. Grandma Jenny always said a prayer to got in her native tongue before taking a sip of her special potion. It was her way of communicating with God.

On one of the rare occasions when Grandma Jenny bothered to talk to me, communication was a problem since she spoke only Russian; I asked her what was so special about the secret potion? She sort of half smiled at me indicating that when I was more mature I would understand, pointing at my head. Grandma was great at the universal language of hand signals. I do understand a little Russian, but I don’t speak the language. Fortunately for me Grandma did understand English except when she chose to pretend that she didn’t. Even the dog understood Russian because Grandma fed him and he didn’t speak at all. When she called him to come and get it in Russian, he came running. No one disobeyed Grandma. The dog was a huge Boxer named Slugger. It was amazing to see him cower in front of my Grandmother, and wait for her command allowing him to eat. He sure didn’t act like that with my father or me. He once jumped up on my Dad and pushed him so hard that he fell down and dislocated his shoulder. Slugger wouldn’t dare jump up on my Grandma. The dog knew better.

After Grandma passed away, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was so special about her secret potion and how to make it. Grandma wasn’t big on measurements or recipes. She insisted that you just add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. This was the way she talked when someone wanted to know how to make her yeast coffee cake or her saffron laced ginger-carrot candy. Unfortunately the secrets died with her.

I think I finally have the answer when it comes to her secret potion. It wasn’t the herbs that she added. It wasn’t how high the alcohol content was. It was the love with which she made it and dispensed it to the whole family. It represented to her a melding of old traditions and new rituals. It symbolized her faith in God, and the respect she had for our family and our Country. It was a way for her to celebrate her freedom. It was her way of communicating her faith to God in a language of kindness and caring that we could all understand.

Sometimes when I sip a little brandy late at night to help calm me from the stress of the day and the threat of terrorism or natural disasters, I wonder, couldn’t we all use a little of Grandma’s secret potion to help us through these troubled times? The commercial stuff doesn’t seem to be doing the trick anymore. It lacks the tradition of caring, kindness, and love necessary to make it a special brew. It lacks that personal faith-filled touch of Grandma Jenny. It doesn’t have her tenacious character or her will to survive. It lacks respect.

There are some things that you can’t put in a bottle, smack a label on, and expect to work miracles. Sometimes you have to find the right ingredients in your own heart. Sometimes you have to distill them yourself. Sometimes the secret potion of faith is within you. Sometimes it will show you how to communicate with God.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Chasing Jesus

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I woke up feeling shaky, and with that same old fear making me sweaty. I guess I had been dreaming again about whether or not I’d ever get to Heaven. I’m not getting any younger and thoughts of death and Heaven seem to be more on my mind lately.

Christian scholars and Ministers are constantly preaching that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus. Unfortunately for me I guess, I’m not Christian. I am as you may have deduced Jewish. Is there no other path to God? I accept a Christian’s right to find God through Jesus, but what about me?

What would the difference be if I were Muslim or Buddhist? I would still have the same problem. It seems the Christian World thinks my way to Heaven is blocked. I don’t want to be blocked. I want a shot at getting to Heaven just like everyone else. Do you think the fact that I am not Christian makes me a bad person in the eyes of God? Do you believe God cares how I believe in him as long as I do? I think God wouldn’t have given us the right to make choices about how we have faith in the one Supreme Being if he didn’t love us all, and wasn’t willing to accept us all into Heaven.

I’ve had people try to convert me to Christianity including a daughter who has, and a son-in-law who converted her. I come close to seeing the light, but something always holds me back. Some instinct I suppose, some quirk of my nature, which restrains me from abandoning my traditions and beliefs and keeps me from making the big leap. Why can’t life be simple and easy? I guess it can if all you have to do is to follow your traditions and beliefs. But I wasn’t born in to a Christian family, and my traditions and beliefs are different except when it comes to believing in one Supreme Being, the one God.

Yet it seems to me that I have been spending much of my life chasing Jesus. Like many others, I want to believe. It would make my life so much easier. It would give me instant peace of mind. But my heritage and tradition keep me from following the path of Christ, although I do not dispute the wisdom of his teachings. I consider him a great prophet. I simply cannot deny the teachings of my own religion and my personal beliefs. Jesus was Jewish, wasn’t he? God in his wisdom must have known what he was doing.

When I find myself torn by these feelings of misgivings I usually turn to a Magic Genie Faith Builder friend of mine named Glorious for advice. It’s my way of unlocking my imagination so that I can catch a glimpse of what is going on deep down in my soul. I invented Glorious to help me find my faith. That’s why he is a special type of Magic Genie. He is not your typical make a wish Genie. They are old-fashioned. He is the newer model # AEEF – 3 (After everything else fails for the third time). He is a Faith Builder. I use him as my faith patch – the symbol of my faith in God.

My best friend Glorious tells me it’s all right to believe in God any way I want. He feels that we were all made in Gods image, and he must have known what he was doing when he gave us the ability to worship him in our own way. Glorious tells me I am a good and worthwhile person who is entitled to have faith in God in my own way. I find comfort in this, but still worry that I will wake up tomorrow morning shaking in fear and in a cold sweat. When will I finally be secure in my faith? I know that others would answer this question for me, but I feel I must find my own answer, my own faith.

Sometimes I’m not sure whether I am chasing Jesus or running away from him. Either way I have faith that God will understand. I am not running away from God. What I really am doing is chasing after my faith. I am trying to hold on to it as best I can. Do you have enough faith to help you wake up without fear? Do you have enough faith to give you peace of mind? Do you have enough faith to believe in what you cannot see or comprehend? You can if you believe in yourself and in God any way that you think is right for you. Let’s stop worrying and arguing about whose way to worship God is the right way. Let’s concentrate on having faith in the Almighty. Coming together in our common faith in God is a better way to find grace in the eyes of the Lord. Couldn’t we all use a little more faith today?

Sometimes I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. Isn’t being a good and worthwhile person who cares about others, does good works, and believes in God enough? I hope so. I have this urge to express the fact that I am a Person of Faith too. I think we all are entitled to declare ourselves people of faith. What about you, couldn’t you use a little more faith today to help you cope with the troubled times in which we live? Wouldn’t you like to be able to declare yourself a Person of Faith? You can if you just have faith, and believe in God in any way that seems right to you. Be a faithful servant of the Almighty and find your own way to God. It helps I think, in this respect, to follow family traditions, rituals, and beliefs. But I believe that any way you choose to have faith in God will be the right way for you. You have the right to choose. You are entitled to be a Person of Faith. My best friend Glorious the Magic Genie, my faith patch, told me so.


Arthur Levine, Faith Builder Imaginest, is the author of the Faith Patch Manual, which is an instructional guide to help you find the faith to cope with the troubles of our time. It can be previewed at: www.faith-patch.com

Friday, June 23, 2006

You Are A Winner

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I went to the corner stationary store this morning to buy a newspaper. I noticed a group of people buying all kinds of quick pick lottery tickets. They were spending a lot of money trying to get a winner. They seemed to be in a frenzy to get a winning ticket even if it only won them a small fraction of what they were betting. This doesn’t make any sense to me. Why try so hard to be a winner? You already are in God’s eyes.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Forbidden Thoughts

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Have you ever had the feeling that your world wasn’t real, that you are living out a fantasy? Have you ever doubted that there is a God? It is so difficult to believe in what we cannot see or understand, but what choice do we have? It is up to us to have faith. Believing in God is the only true reality. After all we were made in His image, weren’t we? How else can we believe that we are real? Have faith and continue your search for God.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Starting Over

Search For God
Today is a good day to start searching for God again. It is the first day of summer. Let's not forget that it is thanks to God's grace that we get to enjoy this summer.

Save The Children

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Dear Friend,

Can you help feed a child by watching a short movie that shows you how ?

Just by watching this movie and visiting a website you could be helping to feed a child or support abandoned, neglected and orphaned children.

You don't even have to give money, just visit the website and the movie explains 9 ways you can help.

Play the movie at full screen size from: http://www.artincolors.com/vidtrk/childreninneedplay.php
http://www.artincolors.com/vidtrk/childreninneedplay.php">AOL Users Click Here to Play Movie Full Size

Or view/download on the website at: http://www.artincolors.com/vidtrk/childreninneedview.php
http://www.artincolors.com/vidtrk/childreninneedview.php">AOL Users Click Here to View/Download Movie

I appreciate your time is precious, but so is a child's life.

Thanks for Caring !

Best regards,

Luzette Villareal
In support of the Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center,
Jaro Cathedral Compound, Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines.

P.S. Please forward this email to as many other people you know who might help. Nothing will happen, if you don't !

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Gift of Power

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Would you like to feel in control of your life all of the time? Would you like to feel that you have the power to control your own destiny? If you discover the state of bliss you will be in when you find your faith in God, then you will know this feeling of power, which you can only get from God. Continue your search for the God of your dreams, only then will you have a chance to know the power and understand His gift to you.

Monday, June 19, 2006

One Rainy Day

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One rainy afternoon I was driving along one of the main streets of town, taking those extra precautions necessary when the roads are wet and slick.

Suddenly, my daughter Aspen spoke up from her relaxed position in her seat. "Dad, I'm thinking of something."

This announcement usually meant she had been pondering some fact for a while, and was now ready to expound all
that her six-year-old mind had discovered. I was eager to hear.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"The rain!" she began, "is like sin, and the windshield wipers are like God wiping our sins away."

After the chill bumps raced up my arms I was able to respond. "That's really good, Aspen."

Then my curiosity broke in. How far would this little girl take
this revelation? So I asked... "Do you notice how the rain
keeps on coming? What does that tell you?"

Aspen didn't hesitate one moment with her answer:

"We keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgiving us."
I will always remember this whenever I turn my wipers on.

Isn't it distressing to know that when you forward this message you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they
will think of you for sending it to them.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

In order to see the Rainbow, you must first endure some Rain.

This article supplied by an anonymous source.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

I'm Sick of It

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I'm tired of hearing liberal democrats mouthing weak change your mind every day points of view and corrupt republicans enacting policies that are only good for the very rich. My God there must be a better choice than this. Where have all the statesman gone? I think its time that all our political representatives stop saying they are people of faith and start acting like they are. I hope over the summer break they will all take up a search for God's words of wisdom and stop messing with the common peoples minds.

Friday, June 16, 2006

On The Road

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Are you traveling this weekend? If you are, please don't forget to continue your search for God. I hope you will find Him along the way. I hope you have a fun time. Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Summers Coming

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Summers coming and its time to lay back and smell the roses. Isn't God's place a wonderful world.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Your Article

Search For God
Hi, would you like to add your short article to our Search for God. You can post it through the comments section. Hurry, God may be waiting to hear what you have to say and we could all benefit from your wise thoughts. You could become a famous published author.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

How to Send an E-mail to God

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A lot of us want to have more faith and get closer to God. The question is how do we do this? Maybe we should, strip away our inhibitions, unlock our imaginations, and send an imaginary e-mail to God.

Maybe you could send God an imaginary e-mail in the form of a prayer. After all, God is always interested in hearing our prayers, isn’t he? It is not the type of thing that you have to worry about him opting into. God is always listening.

How would we start? Perhaps the subject line could read, “Dear God hear my prayer.” No I am afraid that would be too long. How about, “Prayer to God” That might do the trick nicely and we would have no fear of spamming the recipient.

I think it is best to leave any request for help to the body of the text. What would you like to ask for? Good health is often a way to go, but I think you need to get more personal and specific then that.

How about telling God that you are tired of patching yourself together with temporary quick fixes to control your weaknesses like smoking, eating, or drinking too much? That should get Gods attention, don’t you think?

I wonder what God would say in an answer to us? Maybe he would tell us to stop trying to patch ourselves together and find more faith so that we could be strong enough to overcome our weaknesses with his help. Maybe we could use our imaginations to develop our own personal faith patch to replace all those other temporary patches and help us deal with our problems. Maybe we could use our faith.

You don’t have to worry about the address or click on the send button in this imaginary e-mail. I believe that God is always interested in hearing our prayers no matter what form they take.

Are you ready to send a message of faith to God?

You don’t have to worry about sending this e-mail to the wrong address because God is always with us and has a universal address. You don’t even have to type out this e-mail on your word processor. You can just think it.

Whatever you do, try and rely on your faith in God to help you overcome your weaknesses. Stop trying to patch yourself together. Try and find more faith so that you can learn to cope with your personal problems and the troubles of our time like terrorism and natural disasters.

Don’t forget to leave your personal signature in your e-mail to God. It’s not that he doesn’t know who you are; it is just that he may be waiting to hear that you are becoming a Person of Faith. It might help for you to mention this in your signature block.
An example could read something like this:

Your name
Statement that you are becoming a Person of Faith
Statement that you believe in God
Your e-mail address (unnecessary)
Your telephone number (unnecessary)

God knows where to find you.

Are you ready to stop patching yourself together?

Are you ready to become a Person of Faith?

Are you searching for God? Hurry, He may be waiting to hear from you. Send Him an e-mail.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Faith Based Magic Pill

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Don’t you sometimes wish you could have a Magic Pill that you could take to make all your fears and troubles go away? Wouldn’t it be great to have a little pill you could take to make all your cares and worries disappear?

A Magic Genie friend of mine named Glorious says it is possible to have a Magic Pill to rid you of the troubles of our time. Glorious tells me that all you really need to make this Magic Pill work for you is faith. That’s right my friends; you need to have faith for a Magic Pill to work.

In fact the type of Magic Pill I am talking about is faith-based. You can use it to become a symbol of your faith in God. Sometimes it takes a little fantasy to help us believe in what we cannot see or understand. That’s where your faith-based Magic Pill comes in. That’s why I invented my Magic Genie friend Glorious. He has helped me use my imagination to find my faith.

What about you, you do have an imagination, don’t you? You do want to have more faith, don’t you? You are trying to be a person of faith, aren’t you?

If you strip away your inhibitions and use your imagination, your faith based Magic Pill can become a symbol of your faith. Wouldn’t you like to start feeling wonderful right now?

Wouldn’t you like to find peace of mind?

Wouldn’t you like all your cares and worries go away?

Find your faith in God and you will begin to feel wonderful. You will find the peace of mind you have dreamed of.

Use your imagination to create your own faith based Magic Pill and start to become a person of faith right now.

Hurry, God may be waiting to hear from you.



Arthur Levine is the author of The Magic of Faith. To get instructions on how to find your faith and a free faith based Magic Pill, please access:
http://www.faith123.com

Friday, June 09, 2006

Lost and Found

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I lost a package on the bus yesterday and for a while I was really upset. Then I realized that there was nothing in that package that was going to change my life. I guess it’s a little like losing ones faith and then finding it again. You have to realize that believing and having faith is more important than the loss of material possessions. As long as you have faith the rest of the world will take care of itself. Please continue your search for God. It is more important than looking for lost packages.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Smashing Daisies

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Taking God’s name in vain is a little like a giant trampling fields of daisies with his feet. It is a futile act that can only end with the offender loosing his footing. Don’t blame God for your problems. It isn’t his fault that you are not following his message of kindness and caring. Don’t take God’s name in vain by trying to blame Him for your own lack of faith. You can’t really believe in God if you don’t believe in yourself. It’s time to start taking responsibility for your own actions and stop trampling the flowerbeds by putting you foot in your mouth and saying, “It’s God’s fault that that I have this problem.”

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The Real Story Behind Searching For God

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We all want to be inspired in one-way or another, don’t we? It struck me one day that what I was really trying to do by writing articles was to inspire people, myself included, to search for God.

Sometimes you have to take some quiet time to review what you are doing with your life. When I did, it hit me. I was searching for the God of my dreams in my own way. Doesn’t everyone search for the God of his or her dreams in their own way?

I started reading through all the articles that I had written and came to the conclusion that they all had the central themes of searching for God, finding faith, and becoming inspired to become a person of faith.

I guess to some people these things come naturally, but in my case it has always been a struggle to develop a strong belief in God. I have found that it gets easier over time as my needs become greater, and the realization of my own mortality becomes more self-evident.

I find it more and more important to try and do something relevant, something that will help other people and thus make me feel better. That’s what moved me to create a short book out of my many articles. I call them the “Search For God Stories.” I hope they will help inspire you to find more faith, and to make your search for the God of your dreams a success. I hope they will help you find peace of mind. I hope they will make you feel wonderful.

I will tell you how to get the book for free in a few weeks.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Faith Can Prevent Failure

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Sometimes what you think can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that you are going to fail, you probably will. If you have faith that God can help you succeed in your endeavors then you can conquer your fear of failure and enjoy success and prosperity. It is up to you. Do you have enough faith in God? Do you believe in His kindness and mercy? Continue your search for God and discover how to overcome failure and become a success. It is your life. Don’t let a lack of faith doom you to a lifetime of failure. Break the pattern by becoming a person of faith. Experience the joy that comes from having peace of mind. Find your faith in God.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Inspiration Or Faith – Which Comes First?

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Do you start out with faith in God or do you have to be inspired to search for Him? Where does the inspiration to believe in God come from? It seems everyone has an answer, but which answer is right?

I believe it depends on who is asking the question. If you are a person that is well grounded in your religious beliefs then faith probably comes first. If you are searching for God, then perhaps you need to be inspired to help you find your way.

I like to believe that we are all inspired to find our faith in God. To me it is a natural human instinct perhaps facilitated by an inborn genetic code or gene. I like to believe that the inspiration to find God comes from the Almighty Himself.

I think the inspiration comes from our need to experience God’s grace, to find inner peace, and to develop a sense of serenity. I think it comes from our need to seek God’s help in coping with our problems. I think it comes from a desire to believe that there is something more to our lives than the short span of our own mortality. I think it comes from a need to be assured that there is a Heaven.

Whatever inspires us to find our faith in God; the fact is that we do have the need to believe. Most of us have to believe in a higher power to make our lives tolerable. We want to have faith because it helps us achieve inner peace of mind. We are inspired to have faith because we want to succeed in our journey to find God.

May God grant us the strength and the inspiration and the faith to succeed in our search on a journey that never ends – the search to find God.
***

Arthur Levine is the author of the Faith Patch Manual. Please visit his Web site to get inspired to continue your search for God at: http://www.faith-patch.com.

Friday, June 02, 2006

How to Send an E-mail to God

Search For God

A lot of us want to have more faith and get closer to God. The question is how do we do this? Maybe we should, strip away our inhibitions, unlock our imaginations, and send an imaginary e-mail to God.

Maybe you could send God an imaginary e-mail in the form of a prayer. After all, God is always interested in hearing our prayers, isn’t he? It is not the type of thing that you have to worry about him opting into. God is always listening.

How would we start? Perhaps the subject line could read, “Dear God hear my prayer.” No I am afraid that would be too long. How about, “Prayer to God” That might do the trick nicely and we would have no fear of spamming the recipient.

I think it is best to leave any request for help to the body of the text. What would you like to ask for? Good health is often a way to go, but I think you need to get more personal and specific then that.

How about telling God that you are tired of patching yourself together with temporary quick fixes to control your weaknesses like smoking, eating, or drinking too much? That should get Gods attention, don’t you think?

I wonder what God would say in an answer to us? Maybe he would tell us to stop trying to patch ourselves together and find more faith so that we could be strong enough to overcome our weaknesses with his help. Maybe we could use our imaginations to develop our own personal faith patch to replace all those other temporary patches and help us deal with our problems. Maybe we could use our faith.

You don’t have to worry about the address or click on the send button in this imaginary e-mail. I believe that God is always interested in hearing our prayers no matter what form they take.

Are you ready to send a message of faith to God?

You don’t have to worry about sending this e-mail to the wrong address because God is always with us and has a universal address. You don’t even have to type out this e-mail on your word processor. You can just think it.

Whatever you do, try and rely on your faith in God to help you overcome your weaknesses. Stop trying to patch yourself together. Try and find more faith so that you can learn to cope with your personal problems and the troubles of our time like terrorism and natural disasters.

Don’t forget to leave your personal signature in your e-mail to God. It’s not that he doesn’t know who you are; it is just that he may be waiting to hear that you are becoming a Person of Faith. It might help for you to mention this in your signature block.
An example could read something like this:

Your name
Statement that you are becoming a Person of Faith
Statement that you believe in God
Your e-mail address (unnecessary)
Your telephone number (unnecessary)

God knows where to find you.

Are you ready to stop patching yourself together?

Are you ready to become a Person of Faith?

Are you searching for God? Hurry, He may be waiting to hear from you. Send Him an e-mail.

**********

Arthur Levine, Faith Builder Imaginest, is the author of The Faith Patch Manual. Find out how to find more faith and stop patching yourself together at:
http://www.faith-patch.com/stp/emailgod