Nance Fabretti - Faith, Forgiveness, & Fibromyalgia

A chronicle of Gods amazing power and marvelous works.

To declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples (1 Chronicles 16:24).

I pray the content of this book showcases the incredible and intimate God who whispers to you in the still of the day, You are my Beloved.

Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders (Deuteronomy 33:12).

Introduction

W hen my children were young, three and six, I gave my whole heart to Jesus and began being discipled but did not have a home church. The kids and I had visited a few churches, and I desired to settle in long term somewhere.

I asked God to please show me where my children and I should attend. With all my heart, I wanted a church where I could dig deep into the Word of God and mature, and my children could grow in the truth of the scriptures.

The people who were discipling me said they had heard of a church that was solid in the Word of God. I agreed to go to a Bible study that night, but I was thinking this would be the last time I would visit a church until the Lord showed me my home church.

As I walked into the first floor chapel, the place felt so familiar. We sat down, and the seat I sat in, I had seen before. Then I noticed a column in the midst of the room. As I sat there, I remembered a recent dream in which I was in this very place. The dream became so vivid in my mind. Bible study was great, and at the end, some people introduced themselves to us. One gentleman came toward me to say hello, and that confirmed it all. This man was in my dream! I saw this room, the seat that I sat in, and that column. The final detail was this young man, Tim.

I processed what occurred for a little while, telling no one.

The Lord impressed on me that I had cried out to him, and he heard me. This will be my home church. If you prayed, and then the Lord gave you a dream and showed you where he was sending you, and then you physically found yourself in that very place, you might want to shout it from the rooftops, right? But I didnt, maybe because it seemed outlandish. Isnt it funny that we pray expecting God to answer, and when He does, it seems so unbelievable. So instead, I pondered this in my heart for a long time. In Luke 2, scripture states that, Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. I felt like Mary. This wonderful thing God has shown me and done for me made me feel so very special. He heard my prayer and gave me a dream to solidify what I would experience upon visiting this church. The people who were discipling me and brought me to this church determined that they were not going back. I knew this was the place that my Heavenly Father was sending me. Those people cut ties with me since I chose not to follow their direction. It was bittersweet since they had taken time to teach me about the scriptures, and I was very appreciative; however, I needed to follow the Lords leading. This would set the stage for future times when I would have to make decisions for the Lord amongst well-meaning voices telling me to do otherwise.

I have attended Crossroads Church of God ever since and have grown and flourished under the pastorship of Robert Larson and his beautiful wife, Angela.

Chapter 1

Let Me Introduce Myself

I grew up in a small town. One of my fondest memories is of my dad playing the accordion at night while my sister and I had a pillow fight in our bedroom. Our bedroom was situated at the back of the house, and there was an enclosed porch at the front of the house with a long corridor and a kitchen in between. In the evening after putting us to bed, my dad would take out his accordion, settle down in the enclosed porch, and play. Meanwhile, down the hall in the bedroom, my sister and I would stand at the end of our beds and swat each other in the head with our pillows as soon as we heard the music. If the accordion stopped playing, we would freeze. When the music began playing, we would begin swatting.

If the music stopped, we would freeze in whatever position we were in at the time. Every now and then, the music would stop for a little while longer. Uh oh, do you hear steps? Hes coming! We would dive into our respective beds and act as though we had been slumbering for hours. His feet would stop at the threshold of our bedroomstillness, quietthen a step forward, and he would lean in to see our faces. I could never wipe the grin off of my face so I would turn toward the wall; it was all I could do not to let out a giggle.

Well, those days ended with the divorce. The next thing I knew, we were moving to a new place in the same small town, and we were introduced to our new stepdad, Bill. Bill liked to smoke cherry-flavored Erik cigars, especially when taking a drive, but he never rolled the windows down in the car. He tried to be the man in my life, but truly, no one takes the place of your dad.

A few years went by, and we were moving to a city where Bill worked. It was pretty cool at first, an apartment building with an elevator, next to a McDonalds restaurant and Dunkin Donuts. I met kids who lived in the apartment buildings and hung out. We played hide and go seek in the backyard, the card game Spit in the hallways, and we rode the elevator up and down four floors.

My mom and Bill divorced, and we moved numerous times throughout this city over the next several years. With the moves came new schools and new friends. My mom worked really hard to make a life for us, but she was struggling with a great deal of baggage. Her dad drowned when she was eighteen years old, and as a result, her mom began to drink heavily. Im told that she would bring my mom along to the bars for company. It is my understanding that this is how my mom developed a taste for alcohol, which would eventually tear her life apart.

We all come with some sort of baggage. I always wanted to have a family like the Brady Bunch. You know, the kind of family that has a level-headed hard-working dad, and a sweet-smiling always-there-for-you mom. A family with brothers and sisters who may have disagreements but, at the end of the day, value their relationship with their siblings, so they work to find a solution to problems.

But when you hear the actors of the Brady Bunch tell their behind the scenes stories, you find insecurities and backbiting, lustful affairs, and jealousies. So even in the land of make believe, the family struggles.

The family is Gods creation. When the family works together in unity, it thrives. So the key is working together in unity. What does that look like and how do we obtain it?

The one who wars against our soul has been working to destroy the family unit since Genesis. In fact, Genesis is a great book to read to see family dysfunction up close and personal. I have learned a great deal from Genesis regarding peoples tendencies, poor choices, and how God responds. God is incredibly forgiving; however, He does not excuse us from the ramifications of our choices, good or bad.

So how do we obtain a family of unity?

Start with truth; Gods Word is Truth. Next, we must apply this truth in our lives. This will teach us the attributes to put on and the attributes and things that need to be put off. An example of this is pouring a clear liquid into a glass filled with a dark liquid. As the clear liquid goes in, the dark liquid is pushed out. And so it is with the Word of God. Gods Word, which is alive and active, comes into our lives and pushes out the darkness. Now please keep in mind that this is a process not an overnight miracle!

So what does this have to do with family and unity? Everything!