My Big Brother-A spiritual inspiration for me and a gift from God

I have always been a person of little faith if none at all!  For as long as I can remember I've always jumped to the most negative of conclusions when it came to certain areas of my life. Not to say that at times I was wrong because I wasn't but at times I would be. I realize that many life experiences can mold you into the present being that you live in.

I have a big brother who has pretty much gone through some of the same hardships as I have growing up; being made fun of our looks, we weren't 'cool enough', blah, blah, blegh! Yet, in recent weeks God has used him as a vehicle to teach me a very important lesson. That lesson is unwavering faith!

I guess because I wasn't tapping into my spirituality before or going through this transition did I not realize the depths of my brother's faith. For as long as I can remember he always confronted problems head on with the perseverance of a soldier fighting for his country. My brother would and still says things like 'I'm not going to let the negative win, the Devil can try to knock me down but I WILL get back up again because I am a person of God!' He has this solid, unbreakable faith and positivity that I can only DREAM of having! Or maybe not...

I discussed with him a story in the Bible about Jesus and the Centurion that asked for His blessing to heal his servant and how Jesus was amazed at his level of faith as he told Jesus it wasn't necessary for Him to stop by his house but to only say the word. As I've read this passage over and over God made me realize why it is that my brother seems to go through the fire of a situation but only for a short time and then, just like that, he receives what he needs. For me the walk through the fire is much, MUCH, MUCH longer and at times I have felt envy for how easy my brother seems to attain things (such as a job or a new apartment). I realize now what the secret is.

In this journey of Christian transition manifesting my faith has to be one of the TOUGHEST obstacles to go through. I am so used to 32 years of little/no faith (my struggles began at age 5) and high impatience on top of that! I will admit that I am learning and changing a bit more every day so I know this whole journey is TOTALLY worth it! My brother doesn't go to church or read the Bible but he is familiar with many of the stories from it which blows my mind! He is such an inspiration to me and he has really gotten me thinking about giving this faith thing all I've got! I thank God and Jesus Christ for him every day and thank Them for opening my eyes to the lesson that was in front of me all along. Moral of the story is this...always pay attention to the people in your life.  You never know if they are teaching you something very valuable.