Abundant Faith: Secrets to Plenty

By Gloria Sloan

Gloria Sloan’s ABUNDANT Faith is a genuine inspiration. She exquisitely tells about her own faith-filled journey with divine gratitude.  She structures her book with personal events, biblical references and insights that encourage the reader to reflect on their own journey through faith.  A great book to read individually, with your spouse or as a book-club study guide designed in such a way to keep you energized with daily reflections and motivated with questions to explore.” 

—Carolyn Lepore, educator

 

“ABUNDANT Faith is a book that will make you trust God more deeply and bring rich enlightenment and understanding of the journeys-of fellow pilgrims.”

—Kenneth H. Hill, pastor, author, and educator in the African Methodist Episcopal Church

 

Gloria knows all too well that suffering comes to everyone at the most unexpected times. In this beautifully written book you will clearly see how she wants us all to experience the miraculous healing balm that comes from having Abundant Faith. Whatever you’re going through right now, she will meet you there with her stories, deepen your faith through her experience so that you too can understand that Peace of God that surpasses all understanding.”

—Kelly Bouchard, success strategist, motivational speaker and coach

 

“Abundant Faith presents an inspiring conversation, especially for those of us who have cared for a sick child, relative, or friend. The byproduct of such a commitment is our own faith development and spiritual formation.”

—James M. Harrison, executive minister, American Baptist Churches of the South

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973638346

Gloria Sloan

GLORIA SLOAN is founder and president of Personal Dynamics, Inc., a global hospitality consulting firm. A graduate of Ophelia Devore in New York City, she is styled in etiquette essentials and life-skills training, and she brings forty years of business management finesse in meeting and event planning to her writing. Gloria enjoys, reading, taking walks, Pilates, arts, and music; she and her husband, Jerry, live in Matthews, North Carolina.

Book preview

ABUNDANT

Faith

Secrets to Plenty

Traveling on Life’s

Journey

Gloria Sloan

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Copyright © 2018 Gloria Sloan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Used by Permission HCSB ©1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 Holman Bible Publishers. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3833-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3835-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3834-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910899

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/20/2018

For Eric

CONTENTS

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Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1     Finding Faith

Chapter 2     Love and Faith

Chapter 3     Family and Faith

Chapter 4     Forgiveness and Faith

Chapter 5     Trust and Faith

Chapter 6     Health and Faith

Chapter 7     Waiting and Faith

Chapter 8     Wisdom and Faith

Chapter 9     Giving and Faith

Chapter 10   Hospitality and Faith

Sources

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the people who saw me through this book. Many of you have journeyed along through the valleys of hope and mountains of love. Your devoted friendship and caring will forever be an abundant treasure in my heart.

To my husband, Jerry, for his loving and unwavering patience on this journey with me. I love you.

To my grandson EJ for his lovable support hugs and contagious smile. You will always have a special place in my heart.

To all my family, extended family, and close friends, I am grateful for your support. You have long anticipated reading this book, and I rest in joy to share it with you.

To my niece Nicole Antunes for sharing her artistic talents by designing and hand-painting the cover and illustrations and for providing additional author support.

To my nephew Henry Reeves Jr. and my sister-in-law Emma Reeves for granting permission to include poetry by my late brother, Henry Reeves Sr. from his book In a Meadow’s Calm.

To my entire First Baptist Church-West family, thank you for your thoughtfulness and extension of prayers that continue to flow over and beyond abundantly.

To Randall Robinson, author of An Unbroken Agony and national best sellers The Debt, The Reckoning, and Defending the Spirit, and his most recent publication Makeda, which inspired me to write about family life.

To the health care professionals, I am extremely grateful for every level of service that you provide. Thank you for being the family away from home and giving support and tender care to my son, Eric.

To all whom I had the pleasure of meeting during and following various periods on my journey, thank you for your heartfelt kindness. You have given me more reasons to write and finish a book that provides hope and inspiration to others. The narrative sharing in Abundant Faith is a blend of daily life experiences that are open to diversified conversations on faith and what we believe.

To my book coach, Cathy Fyock, who encouraged me to write with purpose and to be intentional in delivering my story for readers.

To the WestBow Press editorial department, I appreciate your patience and guidance. It became a real seven-year stretch, but you stayed with me every step of the way.

FOREWORD

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T here are times in life when persons are made to reflect upon their lives, and in those moments, they often discover the vital role of faith. Gloria Sloan takes the reader on a journey of faith, the faith that others placed in her to integrate a segregated school in the South, the faith she discovered to start a business as a woman in male-dominated culture, and the continued faith to accept new challenges as life moved forward.

Faith is never an even journey, so the reader learns as well of the test of faith in the loss of a mother, the illness of a son, and unexpected setbacks. This honest and heroic look at faith touches the real-life challenges that people face every day and tells the story of how one person has persevered because of faith.

Reading her story of faith may rekindle your own faith and help you see just how far faith has brought you as well.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and in this work, we get to see the substance that faith has yielded.

Dr. Ricky A. Woods

Senior minister, First Baptist Church-West

Former assistant secretary National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

Former Samuel Dewitt Proctor senior mentor, United Theological Seminary

INTRODUCTION

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L ife tragedies are universal. They can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at any time. No one knows or can predict when the most unthinkable event will transform your life forever. If only we knew how to be better prepared, the dreaded acceptance would be more bearable. For me, I sought the highest source of my strength when my only child had a massive stroke in 2011.

My storyline is told with divine gratitude and the testimony of my own faithful journey. On that Friday morning when I received a call that Eric couldn’t be reached, something took hold of me and wouldn’t let go. It was a force that went beyond a mother’s love to a spirit that I knew was with me. I remember praying so anxiously and out loud, but I don’t recall driving to the hospital. Somehow, I drove there alone by the grace of God. When I arrived in the emergency room, our eyes locked at his bedside as I held his hand. My faith was lifted, and I felt the Lord’s presence.

Eric was raised in a Christian environment and was spiritually blessed. We would face the challenges ahead with renewed strength. I began to pray without ceasing and thanksgiving. A daily journal helped capture my thoughts and conversations with God. He was the source of my strength then, and he continues to be so today.

Moving forward sent me to a sacred dwelling place that became my refuge. Faith took the words from my heart and transferred them to my journal as a living witness to mercy and grace. I believe the trials in life happen with a powerful source of never-ending faith. It is a guide through a perilous journey. We experience a new focus on things hoped for and find fresh meanings for things unseen.

The centerpiece of our faith and beliefs can be unmeasured and unshakable. Even amid complexity, we find soulful endurance. I narrate through personal life illustrations on the call to love, family relationships, valuable trust, learning to forgive, the benefits of waiting, and healthful faith matters.

Faith is adventurous by nature, and it is often difficult to understand without religious views. What and how we are taught creates character in our beliefs. Children learn to trust their environments whether good or bad. As adults, they seek desired truths for better solutions to problems. Abundant Faith travels through life endowments on a hopeful mission to demonstrate the ability and reasons to believe. There is power to overcoming disappointment and hurt with kindness and love. We become the ambassadors of our own faith.

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