Faith Story

by Bonnie Brehmer

Faith:  belief and trust in and loyalty to God

Reflecting on that definition I see my faith story in three chapters:

Chapter one would be “My Formative Years”

As an infant, I was baptized by Rev. Millhouse at the Wilmette Lutheran Church in Wilmette Illinois. This was the church where my parents were married. My grandparents and my aunt and uncle and cousins were also members. So my immediate family became my “first” faith teachers.  I heard how my grandparents’ faith had sustained them through WW1 and the depression. I witnessed how their faith upheld them through two tragic events: an accident that paralyzed my cousin and another accident that took the life of my uncle.

When I was five years old my parents built a home next to my grandparents in Long Grove, IL. Traveling from Long Grove to Wilmette for church wasn’t practical for a young family. My parents decided to attend a new Lutheran congregation forming in Prospect Heights, IL.  Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd would be where I worshipped, attended Sunday School and was confirmed. 

Looking back at that point in my life I can say I believed in God but did I have faith? Did I trust God? I am not so sure.

The good thing is God just wants us to believe. So the Holy Spirit continued working in my life. I made the decision to attend a Lutheran College… Carthage College.

This brought me back to hearing God’s Word and being amongst His people. During high school-as so often happens-school and extra curricular activities had taken precedence over church attendance.

At the time neither I nor my college friends realized it but God had a hand at putting us together. We are life long friends now and have supported each other through many joyous as well as difficult times.

I graduated with an elementary education degree and was hired for a third grade teaching position at W. J. Murphy School in Round Lake, IL. I was able to move out of my parent’s home and begin my adult life. My “twenty-something” years were off to a good start. I had a job that would support me and I began dating a nice, caring guy who ultimately would become my husband.

As I look back I can say I was blessed to have a loving family to bring me to this point in my life. At the time I don’t think I would have given the credit to God but I would have told you I believed in God.

The second chapter of my faith story… “Learning to Trust”… begins when Bob and I moved to Mundelein. We had been married for two years and had just purchased our first home. We also learned the exciting news that we were going to be parents. In talking about the new responsibilities we were going to have we both realized the importance the church had for both of us growing up. There was no question now that we were going to be parents we should find a church home. And… we (Bob and I) might just get something from attending church, too!

If you remember I mentioned that Pastor Millhouse was the pastor at Wilmette Lutheran Church. As my grandparents aged traveling to Wilmette from Long Grove was harder for them. They had kept in contact with their former pastor who was now a widow who had remarried. 

They learned he was in the Mundelein area. St. Andrew was the church the Millhouse’s attended so my grandparents joined, too. By the time we moved to Mundelein my grandparents had passed on but there was a natural pull to check out St. Andrew. We were pleasantly surprised to find out Cleo Millhouse was such a vibrant part of this church.

We began to “re-explore” our faith along side our kids. We experienced the faith of the people who worshipped here. We learned from the pastors and the congregational leaders. We found areas where we felt comfortable volunteering. We rejoiced in our fellow members’ joys. We prayed and cried with those suffering hard times. And when my time came for a crisis-my mother’s diagnosis of throat cancer-I knew where to turn.

Pastor Olson surprised me, however, with a simple question, “Can I pray for you and your family?” All the years of Sunday School, worship, hearing God’s word… Why had praying surprised me so?

As I have said before I could tell you I believed in God but did I trust Him?… Could I put my trust in Him to help me?... Had I ever put my trust in Him?

Over the next two years I found I needed to rely on God for strength to continue through the progression of the cancer and the complication from treatments which ultimately took my mother’s life. Now I felt the need to try to explain to my children and the young people of our congregation that God’s family was a positive, supportive place to be. So my years working with our youth ministry programs began in earnest. Guess this is what God had been preparing me for over the years.

As much as I was trying to provide experiences where our youth would feel God’s love, I found those experiences to be especially meaningful to me. Working along side all of you gave me the knowledge that if we are in relationship with other Christians we can learn to trust God.

One of the most powerful decisions Bob and I made was to continue with our “Purpose Driven Life” small group. I had been attending Wednesday morning bible study but Bob and I hadn’t experienced any study time together. So five years ago when we were presented with the challenge to read the Purpose Driven Life during Lent and meet weekly with six to eight other people, Bob and I signed on. After Easter at our wrap up session it was proposed that we continue meeting weekly. We have been in a small group ever since.  There was a brief time when we did not meet with a group and it didn’t take us long to realize we needed the support of a group.

My most recent crisis tested my feeling that I had learned to trust God. With the diagnosis of my sister’s cancerous brain tumor I was back on the path of taking control… medical choices, treatments, etc.  That proved to be mentally and physically hard. I had to learn to rely on God again and trust that he would bring me through the situation just as he had done with my mother’s illness. I definitely wanted to tell God how this illness should turn out. Only thing is you can’t tell God what to do. Well, you can. He will listen but you aren’t the one making the final decision!

The compassionate listening and the prayers of my fellow small group members and the Wednesday Morning Bible Study (my second small group) encouraged me to trust God’s will. 

Where am I now in my faith story?

I can say I believe in God. 

I put my trust in Him.

I am looking ahead to chapter three where I can continue to say I believe, I continue to trust in Him and that I know that I am a loyal servant.

I know there will be worldly distractions as well as personal trials that will cause me to waiver from this stand.  But I know where to go to have my cup refilled… to find my strength renewed… that is in Christ’s home here on earth…. The Church.

Thank you for being part of my faith story, Bob’s faith story and our children’s faith story. Please continue to keep my family in your prayers. We will remember all of you in prayer, too.

*Note:  When I was asked to prepare this talk for a Wednesday evening Lenten Service I had no idea our plans to relocate to Arizona would be coming to a reality so quickly. Bob, Heather, Jimmy and I will always consider this to be our home church. All of our “faith” lives have been enriched by our involvement over the past 25 years. Everyone we have met is apart of our family faith story. It has been a privilege to work beside all of you fulfilling the mission of “Sharing Christ”. Continue to touch the lives of the people that come through the doors of St. Andrew as well as the people you meet out in the community with the love of Christ.

-Bonnie

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