Little Steps Of Faith

Our belief systems help us to have a good perspective on the reality around us, and they also help us to understand ourselves.
It is because of faith that: I know love, stand for truth, and have developed the character I have today.

The two definitions of love in Greek translation is, “phileo”, which means that it’s love based on feeling, and usually has deep rooted emotion tied to it with another person, or people; accepting of others, and their actions.
“agape”, is a type of love which means- to have a love for others based on how we think towards others rather than how we might feel. It’s very deep.
However, it also means that as a Christian it has taught me to love the person, but not the sin.
My faith in God has allowed me to love people in this way. I come from a very rough background in my life, and while it’s hard to “feel” love for others, I actively apply to my life what the Bible says I need to do to have the thought process on how to love others daily.
The attributes of love are stated clearly in:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.
At the heart of it, faith should bring people together and not tear them apart.

Standing for truth is something I believe very much plays a major role in how faith shapes the life I have.
The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” But that is so far from the truth.
I believe it’s important to question something when we don’t believe it to be right.
That is something I have learned so much from reading the Bible, and the life of Jesus, disciples.
People take bits and pieces from the Bible and decide what they “think” should be true or not true, but
I personally love what Anne Graham Lotz said,
“I don’t want to get to heaven and realize that I had disregarded truth, because I cherry-picked my way
through the Bible.”
It’s the Bible. It’s truth. I will take that over anything anyone ever has to say.
I know there are people out there who are very sensitive to truth. I understand that. Those people are very dear to me, because I know they don’t understand. Rather than get in their face, I figure out a way to relate to them. God has taught me to try to relate to everyone on every level.
Before ever reading a page in the Bible, they should read the the Word off of me.
Everything I stand for and everything that I am.
The world believes that God is common; the truth of Him has been clearly distorted. He has been put in a box, and categorized just as any other god of a culture.
My God is sovereign. My God is a jealous God. He will one day stamp His foot on other gods, by
His judgment alone.
I believe in God. I believe in Jesus as the son of God. I believe in the Holy Spirit, which is Jesus without
skin or bones. I believe Jesus died for my sins. I believe everything on this earth to be beautiful, because
God created it. I stand for truth in even politics and how I vote based on
Daniel 2:20-21
He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.

I know that it is God who places everyone, in any position. He is in control of every vote. He makes sure there is justice.
That’s my God. He sees what is happening even if I don’t. Nothing is ever hidden from His sight.
When it comes to knowledge, I would rather have knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Bible, then anything on this earth.
It isn’t going to be my knowledge of the stars and planets, some literary poem, or memorizing the Gettysburg Address that will get me to heaven. It’s going to be my faith and belief in Jesus Christ.

My character is molded by how I apply what I have learned about Jesus, and the example He is, so I can in turn be a true example of Him.
Christ is who strengthens me. The Holy Spirit in my heart is who guides me daily. It is God that brings me wisdom; not my parents, and not my teachers. God alone.
He has taught me so many things to live my life daily. I survive by Him alone.
I’m not perfect, but thankfully I have encouragement from God that says I am not expected to be,
God has no expectations, and He has no conditions.
“When perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” (1 Corinthians 13:10)

The world is good at saying, “Do your best.” But most of the time, it’s not really “your” best, it’s what
someone else has decided “your best” is.
The world says we should be individuals and figure out stuff on our own, and asking for help is weak.
My faith has taught me, we are all on this earth together, we all have faults, and we all have areas in which we struggle. But we are still all in this together.

2 Corinthians 12:9
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

My faith has taught me that life is to be lived to the fullest. I focus on not what I can do, because of God, but what God can do through me. It’s about being humble, compassionate, and admitting when I’m wrong. The world will respond to me, but how I choose to live my life. If I am someone who goes against everything I believe in and party, carry on or whatever, then I am a hypocrite to my belief,
and being ungrateful for the love Jesus has shown me when He died on the cross for my sins.
My faith has taught me to rejoice with others when things are awesome, and grieve with them, when they are not. The world is neglectful to that, when someone is down, they walk away.
The Bible says, “When one falls, the other should pick him up.”
When someone does wrong to me, God has taught me that I should “turn the other cheek”, I don’t confront them, I just ask them in love why they acted as they did.
Without my belief in Jesus, I would be nothing as it says:
John 15:5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

God is not a security blanket. He is what keeps me solid. My foundation.
I don’t go to church, because its required, I go because I love Jesus, and because He’s changed my life.
I go, because I want to learn even more about Him.

My faith is what helps me view the world around me, it teaches me in the way it should be viewed,
and it also has very deeply, helped me to understand myself.
My character daily should reflect that of Jesus. Standing for truth should always be my heartbeat,
and daily learning more how to love others should be the main thing. Always.

He is my God. I am His child. I live for Him alone.

The Work of the Holy Spirit
Notes from Anne Graham Lotz Speaking

Live by His precepts.

I took this picture yesterday as I was driving. I was really dealing with a lot that was going on. I was also listening to the radio as it played, ” I will praise you in this storm” By Casting Crowns.
The black clouds covered the sky from every direction over me.

If you notice in the middle of the storm, there is a faint rainbow sticking through.

Even in our storms…God’s promises still stands. It doesn’t fail us, it will bring us through.

I wrote a letter to a friend the other day. Normally writing takes me a good 10-30 max to write to someone,
but this letter it felt different. It was as if each word I inked on to the paper, was facing my own fears.
I was letting go of the status quo of…

Letting my past hold me down.

If we don’t keep our past from destroying us, it surely will.

I am almost 30 yrs old. I have allowed so many factors of my life to keep me from moving ahead, but maybe factors
could just be another words for , “fear”…

Afraid of failing. Afraid of success. Afraid of enemies. Afraid of friends. Afraid of rejection. Afraid of Acceptance. Afraid of hate. Afraid of being loved. Afraid of not learning enough. Afraid of learning too much. Afraid of dysfunctional family. Afraid of functional one. Afraid of being misunderstood, and being understood.

What I’ve learned to realize in all of these fears…I couldn’t have been completely afraid of failing, if I was also afraid of what would happen if I did succeed…etc.

I believe we have to start looking at our fears as if they are portholes into exactly where we need to go.
We have to stop being “AFRAID” of them…

I had a Psychology teacher who told our class about one of his clients. His client was afraid of heights.
Every session what they would start doing together was meeting up at this building where one of the floors was made
of complete see thru glass.
He said the man would start out not even looking towards the glass, turn away and fight about it.
But each time they went he would ask the man to take one step towards the glass, and eventually he had
walked over the glass to the other side.

” Do it scared” is a wonderful word from Joyce Meyer I heard last year.

I’ll admit, I am scared to do a lot of things. But what I make myself do now…

I take a deep breath, and then a step.

A family member had asked how I could ever think I could be a teacher, obviously not the most positive person in the world,
but my answer was, everytime I walked into a classroom as a substitute. I would take a deep breath and walk inside.
That breath would last me all day.

Breathing isn’t just something we do to make us feel better and relieve our stresses…it is actually our heart praying,
” God please get me through this today.” but we don’t realize it is what we are doing.

From now on let’s try to get rid of the child hiding ourselves in the corner from life, and instead…
live it to the fullest…
Fears and all.

Psalm 121

If I were to plant a seed in the ground. Eventually, it should become a flower.
However, it will remain just a seed, if it isn’t provided what is needed to make it grow.
For example, If I place the seed in a dark area, and if I never water it…
I can’t expect it to do anything but sit in the ground forever.

We are the same way.

I was watching some of “Center Stage” the other night.

As a dancer one must have not only the desire to dance, but also the technique. They have to have a good jist
of what is expected of them, and their feet need to look a certain way when they dance.

I remember this part where the star dancer was confronted by her mother why she wasn’t in the recital.
She told her mom, ” It’s your dream. You didn’t have the feet, and I don’t have the heart.”

I’m learning as I start moving towards writing a book, that I may have the desire to do it. However, my structure
has a lot of work to be done.

Peter in the Bible, in the notorious scene where Jesus asks, ” Who do you say I am?” and Peter is able to give a pretty convincing reply, ” You are the Christ.” and then later right after Jesus tells the disciples what is to happen to Him,
Peter said, ” That will never happen Jesus.”

Peter may have had the passion in knowing Jesus, He may have been mesmorized by what Jesus did, and the words that He spoke, but it was clear at that moment…Peter knew the words to say, but he didn’t have a clue what it truly meant. He believed in Jesus, but didn’t BELIEVE Him.

This is why we don’t just go to college one day and have a degree the next.
This is why we don’t just ask anyone from the congregation to get up on sunday to teach a message.
This is why we don’t tell a child who loves to play with cars to drive one.
This is why we don’t hand someone a pair of gloves and tell them to do a surgery…
etc.

We first have to have passion in doing something, we have to have the “WANT” we have to have the “DESIRE”
and then when we know in our heart what we believe God wants us to do in our lives…
then comes the training.

If the seed was only given water…it would drown. If the seed was only given sunlight..it would shrivel up.

I’m in a season of teaching. I am learning so much from every area of my life. Some days are really rough to take in,
but I am hopeful that there is a reason God is showing me.

I also can tell you I have learned that God will bring the most unlikely people to help us grow, because
by knowing them, we are forced to face ourselves.

I have a friend who is really good about reading in between the lines. I’ve never met her face to face, but I can tell
you a lot of walls have been broken down inside my heart in knowing this person.

I mean its like if you were to throw a rock at glass and it shattered it everytime, but then there is a plate of glass that no matter how hard you throw the rock…it won’t break.
It’s good to have people like that in our lives.

On the flipside of it though, we have to make sure that we do the same for them. We have to grow together, or we will find that neither one will grow hardly at all. We have to accept one another in every way.

We are meant to reach for the surface, and grow from where we stand. We are meant to grow roots that reach others.
We are meant to take a moment and pay attention to others lives.

We need to remember, who God wants us to be…He doesn’t expect us to become that way overnight,
so neither should we.

” So long to status quo, I think I’ll just let go, because you make me wanna be brave.” – Nichole Nordeman

” His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ” (2 Peter 1:3-8)

What is the definition of ” Status Quo”…means to “keep things as they are.”

We are meant to move forward.

However, I believe that due to “online” relationships that it has become much easier to knock our “insecurities” up a level, because we never know how something will come out on an email, we don’t know if the comment was well-received on Facebook, we don’t know if we should or should not “retweet” what someone said in fear of offending someonelse.

But the bigger factor is this is the insecurity of “rejection.” It has become huge in the online world.

I have been apart of the social networking scene for sometime now. And something moving on my heart lately is,
” Why do we care who is or is not following us on Twitter….and why do we care if someone is or is not our friend on
Facebook?

I mean it comes down to the reasoning that these places our just like blogging…people do or don’t leave comments…

SO WHAT.

I am sharing this with you, because its something my own heart has been fighting. I have been apart of a blog community online, where I know and love a lot of the people there. However, while there are some that have friended me on Facebook, while I see they have 2,000 + some friends, or if they start following me on Twitter and I see 10,000 some followers…

I see that there is a problem.

Do they really want to be my friend, do they really want to follow me…or is it all for them…and their “status”?

I mean this may seem pretty harsh, but aren’t we allowing social networking to “falsely” show what friendships are really about, what networking is about? And knowing that, do we allow these relationships to define our everyday ones?

Somethingelse. I had a friend who said it a while back,
” I don’t understand how you can have 15,000 followers, but only follow 5.”

This person is pretty well known, and they are right. If you are someone that can’t handle talking to more than 5 people, then why are you on Twitter in the first place. You don’t get to see what others lives our like who write you, only to you…
which in a way sort of puts you on a “pedestal”, because the attention is on you only.

Does that make any sense?

So after all this jarble about social networking, I have to ask you…allowing these things to be huge in our lives…are they helping us move forward or keeping us exactly where we are.

I just did a mass deletion on Twitter, because I went to message someone and saw they were no longer following me, but I also haven’t talked to this person in quite awhile, so rather than freak out and feel that insecurity of rejection, I just stopped following them.

I also just decided that I would only follow those I actually have had conversations with…makes sense.

I don’t need to follow the world….I need to follow Jesus.

Follow hard after Him.

To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

The one thing I have learned to really focus in on in my life when it comes to my faith, is to listen to God.
Let nothing be seen as coincidence, but really and truly believe it was Him.

I have mentioned before that I believe there is a spiritual and physical timeline of things.
For me, it is revealed through Bible verses that I believe God speaks to my heart.
This has happened five times since this time last year.
Of course I am never sure exactly what He is going to do, but I really put weight on it, that something will happen after the time it is revealed.

Ephesians 3:20-21 led me on my journey to Savannah…Deuteronomy 29:29 was the confirmation to move back to FL…Jeremiah 29:11 moved me into ministry in the church and now Ecclesiastes 3:1 has revealed to me that now I am about to start into another season.

I am not quite sure what this season will hold. So far I have noticed that the contacts I had while I was in Savannah, I hardly have even brief conversation with. I don’t mean those people just in Savannah, because I do talk to a few there. I mean even within the social networking aspect.

I have friends from all over the country that I would talk to weekly, and now they don’t even come to mind.
I know that might sound horrible, but I am learning that God has certain people for certain seasons of our life.

My strongest mentors in my life I have realized are not apart of this season either, and that’s a scary thing.

I remember a message Beth Moore did on this particular thing, and I didn’t know I would ever say it would happen in my own life.

” You are going to enter into a place where those three cannot go with you.”

I can honestly tell you that I would have never thought moving back home would be a place the most unfamiliar to me.

I mean I don’t mean the natural things. Such as new roads…though there are plenty new ones. I don’t mean new people either, though I do have a new job.
I do have a new Pastor at my church, but its the same church I’ve gone to for 13 years of my life.

So what’s so different? I really don’t have an answer.

I think the spiritual timeline reflects everything that I am feeling, but don’t know what is happening around me.

In any effect, there are seasons in our lives….

we go in and out of them, but it is through them,
we find God’s purpose for our lives.

There is this website called, ” My One Word”, www.myoneword.org….and it is an amazing place to check out.
Basically we all have a certain one word that will propel us into the next moment, hr, day, month, and year…

For me that word is “SUSTAIN”.

One of my mentors told me God would speak to her in “one word”, and I can tell you in all honesty,
He really does that, because I’ve experienced it!

I have mentioned this word in earlier posts, but I have to tell you, if you really were to look into it a little,
if you were to really place the scenes of your life inside of this word, and see how it has applied to your life…

You would be overwhelmed. So here’s what I would say about ” Sustain”.

Right this moment all parts of the universe are being birthed into new and dying…stars, planets, and galaxies.
Right this moment, earth is turning, and the moon and sun both make their appearance at all times…
Right this moment, there are clouds moving themselves over land or water, already shedding their tears,
or building the formation.
Right this moment, oceans nestle all kinds of life all the way from the surface to the depths…
Right this moment, wild life creep through the treacherous parts of the Amazon…
Right this moment, A baby is being born
Right this moment, someone has died
Right this moment, a person smiles again for the first time in years
Right this moment, another is in despair and tears
Right this moment, music settles a soul
Right this moment, someone learns how to sing
Right this moment, someone is writing a novel
Right this moment, someone’s life is being changed by words..

Right this moment, God is sustaining us through everything…as He has in the beginning, as He will continue to do until the we take our last breath.

What I am learning ultimately, if we just place our lives in God’s hands. If we just would stop ASKING Him to do things for us,
but let our lives run the course He has planned, then maybe we will find that are prayer were already answered in situations, before we even prayed.

Because God will sustain us even BEFORE we need to overcome something, He will sustain us because He has already
seen the outcome…

He is holding His hands out, Give all of it up to Him…Release every little negative thought or feeling about yourself, or perhaps
someone close to you…He can handle it.

SUSTAIN.

I believe it with all my heart, God will sustain me.

Jeremiah 29:11:)

There are times when a post to write is so deep within my own heart that it takes a good while
to come to the surface.
I think the reason being, that I can relate to this one more than any other.

I have had a lot of “joy stealin” in my life.

I’ve been discouraged. demanded. ridiculed. reduced. ripped apart. humiliated. hurt. hated.
burned. bombarded. bruised. backhanded. fooled. faked. flattened. pushed. pulled. picked at. shoved.
shouted at. suffocated.
” hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 cor 4:9)
I know what its like to feel like your face is to the ground and you can’t lift your head up, because it hurts too much
emotionally.
My joy is found through my pain. It is found in my weakness…”His joy will be my strength.”

My friends there is nothing more from this earth that could save us from ourselves, that can save us from others.
There is no brand name item. piece of gold. selection of music. cell phone. place on earth. place on another planet.
medicine. drink. drug. tv show. movie. perfume….

I was watching a documentary the other day that is one of my favorites, its called,
” A Poor Man Shames Us All” and it is about america vs. other cultures when it comes to “affluenza”

Affluenza: A feeling of dissatisfaction, anxiety, etc, caused by the dogged and ongoing pursuit of more

Its interesting how “things” we think can make us feel better and “happier” make us feel more empty inside.

In one scene of the movie there is a garbage man who everyday says he goes out and throws away perfectly good
things; stuff he wishes he had sometimes that others feel like they don’t need anymore.
” People buy things just to have them.”
He lives in a 2 bedroom apartment, and says his family means the world to him.

The disconnect in all of it is we have replaced people, and relationships with things.
How many pictures do you see of people holding their cell phones in their hands, how many
our playing with them during the picture?
My point exactly.
Whole families tweet on twitter who are in the same room! Something is wrong with that!

But what I want to get back to here is these our “joy stealing” things that we dont’ think steal our joy.
We make up excuses, and find reasons why we need these things.

I am reading a book that I’ve had on my shelf for probably 10 yrs called, ” Just Give Me Jesus” by Anne Graham Lotz.

I was going to do a study online with some friends of mine I met through blogworld, but someone from my church was talking with me, and it so happened that she mentioned, ” I have a book that’s been staring at me to read…”

And I remembered I had that very book as well. So I prayed about it, and realized
my direction does not come from what is popular, or on demand from the world, it needs to come from what is popular and in demand in God’s sight.

I just started reading it, and already there are tears in my eyes! It is an amazing book!

This one part just so hits me, because its something I hadn’t realized before.
It talked about how the way that professionals recognize counterfeit money is not from studying the fake thing,
they recognize it by studying the real thing.

” “If you and I want to detect counterfeit Christ’s and counterfeit truth we need to immerse ourselves in the real thing.”
-Anne Graham Lotz

And something that spoke to me while I read this was also:
If we allow “things” to be our focus, then we set ourselves up to become “counterfeit” Christians, and we set ourselves up
to be that example. We set ourselves up to teach the world ” they need things more than Jesus.”
People are studying us…they may seem that they are trying to “steal our joy” when they say and do things that hurt us,
but more so believe me…

They are looking to see if we are the real thing.

I was reading a post of FB status that said something to the affect that a non-Christian never met a Christian
that didn’t want to be his friend after he told them he didn’t believe.

That man was shown that “things” were more important than people…”things” being words or writings from others
from over the span of centuries.

There is no segregation with Jesus. So why do we allow it here?

In another scene of the movie there is a boy in Kenya who has no money to give, or anything at all…
but he made up a song and would gladly sing it for anyone.
I think that would be something called, Giving more than he has.
and the scene changes to a homeless man on the streets of corporate music america, and all just pass him by.

But the only truth in all of this, the only way that we will be able to keep ourselves from losing our joy on either side…
to come together…to pray together..to learn together…

Another part of the movie is the most touching in all of it.

There is a man whose father passes on from his tribe. As an honor the family cuts a huge stone, and it was to be carried 20 miles to where it will rest where his father is.
” 400 people must have the purpose of one for the rock to move.”

” In other cultures relationships are more important than things, in our society things are more important than relationships.”- A Poor Man Shames Us All

We have to see what we’ve been through as strength not a weakness, we have to learn that there is nothing in this world that can sustain us more than our God.

Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall(Psalm 55:22)

He is the wind under our feet…he is who keeps us moving…he is who moves us…

We have to stop putting ourselves down, or compare ourselves to how others have dealt with life.

We have all have our “grass is greener on the other side moments”

But it never is.

” You can have all of this world, just give me Jesus…”

I had walked into Publix one day. I think I must have been looking for a gift for someone; I am not quite sure now,
but I do remember gravitating towards something quite unique and beautiful within the flower bouquets.

It was a full bouquet of red roses, and in the middle of all of them, was a single white rose.
This rose had its own perfection, and was pure white…
I am not quite sure how this phenomenon happened that day, but I can tell you,
there was a lesson placed right in front of me.

Was it that the white rose was overwhelmed by the red roses, or was the red roses overcome
by the white rose? One rose…stood out in color over a dozen red.

I think deep down that people regardless of what background of life they come from; while they like
to be like everyonelse, because its comfortable…somewhere within them cries out to be different, to
be their own individual.

But they know standing out is a lot harder to do, and would cause them more ridicule then they want
to deal with.

Still though. They wish they had a different lifestyle, they wish they had the strength to pull
themselves out of the pit they are in.

Call it a moment to moment sudden desperation, or Begging for joy.

I know so often we look to others who have addictions, as people who are weak, and just worthless to help.
But what if we started to look at them like our own addiction…we are addicted to humanity as they are.
If we say we aren’t, then we are not being honest. If even to the slightest degree, we have been affected
daily by the world around us.

I am not quite sure if you have heard of the story of Jesus healing the blind man.
A man who had been sitting by a gate called, ” Beautiful” begged daily for people to give
him food, and to help him with his way of living. As back then, there were no guides to help
the blind, and more than likely the blind were seen as a disease, and others just passed them by.
I wonder if this man had one friend in the world.

What if we saw people who may not know the “joy” we do as the blind as the song
“Amazing Grace” says? What if we saw them as beggars to “see?”

I have a loved one who is dealing with this very thing right now. He is “blind” as far as how he
has gone about dealing with things in his life. And has realized that he has been looking in all the wrong
places.

I know its a struggle for him, but I also have to understand where He is at. I also have to realize that
I can’t heal him. Only God can. But he has to have that want to “see”.

Anyone can pray and say they believe in God, but it takes a person who has lost himself completely to
the understanding that he is not in control of his life, and it takes more than belief to go on living,
and really even go on believing.

If someone has a “problem” in their life, regardless of
what it is, if they are convicted in their heart that they are doing “wrong”, then there is hope,
and if not…there is still hope. Never give up. No one gave up on you.

But if you are struggling in dealing with people who are wayward, and just don’t seem to “get it”.
Love them anyway, but continue believing and living the life you have to this point.
You are not God.

My hope from this post is that people would stop looking “down” on others and instead find a way to
build them up and encourage them where they are. We don’t have to force them to read the Bible
or go to church, maybe we just need to try sitting next to them where they seem to be “begging”
and introduce our story.

Give a little. His joy is our strength in every situation…let Him be in that one too.

” I’m naturally a pretty joyful person, and I thank God for that, because regardless
of what I’ve been through, I was able to remind myself of the joy within me.”

These are words paraphrased similar to what Tammy Trent spoke yesterday being interviewed by a
TV show.

I don’t know if you have heard of her, but she is a Christian music artist, who lost her husband
on September 11, 2001. She was in Jamaica with her husband Trent on vacation. He went out
on a deep sea dive, and somehow died. I remember when it happen, because no one could get to
her from her family.
I actually met Tammy Trent when I was working with Youth Explosion For Christ.
My friend Ashley and I sat down and we all prayed together. I remember Trent too, he
was such a nice guy.
What I admire about her through everything she went through, she never did let it steal her joy.
She pushed through her pain, and went on tour with Women Of Faith for 4 yrs, and wrote two books,
and still made sure she praised God everyday.
She also was in the video, ” I can only imagine” with a picture of Trent.

I am sharing this story, because it is the introduction to my 3-part blog post series on how the world
can try to “Beg, Steal, and Borrow” our joy.

My hope is that we will learn how to be aware to when it happens, and be prepared on knowing
how to keep it from happening.

For the moment though, please enjoy this video and have a wonderful day!