Living Testimonies

Before I finished my first book, I already had a title for my second book. The premise of the book was to write about ten women that I met along the way on my fitness journey whose stories inspired me. I did about two or three interviews, got overwhelmed, and stopped. I hate to use the word quit, but that’s really what I did. I quit. That was two years ago. This week when I was falling apart, I looked up and saw another powerful woman approaching me. With tears in my eyes, I hugged her and thanked her for being a living testimony for me. Without going into all of the details, this woman went through hell last year. She was publicly embarrassed, yet every time I saw her she held her head up high, smiled, and showed kindness. From talking to her regularly I knew that this was genuine. A year later when I had my own fall, I thought about what it took for her to face life after the hell she went through so I asked. She said it was rough in the beginning, but her mother told her to “fake it ‘til you make it.” I don’t know how much was faking, but I know how she was towards me. I know that she didn’t look like what she was going through. When we talked, she told me that last year she felt like she was being buried; but this year she knows she was being planted. My God, what a word that I needed! I have posted a similar quote before at a time that I thought I knew what it meant, but life has a way of letting you know that you haven’t really been humbled just yet. More humbling is coming! In fact, at the beginning of the week I heard one of those eye-rolling messages that make me mad. I don’t want to hear that God is going to use trouble to grow me. I don’t want to hear that God will allow me to hit the ground hard in order to be built up the way He intended! Can you hear my shrill scream?!!! Oh, yes, I’m screaming internally! But I stopped screaming. I smiled. I looked up to heaven and said, God, I love You more now than I did before. I love You. I trust You, and I know that You will use all of this for Your glory. Dear Readers, whatever has kicked you in the gut and taken your breath away…whatever it is…there is a God who is bigger than any demon sent to abort the purpose and plan of God. You have to get up. You have to hold your head up. You have to allow God to work through the situation and know that you will come through stronger and be a living testimony to the power of God. Trust me…as a person who noticed and observed this powerful woman, someone will be watching you and pulling from the strength you demonstrated during your adversity.