Seeing as I'm a fairly new writer to you all reading here at Freedom is a Beautiful Thing, I thought it only fitting to talk to you about some inspirational talks that I've experienced and really learnt from to share and empathise and love with you all. We're all on the same journey to Heaven, some of us have different mountains to cross than others.
The Dark Room - Christine Caine (A21 Founder)
The video above contains the talk that I listened to. You might have hovered over it and seen that it's 45 minutes long. Please don't be discouraged by the length. I want to tell you a little bit about my experience with this sermon and then maybe you'd like to watch it yourself.
The TITLE really stood out for me: The Dark Room. For those of you that don't know what one of these is, it's a totally blacked-out room, with the exception of a safety light, used to develop a photograph from a piece of film (as featured in One Direction's Story of my Life music video). I'm a bit of a photographer myself, having studied it at A level I have gained a bit of experience in the dark room.
The second thing that appealed to me was the speaker, Christine Caine, A21 founder. I've researched and heard a fair amount about the A21 campaign, an organisation that helps girls who are victims of modern day slavery, their slogan being #itstartswithone. I feel 'called' by God to work towards abolishing slavery in the 21st Century. So naturally, a woman with a similar calling who has something to say appeals to me.
Some of you might be switching off now, you have no passion for stopping slavery and your hobby involves something a little less camera-orientated. Don't go just yet.
I stumbled across this talk whilst streaming through YouTube for another funny video to watch. I realised that I could be spending my time a little better and connecting with God a little bit more, one step at a time. I let God guide me to the right video and this is where I ended up.
Christine Caine talks about some very real life struggles, maybe you're still single at the "really old" ages of 25, 30, 50, 65. The truth is that you're not "really old" in God's eyes and His plan for you is still there, He's just developing you.
Maybe you've been missing out on invites to parties and gatherings, or just feeling left out. People I would consider myself to be quite close with, in fact people who I have previously invited to an event or two, have recently had and planned parties without me with no known reason to me or my friends. This caused a lot of confusion for me and I began to feel as if maybe I had to change, that it was my fault, that I wasn't good enough etc. But then I listened to this talk and things sort of changed inside of me, I realised how God was developing me and various parts of my life have been highlighted to me as a development process. It's been a gradual change but I'm trying to seek God more in everything that I do and this has encouraged that further.
If you'd like a shorter video to watch, though still not light-hearted, try this one out for size..
Let me know if you need prayer, want someone to talk to, have something exciting to share etc. in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you!
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