HAVE A LITTLE FAITH

He replied, “ Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Movie from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you”-Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planed in the sea’, and it will obey you”- Luke 17:6 (NIV)

Recently, I had the opportunity to learn about a leader in the entertainment industry that is truly an inspiration to me. Now, I was going to write about this particular leader beforehand but I am glad that I decided to wait. Now many of you are probably wondering whom this leader is. Any guesses? Well you don’t have to guess or wait for long; the leader that I am talking about is Mr. Tyler Perry.  Recently I took a class that required me to do a presentation on a leader that was influential to me and I thought it was awesome. I will tell you that you really do appreciate a person even more after you know what they have went through. Although I haven’t had to chance to talk to or meet Tyler Perry, everything about him is amazing to me. His story is amazing and I would like to share some of it with you.

Tyler Perry had a rough childhood that ultimately led to his success. To some that may sound weird but this is why the title of this post is called “Have a little faith”. You see to do the impossible or to get to where you want to be in life or better yet where GOD wants you to be, you have to have a little faith. The scriptures referenced above (some gifts from up above J) tell us a little about faith and how powerful it is. You see all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. Now let me elaborate on the mustard seed. You might be saying, how can we need something of that small size for something so big? Did you know that although a mustard seed is real tiny, once it is water and grows, it turns into one of the BIGGEST trees! Keep this mind and I venture back into Tyler Perry and his story.

Tyler Perry grew in up not only in poverty but in a household of abuse. When he was he was 16 He changed his name to Tyler Perry, It was actually Emmitt Perry Jr. This was done in order to distance himself from his father who caused most of the problems in his household. In times of turmoil and almost wanting to commit suicide, Tyler Perry not only placed his faith in God but he found hope one day when He turned on the television and saw Oprah Winfrey’s Show. Many of you may know that Oprah has been very supportive in Tyler Perry’s life but God worked through her to give Tyler Perry hope.  He was watching a segment on her show about forgiveness and how therapeutic writing could be, it was then that Tyler started to forgive people that had hurt him and it was also then that He began his writing career.

Tyler was only in his early 20’s when he began his writing career. Tyler had saved up 12,000 dollars and he used that to write and direct his first play entitled “I know I’ve been changed”. He also used some of the money to rent out a studio, that was in 1992.  That also was the point where Tyler Perry became homeless. Tyler’s play did not do as well as he expected, but he was determined! What I love about Mr. Perry is that He never gave up! He always kept his faith in God and He knew that all things were possible with God! No matter what Tyler’s situation or circumstance was; he stayed persistent. Tyler worked hard and revamped his play. In 1998 he put the play out to the world to see for the 2^nd time and it was amazing! I actually remember going to see the play but I honestly did not know that Tyler had written it until a couple of years ago.

Tyler has broken a lot of barriers and records. He is the first African American to have a TV and film studio. Tyler Perry is most known for his role as “Madea” that he plays in most of his work but he is an all around entrepreneur. Tyler Perry is a writer, producer, director, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter and many other things!

If you have learned anything from this post, I hope it was to HAVE A LITTLE FAITH. Never give up on your dreams and goals. I want to encourage you to realize that YOU do have a purpose in life and that your pain is your purpose. Many times we go through things in life to help others. Yes what you are going through many be painful but trouble don’t last always. God will never put more on us than we can bear. Use your story for God’s glory! Share your testimony to help others overcome! Whatever it is that you desire to do, first put it Gods hands and then take the steps to pursue! Faith without work is surely dead! Live a purposeful life and remember to HAVE A LITTLE FAITH.

I would like to leave you with this song that had been running through my mind ever since I started writing this blog. The song is entitled…yep you guess it! “Have a little faith” by Mr. John Hiatt. It really is a beautiful and inspiring song! I hope that you all were blessed by this blog! Leave a comment if you want, God Bless you all.

What is holding you back from your dreams?

This blog post will be about or address some of things that hold people back from following their dreams. I too have been guilty of not following my dreams. I find that the number one reason that people do not follow their dreams is due to a lack of money and/or knowledge and the second being because they do not believe in themselves. Usually, when you talk to someone and you ask him or her what he or she wants to do with their lives, you will find that it is something that they are not doing now. In fact, it may have nothing to do with their career at all. So then when the question arises of why they are not doing what they would like to do, the answer is usually regarding money or the lack of knowledge as to how to go about doing what they want to do.

Now is it a problem that people do not follow their dreams? Not really but it could be because God has given us all a purpose. I want to make the case that it would be very beneficial and healthy for a person to follow their dreams. Imagine being at work doing something that you absolutely hate but the money is good so you are satisfied with just going to that job every day. Although you are satisfied, once you get off all you do is complain because on the inside you are just completely unhappy.

My philosophy is that if you follow your dreams the money will come, it may take a while but it will come. Not only that, it is not even about the money, in all honesty is about the satisfaction, you will be more happy and therefore you will be more motivated to do what you already love to do. When you are doing something that you love to do, it will not seem like a job.  Too many times we worry about what we don’t have instead of using what we do have to work towards our goals, remember all things are possible with God.

The second most talked about reason as to why people do not follow their dreams and goals is because they do not believe in themselves. Many times we have went through things in life that cause us to not believe in ourselves, whether it was someone telling us that we were not good enough or we just felt that we were not for other reason. We have to break out of our comfort zone. We have to know who we are and whose we are (God’s Child), if God blessed you with gift/talent then you should use it. We must not be afraid. God can and will use anyone who is willing. We may not be the best but we will bless somebody by using our gift, God made all of us unique and therefore the way in which we use our gift although others may share the same one, it will be uniquely different than the rest.

Lets take for instance, Ms. Fantasia Barrino, Fantasia is one who has overcome many barriers including being unable to read. Fantasia pushed towards her goals in spite of everything that she was facing. In 2004 at the age of 19, Fantasia decided to try out for the 3^rd season of American Idol and She went on to become to the winner of that season. I think Fantasia is an awesome example of following your dreams despite the fact that she could not read; she did not let that stand in her way. Of course, she may have struggled within herself but she did not let that struggle hold her back. In fact, she let it push her towards her destiny. Once fantasia won and got her recording contract, she was able to make sure all legal matters were correct by having her 4 year old daughter help her read the contracts. Fantasia has performed all over the world and has been nominated for many Grammy’s. Although she still has trials, we all have them and will continue to but God has told us to be of good courage because He has already overcome the world.  We can be overcomers and conquerors through Him.

Lastly, I want to say that whatever you do, don’t give up on yourself, don’t let your gifts and talents go to waste, seek God and ask Him to show you what to do with them. Believe in yourself as He believes in you, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  I came across some blogs that I thought fit really well with my topic today and those were For God's Sake Follow Your Dreams (which really fits well with mostly everything I addressed in my post today) and 19 Reasons To Ignore Everybody and Follow Your Dreams.  (You have to know that their will be people who do not want to see you succeed or that you the potential in you and wish they had the same but you will have to push back that and know that God has a plan for you).

I pray that this blessed you as it did me well writing it. God bless you all and thanks for reading. Check out Fantasia's 1st American Idol Audition when she was 19.