I remember when I was new in faith and I was new in faith and I was trying to catch up as fast as I could to what seemed like I needed to know so desperately.

And they handed me a Bible and they told me to read the Gospel of John,

and I did.

And when I finished John, I wept because I thought I might never read anything so beautiful again in my life.

And like so many people, it takes longer to read the Bible than any other book.

You can read a book 10 times larger, but the Bible

just seems to take time. And so it was about a year in and I don't think I've made it

that far, but I was working my way through it.

And I was hired by the community of faith that led me to Jesus as an intern, it was really a slave.

And they paid me, I think, $50 a month and they overpaid me because

of my lack of skill or experience or character. But they invested in me and built in my life

and they gave me charge of a very peculiar thing.

They had Wednesday night gatherings and there were about 10 different interns and they let me be in charge of when everyone would speak for the first time in their life.

And I was one of them, so I put myself last because I was terrified to speak.

When I came to faith in Jesus I was an extreme social introvert and incredibly socially

awkward and afraid of crowds and never imagined myself to ever be in front of

anyone at any point in my life.

And it was finally my Wednesday I'd put it off as far as I could and I could feel the anxiety and fear and distress inside of me and even my own family was shocked that I was even willing to stand in front of people and talk and

this woman named Barbara Price came up to me and had me a gift.

It was something she had framed and crocheted,

and it was a particular verse in the scriptures

that I had never seen, because it was in the book of Philippians

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