Influence

 Take a moment and think about the people you influence.

NOT who influences you.

But people YOU influence.

For some of you you may say your kids or other members of your family. Others of you may say friends or coworkers. But think outside the box.

Here are three different groups of people I influence:

Celebrities
People who are reading my fanfiction stories
The people in my bible study groups (OK, maybe this one would be in the friends category)

I'm a member of 2 different Bible study groups and in both of them, I am the youngest member. Now before you start asking why, let me say this: I enjoy both groups I'm in because I can learn something from them. But after being presented with this question, it made me realize something: it doesn't matter how old I am, I can still touch someone's heart with my story.

Out of the two groups i'm apart of, only one of them knows part of my backstory, and that's mainly because when that group started, I was at the tail-end of a rough season where I had been rendered scared to worship. I eventually overcome my fear and am back to my normal self, but the thing that's been amazing to me is being able to share the lessons I learned during those four months and to pass on what I have learned to someone else who may be going through the same thing.

Now you're probably wondering, how do I influence celebrities? I'm sure at one point we have all posted at least one comment on our favorite celebrity's social media account about how we admire them for something they've done or about how we love them in (fill in the blank with what they do), but have you ever told a celebrity (via social media or in person) that you were praying for them? And not just that you were praying  for them to come to faith, but that you were praying for something going on in their lives?

I have.

I can't share too many details about my experience out of respect for the celebrity who I am referring to, so I'll summarize. One of my favorite celebrities was going through a nasty custody battle with their ex and it hit me hard because I know how much this person enjoys being a parent. Up until the court date (per the news) I had been praying heavily for this person's situation and that the outcome would be a positive one Fast forward to the night before the date, I had what I called a prayer/praise/night of surrender. It was then that I finally said "God, this is out my hands and into yours."

The date arrived and I posted the prayer that I had been praying for the past month to this person's twitter account. I'll admit I was nervous to mention I was praying for the opposition. I ended up logging out my social media accounts for what ended up being a week.  I never did hear the outcome of that date, and as far as I know, something may still be going on, but I learned two things during that season: patience and what it means to surrender.

I don't know if this celebrity ever read my post or my prayer, but I knew in my heart that I had done everything I could. It was up to God to do the rest. Who know, maybe one day if I meet this person, I can share it with them verbally.

Now the last category might take a little bit to digest, so bear with me.

Most of you know my journey with fanfiction and the emotional ride I went on in 2016. I was able to return 4 years later on the same day that was forced to let it go. Out of all the new chapters I have written these past few months, there are a couple that I am really proud of because of what they talk about. The current story I'm writing is about restoration of a marriage. I am drawing inspiration from the movie "Fireproof", Psalm 130, a couple songs by Casting Crowns, and a quote from another authors' fanfiction story.

Throughout the story, and much like in "Fireproof", there are moments of conflict, but it's the resolution that  is the most influential. Not only am I showing my readers that my characters are healing, I am showing them that there is healing and restoration through Jesus Christ! My hope and prayer is that someone out there is touched by what I have written, either in this story, or other stories I have written that share the gospel.             

So after reading this post, has your list of people you influence gotten longer? If not, that's OK, maybe now is the time to start.