(happy music)
- Hey, it's Terri, your cheerleader of dreams.
You know, I remember when I was praying for a baby,
I had gone through a painful loss,
when Rodney and I first got married, we lost the baby.
I had to have surgery to remove it.
And it affected me emotionally,
to where I thought I don't wanna have children at all.
Well, several years went by,
and God healed my emotions and he put a desire in me
to have a baby again.
Well, we weren't sure what was wrong with my body.
Things just weren't lining up.
So you know what I did?
Exactly what I teach you every week.
Number one, I wrote my vision.
Habakkuk 2:2 says, write the vision and make it plain.
So I said, "Lord, if this is your will for my life,
then I'm asking you for a little girl,
with red hair, born in February, tall like her daddy,
smart, like her mama," (laughing) just kidding,
"in Jesus' name."
So I wrote the vision, and I prayed over that vision
every single day.
Number two, I started looking for opportunities
to give and to bless other women who were pregnant.
Why? Because they had what I was believing for.
You know, God shows us in his Word
that anytime you have a need, sow a seed, right?
So if a farmer wants corn, he has to sow corn seeds.
So, I sowed seed, so to speak,
into other women who were pregnant.
I hosted baby showers
for some of my friends from college who were pregnant.
I bought packages of diapers,
and gave them to ladies at church who were pregnant.
What was I doing?
I was just seizing every opportunity I could,
to bless people who had the dream that I desired.
Third thing I did was I started taking action.
Now this is what I want you to hear right now.
God's word says, believe you receive when you pray.
So you're supposed to believe when you pray,
not believe when you see it.
So you believe when you pray, that it is done.
This shows God that you really trust him.
You trust him so much that you're gonna go ahead
and start preparing for your dream.
Well, God's word also says
faith without corresponding action is dead.
So, I took action.
I started acting as if I was really pregnant,
before I ever saw a positive sign on a pregnancy test.
Do you know what I did?
I actually went to Walmart,
and back then they had these little kiosks,
where you could make birthday invitations,
and stuff like that.
Well, I remember like looking over my shoulder,
to make sure nobody can see what I was doing.
I made a baby announcement,
standing right there in Walmart, before I ever got pregnant.
Now that's serious faith,
I was making an announcement
to give to all my friends one day.
That is 100% confidence
that God will give you the desires of your heart, right?
So what was I doing?
I was showing Jesus that my faith was so strong
that I was gonna go ahead and start preparing.
I even bought some baby clothes.
I started looking in magazines for baby furniture,
just causing that dream to get bigger and bigger
on the inside.
Well, on Father's Day of 1996,
we found out we were expecting.
And on February 15th, 1997,
I gave birth to a little red headed girl,
who was all legs, I mean, even in the hospital,
people commented how tall she was. (laughing)
Remember I prayed, she'd be tall like her daddy,
smart like her mama.
Well, God gave me the very desires of my heart.
And today, she's my best friend in the world.
And she oversees our media, and our marketing department.
But what am I saying?
If you really are believing God for something in your life,
then kick it up a notch, and show God by taking action.
What are you praying for? Are you praying for a new car?
Well, what if God gave you one today?
Is your garage all cleaned out,
and ready for this dream car?
Or is it so jam packed full of clutter,
that you'd have to say, "Hold on.
I didn't know it was really gonna happen so soon.
I need to do some cleaning."
No, if you're believing God for something, get ready.
Are you believing God to go on a dream vacation somewhere,
somewhere you've always wanted to go?
Well, if you've prayed about it,
and you truly believe when you pray,
then have you bought your luggage?
Do you have your passport?
Have you researched the hotels where you're gonna stay?
What about this, are you believing God for a spouse?
What are you doing to prepare for that?
Are you getting your debts paid off, saving money,
taking care of your physical health?
What are you doing to show God
that you really trust that he is bringing his divine choice
into your life, at the right time?
Then get ready, take action.
Show God that you trust him.
You know, I've heard Ms. Gloria Copeland say
that, "The three most important words in the Bible are this,
hear and do, hear and do."
So you can't just be a hearer of God's Word,
but never do it.
So you have to put action behind all that you're hearing.
In fact, I wanna help you this week
to get crystal clear on what you're asking God for,
by helping you get your goals in order.
So I'm giving you my free "Goal Setting Crash Course",
to help you set goals the right way.
Now I did it the wrong way for too many years,
and I never achieved my goals.
Well, now I know how to do it right.
And I'd love to give you that, to you,
for you, it's your download, I can't talk (laughing).
This is your download, absolutely free.
And again, this is just my way of thanking you
for helping me grow this channel, for watching these videos.
So just click the link in the description
to get the free "Goal Setting Crash Course" today.
Now I love what Socrates said.
He said, "To move the world, we must first move ourselves."
So if you're tired of the same circumstances,
year after year, but you believe in your heart
that God has more for you,
I know you're gonna be encouraged by Alana's story.
So listen to this, this is what Alana wrote me.
She said, "I am been inspired so much by your teaching,
that last year I decided I could no longer live the same way
I had lived for years.
In fact, for 34 years," she said, "in the summer of 2015,"
she said, "I took Terry's advice,
and decided that I would start taking action
towards my dream of moving
from Connecticut to Washington DC."
And she wanted to start a new life.
So she said, "I had my dream job in mind,
and I started writing it down in very specific detail."
Remember we talked about that.
She said, "I got really specific."
And she said, "This was during the worst year of my life."
She said, "I had to ignore my current circumstances,
and go after what could be.
Well, each day," she said,
"after spending time at work or with my friends,
I would determine to pack a little bit of my room,
every single day."
Think about that, what was she doing?
She was taking action.
So she started packing boxes.
Now notice, after she wrote the vision,
she started taking action,
acting as if she were really moving.
She said, "I had lived with my parents,
all of my life, 34 years old,
and I was tired of seeing other people,
with the ability to travel, and afford their own place,
and move on with their lives."
And she said, "I kept saying, one day, one day,
if only I had more money, that could be me.
Well," she said, "I had a defeatist attitude.
Then one day," she said,
"I realized faith without works is dead.
I've gotta put action behind this."
And she said, "I remembered,
I've never heard someone give a testimony
where God actually blessed them, and they weren't prepared."
Did you hear that?
So she said, "I began to prepare."
She said, "My family, my friends
probably thought I was crazy.
I had been at my job for 10 years,
and I was making less than my worth.
And I was tired of it," she said.
"By the end of the summer,
I began to take trips to DC, and apply for different jobs."
She said, "I was taking more action."
Each day, she incorporated action to the dream.
Summer came and went, fall came and went.
She said, "And I just kept,"
she said she did start growing weary,
but she knew she couldn't stay in Connecticut anymore.
Well, here's what she said, "I was about to give up,
but I decided to apply for one more job."
This job had everything that she had asked the Lord for.
It was her dream job.
"Well, not only," she said,
"did God bless me with my dream job,
but God blessed me on my way out of Connecticut,
like the Israelites leaving Egypt."
She said, "My new place in Washington DC
is brand new, everything, the appliances, the floors,
the bathroom, never been used."
She said, "God put me in a wealthy neighborhood,
with all the amenities, at an affordable rate."
She said, "My friends, they showered me with gift cards.
My family blessed me financially."
And a family member told her to purchase
whatever she needed for her new place,
and that they would pay for everything.
She said she was thrown several, like, farewell parties,
like a wedding.
Well, she said the minute she set a goal, and took action,
God accelerated the blessing.
She even wrote to me
that she was crying when she wrote that,
because of how great God is, and then if we work the Word,
it will work for us.
Then she said, one last thing,
"It wasn't until I believed that God must bless me,
and I must take action over my life,
that things began to change."
So, I love this story from Alana,
because if you really trust God's Word,
when he said, no good thing will he withhold
from those who walk uprightly, then you have to believe,
that God is arranging things in your life for your favor.
So all he needs to do is hear from you faith.
All he needs to see from you is action behind your faith.
So show him you trust him by getting things ready.
In fact, I wanna encourage you to start today,
by getting your goals clearly mapped out.
So get your free "Goal Setting Crash Course"
by clicking the link in the description.
And one more thing, would you let me know
if these videos are helping you,
by subscribing to our channel?
I would appreciate that so much,
because it's sort of my indicator
that you want me to continue providing videos
to build your faith, to live your dreams.
So if you will, just take one second,
push the subscribe button.
I would appreciate that so much.
and to get more inspirational content,
click one of these videos right here.
And remember I'm cheering you on to live your dreams.
(mellow music)