"i invite YOU in"--PRESSURE

There will always be pressure. It’s either a friend or a foe, depending on how you use him. I feel this pressure as of late, not because I am under it but because it is under me. It moves me forward and motivates me to PRESS on for SURE. Against the odds. Against the sways of the world. And even against the ways of my own will. I’d prefer not to be vocal or visible, but God’s grace cannot be contained nor can it be kept invisible. So the pressure pushes my iCONVICTION out, like a volcano that was dormant for years and is now ready to burst out. That explains this transition from prison to freedom. And regardless of wanting to stay under the radar for the sake of comfortability, I cannot, due to the way this pressure pushes me to accountability.It’s actually quite overwhelming to be viewed as someone who inspires -because it causes people to hate you or love you, where the hate leads to envy. Both responses to “my story” produce pressure. And I am learning how to navigate both sides of the spectrum in order to remain whole. This is what I am facing just this coming week. I was invited to do a radio interview with Miss Shellie Nichol on Amazing Hope Radio on Tuesday; sit on a panel at the New Jersey Wardens Association for Re-Entry Initiatives, presented by Honorable James McGreevy, 52nd Governor of NJ; then I speak at Atlantic Christian School on the 2nd, which begins a series of speaking engagements to high school and college aged youth. I know all of the above -mentioned opportunities are different spheres of influence and I wholeheartedly accept them, knowing they are by God’s grace alone. Yet there is still a pressure to perform regardless of how composed I may ever appear to any audience; thus, “i invite YOU in” to my mind with an additional invitation to please pray for this continued journey in redemption. I know that there will be opposition on every front, but like I said, the greater pressure is within me and that is the only pressure that I desire to govern me. “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world” (I John 4:4).Pressure produces passion as a friend, but this same pressure can produce fear as a foe. I have to make a choice on a daily basis. I know fear will always be present, but courage pushes through the fear and makes passion the driving force. So here we go……