Let's encourage each other

Well, here I am ..late evening..feeling blessed, tired, and full of hope and love for the viewers I was fortunate to have touched directly and indirectly tonight. I am Dr. Gwen Ford and I have an almost 12 year old TV ministry called “ I BELIEVE”. I feel that this ministry was totally GOD inspired. In the beginning, I somehow felt like I had been given the opportunity to reach others so that they can also enjoy the love and comfort I feel in knowing my God. It was nothing I had planned. It was nothing I felt prepared to do. It was nothing I even had thought about before. It was just a thought that would not leave my mind. A thought that had quietly crept in my mind and my heart. I tried to talk myself out of this thought.

However, after several months I was giving it full time attention. Wow. I had previously heard that when our Lord calls, HE gets a strong hold of us. Well, that's the best way for me to explain the beginning of my TV ministry. I had always been taught at an early age by my parents that we should always be kind and encouraging and try to help others in need. So wanting to help people was easy. It comes to me naturally. Sometimes I get carried away and have to stop so as not to become an enabler. There are so many people in need and so many ways to help them.

Since, my goal was to encourage, inspire, motivate and reach people by producing a televison show I had to learn production, taping sessions, on camera presence, size of viewing audience, in other words,

"LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!"

As I started to ponder the first thing I should do, I decided that I needed to take an inventory of what skills, talents, finances, time, and resources I had to begin this adventure. And, I truly see that now. I can look back at the past 12 years, it truly has been an adventure. It has been challenging, fun and a rewarding time. I don't regret one moment. Has it been all good times? Absolutely not. But, I have been able to get through these times. To God be the glory. I feel that God has been guiding all my steps. Even though there have been situations that have presented themselves, scary times, problems and decisions that had to be made and of course many financial stressful times that occurred sometimes one right after another. I have to admit that I wondered where is my God? Why is this happening? Why now?

This is why I have decided to write this article. I know that I am not alone on these feelings of doubt and insecurity. Therefore, I have titled this article “Let's encourage each other”. It sounds simple to do, however, it is not always that easy to do. A lot of us don't feel comfortable dishing out compliments. Sometimes we feel that the other person receiving the compliment will question the reason for the nice words. Or they are unconfident with themselves and immediately begin to deny the kind words. Women are notorious for doing this. I know that i have given a compliment like

" Wow, that dress looks very nice on you!"

Only to get this back.

“ Do you really think so? ”

Or

“ I don't like this old thing..it's so old.”

However, there have been many times, when I can see their face light up with surprise and delight.

Well, let me get back to my personal journey. I was a little skeptical myself to annouce my future plans. Sometimes, we are our own worst enemy. I was doubting myself as I explained above. So, I tried to share with some of my closest friends at first thinking they would all be supportive. Surprise!! The person that I thought would say

“ Great, what can I do to help you?”

did not. Exactly the opposite. I heard

“ Why would you want to do this? The cost and time alone would put you under. Not to mention the stress."

These are my thoughts on this friend's comments. She didn't even know the costs and she didn't know anything about TV production. And, she immediately proceeded to inform me of this, but still insisted that I should forget this thought altogether. My response was to end our luncheon as quickly and pleasantly as possible and go back to my own thoughts. I proceeded to ask myself how I felt, what I thought I could do, and what results and timeline I wanted to reach for. Then, as I always do, I went quietly to prayer.

After 3 days of this process, I stepped out again to the professionals that I would need to make all of this a reality. That process in itself, was encouraging because it was easier than I realized but totally discouraging because it was way out of my tiny budget. This is a lesson in life. This is where we have to reach out to others to network. Networking is one of my favorite words whenever I think of encouraging and being encouraged by others. I will write another article soon all about networking.

Fast forward to today. My TV ministry is about to begin its 12th year. Yes, I said 12 YEARS!! Amazing how time flies by when you stay focused and busy.

Has it been all roses & fun? NO! But, thru many ENCOURAGING phone calls, ENCOURAGING meetings, ENCOURAGING moments and ENCOURAGING viewers I am proud to say

“I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me!”

Wow, what better way to end this article than quoting scripture. Our Lord is the best encourager we can turn to. HE is always there for us.

BE that special person in someone's life that encourages them to reach for the stars!

I would like to close this article with one of my favorite sayings....

“ TO WIN YOU MUST BEGIN”