In part one of this series, I described five categories of people who are open to receiving the gift of tongues, yet, despite their varying levels of openness and/or attempts, have still not received the gift. While the first commonality my research shows is that there is no exact formula to receiving the gift, the personal interviews I’ve conducted with dozens of charismatic tongue-talkers do reveal an important second commonality—persistence. Therefore, I shared my friend Gail’s long-haul journey with speaking in tongues. Her faithful, childlike persistence paid off and continues to inspire others as she powerfully witnesses to the goodness of God in her ministry. I trust that her story has helped inspire you to continue to read this series and press in to all the good gifts that the Father of heavenly lights eagerly desires to give us!

So if you are still hanging in there with me on this journey, then let’s address each one of those five categories and see if we can’t help free you from some of the common blockages that often hold people back from walking in this amazing gift of intimacy with God.     

A DIRECT RESPONSE TO THE FIVE CATEGORIES

Response to Category 1 (those who are open but are essential doing nothing and just waiting on God to sovereignly do something himself):

Some folks in this category appeal to Act 2:1-4, where the text says the Holy Spirit merely fell on the disciples. One could take this to mean God just acted on his own apart from the will of the disciples and basically forced this gift on them. But the context of this miraculous day on Pentecost is undeniably framed by expectation and prayer.

In the only two-volume book in the New Testament, Luke-Acts, Jesus first generates quite the dramatic expectation by telling his disciples, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” and then a few days later He again tells them, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now…But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Talk about building an expectation! The disciples were primed and put into a position of believing faith that God was about to partner with them to do a great work. 

So, then, what did the disciples do? Did they just sit around and say, “Let’s just go about our normal business. If God wants this to happen it’s going to happen whether we want it to or not? No need to dwell on it or seek after it.”?

Absolutely not! Instead, the scripture says that after Jesus’s final instructions “… they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:12-14). Ten days after Jesus’s ascension Acts 1:2 reveals that, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place”. Why would they be together in one place? For continued prayer and diligence in seeking after God. It was only after great expectation was given followed by intentional efforts given to seeking God in community and prayer that the disciples then received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the manifestation of tongues. 

Some might continue to argue that the disciples didn’t need to have any expectation or engage in prayer for God to give them this gift. God could have just sent the Holy Spirit without an effort on their part, and therefore we should take the same attitude toward tongues and not seek it out—God can just give it and you will have it without youself playing any role. 

Well, without getting into a theological debate on God’s absolute sovereignty, let me offer this incredibly significant nuance found in the Greek language that is not even able to be seen when we translate the scripture into English. 

Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”. There are few other Greek words for the idea of reception, but Luke chose a specific word for “receive” in this passage. This is the Greek word λαμβάνω which we transliterate to pronounce in English as lambano. Greek-to-English language guides such as Thyer’s, Strong’s, and the recent HELPS word study provided in the NASB translation all testify that lambano is different than what one would ordinarily think of when one thinks of receiving something from God. Specifically, when lambano is used it has a distinct definition that means, as the HELPS word study says, “to actively lay hold of or to take something…to lay hold of by aggressively (actively/assertively) accepting what is available…to accept with initiative…”. HELPS word study goes on to say that lambano “emphasizes the volition (assertiveness) of the receiver.”

When Jesus said that one needs to receive the Holy Spirit, He was conveying that one does not merely take a passive position, or to just be “open” to the experience while doing nothing about it in the meantime. If that were the case Luke could have used the Greek word dechomai, which as Strong’s Concordance says in contrast to lambano is subjective or passive. But instead, Jesus is recorded as instructing His followers to be active participants in receiving the gift that was to be offered. The believers waiting on this manifestation of the Holy Spirit were instructed to take their own initiative to receive it. They weren’t to merely sit and wait, but to assert their own action, of their own volition (indicating not merely a sovereign act of God) and to reach out and lay hold of it.

What nuance our English language misses!

But here’s the deal folks, the ramifications of this subtle, yet transformative exegesis shifts the responsibility of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit on the receiver, not the giver. The onus is on us to receive, not on God the giver alone. And as witnessed in a few paragraphs later in Luke’s “Acts of the Apostles” where chapter 2 begins, we see that this reception of this gift is squarely in the context of the gift of tongues.

Imagine an American football game analogy—even if the quarterback takes a shotgun hike, has time in the pocket to analyze the field, and has time to take a shot down the field to make an accurate pass, once the pass leaves the quarterbacks hands the onus is then transferred to the receiver. If the receiver is not running the correct route, or is not focused, or is not concentrated and dialed in, or does not have his hands extended out to receive the pass, the result will end up in an incomplete pass even though the quarterback threw the ball perfectly. Additionally, consider that if the opposing team (in our case the devil) has identified the wide-receiver as a big threat to their defense, they might “double team” the wide-receiver defensively and put-up obstacles to bat down, break up, or even strip the receiver of catching the pass. In addition to our own responsibility,  we must also acknowledge the reality of cosmic spiritual agents who are hell-bent on preventing us from receiving any good gift from God.

Does not this analogy depict a more accurate understanding of the Greek word in Acts 1:8 for receive? We know that lambano is telling the reader to be aggressive in receiving the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus’s ministry on earth we also know that there are spiritual adversaries who are dead set against us receiving anything tangible from God to keep us in bondage and unbelief.

As scripture shows there are times that, regardless of what we think about the sovereignty of God, we have to aggressively fight against and actively reach out our hands to receive from Him.

My friends, I implore you to consider that in many cases receiving the gift of tongues must be apprehended in the same way. If it hasn’t come to you yet, DONT GIVE UP—press in and keep actively seeking God for the gift. Remember, it is God’s yearning and joyful desire to receive the Holy Spirit’s tangible gifts (Luke 11:13). I also implore you to remember the apostle Paul’s words in I Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” That word grouping, earnestly desire comes from the Greek word ζηλόω, the same word that is translated a covet—as in “Thou shall not covet”, meaning a great envy or jealously. ζηλόω, which can be transliterated to us as zēloō, conveys a connotation of great passion and desire—the same kind of jealously and envy a man may have for another man’s wife.

And just to top it off for a “mic drop” moment, zēloo in this Bible passage is conjugated in the active voice as well. What is the importance of the active voice in this context compared to the middle and passive voice in the Koine Greek language? Well, specifically this—when Paul wrote that we ought to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, choosing the active voices conveys the understanding that it is we, not God, who are the agents of doing the action. As the Strong’s Concordance correctly directs us concerning this Greek voice, “The active voice represents the subject as the doer or performer of the action. e.g., in the sentence, “The boy hit the ball,” the boy performs the action. 

Therefore, for those who say, “I am open”, but in actual practice are not doing ANYTHING on their end in pursuit of the gifts, they are not “earnestly desiring” as Paul directed us to do. You are not doing your part. With zēloo in I Corinthians 14:1 and what we saw with lambano in Acts 1:8 the scripture clearly puts the responsibility on us for receiving and walking in deeper realities with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The overall concept is found in James 4:8 as well where is says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…”

If we keep our end of the responsibility God will keep His, but let’s not incorrectly assume that God is going to force the gift of tongues on you just because you are “open”. No, rather God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Response to Category 2 (those who are waiting for some overwhelming urge or uncontrollable feeling to take over their mouths and inspire them to speak): No student of the Bible can deny that there are times in scripture where we find an act of God taking place that appears to happen completely apart from or against his or her individual will. Rather than taking to this to argue for or against that premise, let’s come at this from another direction—is it by force that God acts in every case? And specifically in the case of receiving the gift of tongues?

I have interviewed and collected dozens of personal stories of when people received the gift of tongues. It is true that some folks testify that when the gift of tongues first came upon them, it did so in a way that the experience indeed felt almost forced, or was met with an overwhelming inner urge making the person feel like he or she just couldn’t hold it back. Wow, lucky them!

But from my research, these instances appear to be very rare. Instead, the overwhelming majority report a more gentle, subtle, and invitational reception of the gift of tongues. More often than not the gift comes upon a person in an unforceful, gentle, respectful way. Not only is this common, but MANY report that when they first stepped out in faith in an attempt to speak in tongues the experience was so void of a supernature urge or compelling feeling that they questioned if what came out of their mouth was really from God. Yet, through faith and perseverance, many of these same people tell me they now enjoy a full and robust gift of tongues that has transformed their prayer life and intimacy with God.

So, if you are waiting for some supernatural experience where the Holy Spirit sovereignly takes control of your mouth in such a way that convinces you that this must be the hand of God, sure, that could happen—but based on my statistics, you might be waiting your whole lifetime. And, it may never happen to you. Or, you can take the route of others and instead consider that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and does not force Himself upon anyone. But, rather through gentle invitation He is calling you to go deeper by asking you first step out in faith, and to do so without a goosebump. MANY have received and now walk in the gift of tongues in like manner. I invite you to open yourself up to the same possibility. It could change your whole life!

Response to Category 3 (those who, in faith, have indeed spoken broken, unintelligible syllables but never felt it was authentically “of God” or felt like the gift really “broke open”): For those who find themselves in this category, my heart and my love are with you. God sees you as a beautiful, faithful servant who is loved and warmly accepted in His sight. You are some of the rare bunch who have sought God with your whole heart and even stepped out in faith. You’ve taken your foot out of the boat and tried to walk on water. And, even though you think have not experienced what you think is a true, tangible manifestation of the gift of tongues, YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK. God is so very pleased with you!

Your reward is great. Your seeking will not result in nothing. Even if in past times you have given up on seeking the gift of tongues, I promise you that if you persist in faith, actively extend your arms in prayer and expectation to God and continue to fight against the defense of the Enemy (which are the demonic forces set against you and anyone else who would seek to receive this wonderful gift of intimacy with God) you WILL RECIEVE. God loves to reward those who diligently seek him.

If you fall into this category, I implore you to consider again the story of my friend Gail. In fact it is for people just like you that I spent the time sharing her story at the beginning of this blog—just for YOU.

Remember that her parents prayed over her for the gift of tongues and initially nothing dramatic happened to her on a tangible/conscience level. Yet over years she persisted in persuing the gift. She had to fight against all of the doubts anyone would naturally have in their mind. Doubts that would make one think that reciting a perhaps “made up” or unintelligible sentence was nothing more than gibberish, unauthentic, or somehow dishonoring God.

Phooey. Nonsense. That is not how God views those who diligently seek him! Even if we get it wrong, God sees our hearts and actions just as a loving Father would see a child learning to walk. When I saw my daughter try to take her first steps, she absolutely failed. She didn’t even know how to walk, she was just trying to imitate me and the adults around her. But my attitude wasn’t, “You poor pathetic little thing! How dare you try to inmate something you don’t know how to do!!” On the contrary, I was thinking, “On my gosh, how PRECIOUS! You are so beautiful! Keep trying, you can do it! I’ll help you. DONT GIVE UP!”

As someone who feels you haven’t received the full manifestation of what you are looking for, do you see your heavenly Father looking down at you with a judgmental, angry disposition because you might be getting it wrong? Or can you see your heavenly Father excited for you with His hands in the air rejoicing over you with encouragement to continue to press into all the gifts He has for you?

I urge to consider the latter image.

And, lastly, even if your attempts to speak in tongues really is just all made up and not truly inspired prophetic speech, then so what! The worst thing you are doing is stepping out in faith in prayer and trying something different as you worship your Creator. God knows your heart and everything else that is on the inside of you. It doesn’t matter if we can communicate that perfectly out of our mouths or not. Trust me, God understands your motives and what comes out of your mouth even if the delivery of what’s in your heart falls short. We would never fault or rebuke a child if they offered up prayers to God and they didn’t get their words right. Nor would be rebuke a person who has a speech impediment, or an issue with stuttering, or someone with autism who can only say one syllable or make incoherent sounds. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stumbling over your words. Even the Holy Spirit uses groanings that are “too deep for words“, but the Father and Son have no problem understanding what is being communicated (Romans 8:26-27). Rid yourself of any similar religious thinking and fall into the accepting arms of the Father.

Gail perused and eventually received her reward from due diligence, and you will too! Gail’s story spans nearly 20 years from her initial trial to her full consummation of praying in tongues. She pressed on despite her initial experiences. Would you consider doing the same?

Response to Category 4 and 5 (4: those who have been blamed by church leaders and told that the problem is with them due to their shortcomings at walking out the Christian faith; and, 5: those who have had negative encounters with the gift of tongues in the church or directly with church leaders who have tried to administer the gift of tongues):

If you fit into either category 4 or 5, then much of the negative experiences relating to the gift of tongues has come from the hands of those who hold traditional positions in “church leadership”. My heart goes out to you in solidarity in an even stronger measure than those who fit into category 3.

In many situations leaders have often defaulted to a formulaic approach to the reception of the gift of tongues. If one doesn’t immediately receive the gift, then, rather then pointing to their own possible shortcomings and failures of adequately ministering the gift of the Holy Spirit to someone, they have instead insisted that the problem lies within the holiness or attitude of the seeker. Maybe you have secret sins in your life, maybe you aren’t committed to Jesus enough, maybe you need to petition the throne of God at length because He needs you to prove yourself, or maybe God is simply testing you. As documented in R.A. Tory’s book released in 1895 “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” many early seekers of the baptism of the Holy Spirit held similar views. Many of these views were transferred into the succeeding decades and subtly made their way into today’s churches culminating in legalistic systems and charismatic methodologies. If you have been subjected to this type of blind, one-size-fits-all judgement, then I really empathize with you. I can only assume your journey has been rough.

Pushing through situations of church abuse can seem like an impossible task, or a task that you just don’t have the energy for. The enemy is on the offense looking to sift us and get us off the path of righteousness at all costs. When the church shoots itself in its own foot, it makes the Devil’s job even easier. But ultimately it is the one who has been abused that misses out on the things God has for them. A similar analogous scenario happened with one of my family members.

Recently, my fourteen-year-old daughter asked me to help her hang some shelving in her room. A few months prior she had spent hours and hours of her own time filling in nail holes, taping the trim, sanding and washing down the walls, and finally painting the walls of her room. She had even made us make a special trip to Home Depot just so she could pick out the colors and get exactly what she wanted. After all of her hard work, the room looked just the way she wanted it. She hung up new artwork that she had made and up to this point she had been asking me for weeks to get those shelves up.

Sunday afternoon, I finally agreed to get the project done. At fourteen years, old I thought it was time for me to take the supervisory role and have her continue her learning of power and hand tools. As she was making a pilot hole into the drywall I heard the drill stop and right away she said she needed help. I assumed she accidentally drilled the hole incorrectly due to her inexperience. Then, just as an overly confident father would, I said, “No problem, I can fix that. This is easy stuff.” I took the drill out of her hands and proceeded to correct the minor mistake on my own. But after I had attempted to fix it, even letting out a cuss word under my breath in frustration, I had made the problem worse. The hole was now nearly an inch wide, off center, and useless. I had also scuffed up part of her wall scraping off some of her new paint, and it turned out that even if we did find a way to correct the shelf and rehang it there would be no way to hide the hole and scratched paint. The ugly mistake would be exposed for all to see.

It might seem trivial to a grownup knowing that a little spackle and touch up paint would remedy the hole in the wall, but she folded her arms, sat down and totally gave up. And I started to get mad because I could tell she was angry at me for making a mess out of her precious wall when all I was trying to do was help. You see, I’m a musician by trade and although sometimes I can be handy around the house, there are other times where I leap before looking and make a situation worse. Upon closer inspection, she hadn’t made any mistake at all when she attempted to drill the pilot hole. When we measured where the pilot holes were going to be drilled into the wall I neglected to check if there were 2X4 studs in the wall where we had marked for drilling. Sure enough, when Lily drilled the pilot hole, she grazed the edge of a stud and the stud deflected the drill bit causing the hole to become off centered. In my arrogance, I didn’t even take the time to assess the situation. I made assumptions about Lily as being someone young and inexperienced, took the drill away, and charged into the situation. Had I stopped and done a little more investigation, I might have been able to salvage the situation. But I didn’t, and although I had a heart to help, I instead made everything worse.

One thing about my daughter is that she has a tendency to give up on something if it doesn’t come instantly and naturally to her. It makes me angry because she is the kind of person who with a little bit of perseverance can become quite good at pretty much anything she sets her mind to. But over the years we’ve seen her give up on many hobbies simply because she has to work at something, e.g., piano, most sports, making new friends, working a summer job, and so on. So, when this wall incident happened, it was no surprise that she defaulted back to that same place: quitting. At first, I calmly tried to tell her that with a little handy work we could have the wall looking new again. But she said, “I don’t want the stupid shelves anymore. I’ll just hang a picture up to cover the hole. Just get out of here dad, YOU RUINED IT!”

Once again, I didn’t handle this next part of the ordeal right either, but something transformative did happen. My hidden anger broke through into my next response and I told her very heatedly that if she didn’t help me finish the project that I would never help her with another project again. That if she didn’t learn to push through when something doesn’t instantly come easy that she was going to miss out on many achievements and joys in life that only come by perseverance. And to add salt to the wound (this was really overboard) I told her that if she didn’t help me now I wouldn’t fix the mistake on the wall and that she would have to look at the mistake for the rest of her life every morning and night coming in and out of bedroom to serve as a reminder of how she always gives up when she encounters a little resistance. Ah…not my finest parenting moment. Mistake #2 for the day. I am thankful for God’s grace because boy did I need it now!

But surprisingly, she sat there for a moment, looked at the wall, slowly put her safety glasses back on, and then stood up and said “FINE!”. She wasn’t happy about it but she was back on task.

After some creative thinking, brainstorming, and a little luck, to both of our surprise everything ended up working out. We found a way to keep her existing artwork on her wall without changing the layout, kept her original plan for where the shelves needed to go, and we covered up the hole in a clever way so that the damage to the wall would be completely unseen. The project took WAY longer for us to complete than it should have. And, I made a home improvement mistake and let my anger influence my parenting. But, despite my flaws, my daughter forgave me and we were able to move on and get the results we wanted. And, even though I would prefer to go back in time and use maybe a different approach, she did learn the lesson I wanted her to learn—persistence amidst adversity.

I am not intending to make a direct comparison between some scuffed up paint and a damaged wall with the painful experiences of church abuse. Church abuse is real, and negative encounters with “men of faith” do very harmful damage. Yet, we also have to put our faith in God and not men. Church leaders make mistakes, BIG mistakes, and if we are waiting for them to repent, apologize, and own up to their doing we might be holding our breath forever. But, even though church abuses surrounding the gift of tongues are present in the church, it doesn’t change the fact that God is continuing to extend His invitation to experience the joys of intimate fellowship with Him through the gift of praying and singing in tongues. His offer still stands. And with steadfast perseverance we can do our part by aggressively reaching out in faith to receive all that the Father has for us and move beyond past hurts.

I referenced this earlier, but one of my favorite passages of scripture is Hebrews 11:6 which says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him.”  The latter part of the verse instructs us about God’s character—God “rewards those who diligently seek Him”. That word group, diligently seek comes from the Greek word ekzēteō which means to seek out, investigate, scrutinize, to demand back, to require. Once again, ekzēteō is written in the active voice. Hold that thought for a second and look at what passage says a little earlier— “whoever would draw near to God”. 

What we see from this passage is that just like with the Greek word zēloo the scripture places the onus on us. WE must do the drawing near, and we must diligently seek. The promise of God’s reward is not going to befall us on its own, it only comes by seeking—and not just a little seeking here and there and being merely “open” to what God wants to give, but as ekzēteō indicates, the rewards are for those who diligently seek, those who actively investigate, seek out, and even demand and require of God for His promise.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not telling you to “just get over” your past church abuses. Pursue healing in that area. Get counseling. Talk to others about your experience. Find a support group. But, I am saying that by throwing out the baby with the bathwater we can limit what God wants to do in our lives. If we remain unable to heal from past hurts, we will not be able to walk in everything that God has for us. Don’t let a bad Pentecostal experience deprive you of the inheritance that is due to God’s beloved sons and daughters.  This is your seal of faith (Eph. 1:13). This is the downpayment of your heavenly inheritance (Eph, 1:14). This your tangible assurance that you are in Him and that He is in you (I John 4:13). Fight for it!

DONT GIVE UP!   

To wrap up this blog, I want to leave you with this encouragement—DONT GIVE UP! The gift of tongues is a real experience that I believe that God wants everyone to share in. If God gave it to me, then certainly He wants to give it to you! But as scripture shows we must press into it.

Yes, for some people the reception of the gift of tongues came instantaneously, with much pomp and circumstance, and much ease. But, after personally interviewing and listening to so many other testimonies, there is no room for doubt that the former experience is not the norm. The majority of folks have had to move beyond a sovereign, monergistic understanding of the works of God and do their part in making tongues a reality in their life. We spent a good deal of time talking about my friend Gail and her long, aggressive, search for a fuller expression of tongues that went beyond a simple repeated sentence. And wow, did she ever reap that reward from the Father—talk about not giving up! And if you ask her today she will tell you that every minute of walking and stepping out in faith in search of the gifts of God was worth it.

Here is my charge to you:

• If you have had hands laid on you before to receive the Holy Spirit and gift of tongues, have hands laid on you again. Even Jesus laid hands on someone twice because at first the the grace of God was not received (Mark 8:22-26).
• Go to charismatic meetings where the gifts are flowing. Seek these meetings out. Find where they are happening. And don’t be put off by every weird thing you see. Humans make mistakes too. But there is no doubt this gift is real. If one meeting turns you off, go to another one somewhere else.
• Get angry. Listen folks, this is supposed to be YOUR GIFT from God. Fight for the One you love. Fight for this intimacy that God wants you to have. Don’t let a little bit of resistance get in the way of your inheritance. It is true that every demon in your county is hellbent against you walking in the fullness of God’s graces available to you.

Lastly, consider this last short memory of mine.

I have a strong ecumenical heart. While I am firmly evangelical, I tip my hat to those of other denominations and am deeply respectful of those in other Christian traditions. The beauty of the Charismatic Renewal that took place in the 1950’s-1970’s was that, one, it was centered around the gift of tongues—even being referred to as the “tongues movement”—and, two, that it crossed strong denominational lines.

God can work and pour out his gift on anyone in any tradition who seeks Jesus Christ as Lord—even us lowly Evangelicals. That said, I frequent a bi-weekly Catholic charismatic meeting that is only a mile from my house. Upon one meeting a few years ago, I remember some people talking among themselves and overhead one lady talk about a new experience she had. For some reason, the thought wouldn’t leave my mind, and so smack in the middle of the meeting I just asked her, “Hey, what exactly happened to you? What is this big thing?” She looked at me and said that she had been seeking God her whole life and always wanted to go deeper in intimacy with Him. She said that a few weeks ago she went to a “Life in the Spirit” conference that was hosted in a nearby city. It just so happens that while continuing her fervent devotion to God at this conference, she experienced an overwhelming sense of joy in Christ. So much so that her joy began flowing out of her in what we charismatics call “holy laughter”. Obviously I wasn’t there at the meeting with her, so I can’t say what and how this exactly looked like, but what I do know is that this woman was changed! She now had a posture that was in greater expectation of what God could do and she was exuding joy.

I mention her story because this woman was retired, a widow, and in her 70’s. She had nothing much else to do after her husband died, so she poured herself even more into the church and into seeking God. It was clear that this was the first time she had ever tangibly experienced the charismatic dimension of the Holy Spirit. This was a life-changer for her.

You don’t have to wait till you are in your 70’s. The gift is available now. DONT GIVE UP. PRESS IN!

And by chance you are in your latter years, then rejoice! God’s promise is just as real and available to you now as it was to you when you first believed. Reach out and grab it!

*As always, I’d love to hear what’s on your mind so please drop your thoughts in the comment section below!