C. S. Lewis talked about how he’s like, if we only knew the potential gods and goddesses that were walking around each day, we’d want to fall to our knees. I just think that’s so true. Sorry. I see God in the face of my little sister, and I see God in my roommates, and I see God in my parents. I think connecting with those people in my life is what ultimately connects me back to God, too. I think a lot of the trials I’ve dealt with growing up have just been struggling with mental health challenges or struggling with loss of loved ones or things of the sort. But there’s no exceptions to suffering that God doesn’t understand. I think that with trials I’ve experienced in the past, I think a lot of them I’ve just come to learn that it’s not a matter of getting rid of or changing the fact of the matter of whatever you’re suffering with, but just learning to invite God to bring purpose to it. I’ve been creating YouTube videos for… It’s been eight years. That’s weird. So I remember my sister Evelyn, she had sat me down. It’d been a week of filming random YouTube videos.

And she was like, We could totally hit a million subscribers. We can make this our job. We can make this a brand. And I’m like, I don’t even know what any of that means. I knew it was something that was serious, potentially could be serious. So I remember I had a bunk bed. I shared it with my little sister. And I remember I was kneeling on my top bunk in the bunk bed, and I said a prayer. And I was like, Evelyn wants to start a YouTube channel. And she says that we can hit a million subscribers. So let me know whether or not I should do this. I remember praying and I remember just like, my parents had told me that the way prayer works is God will speak to you and you’ll receive promptings and revelation. So I remember I just said my prayer and I was just kneeling on my bunk bed and I was like, I feel nothing. I was like, I don’t know. Does he not want me to do it? And then I just remember having the thought of just, Marla, you’re going to be fine either way. You’re going to be fine.

Say God didn’t care about it, but if I do, he cares about it then. My spirituality has evolved where I try to make it a priority each day. Involving God in the little things is what makes it so much more powerful. I’ve never really received an answer that was just like this booming, explicit, yes, do this, or no, don’t do this. I think it’s just been listening to those promptings of peace and then following it, following through with it. God wants us to make decisions for ourselves, and he wants us to learn. That’s the whole point of why we’re here. I think just for me, my communication with God has been me making decisions in my life, but then praying about it and filling those confirmation of peace. Was a point in time where I experienced something in my life that it was a bit shocking to me. And I felt not that necessarily that I had been hurt or betrayed or anything of the sort. But in the result, it caused me a lot of grief, the actions of this individual. And I remember I felt so just potently dark. I remember praying to God for comfort of like, how do I handle this?

I don’t know. I’ve never experienced something like this before. I remember thinking about it. And the thought that occurred to me was, Marla, it’s not your job to heal them. It’s your job to love them. And I understand that everybody comes from different backgrounds and experiences where sometimes boundaries have to be established and forgiveness comes in different forms where that person is invited back into your life or not. But in this specific instance, they didn’t even have to apologize to me. I had found a new beauty in that healing power of forgiveness. It takes the same amount of energy to hate someone as it does to love them. We’re all wanderers in a strange land here on this world and on this Earth, and we’re all experiencing it all together. So don’t keep on wandering alone. God wants to guide us and he wants to guide you specifically. Whatever it looks like, just start today.

@skylightyourlife This Wednesday we are releasing a video featuring Marla Catherine, a youtube life style vlogger with over a million subscribers and owner of Jo West clothing. She shared with us a powerful spiritual story that you will want to hear— Mark your calendars! #behindthescenes #videoshoot #pov #marlacatherine #faith #behindthescenes #videoshoot #pov #marlacatherine ♬ original sound – Skylight