ost of my life, I’ve hidden my true feelings. To the point that I even found I hid them from myself at times.

You see, I was born out of an adulter-ous affair my mother had when she was living in Chicago.

I never knew my biological father, as he left town when he learned of my ex-istence.

I stayed with baby sitters while my mother worked as a waitress. Sometimes, she’d leave me for days on end. I never knew when she’d be back to get me.

She got mixed up with a group in-volved in a murder conspiracy. And on a cold December morning, the local law enforcement came into our little apart-ment and took her away. I was placed into protective custody.

Here I was eighteen months old, con-fused and now living with people I didn’t know.

Two days before Christmas, the fam-ily that had baby-sat me before all this happened, brought me to their home.

After six years of this family trying to adopt me, my mother waived her paren-tal rights, and I became Sean “Byers.”

When my birth mother was thirty years old, she was convicted of first de-gree murder and sentenced to life in prison. I didn’t see her again until I was an adult.

I grew to love my “new” family and became especially close to my mom and brother. But for some reason, I didn’t bond with my father.

We were an average middle class fam-ily. Dad worked and Mom stayed home

until I got into high school. I was aca-demically strong and had a talent for music and performing that I discovered at around age five.

I also played sports, but my heart was in music.

My grandparents encouraged my tal-ents, but my dad made fun of me. He’d come to my ball games, rooting me on, but when I was performing in a musical or play, he showed no interest.

The first time I got a chance to sing solo in the seventh grade, neither parent showed up.

I was an honor roll student through-out high school and became a pretty suc-cessful wrestler, but I always felt I was doing what someone else wanted for me at that time.

I was part of a “show choir” as that was the only outlet available my senior year. And though I was shamed for per-forming, still I loved it.

There was a pivotal point that year when I invited my folks to the annual talent show, and they actually came.

I sang a Garth Brooks song called “The River” and I’ll never forget how scared and excited I was. At the end of the show my dad had a different opin-ion of me.

When I got home that night, he said, “The only way you won’t make it is if you don’t try.” I was floored!

Our relationship was still broken, and would be for many years to come, but that was the first time he told me directly that he thought I was good at something.

In PursuIt of a Dream

M

by Sean Byers

My brother was the golden boy athlete who had all the same interests as Dad, and my sister was the baby, plus she was the only girl. I was literally caught in the middle as the adopted kid with all the different interests.

Dad had an explosive temper. When he got mad, he’d red-line in a heartbeat. He had little to no patience for me and my dreaming or my “book smarts.”

When he was angry, he’d get right in my face and slam his finger into my chest, or throw an insult or expletive my way.

I don’t know why, but it seemed everything about me rubbed him the wrong way!

Once, he chased me with a hammer when we were trying to finish a fence we’d been working on all weekend.

It was about six p.m. on Sunday eve-ning, and all that was left to do was to put a latch on the gate.

I asked if I could go to church group, and he flipped! He started yelling hate-ful things, and when I tried to explain we had already discussed this, he liter-ally chased me across the yard, threaten-ing me with the hammer.

I grew to despise him, and of course, avoided him every chance I could.

I wanted so badly to get out, and about a year later, I did leave. I ran as far and as fast as I could to go live the life inside of me and not be ridiculed for it.

Music became everything! I wanted to be a country music star and looked for every opportunity to perform.

With my high school transcript, I could’ve picked almost any college I wanted. But when my dad changed ca-reers, our financial situation was altered dramatically.

I began working part time, but didn’t make enough to put me through school, as well as pursue a music career.

That’s when I made the decision to put off going to college. A decision I regret

to this day!I met and married the girl of my

dreams, and she has encouraged me not to give up on a career in music.

But not long after our wedding, we hit a brick wall. Faith Family was instru-mental in helping us break down that wall, which we realize we both had a part in constructing.

Plus God has been busy putting some things in my career path since our time

there. Just after we returned home from

FFM, we went to a Keith Urban concert.

Keith went into the audience of 20,000+ to pick 3 people to get up

on stage and sing with him.

We had a sing-off in front of a packed house. Believe it or not, I won and got to sing with Keith to finish the song out—the audience re-sponse was AMAZ-ING!

It was obvious God was up to something

that night. The Lord has also provided an oppor-

tunity for me to do some modeling for a national retailer.

In fact, one of my jobs was in a town near FFM, and I got to stop by for a sweet reunion with the Morgans.

Learning how to trust God moment by moment instead of trusting in my-self has made all the difference in the world!

There’ve been so many sermons at church that have hit me very different-ly.

The first Sunday back, the choir sang “Amazing Grace” and I couldn’t stop smiling because, for the first time, I un-derstood those words in a fresh way.

I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m more encouraged than ever to trust Christ to live through me. Plus, if He wants me in the music industry, that’s exactly where I’ll be—praising Him all the way!

he holidays are behind us, and what a great time to enter into an extended fast!

For Bill and me, beginning this month, we’ll embark on a twenty-one day fast.

Our goal is to enjoy special times of intimacy with the Father. We also have several areas in which we need a miracle and will be focusing our prayer on those needs.

The first time we fasted was in the fall of 1978, when the Lord directed us to intercede for my sister, Donna.

Bill and I fasted several days each week and prayed earnestly for her salvation.

After about four months, she called to say she’d met the Lord! However, He wasn’t through with our involvement in her life! The Holy Spirit was nudging us to disciple her as well. You can read about our experiences with Donna in the next article.

We know from Scripture that fasting, along with other spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, giving and meditating on God’s Word, are non-optional for Christians.

The Bible says, “When you fast” not, “If you fast.”

In I Cor. 6:19, it states that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. They are not our own.

In Matthew 16:24, we are instructed to deny ourselves. That is deny our independent right to ourselves. God desires that we be in union with Him.

And also, in Romans 12:1, we read, we’re to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to the Lord, which is our reasonable act of worship.

Having established the “Why” of fasting, we now need to look at the “How.”

If this is a new discipline for you, you’ll need some tips to get started on the right foot.

While it isn’t difficult to fast, it can be physically uncomfortable unless you follow a few very important steps.

God calls all Believers to live a “fasted life,” meaning choosing foods that will nourish our bodies, not trash them.

If you eat like most people, you may experience headaches as you sluff off the toxins circulating throughout your body.

But take heart, you will feel better after a few days. So, don’t get discouraged and give up! The spiritual, physical and emotional benefits will be well worth it!

In order to minimize discomfort, consider tapering off sugary products, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, MSG and chemical laden meats, about a week before beginning your fast. Plus, increase your water intake.

There are three types of fasts. The absolute, the normal and the partial fast. We’ve chosen the normal fast, which is abstaining from all foods.

Bill and I used to do water fasting, but as we’ve gotten older, vegetable and fruit juices seem to work better for us.

We’re beginning with ten days on the lemonade fast, which we wrote about in an article a few issues back.

On the eleventh through the twenty-first days, we will alternate vegetable and fruit juices. We particularly like Low Sodium V-8 because of all its nutrients.

I already gave you the recipe for lemonade and the health benefits of cleansing your system. However, for your convenience, I’ll list the ingredients again.

To make a gallon, use 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (you can use limes if you prefer). Add 1 cup of maple syrup (grade B, but grade A will do). Add 20 drops of liquid cayenne, and fill a glass gallon container with purified water.

Drink the whole gallon if you can. Since I use water in-between my servings, it takes me two days to drink a gallon.

Whatever fast you choose, we’d love to hear about the miracles God does in your life!

HealtHPoint A Season of Fasting

T’

hen Donna called to say she’d given her heart to Christ, and was ready to give up her topless dancing job and the whole nightclub scene, Bill and I were thrilled!

You see, the Lord had directed us to intercede for my baby sister several months before, and we’d been anticipating her call.

It was during that call that I sensed the Holy Spirit nudging me to take Donna into our home and disciple her.

Only thing is, He failed to mention that I’d have to put up with “crumbs on the counter!”

Several months before, I’d been praying for the Lord to teach me how to walk in love. But I never anticipated the depth of training He was about to put me through!

He had been showing me folks to practice on, by pointing out some people who looked lonely and in need of a friend.

I honestly didn’t know how to love them, but as I listened to the Lord and followed His leading, I began to catch on.

He said He would shed abroad His love in our hearts ... so, that was my constant prayer. “Lord, thank You for shedding abroad Your love in my heart for others.”

All of us need to know we’re accepted, loved and valued. The Lord helped me to keep that at the forefront of my mind as I began to take baby steps.

It was definitely a learning experience, and though I stumbled many times, I was determined to keep my focus on the way He was calling me to live.

When the Lord gives me an assignment, I have found He doesn’t always share at the outset all that He has in mind.

But now He was bringing this assignment closer to home. And I was finding it to be a big “stretch” for me almost every day.

Some days I’d have to go into my bedroom and talk to the Lord, that is, after I’d done a “silent scream” just to relieve some of the tension. The Holy Spirit would always energize me with His strength, and I was able to come out smiling.

I must’ve pulled it off pretty well, as Donna told me years later that she wasn’t aware of any of that; she only saw the smiles.

Don’t get me wrong—it’s not that she was hard to love. Donna’s always been a sweet person.

But, I found as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, that her sweetness was wearing thin in the face of some very bad habits she displayed.

You’ve probably guessed that I’m very different from my sister in some pretty significant ways.

One is that she’s comfortable to live with a certain amount of clutter. I, on the other hand, set daily goals, am generally organized and keep my home in reasonable order.

A typical scenario was Donna’s habit of making a sandwich and leaving crumbs on the counter, and the cabinets open.

Like I said, God didn’t inquire if I would accept His assignment to disciple Donna provided she was like me. No, He just asked me to love, accept and value His child as He trained her.

I knew if I was to make a difference in her life, I’d have to accept ALL of it—crumbs included!

Agape love takes God flowing through us to pull it off. If we depend on ourselves, we will fail every time!

The two and a half years Donna was with us, my preferences never changed. I still liked an orderly home, but what I found was that as I focused on her needs, I could trust God’s timing to change her from the inside out.

Discipleship won’t be effective if we insist on instant growth.

People need “elbow” room or else they’ll move on—and sadly, some may even leave the discipleship process all together.

Fulfilling Christ’s command to love others has to be hammered out in practical ways.

It may be expressed by a smile, a touch or an encouraging word. Sometimes it takes far more.

When people come to our three-day intensives, their relief shows soon after meeting Bill and me. We often hear comments like, “You’re the first ministers I’ve truly felt accepted me just like I am. I don’t feel judged!”

And what a joy it is to be instruments in the hands of the Holy Spirit as He shares His life and love through us!

Crumbs on the CounterW’