I was mentoring a group of college-age students. I got to speak truth into their lives, especially about their identity. I helped them resolve labels that had been placed on them, pulling those labels off and really setting the truth in them. Who we truly are is who God says we are. True humility is agreeing with that. I was teaching them that every day.
The Lord told me that my message would go to a billion people. I just shrugged that off and thought, “Whatever. A billion—how ridiculous! How is that even possible?” I would see myself speaking in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people. I thought, “God, how is that going to happen? I’m really doing nothing today. I’m just speaking into these few people’s lives.”
In 2006, I met one of the girls to give her a goodie bag full of junk food for her finals. She said, “Sheri, we have been sharing the truth that you have been giving us with all the students.” Take the people that I was mentoring who were getting it, and they were multiplying it to about thirty students. This girl was leaving to go to Mexico to become a missionary to orphans. There were about seven hundred orphans where she was going. She was translating the set that I had taught her into Spanish. That was her heart’s desire.
I just got in the car, and I knew that God had spoken to me right then: “Honey, it really is a billion. Your life is going to impact a billion people. I’m going to show you how right now.” He showed me that ten to the ninth power is a billion people. A billion lives. It doesn’t mean that it’s all going to be done today on this earth. It is going to be done over a period of time as people multiply. It is kind of like a multilevel marketing company. They multiply by pouring into ten, and then those ten pour into ten, and then those ten pour into ten. As they multiply over time, it grows wealth all the way up.The Lord showed me that I am going to pour into ten and train them to pour into ten. It will continue to multiply. My children are part of my ten. It will multiply into their children. I don’t know how many years or generations deep it will go, but it will pour into a billion lives. I’m a million percent confident of that because God showed me. He gave me a word, and I stand in that word every day.
I want you to know that you have influence over ten. You have ten. There are ten in you. You have a story that needs to be shared because there are ten in you, and ten to the ninth power is a billion. God wants to use your life. Stop looking at me or someone else that you admire or you look up to. Stop thinking some other person has the gift to share and you don’t. You absolutely do. It’s your testimony that goes before you. It lights up a path and breaks down people’s hardened hearts. When they see that you have overcome, it gives them hope that they can overcome.
You have authority to speak into someone’s life. Who is it? You are influencing someone. You are influencing someone, and that is the person you should share your story with. You don’t necessarily have to write it down into a book, but write it down somewhere. It’s encouraging to go back. It’s encouraging to reflect.
You have a story. You have an influence on someone’s life. God has called you to be as bold as a lion. The righteous are as bold as lions. Share your story with confidence.
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