The Reality of Innocence

The Reality of Innocence

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

Murder capital.

Sin city.

This was around when I was 

Twenty. 

Ha.

Arrested in Flint for a crime I didn't commit -

At least this time..

 A crime..that I didn't commit.

So much injustice..

In a city of violence

This time..

I was innocent.

Later my case was dismissed.

But I want to tell you about the experience.

Betrayed.

By somebody who was supposed to love me.

But all I could think of was that

Some of these prisoners were more free

Than the people you see..

Walking on the streets.

Some of the police..

Were missing their hearts

While some of these prisoners had missing body parts.

And when I say they were missing their hearts

What I really meant was..

 That their hearts were brutally dark.

Mocked.

By men in uniforms

And I surely..don't mean

Orange..ones.

But by men and women with badges that they supposedly..earned.

Who were still given grace if they could only learn..

To accept it..

And to stop rejecting it.

If they could only learn to see..

That they were no better than anybody.

In cuffs

While I was waiting to see the judge

All I could think of was the man hanging up on the cross -

Jesus.

He was betrayed by the people he walked among..

The very people that he still died for..

To love.

The ONLY innocent man who was hung upon a tree

Gave me peace.

You are my child - protected by the blood.

All things I have worked together for your own good.

You are called according to my purpose and you've got to

Forget those who are still being remorseless.

Forgive and forget the pompous.

Move on because you deserve..

Love.

Move on..

Because I have something greater.

Someone who is faithful.

Not only..

Faithful..

To you, but faithful..

To me.

The Image of Transparency

The Image of Transparency

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

You all up on here carin' about your image like Cain

While I'm just doing damage with the transparency of what I say.

I ain't perfect.

I make mistakes.

But you just on here tryin' to imitate..

The world

With the words you spill 

And the poison you hurl on Saturday nights.

That's what I used to be like

But now on Sunday mornings I learn to be like,

Love like Christ

Instead of loving like those one stand nights.

I'm new.

Let me tell you

It wasn't worth it when the night was through.

Love with no attachments led to other people's misjudgments about me.

Slut, hoe, whore.

Well with that night I thought I won..

The heart of the man who I adored 

In place of the innocent lamb who I ignored..

Swapped..

For a man in a mask,

A man who played around like it was an important task.

Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.
Had another and didn't love her.

Spiritual maturity like a nursery rhyme,
Recognized, realized, and brought into the light.
I was confused.
Heard so many "God bless you's."
Which "god" are you talking about!?
For the first time in my life I started to doubt
What I really knew -
The truth.
Yet the one and only God pulled me out.
I was blind, but now I can see
The ugliness of deceit.

Let this be a lesson.
Not of defeat,
But of victory and freedom..
Because He was watching over me.
Protected by the blood..
From
Wolves in sheep masks.
Always declare, "Let there be light" and ask..
For discernment,
What a beautiful, beautiful adornment.

Testimony Tuesday - Anthony Young

Who Am I?

Anthony Young

To begin, my name is Anthony Young, a 20 year old college student who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. I have a job at a major electronics store, and I also volunteer at my local church as a youth leader. At one point in time I was a Spiritual Coach for Groundwire.net but found doing all of what I was doing was too demanding and taxing on me, so I have been on break from that.
I love people, and believe that there is good in every single person, no matter how evil their actions may be in this world; and have been spending the past few years of my life helping those less fortunate, or being there for those who feel like they have no one to go to -- and I have been doing this all through The Reading Group.

But I wasn't always so eager to help others; I wasn't always so willing to be selfless and help others, even if they didn't want my help. There was once a time to where the only thing I was worried about was myself and my own gain. There was a time in my life where I didn't claim Jesus as my Lord & Savior.
I don't have a story that begins with "I was raised in the church" or "everything was handed to me". No; my story starts on a much different path.
I come from a single parent home, growing up with just my mother doing her best to support me and my now 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My father was kicked out while I was young, and since then my mom hasn't been able to find the one who one would consider would be "chosen by God" for her. So that has always been a struggle for her, and for myself to watch as I grew older and saw a lot of my friends with happily married parents. I hated my dad for a very long time for not being there for my mother, for not being there for me.
While growing up through school, I never really thought that I would truly use school to get anywhere in life. If my dad has left and is not making much of his life as far as what I knew, how would I possibly do any better? So I did not care about school or succeeding with anything in life. And that was just the beginning of the lies that the devil had filled my mind and my hear with; but at the time I didn't truly know better, even though I knew the 'basics' of right and wrong. So because I didn't care about school, or life for that matter, I didn't try. Once I got in highschool, I never tried - never did my homework or truly applied myself in the classroom. For I was too worried about my friends and being the 'class clown' you can say. I wasn't dumb, for I always did decent or well on my test, but not doing my homework led to bad grades. I also ended up getting into a relationship with a girl who I had a few classes with, so she was the only thing on my mind while in any of my classes. And with all of that adding up, it ended with me failing the 9th Grade (Freshman Year of Highschool)

You can say major reality check. The conversation with my mother once she found out I have failed the 9th grade did not go the way you normally thought it would go. I was expecting a lot of rage, and maybe to get beat. But she barely yelled at me - which let me know even more how disappointed she was with me; and that hurt me more than any beating ever could. I also received a phone call from my father who also told me how disappointed he was with me for following in his footsteps - for he failed the 10th grade when he was in school. And that made me hate him even more, for that was the only reason why he had called.

I was put on punishment for an entire year. For a 15 year old kid, that is the end of the world. No internet, no phone, no friends over. The only things I was allowed to do was go to school, then come home and go to my room. But I rebelled against my mother, and found ways to sneak out of the house to see the now new girlfriend who I had. But I wasn't a completely bad child. For after experiencing letting both of my parents down, I took it upon myself to make it up to them and I applied myself to school, getting straight A's

(High Marks) in all of my classes. Luckily, God saw my hard work, and I was presented with an opportunity to get back into my correct grade. I took it and began to get back on the right path. But that wouldn't last very long. For after that I would find myself heading right back on the road to destruction that I was on before.

 

THIS IS THE DEATH OF ME.

[This section contains content some may not find suitable for younger people. Just a warning. Don't worry, there's no cursing]

The following year, I began talking to yet another girl, who I eventually started dating. My life was 'back together' - from my own perspective - for I was no longer on punishment, and I could actually 'have a life". But the relationship would be the most toxic one I've ever had. I've became sexually active at this time, and the relationship became so unhealthy that the only reason why we were together was because of our addiction to lust. We've cheated on each other, because our 'love' was based on a lie. I found myself addicted to pornography. As my relationship started to drag on with this girl, I noticed myself becoming less and less happy with my life. I began to hate everything about myself because I wasn't satisfied with her or myself. Yet I could never bring myself to leave the relationship. We argued and fought, and I began to drink alcohol. My grades in school began to fall once again, and I started to not be very social with my friends.
I became so depressed with my life that I began to take pills in an attempt to numb my emotional pain and fill what was missing in my life.

And when that did not work for me, suicidal thoughts began to pour into my head. I started thinking things like "why am I even here" and "no one would care if I just ran away and died". And I began to honestly believe that to be truthful. So one day, I finally decided I would give up on life. I went to a local bridge in my town, prepared to jump off into the river and forever disappear.
I ended up telling a friend my intentions, and she pleaded for me to not go through with it. But I decided otherwise. But as I sat on the bridge, I couldn't bring myself to jump. For something just would not allow me to do so. So that attempt turned out to not happen. So I ended up going back to pills, trying to purposely over dose and not tell anyone until it was too late. But I could never successfully do that either.

The Genesis | A New Beginning 

I now see why I was always unsuccessful with taking my own life. It is because God had a bigger plan for my life than I had for myself. I didn't notice it at first, but He had placed someone in my life at a very young age who He would utilize to bring me towards Himself. A friend of mine, my very best friend since the 3rd grade, was one of the few people who I would go to with my issues. I knew his parents went to church often, and one day it was just on my heart to ask him to take me to church with him since my family didn't go. He agreed to take me with his family to church every week. It was after then that I found happiness and peace coming slowly back into my life. But still yet I was battling depression and suicidal thoughts. But another friend of mine who also happened to be a Christian invited me and my best friend to his church for a youth outreach event that they were having. And from that very day, I knew I was home.  I began going to that youth ministry on a weekly bases, and I became as involved as much as I possibly could as the Lord began to fill me with peace and the comfort of knowing the Holy Spirit. And I soon gave my life to Christ.

I have always had compassion for others, and I always went out of my way for my friends, always being that person who they could go to just to have someone who would listen to them and allow them to vent, but I was never a person who would tell people about Christ, for at that time I was not an all out Christian.

But that would all play into my role here at The Reading Group.

A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH ONE STEP.

The Reading Group started off rather coincidentally. It began with me and a Christian friend of mine, Emma, keeping each other accountable for reading our bibles. I was struggling with doing it on a daily basis, but I knew I really wanted to grow more in God. We began by both doing a reading plan together and checking on eachother on a daily basis to be sure we've read out bibles. We've like that idea so much that we brought some more friends on board to join us. We made a Facebook Group with our friends to try and get more people reading their bibles consistently. As we began to make more people join the group, we've noticed that we had reached around 100 group members. That was when I felt God calling me to make it more than just friends and classmates, but to spread this idea to as many people as I possibly could. And thus The Reading Group was born. Over the course of little under a year, our Facebook page had grown to about 1000 followers, and then Twitter had around 500. Since I was in college I knew I couldn't always be able to be online to post, so I started looking for more people to join, and that's when I started meeting some of our amazing Leaders online via Twitter and Facebook.

Now, 2 years later, The Reading Group is on almost every major social network, from Facebook, to Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, and an inactive Pintrest account :P

With over 2000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, and a team of over 20 leaders from all over the world. I would have never thought that God would have brought me this far, and the journey is only just beginning for this ministry. Our leaders are so amazing, for everything that they do is volunteer, out of the goodness of their hearts, willing to do whatever it takes to change the world. Because that's what this earth needs - World Changers. I would not be able to do any of this without them. [For a list of our leaders, please visit www.myreadinggroup.com/aboutus]

Too often, people live a life similar to what I have lived, living in sin, but they aren't as lucky as I am to have friends or people who they are able to go to church with, or they don't have a Godly individual to guide them to the right path. Too often, Christians just watch these people waste their lives away and say "what a shame" instead of getting up and reaching out to those people like Christ reached out for many of us who didn't just grow up in the church. That is why we are here. To do what many refuse to do and be that friend who tells people "I know someone who loves you so much that they gave their life for you.. would you like to know more about them?", or to bluntly say "the way you are living is going to land you in a pit of fire for you being stupid and wasting your life, you need to change it now." That, and so much more is The Reading Group itself. For we all love people so much that we cannot afford to see those around us perish and go to hell when we can do something about it.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

I have not only been blessed with an amazing and wonderful team, God has been positioning this ministry to be able to work together with other ministries and organizations to help further spread the Word of God and His unfailing love.

______________________________
Anthony Young
Founder | The Reading Group
anthony@myreadinggroup.com

The Reading Group - To bring together the body of Christ in fellowship through the Word of God.
www.myreadinggroup.com
www.facebook.com/dailybiblereadings
www.twitter.com/reading_group

Member of The NEGU Family Network.
www.NEGU.org