CPS: When I teach my self-image pageant seminars–about every three months I have one–the most important point is the one you just made, and it works for everybody. It’s not just for the ones in pageants. This is for life. And that is, she said she found out that when she competed with everybody else, she failed. But when she competed to be the best Rhonda that God created, see. See, it’s not that she wears the crown, it’s just when she finished that she said, “Well, I did the best I could do for You, Jesus, and that’s what’s important. And that doesn’t have to be on the stage. That’s when you walk every day of your life, am I the best that I can be today? Or did I fail today? Or have I kept my eyes so on You, Lord, that I’ve listened to every word You said today and I have done what You’ve asked me to do for today? And that’s what you’re saying. The first time she got caught up and that’s what we do in life. We get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of life and we forget. Teenagers get caught up in school, they get caught up in the things that are going on around them and they forget that the peer pressure they are feeling, if they can turn that peer pressure around and we can be, Christians can be the peer pressure to the world, rather than the world being the peer pressure to us. (Applause)
LR: Amen, that’s right. And, you know, God places dreams in our heart, no matter what people say, no matter what men and women may tell you. Sometimes, no matter what you tell yourself, you know, you may mouth it on the outside, but deep inside your heart you know the dream that God has placed in your heart and you know that it’s a good dream, it’s a good vision, it’s something that you believe in. But maybe the circumstances have tried to tell you you can’t do it. You know, I say, and I laugh at this but it’s not funny, one of the dirtiest words in the English language is circumstance. It is the most destructive word in the English language sometimes because we say, “Well, I can’t do this, I’m ugly. I can’t do this, I’m short. I can’t do this, I’m too tall. I can’t do this, I’m,” you know, “I’m not qualified.” That’s right. You know, an ORU student once said, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” If you are called of God to do something, it doesn’t matter if you are a drug addict right now, God can turn your life around. If you knew deep inside your heart you’ve got a dream and you want to fulfill it, God can work on those circumstances and He can do it miraculously. We don’t always have to do all the work ourselves. Sometimes our hands are tied. But if we keep our faith up, God can work those circumstances for our good, even when they look like they’re going to destroy us. Cheryl, for example, had a dream in her heart. Somebody said to you as a little girl, “Some day, honey, you’re going to be Miss America.”