BY R H O N D A C O C R O F T P O W E L L I want to encourage and empower my Christian brethren today to speak the truth in love. Most of my life I have tried to be a "people pleaser". I hate it when people don't like me, talk about, hurt me. I struggled with severe anxiety as a child and as a teenager. On the outside everything looked good and fine, but on the inside, I was dying . When I came to know Jesus Christ at 17 years of age, many things changed for me. My newfound love for Jesus made me into a whole new person in Christ. The scales fell from my eyes and for the first time ever, I began to see the truth of God's word. Although I now had Jesus, I did not realize the work He would eventually do through me in the many years ahead. I would continue to struggle with my anxieties and fears, but the Lord has been gracefully breaking me to trust Him, and Him alone with each passing day. I say all of this to say, if God can speak th