About me 

Hey everyone, it’s me! Victoria Faith, Creator and CEO of Almost Holy. As much as I love hosting a podcast and sharing my life with God on a listening platform, I found writing is one of my favorite artistic expressions so join me on this story down memory lane.

The scene

I’m taking things back to my childhood, where on many occasions I remember God protecting me. I’m not only saying as an adult, I look back and now see how God protected me but as a child, I knew then He was there.I believed in the miracle-working, all powerful, and ever-present God. My mom raised me and my sisters to know scripture – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me”, “God has not given me the spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind”, “I am the head not the tail, I am above and not beneath”, along with church every Sunday, and taking us to at least three vacation bible schools each summer, I grew up to know God is real. 

So it was not by surprise when I saw God move very clearly on two occasions when dogs were in route to attack me and my sisters. I’ll never forget the first time, my little sister Alexandria (Alex), who some of you may know from my podcast, she was so little, maybe four years old when this happened. I was pretending Alex was a baby, pushing her in a stroller in our driveway when our neighbors rottweilers left their yard and were coming towards us. Me, being six, I was terrified and regrettably left Alex at the end of the driveway in the stroller to be prey. Lol, I should be laughing but what was I thinking!? Anyways, as the dogs were coming toward her, about to get on our driveway, I remember them unable to pass a certain point. They would ricochet because of an invisible fence protecting our driveway. As scared I was, I knew that was God. I knew angels were protecting us and I never questioned that it wasn’t. 

A few years later, a very similar situation happened. We were walking back from vacation bible school to our grandma’s house when a dog got loose. We were so scared, we started running and then Alex fell and busted her knee. Thankfully, another spiritual fence protected us again. Although we were scared, we knew God kept us safe once again. (Y’all can assume we were terrified of dogs for the rest of our childhoods but The Grace has freed us from this fear, amen!)

So as I get older and reflect on these moments and I think of what childlike faith truly means. The more life we experience, the dangers aren’t always as obvious; so the question that comes to mind is — do I still believe that God protects me? 

Obviously, when situations don’t work out in our favor or the outcome doesn’t look like what we’ve prayed for, it doesn’t always feel like His protection. I’ve learned this first hand and I won’t lie by saying I was so happy about it but staying the course has taught me that His ways will always be above mine. I’ve mentioned on the podcast that for months post graduation from grad school, I was unsuccessful in finding a full-time job. Thankfully, I was hired part-time at my graduate school internship to have some type of income but I was longing for a position in a new career path with benefits. I did feel like God was telling me to not apply to jobs but I would have a small piece of doubt that either I was telling myself that or that He wasn’t going to come through. So on and off for about six months I applied to maybe 40 jobs and didn’t get one interview. Which got me thinking maybe God did say “don’t apply to jobs” but at the same time, I was beginning to get nervous because my 26th birthday was approaching and we know what that means… I was getting kicked off of my parents insurance. So I’m thinking what am I supposed to do?! God, when are You going to move?! And I kid you not three days before my birthday, my current part-time job offered me a full-time position that was at one point “not in the budget”. (praise break lol)

I was so grateful that I could finally breathe because ya girl got benefits!!! But I would also like to remind you, my desire was to change careers and get benefits, so there was some frustration feeling like God did not fully answer my prayer. I had many thoughts and feelings I had to wrestle with about not being where I wanted to be. After about a week or two of living in this state of disappointment, I gave it to God. Then the Holy Spirit placed on my heart, maybe there’s a reason I’m here, maybe there’s a reason I didn’t get an interview anywhere, maybe  there was even an invisible field keeping me out of harm's way. In the weeks since I started full-time at my job where I didn’t expect to be, I’ve already experienced changes in my heart. 

1. 1. My heart is positioned in a state of gratitude. Even when things don’t work out as I hoped there are always reasons to be thankful because of Jesus. It has redirected me to what truly matters in life.  

2. 
   2. Believing on a deeper level that I am not what I do but who God says I am. Regardless if I’m at the best job in the world or with no job, what God has said over those who love Him still remains true.

As I’m beginning this ministry, I never want to share a message that things always work out the way we want. However, I know that throughout my life God has kept me. I’ve grown to know Him more and more and although things sometimes don’t work out, what God has planned is far bigger than what we can imagine. 

Now to come back to the start of this story, just as the dogs were unable to get past a certain point could be the same that even today whether it’s a job, relationship, business deal, move, etc. could be because God is protecting you for something better.