Redefining Red: Turning Your Red-Light Moments into Green-Light Victories

by Elictia Hart, Samuel Rodriguez (Foreword by)

Overview

What Makes You See Red?

The red light in TV means you’re on—go!

A red light in your life is a warning—stop!

But what if you could turn these red-light moments into encounters with God, insights on deeper faith, and motivation to go forward and thrive.

Learn to redefine red when:

• You’re dreaming
• You’re afraid
• You’re lost
• You’re stuck
• You’re weak

With highlights from her intriguing career as a broadcast journalist, along with a unique look into the lives of beloved Bible heroes, Elictia explains how red-light moments can become green lights to go forward—trusting God and embracing who you’re meant to be.

This book on jump-starting your faith and living intentionally is perfect for fans of Priscilla Shirer and Christine Caine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780785223641
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,042,642
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Pastor Elictia Hart, along with her husband Pastor James Hart, are the leaders of Eagle's Nest Worship Center in Omaha, Nebraska, one of the largest, most diverse congregations in our country. For almost 20 years this Seattle native traveled the globe as a television journalist working for CNBC, Entertainment Tonight, ESPN and various network affiliates. Today, Pastor Elictia combines her former career with her current passion by preaching God's perfect truth on her television show Live Your Journey which airs on the worldwide networks TBN Salsa and The Faith Broadcasting Network (FBN). Every year, in addition to her domestic speaking schedule, Elictia accepts multiple invitations to come a preach in places like Brazil, Burkina Faso, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Latvia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. She is the mother of twins Micah and Jemma and lives in Nebraska.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

RED IS THE NEW GREEN

REDEFINING RED WHEN YOU'RE DREAMING

Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is.

— Julia Cameron

What in the world was I doing? Why did I ever think I could do this? And a better question: How would I get through this? What if I froze in front of the camera and couldn't say anything?

"Get ready, Elictia! You're on in ... five!"

I nodded and adjusted the cordless mic in my sweaty palm. Had I worn the right outfit? Should I have worn the blue blouse instead? Did I look as terrified as I felt? Was my makeup still okay?

"Four!"

My heart pounded against my chest like a jackhammer. I tried to swallow but my mouth was too dry, sending another wave of nausea-inducing panic through me. Please, Lord, I silently prayed, help me through this! I can't do this — but I know You can.

"Three!"

Adjusting my stance and the angle of my head, I forced myself to smile — not too big, but a pleasant, professional expression of confidence. I cleared my throat one more time, grateful that my voice might work after all.

"Two!"

Oh, dear God, be with me! I was about to go live before several hundred thousand — maybe more than a million — viewers for the first time. All those college classes, countless rehearsals, and dozens of videotaped segments no longer mattered. Looking into that big eye of the camera, I was about to be seen in houses, apartments, gas stations, schools, hospitals, and offices all around the Tri-Cities area of the Pacific Northwest. I was going inside the daily lives of viewers everywhere to tell them about — what was my segment about?

Silence. Only my cameraman's one finger folding in on itself as the red light of his shouldered camera began glowing brighter than Rudolph's nose. Breathe, girl, breathe!

"Thanks, Bob," I said right into the camera. "As you can see, I'm here in Yakima outside the airport's newly completed expansion ..."

From there, I'm not sure what I said, but I know I kept talking. Back then reporters doing live stories didn't have smartphones, tablets, or other note- taking gadgets. We occasionally wrote down names or direct quotes, but the story was mostly all in my head. As my sixty seconds ticked away, my cameraman signaled me it was time to transition to the pre-taped, pre-edited piece we'd shot that morning.

"So let's take a look inside the newly renovated terminal."

While the taped piece of me walking from one gate to another inside the Yakima airport ran, I tried to relax and catch my breath, knowing that in exactly sixty seconds, I would be back on air to close the segment. All I had to do was say the final two sentences I'd written and memorized, say my name, and close and toss back to our studio anchor. And I must have done it, but I honestly can't remember anything but the red glow perched atop the camera.

I had just learned, contrary to everything I'd been taught since childhood, that I would have to redefine my perception of red.

FINDING MY SCRIPT

Looking back, almost thirty years later, I still recall how unbelievably nervous I felt then and how the Lord got me through it. I know my first on-air report was far from perfect, but I had to start somewhere. Everyone in the industry had told me that the best confidence builder is experience. Which sounded good until I realized that was my problem — I didn't have any! In fact, at the time I wasn't sure I even wanted to be a broadcast journalist.

You know how some people always knew they wanted to be a doctor or nurse, a teacher or lawyer, an artist or performer? Well, I wasn't one of those. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Growing up as a Pacific Northwest girl, I stayed close to home and attended the University of Washington. (Go Huskies!) For the first few years of college I just learned to go with the flow. I didn't have a clear picture of what my adult life would look like, so I just studied and kept asking the Lord, "What classes should I take? What career field should I explore?"

Going into my third year in college, I finally had to declare my major. At this time, when I was still not 100 percent certain, I believe God gently guided and nudged me in the right direction by allowing me to get a job at the Seattle Times. I thought, Oh, this will be great! Media is exciting, and I love to write, so this should be fun.

Only it wasn't.

After working there for a time, I realized that I didn't want to do print journalism. It just wasn't me. The constant pressure to have everything written, edited, polished, and ready to go never stopped. And the very best journalists for the paper became victims of their own success, constantly forced to write more and longer articles. The energy, the vibe, the whole role was just not a fit for me.

Coming off that disappointment, I was a little wary to try another media job, but I couldn't say no when offered an internship with KOMO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Seattle. As soon as I stepped into the newsroom, I felt at home. People were scrambling, phones were ringing, keyboards were clicking, and editors were shouting out last-minute instructions to reporters and the camera crew as they rushed out the door to cover breaking stories.

Just then the lady guiding me on a tour of the newsroom asked me to wait while she handled a breaking-news situation requiring her immediate attention. I just stood there taking it all in, watching everything in slow motion, as I thought, This is it! This is what I want to do! But even as that thought popped into mind, I wondered if I had what it took to be a broadcast journalist, or "talent" as the reporters and anchors were dubbed by the rest of the studio team.

The following week I began my journey to find out. Grateful for such a cool internship at a TV station, I was not above doing any job and soon found myself working frantically behind the scenes. I began answering phones, taking notes at meetings, preparing the sheets (scripts) that the main anchors would refer to if the prompter went down, and doing any grunt work below the veteran workers' pay grades. I totally owned it and loved every minute of it! (Today most stations use iPads or some type of electronic device for their scripts.)

But I knew I had to take the risk to find out.

RED MEANS GO

As my internship became a full-time job, my dream of becoming a broadcast journalist came to life. I believe the seed of that dream was already inside me, and the nourishment of working in that environment caused it to grow. The more I learned, the more I knew this was what God had created me to do for this season of my life. I still got nervous, especially as I worked through all those firsts — my first time on-air, my first time reporting live, my first time improvising at an event, but I realized that growth only came with experience. And experience only came with being nervous and making mistakes.

During this time of growth, as my dream matured, I was amazed at how God often used other people to encourage and empower my dream. After working as a "reporter at large" for the station where I had interned, I began working my way up the ranks in a variety of roles, each one providing unique experience in the world of broadcast journalism. I worked as a field producer, news scriptwriter, fact checker, video editor, and compiler of financial data from the stock market. Finally, I began to get on-air experience at a station in Kansas, invaluable practice to help me work the kinks out and become more comfortable in front of the blinking red eye of the camera. After a couple of years bouncing around like this, I put together a tape of my best clips and was hired as a weekend sports anchor at a television station in Mississippi.

Mitch, the sports director there, was one of the most influential bosses I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and working for. When I interviewed, I didn't know that God was sending me a boss who was a man of God, but Mitch constantly preached the Word to me, sometimes literally, other times through his words and actions.

Mitch continually deposited encouragement that helped shape me as a reporter and allowed me to reach and dream for the future. I recall being on a 5:00 p.m. live shot outside and being a little unnerved because it was storming badly. I not only had that little red light winking at me, I had wind and rain slamming against me. While I wasn't in any danger, I was distracted, annoyed, and frustrated. I made it through the first time, but I felt shaky and began doubting myself.

Seeing my less-than-stellar performance the first time, Mitch phoned before the next live shot at 6:00 p.m. and told my photographer to patch him through to me. Suddenly, I couldn't see him but I could hear him. "Elictia," he said, in his thick, Southern accent. "Listen to me: you are in your season, at the right place, at the right time. God has placed you there. Now you do that live shot like nobody's business. Do not be moved by the weather!" With that encouragement, when it came time for the 6:00 p.m. live shot, I "sang and danced" in the storm and did an excellent job. With Mitch's encouragement and reminder that God was in control, I could now see myself doing live shots unaffected by my surroundings. I could visualize myself doing larger assignments after this moment of learning. I understood the way I was allowing circumstances — in this case, the bad weather — to influence my attitude. But when I visualized myself moving forward toward my dream by persevering through adversity, it was a game changer.

Seeing red doesn't mean you should stop.

It only means you need to let the Lord lead you forward.

Which brings me back to you. I know with certainty that if your eyes are reading these pages, it's not by chance. This book has landed in your hands purposefully. I'm humbled and privileged to share some of my journey with you in hopes that you can glean from what I've experienced and how God has worked in my life.

I've learned that you don't have to be in front of a television camera to encounter those "redefining red" moments. Everyone has them, and our lives often have more of them than we would like. Times when red feels like bloodshed as you're facing your fears. Situations when a red spark of possibility signifies your desperation for the provision of fire. Places where you feel lost, glimpsing red reflectors along a deserted roadside. Moments that haunt you with the scarlet letter of shame as past events try to derail your destiny.

You see, redefining red only means that it's time to be "on" when the camera goes live. This same strategy applies when you're faced with your life's most tumultuous trials and most devastating disasters. When you face one of life's red moments, you may be tempted to freeze in place, paralyzed by fear, doubt, uncertainty, and anxiety. When you're faced with a red moment, however, it's not the time to step back, stay down, or sit out. When a red light goes off in your life, signaling something unexpected, challenging, and frightening, you must step out in faith and go to God. Life's red lights should be a green light for us to run to the arms of our Father!

He will give you His power to shine through your weaknesses and His strength to sustain you when you can't go on. The apostle Paul knew about this kind of divine reinforcement firsthand. Paul apparently struggled with some problem or issue that he deemed a "thorn in my flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7), his own personal red light. He prayed fervently and repeatedly for the Lord to remove this thorn before God finally told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (v. 9).

RED ALERT

Throughout this book we will explore a variety of redefining-red moments, from both my life and the examples of heroes from the Bible. With each one, we will discover our red moments can become green lights for trusting God and embracing our divine destiny. Red truly is the new green! If we rely on our own power, we may be tempted to panic, give up, or lose hope. But when we run to God and rely on Him, we're empowered for the greatness for which He created us as His children.

God is faithful to meet us wherever we find ourselves. His grace, mercy, strength, and power are available to us in the midst of places we never expected to be — when we face an illness or injury, lose our jobs, experience a betrayal, or wrestle with the consequences of past mistakes. These red moments cannot rob us of the riches of our Father's heavenly glory. When you feel pushed to the limit and up against a wall, that's when you can trust God not only catch to you but hold you close.

So many people have no idea what they're capable of accomplishing and what God has created them to achieve with Him as their power source. Unfortunately, they often wait until they're faced with an excruciating loss or painful setback to draw on the resources they need in order to overcome, both within themselves and from their Creator. But these red-flag occasions can often become red-letter opportunities, strengthening our spiritual muscles and equipping us for greater goals ahead.

I know firsthand that if God can use me, He can use you. To achieve His greatness and advance His kingdom, you only have to be willing. One thing I quickly learned about being on-air talent — you often have to improvise! With breaking news, there's often not enough time to do research, develop main points, or frame a story. I had to be willing to think on the fly, do the best I could, and keep going.

Similarly, our lives often require this kind of improvisation, stepping out in faith when we can't see what's ahead or how we'll get there. But as we learn from various examples in the Bible, God delights in using underdogs. You don't have to have your act together, have enough experience, or lead a perfect life for Him to use you, strengthen you, and delight in you. God has planted a dream inside you and wants to help you grow with it. And the amazing thing about this growth process is the way He often turns adversity into fertilizer, feeding your dream until it's time for you to bloom.

A DREAM COME TRUE

While the Bible tells us about many dreamers, one in particular always reminds me of the way God uses our struggles to make us stronger. Consider Joseph, son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac and great-grandson of Abraham. You can read all about the one the Bible refers to as "the dreamer" in Genesis, chapters 37 to 50.

Joseph was just seventeen years old when God gave him dreams — two dreams to be exact. In these dreams God showed Joseph he would be honored by his family as a powerful leader and that even people of other nations would bow to him. The thing was, Joseph's brothers were already jealous of him for being the youngest and their father's favorite. When Joseph shared his dreams with them, they wanted to kill him. And they almost did. But they opted to sell him into slavery instead.

Talk about getting off to a rocky start!

Ever felt like you were worlds away from realizing your dreams? Like there was no way, no possibility that your dream could be realized in the midst of all you're experiencing? Rest assured, even those of us who have seen our dreams come to pass have often felt this way. It's so tempting when our dreams don't happen quickly and easily to assume, "Oh well, this dream was only that — a dream. It's never going to come to pass, so I might as well give up and move on."

Surely Joseph must have wondered if his dreams were going to be realized as he ricocheted from one terrible circumstance to another. For thirteen years this young man struggled through the consequences of his brothers' betrayal. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Joseph was then framed by his boss's wife and sent to prison. We're probably safe in suspecting that somewhere in all of this Joseph must have felt he missed it ... that these were not dreams that would ever come to pass, just flights of fancy crash-landing with his new life as a convict in Egypt. His circumstances were so completely opposite of what he dreamed.

How about you? Do you feel like you're moving in the direction of your dreams, growing closer to realizing all that God has planted in your heart? Do you feel like your dreams are in located in Miami and you're hitchhiking from Seattle? In other words, are you so far from seeing them realized that you're at a place of feeling like you completely missed it? But what if you were still going to reach your destination, just not by the most direct route, not the path you would map for yourself?

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Redefining Red"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Elictia Hart.
Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Foreword xiii

Chapter 1 Red Is The New Green: Redefining Red When You're Dreaming 1

Chapter 2 Facing the Fire: Redefining Red When You're Afraid 17

Chapter 3 Raise a Red Flag: Redefining Red When You're Desperate 37

Chapter 4 Detours and New Directions: Redefining Red When You're Lost 49

Chapter 5 Sacrificing Your ISAAC: Redefining Red When You're Stuck 67

Chapter 6 More Than Enough: Redefining Red When You're Weak 83

Chapter 7 Time Will Tell: Redefining Red When You're Waiting 99

Chapter 8 In The Crosshairs: Redefining Red When You're in Danger 121

Chapter 9 Throw Out the Lifeline: Redefining Red When You're Bold 141

Chapter 10 Coming Home: Redefining Red When You're Loved 161

Acknowledgments 183

About the Author 187