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‘The Star Thrower’ and the Difference You Can Make

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Latkes in a Wok

Posted on by Stacey Saggese

“Are they done yet?” I’d ask my late great-grandmother, whom I called Bubbe, on the first day of Hanukkah. She prepared latkes, a type of potato pancake made just for the holidays.

“Almost, bubbula,” she’d call back. I’d watch her hands deftly glide across the potatoes as she grated and chopped. “Someday you’ll make these,” Bubbe would declare, handing me that first latke from the frying pan.

I grew up in the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, in a dual-faith home (my mother is Jewish and my father, Catholic). We celebrated the traditions of both faiths, decorating our tree with angels, Santas and reindeer and menorahs and bagels. “Be thankful, Stacey, you have so much to celebrate,” Bubbe would say. She taught me that holidays are for surrounding yourself with family, friends and good food.

But in 2005 I wasn’t sure how to do that. I was far from home. Far from Bubbe’s delicious latkes. Thonburi, Thailand, to be exact. My fiancé, Dan, and I were there to teach English at a boys’ Catholic school. Our fellow teachers came from all over the globe—Australia, China, England, South Africa and the Philippines. Dan and I visited temples, wore Thai clothing and adopted the Thai saying, “Same, but different.” We felt at home, but part of me couldn’t imagine Hanukkah without Bubbe’s latkes. Same, but different. What did that mean for the holidays?

Our colleagues invited us to help decorate the school grounds for Christmas. We swathed the outdoor halls and courtyards in red and green garlands, and festooned the trees in white lights. Christmas carols blared over the loudspeaker. A papier maché Santa Claus was erected at the front gate of the school. It looked spectacular. But something was missing. “We need latkes!” I told Dan. “Let’s host a Hanukkah party for the teachers.” I called my mom in Massachusetts. “I need Bubbe’s latkes recipe,” I said.

She was excited. “I’ll send over some Hanukkah decorations,” she said. Several days later the box arrived—just in time for the first day of Hanukkah. We decked out the teachers’ meeting room with dreidels, Stars of David, menorahs and strings of white lights. On the table we had napkins and plates that read “Happy Hanukkah!”

Dan and I headed to a small Western grocery store in town. We hit the jackpot! They had all the ingredients. Back in the kitchen, we grated, chopped and mixed. Just one thing was missing: the frying pan. Dan pulled an electric wok from a shelf. “Think this’ll work?” Thais prepare almost all their dishes over an open flame with a wok. “Let’s try it!” I said. It worked.

The aroma soon lured teachers from all over the complex. Suddenly I wasn’t the little girl spying on her bubbe in the kitchen anymore, but a woman passing her family’s traditions along. “What is that delicious smell?” asked a teacher from China. Dan and I could hardly cook enough latkes to please the crowd—they devoured them with abandon and peppered us with questions too. “What is Hanukkah?”

“Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday that lasts for eight days,” I explained. “It commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. Each day of the holiday a candle is lit in a menorah until on the eighth day all the candles are aglow. The candles represent the miracle that occurred when the eternal light burned for eight days with just one small jar of holy oil. There are gifts and special foods like the latkes you’re eating.”

I looked around the room and saw people from different cultures celebrating together. The spirit of the holidays can unite people regardless of their faith. I was far from family—but with Bubbe’s latkes and friends to share them with, it felt just like home. Same, but different.

Try Bubbe’s Latkes!

Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott Heals with New Album ‘Love Remains’

Posted on by Jessica Toomer

Hillary Scott’s new album has been a year-long labor of love.

The Lady Antebellum front-woman began crafting the record early last summer after her grandfather passed away. Losing the man who had helped raise her felt a lot like losing her anchor in life, she says.

“He was constant and he was safe,” Scott tells Guideposts.org. “There was such a security in being in his presence.”

READ MORE: LADY ANTEBELLUM’S HILLARY SCOTT HAS A NEW FAITH-BASED ALBUM

After Scott and her family had taken some time to mourn her grandfather’s passing, they decided they wanted to do something to express their gratitude to the people who had supported them, friends and fans alike. Scott, along with her mom, dad and younger sister, began writing an album that would become both a “thank you” to everyone who had said a prayer or sent their love in the family’s time of need and a way for the singer to heal and process her own grief.

The result: a 13-track record that blends down-home southern gospel, country, pop, bluegrass and soul. Titled Love Remains, the new album features originals penned by members of the Scott family and producer Ricky Skaggs and some covers of contemporary favorites, like Crowder’s popular “Ain’t No Grave.”

Hillary Scott with mom Linda, dad Lang and younger sister, Rylee.

“We really wanted to kind of bridge the old with the new,” Scott says of the eclectic-sounding collection. “We’ve got a couple of traditional hymns and some contemporary songs we really fell in love with as well. It’s a melting pot.”

Scott and her family have been working in and out of the studio for months in order to get the new music ready and though the recording process has been a beautiful way for the clan to reconnect and make new memories, it’s also helped Scott heal from another tragedy.

Last fall, the singer suffered a miscarriage while working on the record. The debut track “Thy Will” is one Scott wrote while grieving the loss.

“It was a huge part of the healing process,” the artist says. “Having my faith tested so much in the midst of making a faith-based record – I just had to do it. I had to really make the choice to keep forging ahead, even in one of the most spiritually vulnerable places I’ve ever been.”

READ MORE: WINTLEY PHIPPS: FINDING MY VOICE

Scott said spending time with her family and penning her struggles to paper helped her get past those dark times – something she hopes to help others suffering through similar tragedy do as well.

“I felt not sharing it would’ve been withholding a huge part of my story — the story of my life that was going to forever change the rest of my life,” Scott says. “The second you see those two lines on the pregnancy test, you’re already envisioning this son or daughter crossing the stage at high school graduation. It’s not just this physical thing that happens. It’s the future, it’s the dream, it’s the ‘what could’ve been’ and I think it’s really important to let yourself go through grieving that because if you don’t, there’s a part of you that kind of dies with that experience.”

Though the album was born from a difficult time in Scott’s life, the process of making it has been one filled with joy.

“We had some of the most precious moments I’ve ever had in the studio with my family,” Scott says.

The singer hopes fans will hear and feel that same joy when listening to the record.

“It’s not a sad album,” Scott says. “It’s an honest depiction of life, the ups and downs. Our heart is that, when people listen to these 13 songs, they’re left full of hope.”

Lacey Chabert’s Great-Grandmother’s Sweet Potato Casserole

Posted on by Lacey Chabert

Ingredients

Casserole
3 c. peeled and boiled sweet potatoes.
1 c. sugar
½ c. melted butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Topping
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped pecans
½ c. melted butter
½ c. flour

Preparation

1. Puree or mash sweet potatoes and combine with sugar, vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of melted butter. Pour into buttered casserole dish.

2. For topping, combine brown sugar, pecans, flour and 1/2 cup of melted butter and pour evenly over sweet potatoes.

3. Bake at 350° for approximately 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Kristin Chenoweth’s Holiday ‘Grits’

Posted on by Kristin Chenoweth

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that besides performing in theater, in movies and on TV, I love to eat. Cooking, not so much. I try, but my kitchen forays are mostly limited to cutting open a bag of lettuce and sprinkling on a handful of croutons.

The real pro in the kitchen is my mom. From Thanksgiving to Christmas she was nonstop at her stove back home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the little town where I grew up, just outside Tulsa. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and all the fixings you’d expect in the heartland are on the menu. Twice.

Our Christmas traditions never get old. Mom has this tall ceramic tree she made years ago when the hobby seemed to go viral. Her loving creation sits in the middle of our dining room table and on each bough of the tree is a slender candle. My parents, brother and I each light one and say what we are most thankful for. Some are tear-inducing. Like when my dad said the thing he was most thankful for was “how my kids live their lives,” and how extremely proud of us he was.

On Christmas Eve, we do it all over again, and then we read the story from the Bible about the birth of Jesus. Time for services at First Baptist Church in Norman, where my parents now live. We open one gift that night, but the rest of the gifts wait for Christmas morning.

READ MORE: KRISTIN CHENOWETH FINDS COMFORT IN PRAYER

Okay. Now the feast. Thanksgiving all over again and it includes something we Chenoweths call “grits.” Oh my gosh, it’s so much more than that! For almost 50 years Mom has been making this recipe passed down from Grandma.

She knew good eats. It’s a concoction of sausage, egg, cheese and hominy grits, all baked to a golden brown, topped with a sprinkle of paprika. Red for Christmas. No one can resist. To compensate, we all wear our holiday expandable waistbands!

I’ve had to spend a lot of Thanksgivings and Christmases in New York, performing in shows. Mom knew how much I missed home. One Thanksgiving when I was in Wicked she flew out to have the holiday here with me. My New York apartment had your typical teeny-tiny kitchen. New Yorkers don’t cook! They eat out! How on earth could Mom put together a big heartland meal?

Ha! She whipped up a dinner for eight friends and me, complete with “grits.” It was delicious. Or as I like to say, Chenolicious! With food like that, my friends wondered how I could have ever left Broken Arrow. I am thankful that, in a pinch, Mom brings it to Broadway.

“Grits”

Ingredients

1 lb. hot bulk sausage ¼ lb. cheddar cheese
1 c. hominy grits ¼ tsp. garlic powder
4 c. boiling water ½ c. milk
1 tsp. salt 3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ c. margarine paprika

Preparation

1. Fry sausage, drain in strainer and then on paper towels.

2. Cook grits in boiling salted water over direct heat, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

3. Add margarine, cheese and garlic powder. Stir until melted and removed from heat.

4. Add milk, eggs and sausage. Mix thoroughly and pour in a 9×13-inch greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with paprika for color. Bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes.

Serves 6-10.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 350; Fat: 25g; Cholesterol: 115mg; Sodium: 740mg; Total Carbohydrates: 17g; Dietary Fiber: 1g; Sugars: 1g; Protein: 14g.

Kristin Chenoweth Finds Strength and Comfort in Prayer

Posted on by Kristin Chenoweth

I’ve never been shy. And I’m definitely not shy about my faith. I grew up in the Bible Belt, in Oklahoma. I’m a Christian and proud of it. I’ve sung about it, mentioned it on talk shows and it’s been an important part of some of the characters I’ve played.

In the new ABC show Good Christian Belles, about a group of women who grew up together in a Dallas church, I play Carlene. She’s a bit of a villain and stirs things up, which is certainly not me (it’s just acting, okay?).

But just because I’m frank about my faith doesn’t mean I’ve got everything all figured out. I struggle too. We all do. It’s kind of like developing your vocal range when you’re a singer. You’ve got to experience the highs and lows in life to develop your spiritual range and grow in your faith. Stick with me here and I’ll tell you what I mean.

ENJOYING THIS STORY? SUBSCRIBE TO GUIDEPOSTS MAGAZINE!

Keep asking the questions.
My Grandma Chenoweth was one of the most fervent, loving Christians I’ve ever known. She had friends in every denomination. Or as we used to say back home, she was a Southern Baptist who played canasta with the Methodists and dominoes with the Church of Christ-ers. In every tough situation she’d do what I’d call a Jesus test to figure out what was the right thing to do. And this was years before WWJD came along.

When Grandma died, her friends kept bringing us food to comfort us, lemon bars and shoofly pie and every casserole known to man (church-lady cuisine is something I sure miss out in Hollywood). Later we went through her things: her jewelry, her hats, her purses, her handkerchiefs. But her Bible was the real treasure.

I’d always heard that you could tell how important the word of God was to a person by looking at their Bible. Grandma’s had a crocheted cover she made herself (it needed a cover because it had gotten so worn and dog-eared over the years) and had notes in her handwriting on practically every page.

“I don’t understand this verse and need some help,” Grandma would write or “I tried to do this and it’s hard for me” or “This is my cross to bear” or “I need to pray about this” or “I’m not sure I’m in 100 percent agreement here.” Sometimes she had questions for her minister, sometimes for God, and all of her questions and notes showed what a real relationship she had with the Lord. Nothing was taken for granted. Belief was something she worked at and lived.

I’ve got my own questions for God, everything from “Why is forgiveness so hard?” and “Why do people get cancer?” to “Where on earth do the mates to my socks disappear to?” Sure, I’d love to know the answers one day, but I learned from Grandma that what matters is to keep asking the questions. Write them down, talk to friends and to your minister, and pray your way through them.

READ MORE: 5 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT KRISTIN CHENOWETH

Pray big.
I pray all the time. Sometimes I think I pray too much, if that’s possible. I pray for my mom and my dad, my brother and my sister-in-law. I pray if I have to travel (I have the worst travel luck and I just hate to fly). I pray for my friends. I pray for complete strangers.

Jesus said we’re supposed to pray for those who mistreat us. Not long ago I was feeling mighty mistreated by a flight attendant who bumped me from the seat I’d bought (I got delayed in security) and then wouldn’t help me get my bag in the overhead bin (hey, when you’re not even five feet tall, it’s hard to reach up there!). I told her I’d pray for her. Lord knows, we both needed it.

What’s really important is to make your prayers big, to ask for things that go deep and seem impossible. You might even get more than you ask for. I’ll tell you a story:

Some years ago in the town of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, there was a young couple who had a son and longed for a daughter to round out their family. Then the wife was told she needed to have a hysterectomy and wouldn’t be able to conceive again. She and her husband put their names on every adoption list they could find but hadn’t gotten any calls. She knew the wait would be long, maybe forever. Still, she prayed and prayed for a little girl. The day came when she checked into the hospital for surgery.

At that very same hospital, a young unmarried flight attendant (no connection to the one I just mentioned, of course) was about to give birth to a baby she planned to give up for adoption. Her doctor had helped line up a loving couple to adopt and raise the baby. Then that wife discovered to her surprise that she was pregnant. “Please let the baby go to another couple,” she told her doctor. The ob-gyn consulted the young couple from Broken Arrow. “You mean we could have our new baby now?” they asked. Absolutely, they were told. And wouldn’t you know, that baby turned out to be a girl?

“I went into the hospital to have surgery,” my mother liked to tell me, “and I came home with you.” I marvel at how many people’s prayers were answered: my parents’, the couple who was originally going to adopt the baby, my birth mother’s.

Leave it up to God.
Remember I said I have trouble flying? Did I mention it’s partly because I get migraines and I have this disease with a big fancy name called Ménière’s that makes motion sickness seem like a walk in the park?

The first time it hit me was 15 years ago. I was in New York City, rehearsing a Broadway musical called Steel Pier. I woke up that morning with a ringing in my ears, got out of bed and landed on the floor. The ground was tilting at a 90-degree angle and the walls were coming at me. I crawled to the bathroom and got very sick. So sick I was convinced I had a brain tumor or a stroke.

I peeled myself off of the bathroom floor and called my mom. She came to New York and went with me to countless doctors’ appointments. I had all kinds of tests. Nothing showed up in a CT-scan. The doctors ruled out brain tumors and strokes, but they couldn’t quite figure out the diagnosis. They decided it was some sort of vertigo and it would go away. It did, but then it came back six months later. And again and again after that.

How could I go on performing with my ears ringing and the floor rolling like the deck of a storm-tossed boat? I prayed hard about it, and I recalled something my beloved voice teacher, Florence Birdwell, said to me back at Oklahoma City University when I had strep throat and wanted to back out of a competition.

“You can’t make excuses in the real world,” she said. “People will have more respect for you if you sing through it. Just do your best.” So that’s what I did in show after show like You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and the incredibly popular Wicked and as Miss Noodle on Sesame Street and in my own short-lived TV show, Kristin.

Finally I got a diagnosis: Ménière’s disease. According to the medical literature, it’s “an inner ear disturbance that causes vertigo,” which sounds so much milder than it is. There is no cure or relief with the possible exception of a surgical procedure called a cochleosacculotomy (another fancy word). I can’t risk that because it could cause hearing loss.

So I do what I can to control Ménière’s without surgery. I limit the sodium in my diet. I sleep on an incline (you can imagine how popular this makes me with hotel staffs). I take anti-nausea medication. When I’m feeling really sick, I call up my mom and my six aunts and ask them to pray for me, sometimes right there on the phone.

I’ve got a magnet on my fridge that says, “Good morning, this is God. You don’t need to worry about all your problems. I will be handling them today.” That’s what I do with the terrible brain-churning, room-spinning, think-you’re-gonna-die problem of Ménière’s. If the misery is on a scale of one to 10, I’ve discovered I can still perform at a six or seven.

Doctors have asked, “How do you do it?” How do you walk onstage, let alone dance, if the ground is swaying beneath you and you think you’re going to throw up? I’ll ask, “Why me?” a hundred times. I’ll say, “This is my cross to bear.” In the end, though, I leave the whole thing in God’s hands. I just hand it over and let it go.

One of my favorite Bible stories is when Jacob wrestles with the angel. He won’t let go until he gets the angel’s blessing. “You seem so happy” people say to me, and it’s true, I’m usually upbeat. Still, staying positive takes work. It doesn’t always come easy. I get depressed, I gripe, I get into a perfectionist’s funk.

And yet I’m thankful every day. For my family, my friends, my career, my voice, even for setbacks and struggles like this nasty disease that I wish would go away. I believe in wrestling that angel to the ground until I can claim my blessing.

Like my grandma, I have lots of questions, but I’ve never doubted that God is listening to me. I know I’ll get the answers to most of my questions someday—and maybe I’ll even find out where all of my missing socks are.

Did you enjoy this story? Subscribe to Guideposts magazine.

Kristin Chenoweth: A Career Founded on Faith

Posted on by Kristin Chenoweth

You’ve got to have a lot of things go right for you to make it on Broadway. Not just the obvious, like a strong voice and the ability to bring a character to life. You also have to find the right characters to play. And you need a thick skin because this is a competitive business. Great roles, I’ve been fortunate to have. But I’m still struggling to develop that thick skin.

I’ve always been sensitive. Too sensitive, my mom might argue. I can’t help taking to heart what people say about me. Back home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, that wasn’t a problem. I loved to sing and dance, and folks encouraged me, even when I got it into my head that I wanted to be in show business. In my high school yearbook, classmates sent me off with, “Become the famous singer you hope to be.”

The New York theater world is just a little tougher. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been blessed with my share of praise, and I’m grateful. But all it takes sometimes is one critical remark to cut me to the bone. Like the comment I heard—well, overheard—in the ladies’ room of a Broadway theater one day after auditioning for a new show. Two women came in.

READ MORE: 5 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT KRISTIN CHENOWETH

“I mean, she can sing—I’ll give her that,” I heard one of the women say. I recognized her voice right away, an established Broadway star. “But funny? Come on! How hard is it to play a cartoon character? I don’t get all the hoopla!”

They’re talking about me, I realized. I’d just won a Tony Award for my role as Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Sure, the part was based on a comic strip character, but I’d put all of myself into playing it.

One of the biggest names in the business, and she thinks I’m overrated. What if she’s right? I wondered. What if all the hoopla really is for nothing?

That’s when a little voice inside me said, You’re better than that, Kristin. Don’t doubt yourself. The voice I’d listened to—listened for—ever since my very first performance.

I was seven years old and playing a bunny rabbit in The Nutcracker at the Tulsa Ballet Theatre. (They wrote in parts for all the little kids.) Opening night I took my spot beside the Sugar Plum Fairy. I watched girls dressed in beautiful gossamer gowns dance and twirl across the stage with vines in their hands. As the last dancer finished I noticed something lying on the stage. A vine.

Someone must have dropped it, I thought. You’re not supposed to have anything on the floor during a ballet. Someone might trip on it.

The Sugar Plum Fairy was staring at the vine too. How could we get it off the stage without stopping the show?

Go, Kristin, said a voice deep inside me. Hop to it. So I did. I hopped over to the vine, put it in my mouth and hopped back to my spot. The audience erupted. I was one proud rabbit.

READ MORE: KRISTIN CHENOWETH FINDS COMFORT IN PRAYER

When the curtain went down, the artistic director exclaimed, “What a smart little bunny you are! How did you know to do that?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know then whose voice it was. But in the years to come I would hear it and depend on it time and again.

In 1993, for example. I’d just completed a master’s degree in opera performance at Oklahoma City University and won a scholarship to The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. The Lord was laying out a pretty clear path for me, I thought. Then I came to New York City to help my best friend move into his apartment.

On a whim I flipped through the audition listings in Back Stage. One jumped out at me. “The Marx Brothers’ musical Animal Crackers, singers and dancers needed.”

I want you to try. What have you got to lose? There was that voice again. The voice that had never failed me.

That’s why I walked into the Paper Mill Playhouse for the audition. All the other girls had headshots, résumés, an air of confidence. And I had no idea what I was doing! The only thing that kept me from walking out was that inner voice. Just have fun with it, Kristin. Show them what you’ve got.

I sang and I danced. I read the scene they gave me. I was in my element, enjoying the moment. I never expected one of the producers to ask, “Who’s your agent?”

“Agent? I was just doing this for fun,” I tried to explain. “My dad, I guess. I mean—I don’t really have an agent.”

Right then and there they offered me a part. A lead. Arabella. I told them I’d have to think about it.

READ MORE: KRISTIN CHENOWETH’S HOLIDAY ‘GRITS’

I called home as soon as I got back to my friend’s apartment.

“Mom, you’ll never guess what happened,” I said excitedly. “I got a part, a real part in a musical!”

“But what about your scholarship?” Mom said. “The academy only takes five people a year. Are you sure you want to walk away from that?”

“Mom, I’m supposed to be Arabella. I just know it,” I said. “I was sent to that audition for a reason.”

Mom and Dad gave me their blessing. After all, they had raised me to trust that guiding voice. Faith and church were at the center of our family, and we always sought God’s blessing on whatever we undertook.

I called the academy director and explained my situation. “I’m sorry, but I’m giving up my spot.”

She didn’t say a word at first. Then she let me have it.

“You are making the biggest mistake of your life,” she said. “Once you wake up and realize what you’ve done, the door is going to be shut. Don’t even think about trying to come back here.”

She slammed down the receiver. I felt sick, listening to the loud, empty dial tone. Her words really hurt.

I’m glad I trusted my inner voice, though, and took the role of Arabella. It led to other parts. Two jobs came up at once; a lead in Annie Get Your Gun and a minor role in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

The director of Charlie Brown called me. “Kristin, I want to expand a role just for you,” he said. “I can’t tell you about it until I get Charles Schulz’s approval, but please take it on faith, it’s perfect for you.”

READ MORE: KRISTIN CHENOWETH’S MYSTERIOUS ENCOUNTER

Take it on faith. For a month I prayed about the decision, listened for that voice. Everyone from my friends in the business to my grandmother back home in Oklahoma thought that I should choose Annie Get Your Gun, a tried-and-true show.

But I was drawn to the role of Sally Brown, Charlie’s little sister. The dialogue and the characters were simple, yet honest and genuine. The entire play was about being happy with who you are—something I believed in.

Almost as deeply as I believed in the inner voice pointing me to Sally. It was the right role for me, a role that earned me the Tony Award.

The day after the Tonys I was on a high. A high that came crashing down with one phone call.

“I really hate to tell you this, Kristin, but the show is closing,” the producer said. “We’re just not making expenses.”

I was devastated. Doubts about my decision came seeping into my brain. If I’d listened to everyone else, I’d still have a job. I hung up the phone. You just won a Tony, I told myself. Move on.

READ MORE: BEN VEREEN ON USING GOD’S GIFTS

I tried. I went to an audition. Only to wind up in the ladies’ room afterward, overhearing that catty comment about all the hoopla over my performance. It hurt.

But I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t give in to doubt. I had to stand up for the show and the role I put all my faith in. I had to stand up for myself. Lord, please help me handle this with class.

I pushed the stall door open and walked up to the row of sinks. I stood right next to the Broadway star. Silence. I washed my hands and headed for the exit. I turned around and looked back at the pair.

“I don’t get all the hoopla, either,” I said with a wink and walked out of the ladies’ room, head held high.

And really, that’s the truth. What does all the hoopla matter in comparison to that inner voice, that voice deep in our hearts that always keeps us true to ourselves, that never fails us. It is the voice I listen to—and for—each and every day.

Did you enjoy this story? Subscribe to Guideposts magazine.

‘King Richard’ Demonstrates the Power of Resilience, Faith and Family

Posted on by Daisy Urgiles

The names Venus and Serena Williams are synonymous with tennis. Arguably the most popular siblings in the history of professional sports, the two have made a shattering impact in the world of tennis. Venus is a seven-time Grand Slam singles title winner, while Serena has held the title twenty-three times, more than any other woman or man. Together, the sisters have won fourteen Grand Slam doubles titles and three doubles Olympic gold medals.

What many people don’t know is that, in addition to Venus and Serena’s dedication, talent and skills, their father, Richard Williams, was instrumental in helping them reach their potential. King Richard follows Williams (Will Smith), as he trains his daughters on the tennis courts of Compton, California during their teenage years, eventually helping them become two of the most talented athletes of all time. But their success was also in large part thanks to their mother, Oracene “Brandy” Williams (Aunjanue Ellis), who not only helped train them, but served as the family’s backbone.

“Richard was the architect of their careers, but Ms. Oracene was the builder of that,” Ellis told Guideposts.org. “She was on the tennis court just as much as he was, but she also was cooking, cleaning, holding down jobs, sewing their dresses, doing their hair—the things that mothers do.”

Oracene’s guidance and intuition helped the family get through hard times, particularly moments of defeat.

“Ms. Oracene tried to keep the kids grounded as much as possible,” Ellis said. “Grounded but at the same time [she] gave them wings.” During a turning point in the film, Richard struggles to not only listen to, but trust his daughter until Oracene steps in. “She was always a protector, a warrior for her children,” Ellis added. “She protected her girls from the world’s—and sometimes their father’s— demanding expectations.”

Venus and Serena have shattered every glass ceiling in the world of sports, while creating a legacy that’s inspired more Black children to play tennis. Thanks to their parents, the sisters remain connected to their roots. In one scene, Oracene is seen braiding Venus’ hair before making her professional debut at 14. “With them wearing those beads on the court, that was her way of saying, ‘Listen, you come from a long line of black women achievers,’” Ellis said. “And when they walked on the court, she was insisting that they carry that history with them.”

Throughout the film, Richard and Oracene are also shown going out of their way to ensure their kids have a childhood, even letting Venus miss an important practice for a family day at Disney World. This parenting approach, Ellis said, is one she admires. “They insisted that Venus and Serena be children first before they were tennis players,” she said. “They wanted them to be highly-educated, excel at school and go to church. And you can see that in the women that they’ve become now.”

A driving force for the family, especially Oracene, was their faith. “I think that was a guiding principle for them,” Ellis said. “Faith is at the core of their family life and particularly for Ms. Oracene, influencing not just the mother she was but the wife that she was—it was central to all of that.”

Ellis, who has had a valuable family experience of her own, is inspired by the tight-knit and trusting relationship between Richard, Oracene and their five daughters.

“I think that’s what’s so great about the Williams family,” she said. “They loved each other. Their weapon against a world that would often attack them was their love for one another.”

King Richard, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, is available in theatres and on HBO Max starting November 19th.

Kid President: How a YouTube Star Is Inspiring a Generation

Posted on by Jessica Toomer

You might not be familiar with Brad Montague and Robby Novak but chances are you’re one of the tens of millions of people who have seen their wildly popular YouTube videos. The two are the creators of the character Kid President – the self-appointed voice of a generation.

Novak — the 11-year-old kid who dons a suit and sunny personality to embody the feel-good character – and Montague, the adult who’s usually behind the camera during production, teamed up three years ago with a single idea: to inspire people with positivity and encouragement by looking at real issues through a kid filter.

From pep talks to teachers, open letters to moms and their latest on summer vacations, the topics for the videos have a wide range but an all-encompassing theme: how great would it be if we could approach life with an open mind and an optimistic attitude like children do?

For Montague, the idea sprang after he and his wife started Go! Camp, a place for kids who want to change the world. He recruited his then ten-year-old brother-in-law (Novak) to be the face of Kid President. Novak was only too happy to help. His own story of battling Osteogenesis Imperfecta – a brittle bone disease that’s caused him to suffer 70 fractures and undergo multiple surgeries in his own life – is so inspiring, and ultimately, the two have been able to reach millions of people with their message.

“I’ve always had an interest in seeing how kids react to grown up issues,” Montague told Guideposts.org. “Kid President grew out of our desire to put something online that would make grown-ups pause and take a moment to see through the eyes of a kid. We started in 2012, it was the midst of the presidential race, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing aggressive political statements. So we put Robby in a cheap suit and just had fun in front of the camera. We wondered if people would listen to a small voice over the older, loud ones, and as it turned out…they did, and still do.”

The videos, the most popular of which has been viewed over 36 million times, have allowed the pair to meet with some pretty important people –President Obama and Beyoncé make the top of their list – and have given them a platform to spread their message of positivity and encouragement while talking about things that matter to the both of them – be it silly or serious.

“The videos are inspired by what we’re doing every day! Sometimes we get more topical and other times we just feel like we want to tell people they’re awesome,” Montague said.

Though the idea of Kid President may have began as just a fun side project meant to encourage and inspire others, it’s morphed into a bit of a movement. Book deals, giving talks to schools across the country and a partnership with SoulPancake – the media company founded by actor Rainn Wilson and dedicated to making people laugh, cry and really think about those big life issues – are just a few things to sprout from Montague’s and Novak’s inital seed of positivity.

Even so, they’re both remaining grounded in why they started making the videos to begin with.

“We want people to choose to be happy about how amazing life could be if they worked to make the world better – instead of getting angry about how the world just isn’t good enough already,” Montague said. “We hope people take action with a joyful rebellion.”

Check out Kid President’s latest video on what kids really want out of a vacation.

Want to know who inspires Kid President? His mom, of course! Don’t miss our interview with her in the December issue of Guideposts magazine—subscribe today!

Kevin Durant’s Greatest Inspiration: His Mother

Posted on by Kevin Durant

Editor’s Note: Kevin Durant was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, after the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship on June 12, 2017. Enjoy this inspiring story he wrote for Guideposts when he was playing for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

You wouldn’t know it to look at me. I tower over most people at six-nine, a lean and mean 240 pounds. The size comes in handy in my line of work: I play forward for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

On the court I’ve got my game face on. I’m focused on doing whatever it takes for our team to win—shooting a jumper, slashing to the basket, mixing it up with other big men. But I don’t get too loud or emotional, not even when I take charge of a game.

Off the court, though, it’s a different story. I’m still not loud, but I don’t mind letting my feelings show. Especially my feelings about my greatest coach and biggest inspiration—my mother, Wanda Pratt.

No matter how far my career takes me from our hometown, Seat Pleasant, Maryland, I’ll always be my momma’s boy.

I told you, you wouldn’t guess it looking at me. But it’s true. Mom has been there for me from Day One, when I first picked up a basketball and fell in love with the game, and she’s still there cheering for me from her seat (that’s if she stays in it!) across from the Thunder bench.

The lessons she taught me have made me a better player and, more important, a better person.

1. You Get What You Give.
Mom put my older brother, Tony, and me in sports early to keep us off the streets. We pretty much lived at the rec center. I loved basketball and when I was all of 11 years old, told Mom I wanted to play in the NBA.

She could have laughed. After all, there are fewer NBA players than there are Fortune 500 CEOs. But she didn’t. She wanted Tony and me to know it was worth following the dreams God gave us. She also wanted us to understand that it takes hard work and sacrifice to achieve them.

She showed us that each day. Her dream was to give us every chance to succeed in life. For a single mom that was tough. She needed a good, steady job to support us, but she wanted to be home when we got back from school.

So she worked the overnight shift at the post office, loading 70-pound mailbags onto trucks. She’d leave for work while Tony and I were getting ready for bed. Sometimes I’d see exhaustion in her eyes when she kissed me goodnight. Not that she ever complained.

The biggest thing Mom gave up for us was her time. She didn’t have a social life like other women in their twenties and thirties. She was working when her friends went out. The rest of her time she spent with us—at home, at church, at our practices and games.

Once I asked Mom why she didn’t date or at least go out with her girlfriends. She loved to dance. She’d put on music at home and show off her moves. “God gave me you and your brother,” Mom said. “You guys are my life.”

That made me think. If Mom was giving up everything for us, then I’d better work as hard as I could to make her sacrifice worth it. From then on, I practiced as much as I could.

Long after my teammates left the rec center, I stayed and did drills till my muscles ached. Then it was home, for dinner and homework.

On weekends Mom would get me out of bed late at night. “Time for sit-ups and push-ups.” I’d whine, “Ma, I did my workout already.”

“I know,” she said. “But to get where you want to go, you’ve got to do extra.”

Mom could have been getting some rest herself instead of pushing her boys to be better. Thank the good Lord she kept at it, even when I resisted.

2. Never Say Quit.
The day in freshman year that the basketball coach at my high school told me I made the team, I was flying high. But I was quickly brought down to earth. At our first scrimmage, I broke free near the basket and put my hand up for the ball. I’m open! Our point guard passed to someone else.

Guess he didn’t see me. Next time, I thought. Next time never came. I’d get open, but no one would pass me the ball. I knew what was going on. These guys had been the team leaders and they didn’t want a freshman horning in.

After the scrimmage, I found my mom and told her I didn’t want to play with guys who treated me like I was lower than dirt. “I’m quitting,” I said.

“If you quit,” she said, “they’re never going to pass you the ball.”

I was back on the court the next day. I kept showing up, working hard, and you know what? They passed me the ball.

3. You Gotta Believe.
I didn’t have a positive self-image as a kid. Part of it was my personality. I’m a little shy until I get to know you. But the real problem was my height. By middle school, I was already over six feet. Taller than all my classmates, and most of my teachers. Plus I was super skinny.

When you’re that age, you just want to fit in. And I stood out, literally. My mom had to ask the teachers to let me stay at the back of the line whenever the class went anywhere—even the cafeteria.

That all changed when I started to make a name for myself on the basketball court. I saw that being tall was a blessing. But it didn’t stop me from doubting myself.

Flash forward five years. I’d played one season at the University of Texas and been named national player of the year. The Seattle SuperSonics made me the number two pick in the 2007 NBA draft. The message I took from that was: We’re counting on you. You’re going to carry us to the finals.

My first season we had the second-worst record in the league, even lower than where the team had finished the year before, without me. “It’s on me,” I told my mom. “I was supposed to make the team better.” I felt like I’d let everyone down.

Like always, Mom picked me up. “Give it time,” she said, reminding me of those rough first weeks on my high school team. “Trust yourself and your coaches. Trust your faith. You’ll turn it around.”

She was right. The team moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008. Two years later we made the playoffs for the first time.

4. Do Your Happy Dance!
Game Four, 2011 NBA Western Conference Semifinals. We were playing Memphis on their home court, down two games to one in a best-of-seven series. Mom was in her usual seat—front row, across from our bench, where I could see her and she could see me.

I wished she couldn’t. I was having a terrible game. My shots just weren’t falling. A loss would put us deep in a hole. I tried to talk myself out of my funk. But I was still beating myself up when we came out for the third quarter. That’s when one of my teammates pointed to the giant video screen.

There was a woman up there, dancing up a storm. Waving her hands in the air, shimmying to the music, the hugest smile on her face. Mom! I knew she had those moves, and she liked to dance during time-outs. But we were losing. How could she be having the time of her life?

I looked at my teammates. They were cracking up. I busted out laughing too. Mom’s happy dance was her way of telling me, Look where you are, Kevin. You’re living your dream. Have fun with it!

The tension melted away. Wouldn’t you know, my shots began to drop. We caught Memphis and then beat them in triple overtime. We went on to win the series and advance to the conference championship.

5. Always Keep Growing.
Last year the Thunder lost to the Miami Heat in the finals. It hurt. I couldn’t hold back my emotions when I hugged Mom after the game. I cried in her arms.

Then I got to thinking. Each year, I grew as a player, we grew as a team, and each year, we got closer to winning it all. Which totally fit with the message of one of Mom’s favorite Bible verses, Romans 8:28: “All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.”

I’m keeping that in mind as I work on taking my game to another level, becoming a complete player. And as I work on growing spiritually, walking even closer with the Lord and becoming the person he’s called me to be.

Watch Kevin Durant’s MVP heartwarming and inspiring acceptance speech!

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to Guideposts magazine.

Keshia Knight Pulliam Shares Why She’s A ‘Changemaker’ With Her Kamp Kizzy Foundation

Posted on by Jessica Toomer

You probably already know Keshia Knight Pulliam. You watched her grow up on TV as the loveable, youngest Huxtable, Rudy, on the hit TV classic, The Cosby Show. Since the series ended, Pulliam has more than made her mark on Hollywood.

From Emmy nominations and People’s Choice Awards to sharing the big screen with A-listers like Tyler Perry and Queen Latifah, the New Jersey native who resides in Atlanta, GA., has proven to be a star in her own right. But what really makes the actress shine isn’t what she does in front of the camera, it’s the work she’s doing behind it.

Five years ago, Pulliam had a calling that she just couldn’t ignore. After taking a step back from show business in order to get her degree at Spelman College, the actress knew that cranking out hit TV shows wasn’t the only thing she wanted to do with her life. “At Spelman, I was an honors scholar, which is a community service based scholarship,” Pulliam told Guideposts.org. “If you’re familiar with Spelman, it’s located in an area of Atlanta that has a lot of lower income neighborhoods surrounding it. I always knew that my niche was with kids and I had always known that I wanted to do my own nonprofit, so I decided to start the Kamp Kizzy foundation.”

That was five years ago. Today, Pulliam’s foundation–which caters to girls ages 11-16 and offers a summer camp that helps young women from all socioeconomic backgrounds empower themselves through curriculum based workshops–is gaining plenty of awareness, and her dream of offering a safe place for girls to grow and discover their own individual power is about to get even more attention, thanks to a new TV series called Changemakers.

Premiering tonight on the ASPiRE network, Changemakers is a half hour reality series that features celebrities who are making a difference and giving back to their community. The first episode spotlights Pulliam and her foundation. She said, “I’m excited they’re bringing on air shows that inspire people and show people that are helping others because you don’t really find that a lot on TV. I hope it inspires other people to see how they can be an agent in their community.”

For Pulliam, aiding her community meant reaching outside of her comfort zone in order to start her own nonprofit. “I just jumped in with both feet,” the actress said. “I knew it was what I was supposed to do and I just went for it. It’s something I wanted to do for a long time and what I’ve found, just in life, when you’re living your purpose and doing what you’re supposed to do, it kind of comes together for you.” From creating the curriculum taught in the camp’s workshops to raising funds and recruiting family members to help run the organization, Pulliam has been hands on since day one. “It’s very near and dear to my heart,” the actress said, “and it just grows steadily every year.”

The camp is now able to host over 100 girls every summer, inviting them for a five day stay on the campus of the Atlanta University Center. While there, the teens attend workshops on topics ranging from body image and social media etiquette to health and well being and the girls get involved in community service projects in order to give back.

Pulliam said that it wasn’t just her desire to help others that launched Kamp Kizzy, faith played a big role in her journey as well. “It’s part of my everyday life,” she said. “We’re blessed to be a blessing to others. That’s something that I know. It’s about how you give back and how you uplift other people. I know I’ve been given this amazing platform and it’s not just about me, it’s really about how I can help others with the visibility.”

Pulliam is planning on using her notoriety in the acting world and her partnership with ASPiRE’s Changemakers series to bring attention to the work her foundation is doing and viewers can expect to see everything when it comes to the behind-the-scenes operations at Kamp Kizzy. “They were there, they got to see Kamp Kizzy in action,” Pulliam said of the new show. “They got to talk to the girls so you’ll get a real in depth look into Kamp Kizzy and what we do.”

Apart from Kamp Kizzy, the actress has plenty of other projects lined up. From working on getting her curriculum in schools to hosting workshops in the Bahamas and starting a boy’s version of the camp called Project James, Pulliam plans on being busy, but the star shared her own secret for staying grounded and fulfilling her life purpose. “I always stay centered with what’s important in my life,” Pulliam said. “I’m very much about family. I meditate daily. It’s all a part of just doing things that I absolutely love doing and moreover, doing things that just feel right. Sometimes you have to quiet yourself to hear the whispers of your angels that are trying to guide you.”

ASPiRE’s Changemakers series premieres tonight at 8 p.m. EST.

Kellie Pickler’s Getting Personal on New Season of ‘I Love Kellie Pickler’

Posted on by Jessica Toomer

Who am I today?

That’s a question country music darling Kellie Pickler has been asking quite a bit recently. Between recording new music for a yet-to-be-announced album, filming the third season of her hit CMT series, I Love Kellie Pickler, and preparing to make her hosting debut on a daytime talk show produced by Faith Hill, the singer and reality star is donning more than her fair share of hats these days.

Staying busy is good but it’s forcing her to come up with creative ways to keep life normal. It’s one reason she was so excited to film her reality show with her husband, Kyle Jacobs.

“We have a great time,” Pickler tells Guideposts.org. “These are short little 30 minute episodes that we get to document memories that we make with our friends and look back on down the road. Working on a project together enables us to actually spend more time together, so that’s been lovely.”

Those memories include adopting a kangaroo, completing ice bucket challenges, Go-Kart racing, and catfish hunting, but Pickler’s also happy to use her show to spotlight things that matter to her, like supporting our troops.

“Obviously I don’t serve wearing a uniform, but I can serve those that serve,” Pickler explains. “I feel like it’s important for all of us to do our part. There’s always something that we can do, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you have or think you don’t have. Everyone can do their part.”

The show’s third season follows Kellie and Kyle as they visit troops on the ground in Iraq during the holidays, performing for them and delivering Christmas gifts.

“When we partnered with the USO 11 tours ago, it was the right thing to do,” Pickler says matter-of-factly. “They gave us an opportunity to take [a bit of] home to our service men and women around the world and we said yes because it would have been wrong not to. I feel like we were just blessed with a wonderful opportunity to do something that mattered and we get to shine a light on that with the show.”

Besides her extensive charity work — which includes running a rock-n-roll marathon for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Nashville, something Pickler says was challenging because she usually only runs “if it’s an emergency” – the new season of the show focuses on more on the singer’s family life, including her relationship with Jacobs and the shenanigans they get into. Their latest? Planning to put up their Christmas tree a few months ahead of schedule.

“I said, ‘Babe, I think if we are going to put a Christmas tree up this year, we might have to put it up in September because I’ve only got three days off for the rest of the year,’” Pickler says recounting a conversation with her husband a few minutes earlier. “We’re going to have to knock out Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all at the same time. We’ll just have a Christmas tree with turkey ornaments and Halloween decorations too.”

Pickler says fans shouldn’t be waiting to see any drama on the new season of the series.

“We ain’t really got nothing juicy,” she explains.

But viewers can look forward to some fresh music from the star. The show follows Pickler as she records a tribute song titled “If It Wasn’t For A Woman” to her late Grandma Faye, the woman who raised the artist and who has had a lasting effect on Pickler’s life.

“That’s always a tough day for me,” Pickler says, recalling the anniversary of her grandmother’s passing this past January. “We’ve all lost loved ones, and those days can be a little tough I think for anyone.”

The song came to her as she was sharing stories about her grandmother with husband Kyle and their good friend, songwriter Brian Bunn at the kitchen table one morning.

“It was weird. I was on the phone with my Great Aunt Jean, which is Faye’s sister,” Pickler says. “I said, ‘Aunt Jean I just hope she visits me today.’ She said, ‘Oh she will baby.’ We hung up and I walked in the kitchen, and Brian and Kyle and I just started [talking] and this song just came from it. It’s like, ‘All right, there you are grandma.’ She pretty much wrote it.”

The song, speaks to the strength, courage, and wisdom Pickler’s grandmother passed down to her. It’s something the singer is constantly trying to show her fans – the value in living a good life and helping others.

“It is important to live by example,” Pickler says. “I think people pay more attention to what you do versus what you say. The actions speak louder than words.”

And though she loves filming for TV and is excited about her latest talk show project, music will always be her greatest form of storytelling.

“Being able to capture her love and put it in the form of a song, and honor her was really special,” Pickler explains. “I think that’s what country music is about, telling a story. It’s about life.”

I Love Kellie Pickler Season 3 premieres on CMT at 11/10c.

Kathie Lee Gifford on Following Her Dream to Create Inspirational TV

Posted on by Alikay Wood

Kathie Lee Gifford returns to television with another “Hallmark Movies & Mysteries” film, this time with A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love, a new holiday film based on a true story.

Gifford said it’s an incredible story. “It’s not just one God wink in this one,” she said, referencing the term coined by author and the producer of the film, SQuire Rushnell. “It’s chock full of Godwinks.”

The film chronicles a series of “Godwinks” that bring Alice (Cindy Busby) and Jack (Benjamin Hollinsworth), two strangers, together for a wedding and eventually a romantic relationship.

Gifford plays Olga, Alice’s mother, a “feisty and fiery” character who encourages her daughter to open up to the possibility of love, she said.

The movie is the continuation from Gifford’s 2018 Hallmark hit, A Godwink Christmas, a project she described as a journey years in the making. It took three years for Gifford to convince Hallmark to take a chance on the project.

This was also years after she met Rushnell, while working at Good Morning America. Gifford said the two teamed up to create A Godwink Christmas and the rest is history, fulfilling her dream of bringing inspirational content to television.

“We believe as producers that there’s no such thing as coincidence in this world,” Gifford told Guideposts.org. “In fact, there’s no word for it in the Hebrew language, there is no word for coincidence because it doesn’t exist.”

Rushnell coined the term “Godwink” to describe these moments of divine intervention.

“A Godwink is when [God’s] divinity intersects with our humanity,” Gifford said. “God reminds us, ‘I got you, I see you. I’m the architect of all of this.’”

Gifford has experienced these moments in her own life numerous times, she said, most notably in 1982 when she was walking down a hall and made a joke about eye surgery to a man putting in contacts.

“It turned out to be Frank Gifford,” Gifford said. “I was supposed to be in that hallway at 4:00 in the morning preparing to do a commercial with a stinky basset hound. Instead, I got the love of my life.”

Kathie and Frank were married for 29 years, until he passed away in 2015. Faith was the cornerstone of their marriage, and remains the cornerstone of Gifford’s career and source of her joy, as she described in her January 1996 Guideposts story. Gifford relished the opportunity to bring some of this faith to Hallmark.

A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love can be seen on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.