Iyanla Vanzant - Acts of Faith: Meditations For People of Color

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Copyright 1993, 2018 by Iyanla Vanzant

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This Atria Paperback edition July 2020

Previously published in 2018 by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Cover design and illustration by bkgirldesigns

Author photograph Chris Frawley

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Touchstone edition as follows:

Names: Vanzant, Iyanla, author.

Title: Acts of faith : daily meditations for people of color / Iyanla Vanzant.

Description: 25th anniversary edition, Touchstone trade paperback edition. | New York : Touchstone, [2018] |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018038413 (print) | LCCN 2018046135 (ebook) | ISBN 9780743226462 | ISBN 9781982106843 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781982106836 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781471109836 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: African AmericansPrayers and devotions. | Devotional calendars.

Classification: LCC BL625.2 (ebook) | LCC BL625.2 .V36 2018 (print) | DDC 204/.32dc23

ISBN 978-1-9821-0683-6

ISBN 978-1-9821-0684-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-0-7432-2646-2 (ebook)

For

My Father

Horace Lester Harris, all you were and all you were not;

My Brother

Horace Raymond Harris, Jr., all I needed you to be;

My Son

Damon Keith Vanzant, all you are;

My Grandson

Oluwalomoju Adeyemi, all you are becoming.

I will be found by you and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you; And, I will bring you to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.

Jeremiah 29:14

My heartfelt appreciation, love and gratitude to my daughter Gemmia for her contribution to ten of these pages;

My daughter Nisa for stopping my grandson from eating these pages;

Ralph Stevenson for putting up with my endless requests and taking me anywhere and everywhere while I was in labor with this book;

Kim Mickens , who typed and retyped and never once complained when I scribbled changes on the pages she had just retyped;

Dawn Daniels , my editor, who supported and trusted me enough to know it had to be done;

Shaheerah Linda Beatty , who loved and prayed me through the entire process by making arrangements with Detroit Bell so we could stay in touch;

Barbara O and Nana Korantemaa , who never asked me a question they could not answer;

My godfather , who prayed the power down and sent it to my house;

My Transformation Station family in Philadelphia and Detroit, who never stopped praying, praising, and pumping me up;

and of course, God, who always knew I had it in me and finally convinced me, too.

Heartfelt appreciation and humble recognition is given for permissions granted by the following:

Excerpt from Selections from the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt translated by Dr. Maulana Karenga. Reprinted by permission of University of Sankore Press, Los Angeles, 1984, p. 65.

Excerpt from Dont Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin. Reprinted by permission of Bobby McFerrin 1988, Prob Noblem Music.

Use of the slogan You Got the Right One, Baby! Uh-Huh! as performed by Ray Charles. PepsiCo, Inc.

Excerpt from Is This Love written by Bob Marley. Copyright 1977 Polygram International Publishing, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from One Love written by Bob Marley. Copyright 1968 Polygram International Publishing, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Special thanks to all those quoted for their wisdom and the courage to share themselves with the world.

To the descendants of the Africans who long to know themselves: although the days of glory may appear to be over, the spiritual heritage is everlasting. You must know with all your heartIt Doesnt Have to Be a Struggle!

May the Ancestors bless you with a clear mind, a peace-filled heart and a powerful African spirit.

OBATALA! Baba Mi, Adupe.

Egun Ye.

(Translation: The Father of Creation,

My Father, I Salute You. Iyanla)

A lot has changed in the world since this book was first published twenty-five years ago. When I first submitted the Acts of Faith manuscript to my editor, it was on paper, delivered by snail mail. The Internet was very new, which didnt matter because most people did not own a computer. There was no social media to spread news or gossip. Millionaire Kylie Jenner had not yet been born, and the only way you could purchase something outside of a store was through a catalog. Today, much of what is common, normal, and accepted is very different. Still, certain elements of the human conditions remain the same. Even in todays fast-paced technology-driven world, there are people who do not believe they have the capacity or the power to navigate the advances taking place all around them. For more than just a few, todays world is an overwhelming and scary place. With great fear and trepidation, these people are just about to . Just about to break up; just about to break down; just about to make some money; just about to declare bankruptcy. Very often, when these folks are just about to do something, they encounter something that takes them off track. They blame that something for their lack of faith in themselves and the process of life.

There are other people who skip through life almost- ing. I almost had this; I almost did that. These are usually the same people who almost didnt do something but are now just about to do something else. Looking at them and the situations many of them wrestle with, you pray that they do something, anything to move themselves in a new direction. What you may not understand or recognize is that there is a secret thrill and excitement that goes along with just about to do and almost did that keeps people stuck in a time warp of fear and faithlessness. There is no amount of likes or follows that will convince them that they or life can be different. They are content to talk about rather than be about something different. Change takes place in the moment, and when you have faith, any moment can be the moment that change happens for you. Without faith, you will live in a scary place. For claritys sake, lets call that place on the edge.

The edge is the place you live in when you almost do what you know you need to do, but dont follow through for one reason or another. The edge is where you live when you hope, wish, and try, but never seem able to get anything done. The edge is where you live when you view yourself as a victim of the circumstances of your life, with no real clue about how you are creating our experiences. It is also on the edge where you can develop the faith you need to do what is required to abandon the edge forever.