About 7 years ago, I was going through one of the most difficult times in my life. I was living unwed with my son's father and had no intention of marrying him at that time in my life. To spare many details, I was living in a Hell of my own that only one who had been in my shoes could understand. Never doing a recreational drug in my life, discovering that the man I thought to be the love of my life was a functional meth addict shortly after our son was born, came as a complete shock to me. This was just the beginning of the tragic and corrupt journey in which we would have to walk through and I would continue to pay for several years to follow. We lived in a very family oriented neighborhood just up the street from Saddleback Church. I didn't have any friends in the neighborhood and I felt like everyone around us knew what was happening in our home. I felt judging eyes and distance between us and what seemed to be kind and gentle people. Though they were our neighbors, I felt worlds apart from them. I felt completely hopeless, and that no one could help me. I would take walks with my children down the street to the park and pass the signs on my neighbors yards that said "Join us at Saddleback Church". They would be sitting out on their front porches as I walked by. I would smile and wave, some would smile back and sometimes wave, some would look away and some would give me dirty looks and begin to whisper to each other. I wore short tight skirts and skimpy tops to show off my petite and model figure. I needed God in my life so badly and was so far from committing my life to him at that time. I didn't know how to present myself as a woman of God because I didn't really care to, I thought if that's what I needed to do to be accepted and cared about, then I don't want any part of that life. I knew I was a good person, and I knew I was a good mother, why wasn't that enough? What I didn't realize at that time was... It was enough. Maybe not for anyone in my neighborhood that didn't give either of us an opportunity to get to know each other, but I was enough for God. I started going to Saddleback Church, not because anyone invited me... No one ever invited me. I started going because I knew there was this great big church next to me and that I would be missing out if I didn't at least go and check it out for myself. So I did. It was big and it was scary to me, but somehow I felt I was supposed to be there. I began to learn that the only person who's opinion of me really mattered in life, was God's. I accepted Christ into my life eagerly at the young age of 11. I knew Christ, but my relationship with him had fallen and I knew he was waiting for me to grab on to that rope for him to pull me back up. I began to develop Godly relationships with people around me, as I struggled to learn which ones were real and which one's were an illusion of the master of illusions. God continued to guide me as I re-dedicated my life to him, I was baptized at Saddleback Church in 2012 and am now dedicated and involved in some of their incredible ministries. I never made one friend in that neighborhood I lived in where they all posted signs for Saddleback Church in their lawns. So I ask you... How are you loving your neighbor? Are you judging them... Or are you loving them? Don't hesitate to invite your neighbor to church, don't hesitate to knock on their door and ask if they need anything... Don't hesitate because you never know what's going on behind the walls of their home and in their hearts, and it might just take you to be that person who leads them to freedom.