By Iyanla Vanzant
336 pages; Hay House, Inc.
Available at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound

Chapter 9: Pushed to the Breaking Point

There was a period of about three years in which I simply was not fully present to what was going on within me or around me. The re-release of Acts of Faith, coupled with the simultaneous release of two new books, In the Meantime and One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, took my work to the New York Times bestseller list and put me in such demand that I was traveling four or more days a week, every week, month after month for more than two years.

And it was during this time that Spirit and I became all but strangers. On most days, I lost track of my spiritual practices and my faith. I prayed and I meditated, but I was no longer sure what I believed or how I felt about what I believed. The thing that saved me and kept my faith alive was when I sat to write, stood before an audience to speak, or coached another person, I could feel the living presence of Spirit in my being. These were the times when the failure of my marriage and my feelings of unworthiness didn't matter. When I was on purpose, doing my work, I knew without a shadow of doubt that God had my back. Yet, for some reason, I slipped out of the Presence when it came to handling my personal life. Then, in the midst of my human madness of living out my personal lie, I got the telephone call that would change my life forever. I was invited to be a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

©Iyanla Vanzant 2010. All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of SmileyBooks.