 of your life was written in God's book before one of them came to be. How awesome is that truth? Hey, we're so glad that you're with us. I'm Anna and I'm joined by a week to hear Cindy's story today. Yes, you do. You know, this year marks eight years. I've been working for Cornerstone. Every day I've had the joy and honor to meet you right in your home. We've become family and I've shed a lot of my life with you, such as my journey of singleness, my wedding day, and even my personal trauma. We've laughed together. We've cried together and we've certainly grown together. So when I was asked to tell my story, I thought about the question many of you have asked me when I meet you on the streets or when you come right here in the studio. How did you get to Cornerstone? Well, today I'm going to share how God opened every door to lead me right here to you. I love it. I mean, it's so cool, Angela, that God truly has his purpose for our lives planned out before we were even born. Yes, those open doors. He already had planned and prepared before you took your first step in it. Sydney, I cannot wait. You've got to get into this girl. Tell us about these open doors because I'm itching for more. Yeah, so I would have just been really excited and honored just to share my story with you. You know, one thing when I was growing up, my dad always told me anything was possible. The moment that I heard it in the Bible, I knew it was reality. And when I discovered that verse about, you know, through all things, through Christ, that all things are possible, I just believe and I had really, really big dreams. And so I dared to dream and I dared to have a big dream inside of my spirit and in my heart. And, you know, one thing in my family, we have a spiritual seed, a legacy in our family that my aunt always told me about, about a legacy of prayer, a legacy of faith, and a legacy of determination. And I'm so thankful for the people in my family that implanted that into me at such a young age. And I want you to meet some people that if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. I want you to meet my grandparents. So this is my granny. There she is. Super cute. And then this next picture is my granddad. So my granny and my granddad, they had six children together. All girls, one of them was my mom and I am the seventh grandchild out of 16. And then this next picture is actually my grandmother. That's my father. So my grandmother and father, that's actually in Jamaica. I believe that's in Maypen. And so my dad came to the US when he was 12 years old. They settled in Toledo, Ohio. And my parents, that's where they actually met. So I want you to meet my mom. This is my mom. This is me. I think I was like three years old. This is an approved picture. My mom allowed me to show my hair. And the next picture is my father. So that is my dad. And I am just so grateful for both of them. And so they lived in Toledo, Ohio. They actually lived in different parts of the country due to my dad's job. So at one point they were in Hartford, Connecticut. Then they were in Kansas City. And then there was a door open for them to come to Pittsburgh. And they lived here for a little while. And then I came into the world. So I was born March 7, 1988. Here's some baby photos of me. There's one right there. And there's like another one too. There's another picture of me like growing up. And then, but I want to let you know that I grew up in North Fayette Township, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh that is outside of the city. And one thing, you know, growing up always my mom took me to church. And I went to Crossroads United Methodist Church, which is an Oakdale PA. And here's a picture. There's actually one of Pastor Steve. He was laying his hands on me. He put his hands on top of my head. Do we have that picture? Is it going to pop up? Okay. Well, I've always, you know, as a young girl, always had a dream of working in television. It is something that has been deeply embedded into my spirit. You know, I grew up watching Oprah, like many of you, because she was a woman that looked like me. She inspired me, you know, go before I went to school. I remember watching the Today Show. That was part of my routine. I would read my Bible and then I'd watch the Today Show. And also growing up, I tuned into Channel 11, the NBC affiliate here in Pittsburgh. And I remember watching Peggy Finnegan and David Johnson and Darius Chisholm. They really, really inspired me. So as I was growing up, I knew, I was like, I want to go into journalism. I want to be an anchor. My dream was like, I'm going to work on the Today Show one day. And so through my life, that's what I like planned to do. I took classes in school to, you know, prepare myself to go into journalism and to work in television. And so when I started looking actually at schools there, I was looking at Kent State University. I was looking at University of Maryland, but one day in the mailbox at our house, I remember I got a flyer from Temple University and God spoke to me to go to Temple. I was like, all right. So I applied. I had a 3.8 GPA, but listen to this, y'all. My SAT score was not that good. I had an 890 out of a 1600 on the SAT score and I was devastated. I didn't think I'd be able to get into college. I didn't know what's going to happen. So I just remember I applied and I actually got waitlisted into the broadcast journalism program. I started praying. I remember being 17 years old, just in my room, like really sad. I was like, God, I just need this open door. I need to get to Temple. This is my dream of working in television. I even started writing a letter to Oprah, thinking Oprah was going to help me to get into Temple. Well, praise God. He part of the Red Sea. I got accepted into Temple University and I graduated from West Allegheny High School. This is me on my graduation day and my cap and gowns, all smiles, because from there I was on my way to Philadelphia. And you know, one thing that was so beautiful about me being in Philadelphia Temple University, I just got really connected to a lot of creatives, people. We had the same dream, the same passion and desire to work in media. So I actually joined a student run radio station called WIP. There's me actually in the studio. WIP stands for We Have Infinite Potential. This picture, so I did a show. This is Sydney Grant and Johnny Archer power hour. So we did an hour worth of news and big shout out to Johnny. He's now an anchor in Philadelphia. And so that was like a great time of just being with a lot of young people. We had to start the radio station from scratch. And then also what I got into is we had a student run TV station. It was called Temple Update. So here's a few pictures. I was an anchor like on the set that I was next to the girl in the red. That's actually my one of my dearest friends, Danielle. She lives in LA. There's us on set getting prepared. We had the scripts. We had the IFBs in the ear. It was a whole thing. And then this is a picture of the whole crew. And now I want to show you a short clip of actually my first time coming on the Airways Fun Temple Update. Take a look. Hello, welcome to the suggestion of Temple Update. I'm Sydney Grant. That was my first time. You ought to see the rest. But yeah, that was my first time going on there on my chance of, you know, pursuing my dreams to be on television. And, you know, one thing that's really important when you are in college is about getting an internship, getting that start, getting that, you know, foot in the door with media. So when I was in Philly, I was really trying to get an internship at CBS Philadelphia. My dad had a family friend, this woman that was an exec in New York City that was worked in the news and she was trying to get me into CBS Philly. I literally, I kid you not, I sent things. Nothing happened. I thought this was a sure way in for me to get into an internship. So I started praying for an opportunity and lo and behold, as God would have it, I used to work at Gap, you know, just make a little extra spare money on the side. And I used to work every single Wednesday. And this one particular Wednesday, I happened to be off the schedule and I was like, this is truly a miracle because you all don't understand every single Wednesday they had me scheduled to work. And there was actually a networking event at the campus. I was part of an organization called the Temple Association of Black Journalists. So I went to this event on a Wednesday night and I remember they had different people who worked in the field of media. And there was a man who's very near and dear to me. He helped me get my start in television. His name was Chris Blackman and he was the former NBC 10 news director and he was offering, he offered me an internship on the spot when I was just talking to him. So that moment, it completely changed my life. I said, I'm going for it. I decided, you know what, y'all, I'm not coming back to Pittsburgh this summer. I'm not coming back home. And I moved to Philly to the internship. It was right before my junior year. Now, what's really interesting is I was one of 30 interns in Philadelphia. I mean, it was real intense. We were in it. We were in the nitty gritty when it came to learning just about the ropes when it comes to producing and learning about what it takes to produce a newscast and with media. And one thing that was interesting is that, so I didn't have a car when I was at college. I didn't rely solely on public transportation and I had to take this bus. It was the 44 bus every day to my internship. Well, low and behold, on the bus was actually a man named Darryl Evans, who was the marketing manager at NBC 10 and Philadelphia. And he literally said, you know what, they offered me a job. So I'm going into my junior year. I was offered my first job in television as a field producer and as a promotion assistant. And I'm telling you all, it was the best first job ever. It was it was called live on location. I would go to the beach. We would be like on the beach when the Phillies were like playing in the World Series. I was on the field. I mean, it was awesome. I got to be with the crew. It was truly, truly incredible and only God to be 20 years old working in Philadelphia. I mean, only God opened that door. Well, you know, as I was preparing to graduate from college and I was when I went to college, that's me actually in my graduation day. You see me there. That's me getting my degree. And those are my two best friends like Shannon and Danielle that that's our day. We're all big smiles. The reality did set in because I went to school. I graduated in 2010. And if you remember the pandemic, not the pandemic, excuse me, that the recession really hit hard. And I remembered that there were no no jobs. I remember being in a class as an economic class and I'll never forget the professor showed us this map of all the places that they were people were losing jobs. I mean, I saw how it directly impacted my family. I was freaking out because in media, especially in journalism, there's not that many jobs. I said, I don't even know how how is this going to happen? Like how am I even going to start my life and start my career? And actually at the station I was working at at NBC 10, they started cutting jobs. And this is actually a picture of me. They actually kept me employed. And so that was me as a PA and that was me working on the promotions team. But what you don't what you see in those those pictures or smiles, but there was a lot of sadness in the face in my face. And I remember feeling so overwhelmed and so heavy. I worked overnight weekend mornings. I had to be at the station at 4am. I remember I had to take a bus in the middle of the night. And I mean, I'm living in Philadelphia. It's not exactly the safest thing of walking around and just really feeling burdened, really feeling sad. I didn't know what my life was going to look like to make ends meet. I ended up taking a position as a hostess at a restaurant called Continental Midtown right in center city. And so I was very depressed. I was struggling. This picture actually captures all this is the moment. This is actually when I was in Philly in my apartment. I had a like someone took a picture of me in my sadness. This is me. Actually that's looking over at New York City. I was going on a run and I remember just having these thoughts of like, am I going to take my life? I don't know how I'm even going to make it. So those are really hard times. And I remember there was times I'd sit on the bus and as I was going to work, there was time my cuss got out. I'm going to be straight up. I was just like, what is happening? What is going on? I'm telling you, I made less than a thousand dollars a month and it was really hard. I was struggling. I would just go to Wendy's to get something to eat. Thank God I worked at a restaurant so I could feed myself. There would be times I'd be sleeping on the floor of in the newsroom just to make it to work on time. I didn't know what was going to happen. I really questioned where I was going, where I was heading in the midst of this recession and everything that was happening. And you know something was really interesting because I wanted to be like I shared earlier. I wanted to be on the Today Show. I wanted to be an anchor and I wanted to be a reporter. I was sending out my resume tapes everywhere. I got no call backs from anybody except the place in Montana. I was like, I am not going to Montana. And when in the midst of it, I heard God speak to me, producer, very clearly and loudly. And so I started, I said, okay God, you're calling me to be a producer. I'm going to go that route. And so I started applying for producer jobs. But what happened is I actually got a text from a childhood friend. His name is Kevin and he told me about an associate producer job at Channel 11. So I sent my resume in. I had to take a writing test because as an associate producer you have to write for the newscast. And that same day I got a call from the news director. He said, we're offering you the job. You come to Pittsburgh. I said, oh my goodness. And it was the same channel that I grew up watching at Channel 11. So I got the job as an associate producer. I wrote and researched stories. I helped put it together for a show. That's actually me in the newsroom. I think I was 24 at the time. That's Kevin, the one that texted me about the job. And you know, that's me. Oh, that's a late night. Ooh, that was a late night. That's what I was running the teleprompter. And that's my dear friend, Ashley, since she was running camera. I think that was probably like 4am in the morning. We just snapped that quick picture. And so it was a very interesting time. I mean, I learned so much. I got an opportunity to cover national stories. When I first arrived at Channel 11, I was on the scene for the Jerry Sandusky scandal when that all came down. When there were school shootings. When there was anything that was happening in the community. You know, I had the opportunity to write the story, to see how to shape the story. I was also, you know, when things were happening, when we remember like years ago with Trayvon Martin and the shootings that were happening, this uproar and the tension and the unrest that was happening in our nation, I was in the newsroom being able to write and shape those stories. But something started happening when I was working in the newsroom. I started writing stories about people I knew. And they weren't good stories. And I started really struggling. And during this time, you know, I was getting really deeper in my faith with God. I mean, I was having encounters with the Holy Spirit and something just wasn't sitting right. Something wasn't feeling right about just being in this industry. And I said, God, I don't know how much longer I can do this. I'll never forget when I was at Petra, my home church, one of the elders had this sermon and he said, this ain't the news. He just kept on saying this ain't the news. And I was just like, Oh Lord, he talking. It was like straight to me. I was like, this isn't the news. It's the stories that were going on the air. And I felt just so weird and burden. And the one thing that really messed me up was there was a story. I remember I was working the like the overnight shift early morning shift and there was a breaking news story that came out that a man that was shot and killed. And I remember writing his name down and I remember, you know, sharing that story. Well, I found out that he was the father of a young girl that I was part of a teen ministry in Macedonia. It was her dad. So I was the one that wrote the story about her father getting murdered. And I went to the viewing and I remember seeing the body and it hit me. I just was like, I can't believe this is my job, but this is someone's life. And I remember seeing her and she hugged me and I lost it. And I knew I was like, I can't do this anymore. I knew something needed to change. And so I just started really seeking the Lord. I actually, there was conferences and gatherings happening at my church. And this is what's another interesting moment. And so I remember the first time I met Norma Bixler, the founder here of Cornerstone Television Network. I was at a gathering and I remember Miss Norma fell out. I said, I saw this lady go, they were like prophesied about meeting all these things. I'm like, whoa, this is different. What's going on? And one of my spiritual mentors, Ray and Renate Almagren, they used to work here at Cornerstone and they brought me to Cornerstone. I lived in Pittsburgh all my life, never heard of Cornerstone, didn't know that there was a Christian media station. I had no desire to work in Christian media. I wanted to work for the news. I wanted to work on the Today Show. And so I had these experiences. I remember coming here in the studios like they were praying. I was like, oh, this is really interesting. But I still wasn't all sure about it. And then this was the moment that really God started shifting me that I got actually an email about a producer job in New York. And I said, this is my sign. I was like, I'm going to go. I'm going to go to New York City. And God spoke to me and he said, no. He's like, you're not going back to Egypt. And I bombed that interview. I was so upset. I'm telling you, I would have made the most money in my life. And I said, God, I have no idea what you're doing in my life. I don't know where I'm going. So I'm in this like crisis of faith. And so I'm still working at Channel 11. And this is the moment where really a lot of things shifted. And I remember there was a time I was so down and I would go, this is funny, but this is a true story. I would go in the middle of my job in the bathroom and sit on the toilet and pray at three o'clock every single day. Just, it would just be me and my Jesus time. I would just be praying. I was like, oh, Lord, help me get me through this. Lord, God, I don't know what I'm going to do. And there was one day in particular, I remember, I was sitting in the bathroom and I said to God, I mean, I wrote 30 stories a day during newscasts. It was very stressful. It was very, very tense. And I remember sitting in the bathroom and I said, I was so angry because God didn't let, you didn't let me go to New York. I'm still here and I'm still stressed out and I'm tired and I'm overwhelmed. I'm working crazy hours and I'm over it. And I said, God, I know you've created for me for more than this, but I'm not going to leave until you give me a sign, God, until you speak to me, Father God. I left the bathroom and I went back to working. Well, all hell broke loose in the newsroom. All these breaking news stories started happening. It was a hot, hot mess. And I remember one of the executive producers that she wasn't really nice to me, came over to me and said something to me and I snapped in the middle of the newsroom. I said, I'm overworked. I'm overtired and I'm done with this. I don't want to do this anymore. And literally, David Johnson, I'll never forget, looked at me and he said, Sydney, if you got to leave, you got to do what you got to do. That was my sign. That day, I quit channel 11. I walked away and I didn't come back and I didn't have a plan B. I didn't know what was going to happen. And, you know, Dave Tucker, who's our director of production, sent me an email because there was this job. I had no idea that there was a job opening here and he reached out to me and I sent my resume and it was a fight even getting here. My resume bounced back a couple times even when I had the interview for here. My car didn't start and I didn't have old car just in start. There was all this warfare but I got hired here and it was in August of 2015. And this is actually the first time that I was on air, did a segment and many of you maybe remember Good News 316. There's several other pictures of my journey here of doing stories and just having the opportunity to just interview different people, talk to different people. I mean, it's truly been remarkable. And I'm just so thankful because so many of you have been with me every step of the way. But I also want to close with this because it was a full circle moment for me that I will never forget. So, when we were revamping things here at Cornerstone, they invited us, Channel 11 invited us. There was a segment called Talking Pittsburgh with Jonas Chaney that we were on the set of Channel 11 and you have no idea. Tom and I were there. It was an incredible experience but was so amazing is that I went from, I remember walking through those doors and how I had like walked out, you know, there was like this like years had passed. I had walked out and it was the same month and the week that I had quit Channel 11 that I was back there and I was able to talk about Jesus. And that is a moment I'll never like forget. And you know, I just want to encourage you with this, with my story, is that anything is possible and God will open every single door. Just trust Him when He tells you to lay things down, lay it down and believe in Him and also enjoy the journey. You know, sometimes I think I was one of those, I had my whole life planned out. I was like, I'm going to work for the Today Show. I wanted to be on there and God had such a different plan for me and I'm so grateful for that. So, thank you all so much for listening to my story. Thank you so much for just how you've all like, you've prayed for me, you've supported me, we've walked through so many things together but it was just such a joy and an honor to share this part of my life with you. Thank you so much, Sydney, for sharing that. It is powerful. Your story is powerful. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I get so much joy and because Sydney and I get to share the space where our offices are. She's right across the hallway and just the joy of hearing your story and seeing your journey and what God has done and what He has done in your life. He is faithful to do in each one of our lives. That's right. Make sure you come back for our 21-day prayer journey today. Every now and then life gets the best of us and we need a reminder to keep calm and trust God. Simple but striking, the keep calm and trust God box of blessings provides messages of reassurance to help carry you through tough and challenging times. These small cards fit into the palm of your hand and will turn your focus to the one who is in control of everything. Inside you'll find 51 colorful double-sided cards featuring a combination of inspirational scripture verses and faith-based quotes. Add it to a get well basket or use it to encourage a teacher, family member or friend or save it for the time you need encouragement. Be sure to ask for the keep calm and trust God box of blessings when you give today. It's our way of saying thanks as you encourage others by providing life-changing Christian television through Cornerstone TV. Call us at 888-665-4483 or give at ctvn.org slash donate. We hope you are enjoying our 21-day prayer journey. Today on our journey we go to Ezekiel 11 verses 19 to 20. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I will be their God. What I love about this scripture in Ezekiel is that it brings up moments and thoughts of me of Jesus speaking and really actually declaring and talking to the stony ground. Each and every one of us has places within our hearts and maybe as you listen to Sydney's story you heard some of your own story there. Maybe you're in the middle of a career that you just can't take anymore. You feel like you're between a rock and a hard place. What I believe Ezekiel is declaring to us and Jesus reminds us in the parable of the soils is that look into your heart right where you are and ask him to take any part of your heart that's become bitter, that's become stony, that doesn't want to receive anything new or different in this season and ask Jesus to replace that stony heart with that of flesh. I know listening to your story Sydney and Anna hearing some of your story just behind the scenes that it is so critical that these moments and these difficult trials can replace our hearts with bitterness and with hardness but it's important that we make sure that the spirit himself fills us with a fleshy heart. Anna what do you when you think of this scripture in your own story how does it minister to you? Yeah I mean I just love the fact that God really can heal our hearts. When we go through trials especially like if somebody has hurt us then our hearts can be so filled with anger and unforgiveness and bitterness and the things about the thing about those those things is that it is poison to our heart and the longer that we hold them in there the harder our hearts will become towards God and towards the people around us and we truly cannot live the life that God has for us when we keep those things in our heart but guys today we're also with our prayer focus we're looking at family salvations and I'm sure there are so many of you out there who you have seen the hurt in your family the breakdowns in your family you have seen those who have held on to that unforgiveness and that bitterness you've watched their heart harden maybe towards you or harden towards God and we know that prayer is powerful and that let me tell you like if if you're praying for a spouse if you're praying for a child your prayers have so much power like you have been given authority by Jesus to pray for them for their salvation knowing that God is constantly pursuing their heart and he is able to take out that heart of stone and put in that heart of flesh I love that so much is that one thing I even think about when we think of those family members that haven't given their lives to Jesus or they're not walking in the way of the Lord is just one thing that God always reminds me of is you have to sometimes just give them back to God just lay them at the altar and say God you fix this God you move in this because God loves them more than we can even fathom and so we just want to encourage you today that maybe you are struggling with this that you see a wayward son a wayward daughter someone in your family that isn't going in going in the ways of the Lord and hasn't picked and chose Jesus as their Lord and Savior give us a call at our prayer line at 888-665-4483 Angela let's take a moment and we want to pray for you for your family and that which is before you so father we lift up every person who is watching with us today we ask that the places that burden them the family members that seem to not want to turn towards you we ask that father what you would renew their hope that that family member they've been praying for you Holy Spirit would meet them right where they are today and bring the good news of Jesus that would pull them from the darkness into this marvelous light be with each viewer fill them to the utter most with yourself in Jesus name amen God is a good God Anna yes he is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than all you could think or imagine today lift up your faith lift up those prayers because God is listening and he is ready to move on behalf of your prayers and we're just so grateful for you just joining us this week and we just want to encourage you to know that God is writing your story and no matter what chapter you're in a matter if you feel like this is like really rough and really hard God is in the midst of it he is the author and the finisher of our faith for ourselves and for our families for our cities for our nation and our world hold on to that truth today that is a great hope we have it's only found in Jesus we love you have a wonderful weekend