I am so grateful that this young woman decided to share her story. How important it is for us to try and understand and be more compassionate about the trials other are going through.

Not even 1 year ago, this womans husband of 16 years took his life, after battling severe depression for many years. They tried so many things to help him, but they still lost their Husband and Father.

Together, they have 4 young children who have struggled with this loss.

She would like the world to know that depression is not only real, but it can be crippling and even deadly.

It is so hard to understand the pain, hurt, sorrow, and burden of someone else until we can truly wear and walk in their shoes, and only one man has ever really done that.

In the middle of our hard times, I think it is so easy to forget that He faced our battles before we ever did. It’s so easy to forget that he knows how to heal us and, if we put our faith in him, he can lift us off our feet and carry us over our hardest paths.

If we can save even one person by reminding them of Christ’s love and atoneing sacrifice, then that will be all we could ever ask for.

Please share her story. You never know whose life you may change or even save.

This young woman just inspires me. She is beautiful inside and out.

However, she didn’t always see the beauty in herself. From a very young age, she began to doubt her self worth – measuring it to her outer beauty. She then began to struggle with eating disorders. After many years of being in and out of hospitals, working with therapists, struggling to find that inner beauty and finally, thinking about taking her own life to escape the pain, she turned to God and Jesus Christ and was able to make a mighty change in her life.

Please watch her story here. We truly believe it is so important for children, teens and adults to know who they are, where they come from, what they are worth, and where their beauty truly does come from. Like always, we would love for you to share. So many of us have felt Christ’s love firsthand in the intimate details of our lives, and we hope to, if someone is out there searching for the same hope and love, to help share our experiences with them. Thanks for being a part of our project.

I wanted to give something away to you, to thank you for visiting our He Lives Project site. As I was brainstorming what I could give, I remembered this song that, every time I hear it, really touches my heart.

It means so many different things to different people. To me, it means this.

I know that, if I can live a good life and I can do my best, that Heaven will be waiting for me in the end. However, even though it is waiting, I don’t want to sit around and wait for Heaven to come to me.

There are so many days when the weight of life feels so heavy and monotonous, almost like I’m strapped to the same old plow in the same old field trying to sow the same old seeds.

It’s at the end of these days that I realize… I don’t want to feel this way. I don’t want to feel weighted down by my insecurities and doubts. I don’t want to let the comments of others, who are also dealing with their own struggles and insecurities, weigh me down.

I want to embrace what I CAN DO and improve what I can’t. I want to step into the world with open arms. I want to do what I can to be the good in this world. I want to make a difference in the lives of those I love, and those I could love. I want to use the talents I have to find my calling in this life, so that when I meet my maker I will feel proud. I want to be able to tell him that I did everything I could while I lived this beautiful, joyful, sometimes painful and strenuous life. I want to show up at the pearly gates with holes in the knees of my jeans, with dirt on my hands, with peanut butter and jelly in my hair, and with love in my eyes.

This is what this song means to me.

I believe we were all born with very specific and wonderful gifts, and each of our gifts are unique. I don’t believe in envy. I don’t believe in sitting idle. I believe in hard work and doing.

And, I believe that when I can’t do any more, that Christ will be there to catch me before I fall.

Thank you for supporting our cause. I can’t tell you what it means to me. Please download this free song as my very small and insufficient thank you.

Homeward Bound – click for free download

As I was going through the clip submissions for the He Lives Project launch video’s, I about died when I watched this one. This darling little boy is so cute and so funny… he needed his own video. So here it is. In this video, Liam tells us why he is grateful for Jesus. It just goes to show you that Jesus Christ can be in every part of our lives… and kids really do know what they are talking about.

A few months ago, I had the great opportunity to conduct my first interview for the He Lives Project. During the interview, I will admit, that I had tears in my eyes many times.

In this short video clip, Mary Lynn talked to us about her life with her love of 55 years. She admitted that their years have not been perfect – that there have been many great and joy filled moments, and also, moments of heartache and sadness. She stated that, though it hasn’t been perfect, their 55 years have been glorious.

However, Her’s and Jim’s life now isn’t what she pictured it would be during this phase. A few years ago, Jim suffered many strokes and was later diagnosed with Alzheimers. Mary Lynn has become his caregiver and it this disease has been a challenge for her. Still, she said that she sees tender mercy’s every day, and those mercy’s keep her going. She has also learned to love in a different way, which she says is “So important.”

It was a pleasure for me to sit down with this wonderful woman and spend time with this inspiring couple.

Below, you will find her story. Please watch and feel free to share. Mary Lynn’s greatest wish in sharing her story is that her experience will perhaps bring hope to someone else.

Hey Everyone,

This is Chelsey Stallings, one of the creators and artists behind the #BecauseHeLives project. I am so excited to finally launch this long-awaited project. It’s been in the works for a very long time and seeing a dream become reality feels like nothing I can describe.

I first had the idea for this project in 2012. However, I didn’t begin to try to push the project forward until the summer of 2014. Sometimes, it takes a few very firm hits over the head and a few hard falls down the wrong roads before you get headed in the right direction. I feel with all my heart that every experience I’ve been through, and every path I’ve walked down in life has led me to this project.

As of right now, there are TEN incredible people working on this project. Our talents are diverse and unique and every person brings something  special to the table. I can’t wait for you to get to know the musicians, motivational speakers, song-writers, studio engineers, singers, and performers. They are simply spectacular people and I am in Awe of their many talents and their love of this project.

I am humbled to work with them and feel very blessed to bump shoulders with these extraordinary people. I can truly tell you that, when it comes to talent, I am at the bottom of the barrel in this group.

As we get ready to launch this project, I ask humbly for your help. Our main purpose is to try to bring a sense of peace and hope to as many people as possible. I believe we are all Children of God and very deserving to feel his love equally.

We will need your help to spread the word.

Every month, we will be interviewing a few people on camera. We have many wonderful interviews lined up and I can’t wait to film them.

Every person we interview is going through some kind of trial. Some trials may seem very large, and some may seem very small. As we interview these wonderful people, we have asked them to share how they have found peace and hope through the sacrifice Christ made for all of us when he paid the price for our sins and sufferings, and then died for us.

We will then posts these interviews on our YouTube Channel. Using these stories and inspiration, our team will then write, record and post a song based around the interview. In a short while, we hope to put together a full presentation and travel to as many people as we can with an awe-inspiring show, and so on and so forth.

Guys, I’ve never been so excited about a project. I am so grateful for your help as we spread the word that BECAUSE HE LIVES, we can overcome these hard times and we can live with Him perfectly again!