Let Your Light Shine Featuring Tracci Johnson written by Deidre Dickey

Mistrust is defined as a lack of confidence; to have no trust or confidence in; to doubt the truth, validity, or effectiveness of; to be suspicious.

You, like I, may not even realize that mistrust, specifically the mistrust of God, is rooted in the flawed perception and unsubstantiated beliefs about who He is. This was revealed to Tracci Johnson, celebrity hairstylist and author of Dangerous Mistrust: From the Death of Faith to the Resurrection of Destiny.

Voted as one of the top 10 African American stylists in the country, Tracci is also known as one of the 50 most influential women in the beauty industry. Tracci’s salon has been recognized as one of the top 10 urban salons in the nation. She’s known for previously owning Eclipse Salon on Melrose in Hollywood, California. Tracci toured as the key stylist with artists such as EN VOGUE, Babyface, and Pebbles. She also serviced, either in her salon or on sets, celebrities such as CeCe Winans, Lynn Whitfield, Cicely Tyson, Elise Neal, Brandy, Kelly Price, Jada Pinkett Smith, Keisha Cole, Nia Long, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Kelly Williams, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold, LL Cool J and his wife, Simone Smith, and many more.

Despite all this success in her business, behind closed doors her private life laid in shambles. The confident persona she presented was cracking. After years of struggling with low self-esteem, insecurities, self-loathing, and sometimes not wanting to live another day, she came to understand she was living her life with a dangerous mistrust of God.

Tracci graciously shared her insight on this subject matter recently in a sit-down to discuss her book with MB Mag: A book whose foundation was solidified by her divorce, disappointment, and abuse. A book given to her by God, when one night He woke her up nine times, each time with a thought that would eventually become the corresponding chapters of her book. A book that would take over seven years to develop into fruition.

God revealed to Tracci that all the trials, pain, and heartache she experienced (mostly caused by herself, she shares) were not just for her spiritual growth or to draw her closer to Him, but also God’s plan to shape her into a conduit of compassion who could authentically encourage someone else to trust God a little more and avoid some of the mistakes she made.

The following is an excerpt from her book: After God exposed my mistrust, and I understood the origin of my

flawed perceptions, He took a wounded little girl in the body of a woman, and stretched, pounded, bent, and twisted until He reshaped me like a potter’s hand reshaping clay. He broke me down and stripped me of my self-sufficiency. He shined the spotlight of the Holy Spirit on all my dark, ugly, festering wounds, and would not allow me to ignore them anymore. He led me to open the door to all areas of my life that I had not made accessible to Him before because I was afraid to look at them myself. I began to understand that although I was His born-again child, since the age of eight, I spent many of my prime years living with a dangerous mistrust.

Everything related to my career has mostly been in the category of an Ephesians 3:20 blessing: exceedingly, abundantly, above all that I could ask for or dream of. Now, it could be said that Tracci’s life turned out just as she wanted it to. As far as my career, yes, I think it did, but there was never a time when my career was enough to chase away the emptiness and self-loathing I struggled with. My career success didn’t keep me from feeling alone and vulnerable. I lived with the stress that at any minute, I would not be able to maintain my charade of having it all together. There were times I struggled to the point of having suicidal thoughts. Some days it was a real task just to get up and get going because I was so tired of pretending. Even though God saw my inward struggles, insecurities, inadequacies, pain, and the tears I cried in the latenight hours, help was not available to me until I let go of my selfsufficiency and asked.

The key to Tracci’s success is that she’s guided by peace — no longer turning a deaf-ear to God’s guidance and refusing to have a pityparty, which became an altar for her pain. This altar kept her living in a perpetual state of sacrificing her life for the pain of her present and her past. So, Tracci made the decision to allow her faith in Christ to form her foundation … putting Him first while surrounding herself with people who lift her spiritually and mentally.

SOPHIA RUFFIN the

Tracci recognized through her trials and tribulations that her purpose is to challenge women to stop walking in defeat, behaving like part-time Christians, and to trust God full-on instead, taking their authority as full-time warriors for the kingdom. You, too, have purpose! Allow God to show you how He will take the pain, heartache, fear, and doubt and turn it into something beautiful for His glory.

“Help my unbelief!” is not a typical cry for help. Be that as it may, this utterance is a prayer of faith that God desires to answer. He can use it as a stepping stone to align your thoughts with His thoughts. You