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Not long ago, I was commissioned to write an article for a mainstream magazine about the hit cable TV series Trading Spaces (on The Learning Channel)—the show where two sets of neighbors switch homes for 48 hours and give each other a complete room makeover costing no more than $1,000. My first interview was with the show's host, Paige Davis, and before long we were talking about her Jewish faith. I then asked Davis if she knew of any Christians on the show. Without missing a beat, she answered, "Laurie, for sure. She's quite grounded in that department."

Laurie Smith, one of the energetic interior designers that the show loans out to its guests, was surprised to hear that her friend remembered their conversation about Christianity. "Did Paige say that? That's sweet," says the thirtysomething redhead with a distinct Southern drawl. "In this world of television, you don't want to push [your faith], but you hope that you're an example."

But of course, even believers have moments of frustration on the job. Long hours, pressure to finish a room on time, and unforeseen delays can put a strain on anyone's mood. "Laurie gets really stressed out—probably more so than anybody," says the show's carpenter, Amy Wynn Pastor. "She takes the longest to get through Lowe's when we do our shopping."

Smith admits the job can be stressful. A week before this interview, she was working with a bachelor and his girlfriend in Portland, Maine. Clearly, the couple had been roped into doing Trading Spaces by their neighbors. At the end of Day One, Smith assigned the couple a load of "homework," a term the show uses for things that need to be done late at night in preparation for Day Two. Instead of finishing the projects she assigned, the bachelor "blew it off" and took his girlfriend out to dinner. "I got there the next morning and was just livid," says Smith. "I was like, 'You guys don't get it. Now it's going to take five hours to prime, paint, and now we won't get to finish this huge focal point of the room … ' It killed me."

"They have a lot at stake," Davis says, defending the interior designers. "Their name is on this room. They want it to look incredible. This is their reputation going out there."

Representing yourself well on camera is one thing—representing Christ is another challenge. Smith tries to demonstrate her faith by the way she treats others on the show, from the cast to the crew. She says, "All I can do is stay in prayer and stay as grounded as I can, trying to emulate Christlike qualities."

The first-time mom now travels with her own mother, who acts as a nanny for 8-month-old Gibson, while husband Brad Smith continues to practice law back home in Jackson, Mississippi.

"Who knows where it will go?" Laurie Smith says of the popular Trading Spaces. "Who knows if the show will stay on for several years or if I'll feel at peace with what I've done and become a stay-at-home mom? But it's so exciting right now. I feel like it's all God. There's no way it's not God."

A Christian Reader original article. Dan Ewald is a writer living in Venice, California.

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