I recall a conversation with my youth about what season best represents my life. A few months ago I said to them I was in a Fall season. "Leaves changing colors, dying and falling to the ground so new ones can bloom in the season ahead", this was exactly my life. Here's some of the new leaves sprouting on my tree:
- I'm so excited about the roots being planted in my new church home and I get more confirmation each week that Community Baptist is home. Yet I still feel at home when I'm in DC too, so I'm settling into having a home at each location and growing stronger with the church communities.
- I'm still exhausted with relational challenges in the ministries I serve on and with friendships. But really learning to accept people as they are and just be myself as well is all I can do, God has to do the correcting in me and them. I leave for Atlanta tomorrow and I trust that I wont return the same after this leadership conference. Going to let those folks pour knowledge and encouragement into me to strengthen me for my new season.
- Financially, I've been very conservative, pinching pennies more than usual since paid work is slow. Got some new business plans on the horizon and even today I received encouragement to pray, with expectation, bigger to God that He use the talents within me to generate revenue. I've been sharing my talents for free forever and understanding that I'm valuable and my time is deserving of a price tag feels great. Talking out my business plan with the Head Man in Charge and letting Him be my advisor, my board, my trustee, my shareholder and partner is so fulfilling.
- This little heart of mine is still mending yet still hopeful for new love to sprout in the seasons to come. I want total healing so I don't go into a relationship with baggage, brokenness or fear. I'm learning to trust more, be encouraged by my Brothers in Christ and take mental notes of the desirable characteristics. Im in admiration of some of the marriages God has placed in my presence but in a healthy way. They give me hope and joy for that kind of Godly relationship and love to be mine one day too.
- Family Life is holding steady. My baby sis got her own spot so I got my apartment all to me lonesome again. My other sis is ready to pop out that baby any second. Still cant believe my nephew will be 21 in a few months, Granny Pants feels a bit old LOL. I place the rest in God's hands to work His way through my family and have His will be done. I'm just gonna keep on praying.
- One of the biggest challenges has been my health and my body. I started to exercise this week for the first time in a while due to injuries. God is a healer so I trust that I'm on a road to recovery and will be back in shape sooner than later. I'm on my second spiritual fast of the year and its been a great cleanser for my body (TMI, I know) and bringing awareness to the crap I eat.
If the young folks were to ask me now, I'd say I'm definitely springing forward into my next journey. I think I'm in limbo somewhere between Fall and Spring. Ironically, my life has been somewhat consistent with the Winter/Spring/Confusion this season of nature has been. I've had the snow days (cold numb moments), rain showers (more crying than I've done in my lifetime), sun beaming days (full of pure joy and inner light shining), windy days (if you didn't hold on I just might have knocked you down on my warpath), and some crisp, clear skies with reasonable climate (just kicking back and going with the flow). I'm truly ready for Spring though, may the new leaves grow and I be planted by the rivers of water to bear much great fruit.
"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Psalm 1:3 (King James Version)
Peace yall!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Pay Back
Three times this morning I received prayers from friends that God's favor be with me today. That got my morning going because I was ready to start my day and prepare for His favor coming. I'm doing my morning routine and catching up on monies due to me from agencies and Uh OH...Nothing! Not one red penny is due or will be due. At the moment I have no bookings in the works and no funds coming in...FAVOR???
As I write in my morning pages and begin to let the sorrow come over me I recall Daddy's conversation yesterday with me. He said that all too often we do things and sit with our hand out waiting for our reward. But we don't really know if the service we're doing at that moment will be rewarded with a blessing to come or if we're paying back for a previous blessing received. I heard that deep in my spirit. As I write further, I begin to praise God because I know His favor has been over me for quite some time so let me not go looking for something that's already here and take for granted what I got.
I'm walking in a dream that so many others desire and God has allowed me to be very successful, compensated with money and exposure. Of course, I desire increase in wealth but when I think of what He has given me that could've went to someone else I better just stop right there with the self pity. For every moment of financial stress I entertain, someone is getting evicted, forced to do things against their beliefs to make a buck, bouncing from place to place with no home to call their own, selling themselves short to make a living by any means necessary. All the while, my bills may be late and not paid yet but they will be and the list can go on of what I can potentially take for granted as someone else goes without. So if I never receive another blessing from this day forward, I will praise and serve God to pay back what I've been blessed to receive thus far. Thinking on my Daddy's words I know I'm paying back blessings of previous days when I certainly didn't deserve any of this but He saw fit to bless me anyway.
What have you been blessed with in this life and How can you serve God to pay it back or FORWARD actually?
Peace yall!
As I write in my morning pages and begin to let the sorrow come over me I recall Daddy's conversation yesterday with me. He said that all too often we do things and sit with our hand out waiting for our reward. But we don't really know if the service we're doing at that moment will be rewarded with a blessing to come or if we're paying back for a previous blessing received. I heard that deep in my spirit. As I write further, I begin to praise God because I know His favor has been over me for quite some time so let me not go looking for something that's already here and take for granted what I got.
I'm walking in a dream that so many others desire and God has allowed me to be very successful, compensated with money and exposure. Of course, I desire increase in wealth but when I think of what He has given me that could've went to someone else I better just stop right there with the self pity. For every moment of financial stress I entertain, someone is getting evicted, forced to do things against their beliefs to make a buck, bouncing from place to place with no home to call their own, selling themselves short to make a living by any means necessary. All the while, my bills may be late and not paid yet but they will be and the list can go on of what I can potentially take for granted as someone else goes without. So if I never receive another blessing from this day forward, I will praise and serve God to pay back what I've been blessed to receive thus far. Thinking on my Daddy's words I know I'm paying back blessings of previous days when I certainly didn't deserve any of this but He saw fit to bless me anyway.
What have you been blessed with in this life and How can you serve God to pay it back or FORWARD actually?
Peace yall!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Relationship Truths
I know I have a strong light that shines. But sometimes I let the darkness around me impact my shine and it seems dim. Other times I allow the darkness of my past to impact my shine causing it to seem dim.
This past week or two have been a bundle of occurrences that I've allowed to make me feel my light was dim. [Sidenote: I choose my words carefully because a pure light can't be dimmed by insignificant occurrences but our minds can trick us into believing so.] My patience for others was at an all time low mostly due to physical exhaustion with such a busy schedule. But I began to realize some of my impatience and lack of loving words and actions towards others is more deeply rooted. My previous 40-day fast revealed a lot to me about relationships and I recognized that God is taking me through a season of restoration, transformation, and removal with several relationships in my life. I've had intense conversations to very calm disagreements with folks in this new year and it's all part of this process. Learning to see some of these "attacks" as the tests from God that they truly are is helping me to shake off the frustration and impatience, allowing Him to work through the situation. What I mean is that at first glance it's so easy to look at a relationship challenge and think, "What the heck is wrong that person? I cant believe they did this or said that! Why Me?". And for us Christian folks, we can get all huffed up thinking the enemy is on the move and get so wound up in fighting his attempts that we forget to simply look to God and seek wisdom. I've been grabbing scripture for the circumstances and praying day and night over stuff, thinking "Devil you wont get me this time". What's funny is that now I'm a bit more calm about situations and by allowing God to work it out I see that all He really needed me to do was sit back, shut up and just let my light shine. Even with the relationship challenges I haven't spoken verbally to people, all I have to do is relax and let my light shine. My light being the joy in my heart no matter what the circumstance. My understanding that I'm not fighting these people or what they did but God and I together are fighting the spiritual war going on in these circumstances. My light is a boldness that I walk in confidently speaking what I've been taught and believing its truth. Sometimes I get so worked up in my thinking and praying about trying to put a fire out or stop the enemy from having any power over me that I forget about God...and that aint what I was taught.
I'm learning first and most importantly to just be quiet until He says to speak. In relational matters, the enemy would prefer we respond instantly on our emotions, making a fool of ourselves and of the teachings of God. But we know better. Most times my emotions or need to "fight this battle" disappears by waiting on that wisdom to come before speaking. I see more clearly that it's not a priority and/or worth my energy at all. When He does convict me to move on circumstances, I find myself speaking without angry hurtful words and finding a peace to move on from that challenge whether we agree or agree to disagree.
Relationships have been the theme of my life in this new year and it is exhausting. I mean does anyone really love to debate, argue, talk it out or anything of the sort with a whole bunch of people at once??? I sure don't, but obviously my relationships on every level need some cleansing so God has strapped on His rubber gloves and is getting busy. I welcome this season though because I know ultimately it will serve me in healing from old hurts, hopefully heal someone I may have hurt from past hurts, and release any strongholds on my life with these relationships. I just gotta stay true to what I'm learning and believe what God says about me is true and hear it louder than anyone's voice. My acting coach said "What is there to defend if you're walking in your truth?" and that sums it up. I don't need to be defensive and fight all these battles, my truth will speak for itself and my truth is God and the healing power of His love.
Peace yall!
This past week or two have been a bundle of occurrences that I've allowed to make me feel my light was dim. [Sidenote: I choose my words carefully because a pure light can't be dimmed by insignificant occurrences but our minds can trick us into believing so.] My patience for others was at an all time low mostly due to physical exhaustion with such a busy schedule. But I began to realize some of my impatience and lack of loving words and actions towards others is more deeply rooted. My previous 40-day fast revealed a lot to me about relationships and I recognized that God is taking me through a season of restoration, transformation, and removal with several relationships in my life. I've had intense conversations to very calm disagreements with folks in this new year and it's all part of this process. Learning to see some of these "attacks" as the tests from God that they truly are is helping me to shake off the frustration and impatience, allowing Him to work through the situation. What I mean is that at first glance it's so easy to look at a relationship challenge and think, "What the heck is wrong that person? I cant believe they did this or said that! Why Me?". And for us Christian folks, we can get all huffed up thinking the enemy is on the move and get so wound up in fighting his attempts that we forget to simply look to God and seek wisdom. I've been grabbing scripture for the circumstances and praying day and night over stuff, thinking "Devil you wont get me this time". What's funny is that now I'm a bit more calm about situations and by allowing God to work it out I see that all He really needed me to do was sit back, shut up and just let my light shine. Even with the relationship challenges I haven't spoken verbally to people, all I have to do is relax and let my light shine. My light being the joy in my heart no matter what the circumstance. My understanding that I'm not fighting these people or what they did but God and I together are fighting the spiritual war going on in these circumstances. My light is a boldness that I walk in confidently speaking what I've been taught and believing its truth. Sometimes I get so worked up in my thinking and praying about trying to put a fire out or stop the enemy from having any power over me that I forget about God...and that aint what I was taught.
I'm learning first and most importantly to just be quiet until He says to speak. In relational matters, the enemy would prefer we respond instantly on our emotions, making a fool of ourselves and of the teachings of God. But we know better. Most times my emotions or need to "fight this battle" disappears by waiting on that wisdom to come before speaking. I see more clearly that it's not a priority and/or worth my energy at all. When He does convict me to move on circumstances, I find myself speaking without angry hurtful words and finding a peace to move on from that challenge whether we agree or agree to disagree.
Relationships have been the theme of my life in this new year and it is exhausting. I mean does anyone really love to debate, argue, talk it out or anything of the sort with a whole bunch of people at once??? I sure don't, but obviously my relationships on every level need some cleansing so God has strapped on His rubber gloves and is getting busy. I welcome this season though because I know ultimately it will serve me in healing from old hurts, hopefully heal someone I may have hurt from past hurts, and release any strongholds on my life with these relationships. I just gotta stay true to what I'm learning and believe what God says about me is true and hear it louder than anyone's voice. My acting coach said "What is there to defend if you're walking in your truth?" and that sums it up. I don't need to be defensive and fight all these battles, my truth will speak for itself and my truth is God and the healing power of His love.
Peace yall!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Pretty Girl Confessions - Temple Body
I successfully, yet nervously, delivered a message to my young ladies about our Temple Bodies and how we should treat them. It was emotional for me because of my testimony and also empowering because of my testimony. The lessons and healing of damages from my past give me boldness to encourage others not to walk down the same path. I shared with the girls about feeling like I've given a piece of my soul to each person I've been intimate with and I got a little choked up. But I'm grateful I was able to share that I've been redeemed and feel like a born again virgin. God has made me whole and given me a clean slate to treasure my Temple Body. I found myself speaking boldly at times with the ladies about the smallest acts that can lead us to defiling our bodies. I recalled my adolescent years when I was pretty much exposed every bit of skin I could in the warm seasons. I don't have a voluptuous body so I didn't have boobies and booty hanging out but I was definitely revealing all the skin I could, short of "my goods". I touched briefly on foul language, healthy eating and exercise as forms of maintaining your Temple Body but I really went in on the topic of sex and those things leading up to sex.
Where I'm at in life right now, actions like kissing, intimate dates, late night phone calls, sharing of intimate life details and others are caution areas. I say this because they lead up to the lust we can gain for that person on the receiving end and I have no intention of proceeding romantically with them, so why entertain or display this behavior. God is making me very aware of my flirty behavior and the mixed messages it can send and even the temptations I can unknowingly be stepping into. Now I'm not saying you cant have heart to hearts and hang out with the opposite sex. I'm stating that I'm evaluating MY strengths and weaknesses as I strive to gain my purity back and making wise decisions around that knowledge. For me, a date can lead to another date which leads to romantic emotions leading to a kiss which leads to more passionate kisses then on to spooning and groping and touching which will lead to sex if I'm not so careful. None of these things were off limits for me in the past and I didn't possess the strength to have a reasonable cut off point that didn't lead to sex. And honestly, what is a reasonable cut off point??? Shall I say to God "I'm just gonna kiss him, let him touch my booty, maybe even go a bit further, but we not gonna have sex so you cant say I sinned!"...Really?! So for me, God is expanding my understanding on this definition of purity and how I treat my body and mandate that others treat it. I'm certainly not passing judgement on anyone who thinks otherwise, just trying to encourage you to give it some thought and evaluate your own situations.
Peace yall!
Where I'm at in life right now, actions like kissing, intimate dates, late night phone calls, sharing of intimate life details and others are caution areas. I say this because they lead up to the lust we can gain for that person on the receiving end and I have no intention of proceeding romantically with them, so why entertain or display this behavior. God is making me very aware of my flirty behavior and the mixed messages it can send and even the temptations I can unknowingly be stepping into. Now I'm not saying you cant have heart to hearts and hang out with the opposite sex. I'm stating that I'm evaluating MY strengths and weaknesses as I strive to gain my purity back and making wise decisions around that knowledge. For me, a date can lead to another date which leads to romantic emotions leading to a kiss which leads to more passionate kisses then on to spooning and groping and touching which will lead to sex if I'm not so careful. None of these things were off limits for me in the past and I didn't possess the strength to have a reasonable cut off point that didn't lead to sex. And honestly, what is a reasonable cut off point??? Shall I say to God "I'm just gonna kiss him, let him touch my booty, maybe even go a bit further, but we not gonna have sex so you cant say I sinned!"...Really?! So for me, God is expanding my understanding on this definition of purity and how I treat my body and mandate that others treat it. I'm certainly not passing judgement on anyone who thinks otherwise, just trying to encourage you to give it some thought and evaluate your own situations.
Peace yall!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Parx Casino commercial
Here's the commercial spot for the Parx Casino out of Pennsylvania. Had a blast working with these ladies. You can also find us on billboards on the East Coast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZJhMlTftZw
Peace yall!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZJhMlTftZw
Peace yall!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I Think I'm In Love
I haven't talked about my relationships in a while and won't spend too much time in the details, you can recap my blog for past challenges. I've been preparing a message to speak to the teen ladies this week and God spoke this morning to me about what I've known all along. I share often that I had a promiscuous adolescent and adult life which is rooted in a void that I tried to fill with sex, boyfriends, alcohol and such. Being delivered yet still healing from that past I've really been focusing on my relationship with God. Allowing Him to fill that empty space with His love and He has done just that. Some days I get lonely and tell God that I love Him but it would be nice to have an Earthly man too. But He speaks to me clearly and reminds me "It isn't time for that yet", so I obey. Some of the guys who try to hit on me have made jokes that I'm married to God and one even went as far to say or imply that God can't fulfill me sexually, but I'm not even entertaining that. God is very intimate with me and it ain't got nothing to do with sex. (Sidenote: In-ti-ma-cy is "In to me see", If the person you laying down with can't see into your soul or you don't love yourself enough to show your innermost parts to someone than that's not intimacy, that's just sex... I'm Just Sayin) Getting back on track, some of those folks were joking but they're actually speaking the truth. I am married to God and He is a better husband than I could've dreamed up.
He is my provider so I don't worry about my needs because my hubby has it under control. He pays my bill, allows me to pamper myself, put this awesome roof over my head, the truck I drive and so much more than just the material things. He is my comforter and confidant so I can go to Him with every intimate detail and cry on His shoulder. He listens and gives great advice, even when I don't want to hear it, so I say He's my best friend. He wrote me a whole book of love letters to remind me of just how much He loves me, I read it each day in this fancy Black leather book. He wraps His loving arms around me at night as we lay together and dream, plus He's right there when I wake up each morning staring in my face saying "Good Morning Beautiful". He pours into me, strengthens and increases me, He wants the best for me and would never attempt to diminish my value and hold me back from greatness. He is my soul mate and I love Him so much.
I realize this may be difficult for some to process but when you truly build a relationship with God and allow Him to do His work in you, you will absolutely fall in love with God. He will treat you better than anyone else can and once you allow Him to complete you, He will give you the desires of your heart. No more broken relationships for me, no thanks. Of course, I desire one day to have an Earthly husband but if he can't bring it like God can than I think I'll pass. Can't nobody give it to me like God can.
Peace yall!
He is my provider so I don't worry about my needs because my hubby has it under control. He pays my bill, allows me to pamper myself, put this awesome roof over my head, the truck I drive and so much more than just the material things. He is my comforter and confidant so I can go to Him with every intimate detail and cry on His shoulder. He listens and gives great advice, even when I don't want to hear it, so I say He's my best friend. He wrote me a whole book of love letters to remind me of just how much He loves me, I read it each day in this fancy Black leather book. He wraps His loving arms around me at night as we lay together and dream, plus He's right there when I wake up each morning staring in my face saying "Good Morning Beautiful". He pours into me, strengthens and increases me, He wants the best for me and would never attempt to diminish my value and hold me back from greatness. He is my soul mate and I love Him so much.
I realize this may be difficult for some to process but when you truly build a relationship with God and allow Him to do His work in you, you will absolutely fall in love with God. He will treat you better than anyone else can and once you allow Him to complete you, He will give you the desires of your heart. No more broken relationships for me, no thanks. Of course, I desire one day to have an Earthly husband but if he can't bring it like God can than I think I'll pass. Can't nobody give it to me like God can.
Peace yall!
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