For the month of April I am just posting videos. I love music. It inspires and encourages me. This is some music THE TEENAGER introduced me to. We were cooking one evening and listening to her playlist. I like it.
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This month is just music
I love music. Everyday I wake up with a song in my head. It usually sets the pace for the day. (And some days I do try to change the sound track)
When I write, I usually have a sound track for each novel. Sometimes it is obvious because the music will be mentioned in the text, while other times not. I like music that is full of emotion.
This month, we are just going to jam. Here are two of my favorites.
You are going through these struggles now
because it is building up your faith. Like a caterpillar struggles to get out of the cocoon, you are building up your faith muscles. If the caterpillar didn’t struggle to get out, its wings would not be strong enough to fly. Change the perspective on how you face the struggle. Whatever you are going through is helping you get to where God wants you to be. Instead of “Lord, why me?” ask “Lord, what do you want me to do here?”
Today as I found myself in a situation I did not like, I had to keep telling myself, that there is something God wants me to get from this. There is something He wants me to do. Change my perspective.
There was this man who a few days ago caused me a great deal of struggle. It was not his intention, he was just doing his job, but it interfered with mine. Needless to say, he did not fare very well in my book.
So today, here he was again. Oh brother. He had no clue of the trouble he had caused or so I thought. I had a choice to make. I could light him up and let him know how much trouble he caused me. I could let him know that he was not wanted near me today. or I could greet him as if we were old friends.
Yeah, I chose the latter. Let me tell you, he was the most helpful person on the floor the rest of the day. He went out of his way to be helpful and did things I had not ever seen him do. By the end of the day, I was like “Wow.” I changed my mind about this person.
Whatever type of situation God has placed you in, look around you. What is He trying to tell you? He has already told us that His ways are not our ways (which means He is not going to make everything easy). He will do things to strengthen our faith. He is going to get some glory from your situation.
Sometimes God Won’t Reveal His Plan
because He knows we won’t be obedient. God did not tell me His plans for today because He knew I would skip it.
I had been trying to get my small group together for a while, but there were lots of conflicts in our schedules. One of them suggested Harvest America, which was a free concert with several Christian artists and a message from a great preacher. Initially I was leery because it was being held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. I didn’t want to deal with big crowds.
Unfortunately, everyone in my small group wanted to go. Okay. I put the person who suggested in charge of planning. Thought maybe we could all have dinner together and go to the venue. I research the preacher. It looked like he only got crowds of 17,000 to 20,000, I figured we could have some choice seats at AT&T with that few people.
Two days before the one whose idea it was, could not go. WHAT! This was your idea! (not real Christian of me) So discussing the idea with my sister, I suggested the group meet for dinner at 4 then head on over afterwards for the concert and the word. My sister suggested we meet earlier. I relented.
We knew things were going to be crazy when we met to eat because the restaurant was overflowing with people. We thought we might get jumped for our table. One woman had so many people with her I thought she was just going to start sitting them at tables with strangers. Our journey began at Cane’s. (God has jokes)
We finished eating and headed for the stadium. It was incredibly crowded. I told myself it was what 20,000 people looked like. Once inside, the bottom two levels filled up fast. Soon it looked like this. (I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore)
When the top tiers filled up I knew this was more than 20,000 people. We watched on FB as people posted about bad traffic in Arlington around the stadium. Good thing we left early.
Now left to my own devices, I would have NEVER attended something with more than 100,000 people. They said people were coming and standing outside to witness what was happening on the inside. They said the fire marshal made people leave because there were too many.
Inside it was Amazing Grace.
It was such a privilege to hear the recording artists and the preacher. I was so blessed by the word. It was a blessing to just see the words roll across the screen and think about the gift of being saved from my sin. It was a blessing to see Lecrae in person. I am a fan.
Chris Tomlin did what He does well. It was freeing. I have been set free.
I don’t know much about Greg Laurie, except he is a man of incredible prayer. He prayed and God answered. You should listen to him for that alone. He preached God’s word simple and truthful.
He held and invitation to invite Jesus into their lives. He filled up the football field and had to use overflow room. God worked miracles and wonders this evening. I am glad I made it in.
I almost missed my blessing. I am glad God outsmarted me.
African American History Month
The United States was built on the backs of African Americans, Mexican Americans and Asian Americans. That is why I love Black History Month. It tells the stories I never got to hear in school. It reminds me that my people are not shiftless and lazy. They have great minds and hearts contributing to society.
It reminds me that you can come from nothing and add something significant to life. In my Queens project, the women I chose made a contribution to society that changed the fabric of it. Ordinary women did extraordinary things.
For this project, I chose women from all walks of life. I will share some of the photos I have taken, thus far. These are my Queens of Freedom.
Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues
Betsy Ross, mother of the American Flag
Madam CJ Walker, first African American Millionaire
Delores Hueta, Labor Leader and civil rights worker
Rosa Parks, civil rights activist or the mother of the freedom movement
Sacagawea, lead Lewis and Clark across North America
Shirley Chisholm, first African American woman elected to Congress
Tell Their Stories
I love that there are months to celebrate African American History and Women’s History. It is the opportunity to tell the stories of people like you and me who accomplished things that moved us further along on life’s journey.
My current photo project is inspired by a group of women who changed life for the people around them. These women taught us about freedom, self worth and beauty. They walked us to freedom through dark woods in the dead of night. They built fortunes washing clothes and combing hair. They leave a legacy that the impossible can be done.
I call them Queens because these women led when it wasn’t easy. Anyone can do it when it is easy, but these women did it when there was nothing in it for them. When all of the odds where against them. They made a difference.
Because of women like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, Betsy Ross we are free. We are not restricted by someone who owns us. Because of women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton we can own property and manage our own lives. We can be lawyers, architects or millionaires. We can be what God created us to be and not limited by what man thinks we should be.
Bessie Smith was raised during a difficult time in our country’s history in 1892. She lived in the segregated South. Her parents died when she was young, so she and her brother would dance and sing on the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee to earn money. In 1912 she started her career as a dancer traveling with a troupe. She would later get a job as a singer, which would lead to better paying jobs.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Smith was known as the Empress of the Blues. She would headline shows and traveled around in her own custom made rail car. What was more important is she gave voice to a style of music that got its roots in America. Bessie Smith understood the blues, it was her life. She poured everything she had into it until it consumed her.
If we don’t tell these stories who will tell them? Young girls need to know you can climb out of hard times if you have perseverance and a dream.
We are family
The final section for this series is Emotional. It speaks to making social and meaningful connections with others. These are the people you encounter and who influence your life. Sometimes is it family, sometimes it is friends, sometimes it is strangers on the street.
Do I think I can walk out of the house in my pajama pants to run some errands? My sisters and daughter would kill me.
Do you ever really leave BSF leadership? I have friends who still taunt me with “We sure miss you in the mornings.”
The other day I encountered a woman who tried to hold it together while she told me how her life was falling apart. I could not put words together to console her. After she had walked away, the Holy Spirit gave me instructions and I followed His wisdom.
The last couple of years of my life has focused on the connections that influence who I am. One of the things I learned was that the only thing that last forever is your relationship with God. All of our other relationships on earth come to an end but everything else builds on that relationship with God. If you want to have peace, allow God to have the most influence in your life.
If God takes someone from your life, trust Him. He knows what is best for both of you. I had too many influences or the wrong influences. God showed me through a series of trials that things that I thought were true of people was not. People who I did not like, He taught me to love and cherish. People who I loved, He cut from my life.
When I was younger, I had a good friend who I met in college. She had a great deal of influence in my life because we were friends. She was intelligent and well connected. She had a lot going for her. She also had some things going on in her life that God’s word did not approve of. At that point in time, God did not have the influence in MY life to counter the influence she had. God removed her from my friends list and began to teach me His ways. Looking back over my life, He was right.
So today when He starts removing people from my friends and family list, I roll with Him. When He adds people, I roll with Him. I know it is not about me. My influeners list is short. All of the people on this list KNOW God and LOVE Him.
Take a serious look at the people you are connected to. This area of your life can take all your energy and drain you if you allow the wrong people to have influence. I look at the stop signs God has placed in my life and I know He was right.
I remember one time He gave me a “go” sign and I thought He was tripping. I was doing a small group study through my church. I remember sitting at the little table for sign ups. I had one person from church interested in joining my group. Then I watched God surround this Ph.D student with a bunch of seasoned social workers. I remember thinking, “Wow, God that is soo cool.” We have all been praying for each other ever since. Trust Him. My small group is better than your small group.
The only thing better than my small group (and yes my sisters are part of my small group) are my sisters, Pooh and cousin Kisha. I am going to send a shout out to the travel group, WWC because I do not want anyone smothering me with a pillow on our next trip.
I spend time with these people and share life together. We don’t always agree, but we do lots of laughing. Make sure the people who influence your life can make you laugh, support you when you cry and point you to the Most High God all the time.
These are the people who influence my life. They say “That’s stupid, don’t do that.” Or as my younger sister says, “I have friends in this city and do not want to see you on a episode of Cops.” We are family.
Hello Fear, before you sit down
In 2015, I spent the least amount of time thinking about this area, but more time doing it. Today’s area is Mental or the things you plan, learn and visualize. It is usually one of my favorite areas until God takes over. At the beginning of each year, I create a plan and goals for the year. I determine the areas I want to learn more about and set out to do it.
I plan safe things, like trips to the museum or to take a class in lighting for still photography. God tosses me in the lake and says “Swim, I got you.” God takes me on trips I never imagined and many of them have to do with the things I fear. He makes me look the thing I fear right in the eye.
What I love about this area is I get to do new stuff. I am seldom bored or lack something to do. God teaches me to think outside the box I have drawn around myself. He is teaching me to see myself as more than a mother or daughter. More than a photographer or writer or filmmaker. As I look back over my life I see I am not staying stagnant. Life is truly an adventure.
Today’s adventure included a trip down culinary lane. For the first time, I cooked chicken fried steak. Yes, I have been a Texan all my life, but this was the first time I ever tried to cook the dish myself. I watched the Pioneer Woman do it this week. I thought it looked a little too complicated for my level of cooking. But at the grocery store today, the only thing I could find was the cubed steak…
As I work out the plan God has for my life, I enjoy watching it come clearly into focus. Make a plan. Set some goals. Yet don’t get upset if God interrupts your plans for His. After all I set off to the store to buy a brisket, but cube steak was in my future. I did a good job and there is a sense of accomplishment.
Be part of helping others grow, not only by being an example, but also by coaching. We should all continue to grow together because iron sharpens iron. If you are not helping someone become better, then you are getting in their way.
It is time to tell Fear goodbye. Walk in the adventure God has placed before you. Your future might seem uncertain, but God is in control. Dive in.
For This I Give You Praise
My habits are not true to form of the Seven Habits because over time I have tweeked them to match my needs. The next area is Spiritual. This is your soul, spirit and the things that make you you.
When I think of spiritual, I think of my relationship with God. He created us in His image and I believe our spirit is what connects us. The more time I spend with God, the better I understand me. The more time I spend with God, the more I love Him.
I mean when you move in with someone you like to get to know them. If you are going to spend an eternity with someone, you want to know something about them. So I spend my spiritual time getting to know God better through bible study and prayer.
I was not one of those kids raised in church so the process was foreign to me. I was in my late 20’s before I understood that God still communicates with his people. Once I discovered that, it was game on. I began to understand how He speaks to me and what He wants me to do. It all started with a wonderful bible study titled, Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. Changed. My. Life.
The most important thing I learned was all I have to be is who He made me. Not everyone likes or agrees with who I am, but the One I have to answer to does. We get off center when we try to be other people or what other people want us to be. But if you are close to God, He will keep you centered. You ought to stay with Him just for that.
He has a plan for each of our lives. We have to trust His plan. When the children of Israel were in the desert, the Lord reminded them that they were His people. He reminded them that He was with them. As long as He is with us, there is no drought that can over take us or enemy that can over come us.
I praise Him because He taught me that He fights my battles for me. He runs my enemies out of business. He destroys them in ways I can’t imagine. As I learned in the study of Revelation this week, it is to bring them to repentance.
Spending time with God builds up your spiritual muscles, strengthens your faith and teaches you a praise dance.
Let’s Get Physical
I am a big fan of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. One of the main principles is to put first things first. For more than 20 years I have been putting into practice some form of the idea of figuring out what is most important to me. When I set goals, I think about how I want to be remembered and what purpose God has given me in this life.
One of those purposes is to live a healthy life.
As a form of habit, I set goals for my physical body, after all it is my physical tool. If it doesn’t work, I won’t do the other tasks He has assigned. Getting older is not easy. I mean, I can’t read without my readers (glasses) but I don’t always put them on. Like my Aunt Maude use to say, getting old is not for the weak. (She didn’t use that term, but that is what she meant).
For the past decade, I have fought the weight gain problem and lost. When I got older, I did not lose weight as easy as I did when I was young. I am not a crazy dieter. I wouldn’t do the boiled egg diet, soup diet or the don’t eat anything diet. I have this problem with fried chicken and pie and soda. I like all of these things very much. (My fear is there won’t be fried chicken in heaven – but I am going anyway.)
Although I was drastically opposed to working out in the beginning, my view changed. I have several people in my life who encourage others to work out and live healthy. It is the best way to live. Regular exercise can save your life and make healing quicker. For example, I used to work out with this crazy instructor who loved making us do burpees and jump rope day. I hated jump rope day. One day, that fool sat in a F-150 (truck) and convinced us to push it around the block as our workout. (and I call him the fool. LOL)
Yet a year and a half later when I had surgery, I healed much quicker because of the strong core I developed working out with him. He has taught good principles and healthy eating habits. (Although I am never giving up fried chicken.) He has helped me make good lifestyle changes.
With my wee little human brain, I thought, God had me get healthy because He knew I would need it to heal faster.(Whenever you think you have God figured out, sit down and shut up) In 2015, I got to see what I could really do. I had some of the most grueling positions I have ever had. They required physical movement for 10 hours or more. There are moments I wanted to die because every inch of me hurt. I had no idea that something I liked to do could cause so much pain. I felt like an old lady.
As a result, I lost over 20 pounds and was able to reduce my high blood pressure medications. It was all God. As I was focused on other things, He took care of something I thought was a problem. All of the strength I had been building up over the years, the Lord used in an unexpected way and it blessed me.
Set some goals. Work towards them. Watch God bless you.
God brings amazing people into your life to bless you. Receive it.
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