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Tell Their Stories

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

A New Year and New You

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Every day I continue to grow and know more than I did before. Just this week, Bobby Flay taught me how to improve my grilled hamburgers and the Pioneer Woman gave me an alternate recipe for enchiladas. This week, I also got to smell frankincense after reading about Jesus being born in a stable with livestock, thanks Bill Hybels for Seeing the Christmas Scenery.

Life is a great journey where you take in information that will help you make good decisions about your life. This year I am going to do some different things with the blog section of this page.

I will write on certain themes and present them as a series. Not every blog will be tied to a series, but some will. The first series is going to focus on how to be a better you. I am going to share some principles that I have been using for over 20 years. I didn’t create it, I just took it and made it my own. I will invite you to do the same thing. Stealing from the inventor of the system, we are going to put first things first.

This year, I will invite guest bloggers to share valuable information with you. I have learned that we work so much better in community and can learn wonderful things from each other. I know lots of talented people who enjoy what they do. You will enjoy them.

I will also continue with the music. I will use some popular music, but I am an old school girl. So there will be O’Jays and Earth Wind and Fire. Yet, there will also be Third Day and Kari Jobe.

God is working out good things in my life. It is going to be a fantastic year

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15 Things I Learned in 2015

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I learned a lot spiritually in 2015 and I am sharing it with you. You can look back through my blog if you want the full version, but the cliff notes are below. I got to know God in a way, I have not known Him before.  I look forward to what 2016 holds.

15

Mourning is a process. You have good days and bad days. Own it, but don’t wallow in it. Ecclesiastes 7:2

14

Sometime we wait because the Lord has to take the teeth out of the serpent that is waiting to bite you Psalm 61:4

13

all of the struggles we are currently going through is God cultivating our hearts. He is taking hard dry ground and enabling it to grow something Ezekiel 11:19

12

Sometimes our blessings are in the storm Ezekiel 34:26

11

Remember who I am praying to. Revelation 4 tells me that I am not praying to a really good human being. He sits on the throne with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. Four very scary creatures watch over him.  He is mighty, all powerful and sovereign.

10

We work better together. God put us in community to work together. I am so blessed to be among a group of women who love and serve Jesus.  Hebrews 10:24-25

9

He continually reveals himself to me. He tells me He loves me every day whether I hear it or not.  Deuteronomy 29:29, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 4:10

8

He trusts us with moments, don’t take any for granted. Some people you are never going to see again. Act like it. Isaiah 43:10

7

When things I want are not in line with what God wants, Be Still. Trust Him. Psalm 46:10, Proverbs 3:5-6

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Prayer is an effective tool to communicate with Him. James 5:16

5

Until you are dead, it is not too late to start anything. Remember the Sunday School class for women in their 80s.

4

I think God listens to our crappy prayers and decides to teach us a lesson by teaching us we don’t know what we are talking about.

3

Even though some  things do not fit right now, I know that it will all come together because the one who made the plan completes everything.  1 Peter 2:7

2

I need friends who will remind me of God’s faithfulness. Deuteronomy 7:9

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Fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There are lots of scary things on the planet earth, but there is none that I fear above the Lord.  The study of Revelation has given me a grand picture of who it is I worship.  It is not an accident that there are lots of thunderstorms and earthquakes in the area during the year we are studying Revelation. He is giving us an overview before the real thing happens.  Deuteronomy 10: 12-13.

CeCe Winans says it best. Worship Him.

It is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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I am sad to see Christmas go. Love Christmas. I love the songs and movies. I love everyone being nice to each other. I love the stories of hope. This evening I am spending it with Call of the Midwife‘s Christmas Special.

I hope your Christmas was amazing like mine. I love my family, even the crazy ones. It was great to spend time with them throughout the holiday season. Of course, we were rowdy and loud.

These gloves are some of the fun things that came with Christmas. My favorite was an electric tea pot. All are handy and warm gifts.

Yet aside from the gifts, the best gifts have been what the Lord has taught me all year. Next week I will share 10 things the Lord taught me in 2015. In spite of all of our circumstances, He is still good and faithful. Here is one:

Sometimes we wait because the Lord has to take the teeth out of the serpent that is waiting to bite us.

So those of you in a hurry. Wait.

Until then, lets have some Christmas music. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

We really have come a long way, Baby.

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Spoiler Alert:

SW-THE-FORCE-AWAKENS

Movies and books are some of the things I love. When I was a kid, I used to catch the bus and go to Seminary South to the General Cinema theater to watch movies. It was the coolest thing to me and these movies had an impact on how I saw the world. Most of the movies I saw had men leads, and most of which were Anglo.

When the first Star Wars movie debuted in 1977, I was too young to ride the bus by myself.  But I fell in love with the Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and was excited that Billy Dee Williams was one of the cast.  As an actor is was good to see someone who looked like me in a popular film that was good to boot. It gave hope that African American actors would not be typecast as the bad guys, the stupid guys or “you don’t have a purpose” guys.

I don’t have adequate words to explain my feelings as I watched the recent installment of the Star Wars franchise. I was like, “Wow!”

As I sat in the movie theater 38 years after the first movie, I can see a difference in who we are as story tellers. As a country we have grown some and it is nice to see it reflected in a major franchise movie. It is nice to see actors who look like me get roles that might have been cast other ways.

I love that one of the main characters was African American and another was female.  The story-line had nothing to do with their race or gender, it allowed two actors to do what they do best. ACT. Yet their presence spoke volumes. It takes Star Wars to whole new level with me. It was a great movie experience. We have truly come a long way.

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I’m Off My Game

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Sometimes I kid my work partner that he is off his game when things don’t go the way we plan. It doesn’t happen often, but pointing it out helps us understand something we don’t like is happening. Usually we joke about it. He tells me if he is off his game, then I must be off mine.

Currently I am off my Christmas game. Presents still need to be bought, cards need to be mailed, and lots more.  I am so behind.

Christmas is my favorite season and it is about to be over before I even prepare for it. The thing that keeps me calm is music. One of my favorites this season is the Christmas Song by Dave Matthews.

I love the words to this song and the beat. As I was listening this week, I thought about Jesus. I mean He knew when he breathed life into Adam that eventually the focus would turn to Him. (And rightly so because He came to save us.) He knew that people would write songs about his life.

I wonder if terms like “less than golden,”  “daddy-o” and “jokers” gave Him a giggle. They make me giggle because of the songwriter’s method of telling the story. He uses a vernacular that I am familiar with.

I am not saying the song is biblical, but I do like the theme. I love the idea of showering Him with love while He lay in the hay. I disagree that the blood spilled is of the children all around. I know the blood spilled is of the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Yet that doesn’t limit the song for me.  Because as God tries to explain to us what He does for us, we don’t always get it right.

But Jesus loves us. So much that He was willing to come be with us. We will never know the full extent of His love.

Even though I may be off my game,  I love being reminded of the trip Jesus made to earth to shower me with love.