Kingdom Woman

The million dollar question is, "Who is this Kingdom Woman?" Let me see if I can help you with that. As I continue to read, Kingdom Woman by Dr. Tony Evans and Chrystal Evans Hurst, I want to know more and more about this Kingdom Woman. From the introduction of the book alone, you learn:

• She was created to RULE & advance the God's Kingdom and His glory
• She was put here to reflect God's image
• She positions herself under and operates according to the rule of God over every area of her life
• She desires to be the woman God created her to be
• She is a strong help comparable to that of God the Father
• She is a companion & a collaborator in the dominion mandate
• Her worth is far above any treasure
• She is significant, valuable, worth more than jewels
• She fears the Lord and guards her values
• She is treated with dignity~as a treasure
• She conquers the enemy's attempts to mess with her life and lives of people she love

Some of us are ready to be this woman and some of us are not. Some of us embrace each one of these characteristics of a Kingdom Woman and some of us will run in the opposite direction. Being and becoming a Kingdom Woman is most definitely a journey~not to be travelled by the weak at heart.

My journey began a few years ago AND I still have not arrived. I embrace being a work in progress~I know God is still doing His work in me. I am of age where I'm taking everything in life more serious and I am wanting all that God has for it. Lately, it has been my mantra that Man was not meant to live alone. While single, I thoroughly enjoyed the single life. I can honestly say that I did single life and did it well~with little to no regrets. Now, I am content with being a help-mate in the making as I know my role and I am one that truly embraces it. To be completely honest, NO WOMAN wants to provide for a home alone. I have not met a woman that thoroughly enjoys living paycheck to paycheck or shall I say, "surviving the struggle". It comes a time in any woman's life where living, being, and doing life alone is not as fun as it once was. The fact that God has designed the perfect person for you, who will arrive at the perfect season in your life~he, too, will embrace you as his help meet~his companion, his collaborator in the rule of the covenant. Meaning he'll know his role as well as accept yours.

Do we honestly know our worth, our value? Do we know who and whose we are? Do we embrace our worth? Unlike a car, our value does not depreciate. No matter the trials and tribulations, the cards of life you were dealt~no matter the circumstance or situation. There is still worth and value to your being. You ARE who & what God says you are. My future mother in laws calls me "stuck on myself" every chance she get it. I love it. And my response is, "If I don't love me, who will". We are to be treasured. We are to treasure ourselves. We are to be cherished and respected; loved and embraced, comforted, tenderly touched and spoken to with a kind, yet gentle voice. It doesn't matter what others think as long as you know you are significant! Jesus paid the price for me~therefore my value doesn't hold a dollar-figure. It is priceless. I am who I am-I am one of kind and unique. God broke the mold when He made me. For He knew the world couldn't handle two of me. The same applies to you. There is one you~and you~and you! My granny used to say that I danced to the beat of a different drummer. AND I did. I never wanted to be like anyone else, I've always been my own person~being me, just who I am. Even when I lived in the world and was of the world, I still maintained my own uniqueness.

Do you fear the Lord and guard your values? Believe in His Word? Trust in Him? Have faith in Him? Of course you do. Have you laid your all on the line and said, "Here I am Lord, use me as only you know how"? Or what about that gut-wrenching cry, "Why, Lord" when things are going wrong or you're stuck in your valley? Fearing the Lord is most importantly, giving your all to Him~being transparent in your eyes to Him as if He can't already see thru you. Have you thought lately about your worth and value? About what you mean to you? Not necessarily what or how others view or think about you...but a deep thought about YOU and who YOU are and what YOU do and how YOU matter to YOU??? Your values. I can tell you all day about my values and how nothing on this Earth matter to me more than-God, my family, and my friendships. I mean my true friendships-I am talking the ones that truly know me-you know the ones that grew up with, who knows your secrets and you can't un-friend them for fear of your deepest secrets being exposed to the public. Yeah, those types of friendships~they mean something to me.

This is the one that I love-CONQUERS THE ENEMY'S ATTACKS.
At some point, we've all been under attack by the enemy. We've been to the point where we have to laugh to keep from crying. Where you are to the point of giving up but can't because some "body", some "thing", some "one" is depending on you to make it happen for them. They/It is waiting on you to come thru for them. Yet, you have to wonder everyday in this valley (or enemy's attacks) when is enough, enough. It just seems to keep coming one after the other after the other after the other. Your mantra has become, "Satan, get thee behind me", you're constantly pulling knives out of your back, your praise is bigger and louder than your bark-you've just got to praise your way thru & you're at the throne of mercy every.single.day-after day begging, pleading, and bargaining with God-If you release me from this....I will do that....AND the end is nowhere in sight. You're tired of defending yourself to lies and deceit, malice and backbiting. You've had enough of those hazardous-to-your-health issues; spirit killers. That baggage of generational ruins just keeps appearing at your doorstep. BUT, HOWEVER, AND THEN...you've fought the good fight, through it ALL you stood. NOW, you can take a deep breath and you feel & walk in the spirit of victory.

This, my friend, is how you know you are on your way to Kingdom-ship.

#KingdomWoman knows her value & worth; she is not defeated.

Join me on this journey...

Kingdom Woman

My, oh my! How we all strive to be women after God's own heart. In that striving, do we strive to be Kingdom Women? Okay, so everyone that knows me, know that on any given day you can find me wrapped up with Kindle Fire enjoying a good read. And anybody who knows me, know how I love me some Priscilla Shirer. So, when I saw on Dr. Tony Evans website or somewhere that his other daughter, Chrystal, was writing a response to the Kingdom Man....wait, Priscilla has a sister that writes. Ain't nobody told me that??? Anywho, I HAD, yes, HAD to get on the waiting list. Is there a waiting list? Where can I sign up? Who has the sign up sheet? Can somebody, anybody, everybody put my name on the list? I immediately started following the entire Evans family on Twitter~I desperately needed to know the day the book dropped. IF it's Dr. Tony Evans' daughter, Priscilla Shirer's sister, it HAS to be good. It dropped and I was the first one in Lifeway when they opened. It dropped on Kindle~no waiting for it here, I pre-purchased it, so it automatically downloaded.

As I was reading Kingdom Woman, I was interrupted with a post that stated there was a month-long study of the book coming up. Well, lo and behold, I posted this on my FaceBook page and halted my reading because I wants to be a part of the study. The study dropped on Wednesday, September 4th and I am all in. Again, I set my alarm clock, was up at 5:00 a.m. stalking Chrystal's blog and my e-mail updates, Twitter up on the phone and FaceBook up on the laptop and e-mail open on the Kindle. Yes, it was that serious.

So, here we are in the first week of the Kingdom Woman Study and I can't get enough of it. So, I decided to journal-blog about it. Here goes....

While we live in a society where every woman's dream is to be the Mrs. It doesn't matter how messed up we are, how much baggage we carry, how many generational ruins we tote in our oversized Michael Kors bags; we still desire to be the Mrs. AND we spend our time making the Mr. the man we want him to be INSTEAD of concentrating on what God has in store for us. Instead of spending time becoming THE Kingdom Woman that God has designed us to be. We can't be fit for the Mr. if we aren't fit for the Kingdom. We have to spend time in the midst of our mess getting ourselves fit-mentally, spiritually, emotionally, financially, & physically-for the Kingdom. What Kingdom? I am glad you asked. God's Kingdom.

Let us talk about the woman's role. In the Intro of Kingdom Woman, Chrystal writes, "Both men and women have been created equally in the image of God. While within that equality lie distinct and different roles, there is no difference in equality of being, value, or dignity between the genders. Both bear the responsibility of honoring the image in which they have been made. A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image-bearer of the one true King....Just as men, women were created to rule"

I especially love ...A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image of the one true King....That sentence right there is the starting point of our transformation into Kingdom Women. Wait, let me pause for a minute. To understand the Kingdom Woman, we have to read and understand the Kingdom Man (by Dr. Tony Evans). Yes, I read it, and yes I am a book nerd. Okay, picking back up where I left off. Women have, for years, settled. Not necessarily for a relationship, but in life. Not meaning that we've given up, but we've settled. Let's start with college-we'll settle for an Associate's Degree because it's a degree and it'll get me into the workforce or I'll settle for a Bachelor's because it meets the minimum requirements for the job. In the workplace-we'll settle for a position because it's a job and it pays the bills. In the church-we'll settle for being a member (even though we're called to preach) because the Pastor doesn't believe in women in his pulpit. (Isn't the pulpit in the church & the church is the house of the Lord? I'm just asking) In the home-we'll settle with the decisions that the mate makes because he is the king of the castle.

Think long and hard, in settling, is this all that God has for you? Is this all that the ONE true KING has for you? Of course not. Are you being treated anything less-less than-not equal to what God has for you? Are you treating yourself less than? Are you allowing others to treat you less than? Is life treating you less than? God created for us purpose. For a plan. For will. For determination. God created us to STAND, for such a time as this. We were created to rise above. Not to settle. We have come to a point where everything is just "ok", when in reality, everything is not just "ok". If we're created in the image of the ONE true King, then what does that make us? Take your time, think about it, don't worry, I'll wait.

I always tell my fiancé how my grandmother never really earned a real income outside of the home as my grandfather took care of the home financially. He would work a 9-5 and he owned a cleaning service that cleaned/waxed/buffed the floors in a few of the local drug stores. My grandmother would cook, clean, and take care of the home. Every other week she would clean houses for two or three families across the mountain. The pay was good, but it was "under the table". She would use that money to buy groceries and her Sunday suits from Lane Bryant and Pizitz. Now, mind you, on the days that my grandmother went to work, she would still cook us breakfast before we left for school AND she would be home before we arrived from school and dinner would be on the stove-DONE. To this very day, I don't know how she did it, but it was done. She never complained, my grandfather never complained about what she cooked, how she cleaned, how much money she spent, or why she did anything. He brought home the bacon and entrusted her to feed the family with it. He never treated her less than the woman she was-his mate, his spouse, his wife, his baby mama, and everybody's madear, but my grandma!

The days of this type of respect in the home & if you think about it, in life, no longer exists. Because women decided to settle. Why? I'm glad you asked. Because we shouldn't have to demand to be treated better or equal-it should be a given. (I suggest every woman with a man, husband, boyfriend, baby daddy, etc. or even every woman, read Kingdom Man-yes, WOMEN should read it too). Society has lowered its standards, therefore it has become a trickle-down effect. It's not our fault, it's what we were taught. BUT, now that we know better, we should strive to do and want better. We don't have to settle, we shouldn't have to settle. We were created in the image of the ONE true KING.

I've heard many woman say that are better than the situation they are in, but they stay-as in won't leave. So, are you really better than the situation. Staying is a choice. Staying for the kids but settling for less than; staying for the money, but settling for less than; staying for the sex, but settling for less than; staying for stability, but settling for less than. In my sanctified imagination, and this is just my imagination, why not stay for love and be treated as such. You know love, the word that equates to respect, honor, trust and loyalty.

Chrystal quotes Abraham Lincoln, "Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent in the world to be trodden on". I must agree with Abraham and Chrystal. What are your thoughts?

My question is, "What are you settling for/with and why?" and "Is settling 'of the Kingdom'" Inquiring minds - like me- want to know.

Join me, as I continue on my Kingdom Woman Journey.

Who is this Kingdom Woman? She is not a settler!!!

Enlarge My Territory...I Pray for Increase

Does the song, "Bless Me (Prayer of Jabez)" by Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers speak to anyone besides me? This song has been in my spirit all day, especially the verse, "Keep your hand upon me, that no evil cannot harm me, sunshine and rain, sickness and pain. God, I humbly come to you. Enlarge my territory, enlarge my territory. Oh Lord, bless me indeed, bless me indeed...I pray for increase (enlarge my territory). I pray for increase (enlarge my territory)..." This song brings me to tears as I think of how amazing God is and how He works everything out for the good of His plan for our lives.

I don't know about you, but I want...no, wait, I need God to keep his hand upon-never leaving me to wander about on my own. (We all know what a mess that would be) Never leaving me to survive without him. Keep his hand upon me-hold me when I cannot hold myself; walk with me daily; correct me when I wrong; pick me up when I fall, carry me when I cannot carry myself; wake me to embrace another day's journey. Lord, Keep your hands upon me....

Keep His hand upon me...that no evil cannot harm me~Evil exists to destroy us, bringing us to our weakest and lowest point. It attempts to catch us off guard and eat away at us bit by bit, piece by piece. If we are not careful we can be deceived by evil and get wrapped up in it, so much so that we will think it is a way of life. There's evil on our jobs, in our church-I know you didn't think that everybody in the church was saved and holier than thou; there's evil in our homes, in our small groups, large groups, amongst our FaceBook friends and Twitter followers. Evil in our immediately and extended family and if the truth be told, some of us have a little bit of evil within us. We must pray, "That no evil cannot harm me".

Keep His hand upon me...sunshine and rain~Whether the sun is out and all is well, a praise should continue to be our mouths. We pray and seek Him out when we we're going thru (the rain), but walk on when times are good (the sunshine). No matter the weather, day or not, we should give God all of the praise and all of the glory, all of the time-in every season & for every reason. Every little breath we take-deserves praise break; every little step we take-deserves a praise break. Why? I'm glad you asked. Because if God does nothing else for us, He has done enough ALREADY! But He continues to bless us with the breath of life and the use of our limbs and the functioning of our organs, and the little things like shelter from the rain, and the big things like resources to provide for you and your family, and the....the list continues. I don't know about you, but oh how I need my Heavenly Father to keep his hand upon me in the sunshine and rain!

Keep His hand upon me....sickness and pain~This was personal to me as I thought of everything that I am dealing with today as it relates to not only physical pain, but emotional scars and wounds from people's put downs, beat downs, let downs, run overs, run downs, walk overs, walk outs, and put outs. Through it all, God never took His hand off of me. Through every battle that was filled to the brim with pain, God never left me. Every mountain (unhealthy relationships that caused pain), He brought me over, every valley (friends and family that turned their back in times of need; malice, backbiting, lies and deceit that caused pain), He saw me through...for this I give Him praise.

When we pray for God to enlarge our territory, are we thanking Him for keeping us and bringing us through? Are we praying for Him to give us wisdom to know what to do with our increase?

Standing on the Promises

Isn't it wonderful to know that God's promises are promises we can take to the bank and cash in at any given time on any given day? Isn't it wonderful to know that His promises are just for us? His promises comes with a 100% guarantee. Now, isn't THAT wonderful to know? Shouting~Yes it is! So, you may ask, "What are God's promises?" I am so glad you asked. His promise of Love~never ending, unfailing love; Forgiveness~because He loves us, He forgives. In Hebrews 13:5 God tells us that he will never fail us nor leave us (paraphrased).

For months, I wrestled with God calling me to a higher place in my life. Dealing with sleepless nights and rough days, I had to ask God, "Why?" over and over. I couldn't quite figure out why or what I was going through emotionally, physically, or spiritually. But I knew 1) This burden was not mine to carry, 2) God was calling me to higher place in my life, 3) I was not alone.

Even though I felt alone, God was right here holding my hand and calling me to STOP instead of yield to His calling as it had gotten to a point that my ignoring His call was blatant disobedience out of fear. The "what ifs" of life-"what if" this is not what God is telling me to do, "what if" God meant to go left and I went right, "what if" this, "what if" that...It was almost as if I was out of order. Wait, I was out of order because I knew God didn't bring me this far to leave me; because I knew God knows what's best for me and mine; and how dare I question God. It was only so many "Whys" & "What ifs" God was going to hear from me before He shut me down. Guess what, THAT is exactly what He did. Disobeying God will eventually leave you in the same place for what can seem like a lifetime. God said, "Move". Because I did not caused an unbelievable amount of suffering. Not only did I not move when I was told, but I was horrible at pretending to move. I stayed in that place praising God for the good and the bad as if He couldn't see me sitting there in the midst of disobedience. That was truly a laugh out loud moment. The same thing I'd been praying for, God was giving me instructions~plain as day and I acted as if He said nothing to me about it. I don't have to remind you that it was my dream, my goal, my passion, & my want that He was calling me to. And I sat right there, stewing in that place because I didn't want to step out lose, fail, face defeat, depend on someone else, move from my seat of complacency. Even though I knew better.

The sleepless nights were simply God waking me to hear what He had to say~Giving me my orders for the day; the answers to the "Why"; God telling me that this battle was not meant to fight alone; confirmation in every sense of the word; my personal "Footprints" poem as God reminded me, "It was then that I carried you".

It is now that God is carrying me as I lean and depend on Him. Stepping out on Faith out of obedience to His calling on my life has been tough. The decision has caused some internal battle and some external fear with some crazy journal moments. Getting to this point, I will be the first to say, has not been an easy journey.

We jump up and down and praise God, post FaceBook posts, tweet and retweet Bible verses, Instragram the last scriptural twicpic~but I have to ask, "Are we really standing on the promises of God?" or are we stuck in a rut of disobedience fasting and praying that it will all go away. Are we distracted by the external noise and can't hear God telling us to move from this place or are we just plainly ignoring Him? Don't be afraid to answer, "Yes". You are not alone. Everyone has, at some point, been there and done that. Be bold enough to stand on God's promise. In whatever He's called you to, He will never leave nor forsake you.

Trust & obey!

When You Have Fought The Good Fight

Despite my early rising and spending time in the Word, there was that one thing that knocked me down. The tears flowed as I spoke to my best friend, my fiancé, my soul mate about the issue. While I was assured that everything will work out for the best and that no matter what, he was right here by my side; there was that something that I couldn't let go. I texted others about the issue of my heart and I sat for a while, then a while longer...and I thought about my calendar on my iPhone and how there were dates that were unmarked for a reason...and I thought about previous conversations with a very dear friend of mine. She asked me a question-a week ago-that was relevant to today in so many ways. Neither one of us knew that God was aligning everything for His good and His glory. Then my heart and soul fell back on an e-mail that I sent a couple of days ago, but to no avail; how it was so related to today. And I thought back on all the days of my adult life and how I struggled for years to care for my kids-with no help-mind you; yet I never gave up and I never pointed the finger at anyone for their unwillingness to provide or for their telling me NO when I asked. Never did I not open my door to those that so graciously turned me down when I was in need and never did I reject any of those that previously wronged me. Did I say never?

Here I am...between praying and drying tears, my heart fell upon 2Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race and I have remained faithful (NLT)...That is some powerful stuff right there. When you have fought the good fight what do you do? Normally we turn our back on our opponent and walk away or in some cases, run. In a boxing match, the champion raising his gloves, pounds his chest, pounce around the ring and hypes the crowd to go wild over him. The fight is over, the last man standing, the champion, the victor. In life's uphill battles do we fight the good fight and celebrate victoriously in the end? Do we stand there and say, "I have finished the race and I have remained faithful"? Or do we turn out back and walk away?

Now, you knew I was going to break it down for you, right? Right. There are four things that must be done to be considered a champion in the end: 1) Fight the good fight 2) Finish the race 3) Remain faithful and 4) Wait on the Lord for direction. What does fighting the good fight mean? I am glad you asked. It means, giving it your all-the best shot: unemployment-fight, stepping out on faith-fight, marriage issues-fight, wayward/disobedient children-fight, broken relationships-continue to fight, workplace issues-fight with all of your might, that new business venture-fighting. Whatever you are challenged with today-FIGHT.

Finish the race. Have you started a project, a goal, a dream and decided that you wanted to stop in the middle? How will you know what could've been or where it could've taken you? Don't give up on yourself; don't sit down on your dreams; don't pass the baton in the meter-dash until you know you have finished the race. God is not done molding you for this thing we call life. He has work for you to do. He has not called you to sit down but to cross the finish line. What has God called you to complete or better yet to begin and to see it thru? A job change? A new house? To feed the poor in the community? To volunteer at a shelter? To leave an abusive relationship? To break the ruins of the past? To clean that extra room for your new office space? Start today-but make sure you finish!

In your finishing the race, did you remain faithful during the course? Did you commit to it and give it your all? Were you steadfast, unmovable in your finishing? AND are you waiting on the Lord for His direction? Trusting in His perfect timing, oops, I meant patience and faith are required during this step. Wait on the Lord, my friend. But in your waiting, know it's not in vain. Wait on your new car, your soul mate, your new house, your new career (notice it's not a job, but a career), your renewed spouse, your college degree, your wayward children to return home, your broken relationships to be mended. Wait!

Know that we are all fighting a fight together-it's called by a different name though.

Is It Really Hard to Say Good-Bye to Yesterday?

As the title of this post pondered in my heart, I had to wonder-is it really hard to say good-bye to yesterday? When we take a look back at all of "things" and "stuff" we've lost or forgotten about; what about the clothes that sit in our closet season after season after season that we only wear once, okay, maybe twice? What about the shoes that we bought for "that" outfit that is amongst the "you wore me one time-my season has passed yet again clothes"? What about those tons of t-shirts that you've been collecting since ET phoned home? BUT, when it comes time to depart with them, we suddenly name them our "favorites" and we continue to hold on to them. So...is it really hard to say good-bye to those clothes?

What about the boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/wife/significant other/life partner that is not so nice to you? He or she has failed to do the things that they started out doing to get you-dinner, movies, concerts, weekend get-aways, date nights, oh how they wooed you-and now, you're two couch potatoes. What about the verbal, mental, emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical abuse? Yet the excuses roll in-the home is taken care of, we're not struggling anymore, he saved me from myself, he/she really do love me, I brought it on myself, he/she is a good guy or girl. What about the broken relationship with a friend or relative that you continue to hold on to, just to save face or the hope that it will one day be like it was back then? Really...is it hard to say good-bye to those relationships?

When I ask the question, I am asking, "What are you holding on to"? It comes a time when we must release what hurts us. Be it physical or emotional, at some point, we must let go. I was thinking how a few years ago my church did the 40 Days of Prayer. It was a church-wide commitment. One of my prayers was revelation in my relationship. I asked God to show me if this is the man he'd intended me to spend the rest of my life with. Well, just like I asked, God showed me-not once but twice. The thing about it, I didn't want to see it. So just like Gideon (in the book of Judges), I went back and said, "Okay Lord, was that you?" Hmmmmm, isn't it funny how we're never ready for what God shows us when we ask? The next night I prayed the same prayer and the next morning, just like I asked, God put it right before my eyes. Now, I needed to know, "Father, how do I make this right before you? Help me in this unhealthy situation". Well, well, well. I went to work and came home to an empty house. I had to laugh at myself because I didn't have the strength to cry. I asked God to please help me. I was nearly begging. In the middle of my sleep, I was awakened by this statement: "Get up! You've been here before! What did you do then!" In other words, you've struggled before, you've been abandoned before (maybe not in this literal sense), you've been without and how did you do it then? Girl stop the nonsense. To answer my own question, "It is not hard to say good-bye to yesterday"!

What is your yesterday that you need to say good-bye to? What hurt is holding you hostage? What's in your closet that you need to sit out with the Salvation Army "stuff"? How many shoes are you no longer wearing-yet you're holding on, why? Yesterday should-in no way-keep you in bondage. Yesterday's mistakes. Yesterday's lies. Yesterday's unforgiveness. Yesterday's deceitfulness. Yesterday's sinful nature. Yesterday's malice. Yesterday's promiscuity. Yesterday's bad girl. Yesterday's bad boy. Yesterday is never to be seen again. So I challenge you, my friend, to find a way to clean out the closet of yesterday and get rid of the shoes you no longer wish to walk in. We live in our yesterdays never letting them go (just like those umpteen t-shirts we never wear) and yesterday becomes our today and it rolls over into our tomorrow. We walk with it, talk with it, sleep with it, eat with it, drive to work with it. It has consumed us and we are no longer living in today and for tomorrow, but existing in yesterday. The sad reality is that we've failed to recognize yesterday because it's hidden beneath those shirts that we wear today or it's tucked away behind that pretty little dress we're wearing to our friend's birthday party. It may even be under the bed with those shoes that you would "just die" if you didn't get them right then-at that very moment.

What do you need to Arise! and go and handle? It's never too late and it not too hard to say good bye to yesterday.

Who Do We Say We Are?

It's been a rainy Saturday & I haven't as much as darted the door for anything. I think the closest I came to outside is letting the garage door up ONLY so I could get my Bible out of the back of my SUV. Now this particular Bible is the one that's falling apart & has come apart at the binding, it cant be taken out of the cover that reads, "Too Blessed to be Stressed" I so want to put my new Bible in this cover but I NEED to keep my old Bible in it. I don't think anyone quite understands why I hold onto this Bible when I waited patiently for this NLT/Message Parallel Bible to go on sale.

 

Well, you see,  this old Bible has carried me thru some pretty tough/rough times. Times of lies, destruction, anger, bitterness, abandonment,  loneliness; times when I was on a self-destructive behavioral pattern; times when I couldn't pay rent or utilities, didn't have a car, was unhappy with my job; times of brokeness! Times when friends were few! You see, this Bible held me together-even though it's falling apart! A friend of mine found the cover at a local thrift store & told me, your Bible is an embarrassment to every Bible in the Dollar Tree! One dollar can get you a new Bible. She was absolutely right, but it couldn't get me THIS Bible! After all I'd been thru and was on an uphill journey, she'd found the perfect cover for the perfect Bible that defined who I am perfectly, "Too blessed to be stressed"! Amen & Amen again! I can't think of one reason to stress over anything anymore.

 

I call myself blessed! Or sometimes I refer to me as humble; other times you may here me address myself as victorious! When I put my shouting shoes on, I'm also known as prosperous. There were times in the past when I'd hear others call me a sinner. So as I reflect back over my life's story - one song comes to mind - A Sinner's Prayer! And one movie scene comes to mind - from The Color Purple - "See daddy sinners have souls too! I am who I say I am, "Daughter of the King above all Kings!"

 

People approach me all the time - family members, especially - wanting to say they remember when! I'm glad my final fate wont be determined by man. I released the past a long time ago & promised myself to live without regret! Without the disappointments of life; without carrying life's baggage around with me! Instead, I choose to speak "life" into all situations. I choose to ignore the calling of the past. I choose to be who I say I am!!!!

 

Who do you say you are & why?