Wednesday, December 11, 2013

How may I help you?

Blows my mind how privileged #kids sit in the cold at bus stops without coats, gloves, hats, etc right beside kids who are in need. The same neighborhood.
You see, often it's not the houses in the neighborhood around the corner or a few zip codes away!  But it's the house next to us or the one in the cul de sac. Or the single father that sits beside us in church every Sunday. Charity starts at home! Let's find someone to help today and make a small change. Let empower are used to seek out people to help as well.

#KidsInNeed #OpenOurEyes

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Hope

I am reminded of the scripture hope deferred makes the heart sick. But the longing fulfilled is like a tree of life! This morning I am deciding not to allow my hope to be deferred. I will not allow my hope to be determined by the manifestations of His promises. But rather my hope rest in the promise being fulfilled!

Each day that we patiently wait is not a day that we are determined as hopeless, but more that we are redefined as a believer!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Rest in Him

Very importantly noted, at the bottom of this picture you will see the stage lighting! I took this picture with my cell phone. This means that I was in the congregation. Being fed!

Leaders must routinely and intentionally plan and take a seat at the table to be fed as well. As my pastor has taught, I refuse to be the starving Baker!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

My reflection

These last few days, I learned when you have something really big and major in front of you, you still have to wait for the clarity and directives so that your execution can be impactful and intentional. As a doer, it can be tasking to force myself to be physically idle. The comforting forehead stroking comes in the realization that I am actually allowing mental stimulation to at an intensified rate. I can not allow my anxiety of deadlines approaching to quench the needed meditation time.

The last few days have truly been peaceful, even though my time clock tick-eth!  And tick away it does. But I know that things will work out well. The things and activities that are supposed to occur... will. I have peace.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hello. My name is...

It feels like I woke up this morning and its just my day to testify or something. My first name, Shauna, means "God is gracious". Along with this scripture and knowing that His grace is sufficient or that His grace is enough, whichever translation I need for the moment, this helps me to know, for the theme of my entire life that I don't have to be "strong" enough. For my entire life, I have been named that I will need Him to be my strength and Source of grace .

When we get to my eulogy, it will be lined with examples of me depending on the grace of God and I'm alright with that. I'm so glad that I found out in my earlier part of my life what my name meant and what my purpose will be based on so that I wouldn't go against it my entire life.

What does your name mean? How is your purpose tied into what you have been named? Just a thought I had to share with you.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Sabbatical Reflection: Day 14

Day 14

We get halfway and think we can take our guard down or we are “good” now and can quit, when actually that is the time we must work even harder and tougher.

I have to take every thought captive and underestimate NOTHING!

Friday, July 26, 2013

I Serve Notice to the Enemy!

Today I serve a notice to  myself more than any external entity that something has to change. The emergency oxygen masks have fallen from the over head panels several times, yet, I continue to offer them to other survivors. Well, this time is different. The one who's response will be shocked first, will be my own! And I CANT WAIT!!!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Tonight's reflection: I took a swing

 
The sacrifice is worth it. It's like chopping down a tree. When I put the axe down, whether the tree fell or not, I know I gave each chop my best effort. Often times, we get caught up on if the tree fell, how hard it fell, which direction it fell or even when it will fall. We forget to celebrate the fact that we were brave enough to even pick up the axe and take a swing at something that stands 10 times our height, aka our limitations. Today, I took a swing.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Go after it

Each day
 
Being so close to my breakthrough is simultaneously a relief and a burden. I am excited about closing a chapter that I have sweated and cried through. I have also begun to work and sow seeds for my next season. But the burden of entering a new season can make me heavy as well.
 
Either way, I'm going after it!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Look who's watching

Our children are always our understudies. What r you teaching? "More caught than taught"

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Trouble?

http://bible.us/111/PRO19.23.NIV The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble. Bible.com/app

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Just help!

 
This morning, the girls and I were having our morning prayer.
Kennedy(7 year old daughter): And God I ask that we have no stress today...
Me: Kennedy? What is stress (mid-prayer halt)?
Kennedy: I don’t know, I just hear people saying they don’t want to have any all the time.
 
*Proof that we don’t have to know all the details to begin helping people. Meet needs, not standards.
 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I am. I will.

I am channeling my energy to where it belongs. My "should" is a "must".

I will do what is meaningful. I will be intentional.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Be You!

At the end of the day, do not allow anyone else's insecurities or selfishness, or any environment , to prevent you from being the maximized you. We all have gifts and talents. Do not allow yourself to settle for unproductivity because there is no opportunity to express yourself.

I have said this before. If there is no road to express yourself, you must create an avenue that you can use your gifts. Do not wait on that special moment to be recognized. Create moments that your gifts will be revealed.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

I win when I lose.

One of my girlfriends, her name is Monique, is super intelligent!! She and I play several word game through our smartphone apps. I always lose big time on all of the word games, but I always choose to rematch her after every defeat. I  have found myself wondering if she thinks im crazy or if I'm that little annoying sister that can't get enough!
 
As I am thinking, I'm not even sure if I expect to win the game! The benefit I'm getting out of playing her each time is obtaining greater confidence as I am trying my best. Even more, I am watching the choices of words that she uses and her strategy in winning.
 
In life, I am learning to focus not just on completion in achievement, but I am learning with each play to be a better player, to be a wiser player, and to study my opponent and their successes. If we focus on winning as a sign or badge of honor, we miss the true lesson and victory.
 
Now, I look forward to playing games with Monique! I look forward to what she is going to teach me about herself, and most importantly about myself! I don't ignore or prolong the game! I don't choose easier components so that I can feel good about myself and self inflate my ego!
 
In reflection, I realize that I even refer other people to play her! I want them to be iron sharpened by iron as well! At some point, we must grow from avoiding challenges to facing them in confidence! Will you be able to get to the point that you welcome challenges? Or that you are not intimidated by a challenge or do not become weary with anticipatory grief when a challenge is on the horizon?
 
Actually, I have several word games going on with her at different times. We must embrace challenges, so that we becomes opponents. Thank You Monique for being a friend that is not afraid to challenge me and allows me to continue to grow!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

You are so unique

You are so unique

When you stop to look at each stone, each shell, each miscellaneous item (even the trash), what a collection this becomes! Never discount who you are, never minimize who you will be come. Always keep in mind the bigger picture. Zooming in sometimes magnifies what you're looking at. Your uniqueness  is needed in the world!

Finding humor in your resilience.

True story.

My alarm clock goes off, for the first time, at 530 in the morning. A second goes off again at 540 (and a third at 6) in the morning, in the event I have snoozed through those 10 minutes. This morning I decided 2 we tack the hook on my favorite pair of black pants at 5:55 in the morning after my shower. The entire time I am humming gratitudes. First time being thankful that with my naked eye, I can see how to thread a needle. I recall my mother, who is a master seamstress, how she has to use her glasses now at the age of 59 to see the eye of the needle. Also the thought that she sometimes use this gadget to thread the needle for her came to mind. In that moment as I begin to place the hook and I realize that I am grateful to have been exposed to the strategies and skills that my mother hands taught me. I am also grateful for taking home economic classes in middle and high school. I continue to thread this item onto my pants. I do the top holes. I go to finish the top 2 holes I realize that I did not knot the threads together to keep them from unraveling. (Stay with me on this). I make a few attempts to try to tie the small pieces of thread with my bare fingers and am not able to do so. I decide to move on to the bottom 2 holes. I thread those to completion, and then I remember from my last experience that I am to tie a knot with the threads while the needle is still attached to the thread, not after I cut it like I did before. Done! I am proud of myself. I decide that I will come back later and finish the knot on the top 2 holes. I go to fasten my pants and I realize that I have attached the hook for my pants backwards. It is now 615 in the morning. At this moment, I burst out into laughter and go and wake my husband up to tell him what I have done. Of course, he looks at me it says "okay Shauna" and rolls back over. I tell myself "it's okay, he will laugh when he wakes up". I want back into a bathroom, look in the mirror, shook me head in laughter, cut the threads holding the hook to my pants and started over.

I learned so many lessons in that first 30 minutes of my day . I learned that we must act on our desires while the desire is at its height! Catch the wave and learn your cycles. I learned that there will be times were I will laugh at myself and others may not appreciate the humor in the situation . I learned that my pants fit differently now, because I have allowed myself to wear these pants for almost 2 years in dysfunction. Now that there has been a change, I wonder did I gain weight? Did I do something wrong? They were more comfortable when they were incomplete. I learned that I could have given up and various stages. I was reminded that this is a very simple task that I have known how to do since I was a small child. Each time I missed that tiny little hole to thread the hook or each time that needle pricked my finger, and even went through my skin a couple of times, I could have given up. I definitely could have given up over the disappointment of me missing knotting two threads or me realizing that I applied it backwards.

At the final moment, when I was a fastening my pants, when I completed the second time, I realize that I had missed a third hole that needed to be threaded to the pants that would hold the hook into place. That feeling of giving up, accepting the work that I had already put into this simple task, justifying the work that I had already done and leaving it without completing it, had begun to take over me. But the inner me said FINISH IT!

Today, I pray that the inner you is louder than the weary you, doubting you, limited feeling you. Today may you finish it!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Lead On

 ‎7 Ways Leaders Waste Time: #2: Refusing to delegate. If you make every decision, it's a matter of time before you're completely overwhelmed". Pastor Lance Watson
 
My response:
They must also recognize that lack of trust is the main issue. "if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" was probably originally said by someone who didnt know how to delegate responsibly. just a thought.
 

Friday, February 22, 2013

A mother’s declaration

 
I WONT LET HIM HAVE HER!
 
16 hours ago, I was in my worship experience and my daughter came and sought me out, requesting to pray with me about her life. We talked about college and how she did not have to be concerned with “not” being able to go and having to wait a couple of years to save money once she got out. All those fallacies that nonbelievers chant. Not my child. I openly rebuke and encourage her to do the same! 16 hours later, im gettinng a call from the VP of her school that she is being suspended for 5 days due to her disruptive behavior.   This attack is just not on her. I take it personal. But this is not a battle that the enemy will win. You see that?? I am STILL holding up the Banner of the Lord! WE WIN! My Love for You remains unchanged. If anything, it is all the more assured! So funny, you are. I just ended my radio show discussing refusing to be a victim! Well, I believe what I said! Change your "what if" to an it will". I refuse to let any demonic scheme to penetrate the calling on my children! I WONT LET HIM HAVE HER!!! IM NOT LETTING GO AND IM NOT GIVING UP. He got the right one to fight with. Cause im not giving up on my children. I know what mantle is on them. And it WILL come to pass!
Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him! I WILL BLESS THE LORD!
 
 
Tired, but not a quitter!
Weary, but not hopeless!
Restless, yet I have peace!
Desperate, yet I have patience!
 
 
A mother's declaration: I WONT LET HIM HAVE _______!
     
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance." H. Jackson Brown

    
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Keep moving towards it!

Once you start breaking free, don't you dare look backward, only unless you are grateful for your freedom and need a measuring distance praise! Each step gets easier; I become blessed with more and more grace. My comfort zone has now become uncomfortable and I no longer tolerate its foolish ways. Its traditions become incomprehensible and its rituals are ignorant.
 
Take one faith step and then take another. Im now 2 steps closer to where I need to be. Soon I will have walked through my breakthrough and landed in the Promised Land because of perseverance and strength. But more largely, perseverance.

Remain Hopeful

Sometimes we will think,
"When I get to "there", things will get better and be much smoother". But when we get to "theret", there are more "things". I chose to remain hopeful that the "things" from my last "there" will prepare me to manage the "things" in this "there".

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Affirmation

I walk as though I am fearless.

I am daring. I am bold. I am confident. # affirmation

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Tonight's reminder

My day's end meditation.

Discipline in the Long Distance Race.

http://bible.us/97/HEB12.1.MSG Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! Bible.com/app

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

It's not paranoia if it's true!

I am grateful for this time of fasting. I was challenged and pray that I was obedient in accepting the fast command from God to disconnect from social media for 3 days. Today I shared with a friend that in my time of meditation I get irritated and frustrated because there is a constant flow that I can not completely capture at times. For example, during my commute to work, I often have the voice recorder on in one hand and a wtitting tablet in the other hand because I am getting a download from the Lord! My brain is constantly running! This I am grateful for, but as I mentioned sometimes it can be overwhelming. There have been times during this season that I will declare that I am over stimulated, as evidenced by being paralyzed and unable to make choices as I have so many possibilities.

Diring this fast, I have been allowed to put a plug in 1 end of my pipeline and save some of the inspiration for myself. I have become my own cheerleader, encourager, and innovator. I was encouraged and recieved insight as to how to make myself better and better Steward over my resources.

So the blog post's title, "it's not paranoia  if its true" was given as an inspiration today from a coworker. The truth is that I have learned today is it I'm not paranoid, I am a useful and overstimulated vessel! I create avenues to express myself and the gifts that I have because I would seriously die or burst if I did not!

Today I challenged myself and I challenge you to rest occasionally. Allow yourself to be nurtured, and use "no" more often.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Go now!

Im amazed at how we will tolerate pain and discomfort. We get used to living in a dysfunctional manner.

today God told me to fast. my children are experiencing some different transitions at the same time, so during my meditation time God told me to fast.

He knows that food is too easy for me, so he told me to fast from social media. I immediately eliminated the temptations. I deleted the apps from my homepage on my cell phone. I am grateful for this obedience, and sometimes we are resistant when we put too much thought into it. this makes me think. Sometimes we don't have time to make an announcement about what we are going to do. We just need to do it.

there's no time to queue the marching band. there's no time to alert the team mascot! cheerleader will have to see the you tube video. Doubters will have to hear about it after it manifests. you just have to go, and go now!

now, when I do go back to it(social media). Maybe I will provide a reason, but please know that you don't have to. we are adults! Go and go now!

I want to be Gale!

Whenever in a group setting and the "who would you be?" Ice breaker is presented... You know the one.  I am asked who what I like to be if I could be anyone in the world, dead or alive? I always pick Gale! Who is Gale? That is Oprah's best friend. Of course, then I am questionned as to why I chose her. My reason is simple. I want to achieve as much as possible in life without all the hard work. She is blessed by association. There are many examples of being blessed by association in the Bible. So I'm not being selfish and making this request. I am a hard worker! I carry the weight of many. I do work for what I have and will achieve in my future. But there are times where I would like to receive things just because I know people. Because I have networked. Those seeds of perseverance. Because the favor of God is seen on my life.

Today I am asking for blessings beyond the sweat off my brow. Enlarge my territory, bless me indeed!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Its not that life causes us to run away, or retreat or isolate, but it is a fact that some things are just unbearable. In that moment of refuge, release the weight to our Father. He is able to handle it. He enjoys our honesty. He delights in providing for us. It is indeed His good pleasure. This has now transitioned from your weakness to His Strength.
 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

today's affirmation

My day can be full of worries and concerns or it can be filled with solutions and resolution! Today I chose to 1.have a glass that I can manage 2.have the drink in the flavor I can temper and 3. an amount that I can manage effectively. No half empty or half full; MY CUP OVERFLOWS!