2025!!! What a ride and we are only in February!!! Sheesh!!! Nevertheless, here we are, riding the waves, being present, and celebrating EVERY win, big or small.
It’s crazy how I have been attempting to write this blog post since the second day of the year. Since 2025 began, I had the pleasure of attending Lady Tina Armstrong’s New Years’ brunch another year, I ended up getting very sick with a strand of what seemed like the flu the next day, and life just did what it does thereafter. Now, I am here sitting in a hospital room watching my oldest son experience, what we now can call, the greatest pain of his life, with just a little bit of time to write out this post describing my experience at an encounter that I consider the highlight of my year, and has been, for the past 7 years.
Let the Brunch Begin
We started off by getting comfortable. You get you some food, drinks, and meet and greet with the other ladies, who you just might be laid out on the floor with, covering, ministering to, or whatever God decides to lead you to do. One thing is always for sure, God always beats us there. The most amazing thing that I still become in awe over, is the fact that God already knows EXACTLY what we need before we place our names on the ballot to be apart of this encounter. So, He gives Lady Tina the activities and discussions that can only come from Himself to speak to each and every individual in the room. They speak to now, past, and future. Nothing lacking. Nothing missing.
My expectation going into just about any event is coming out with SOMETHING that will speak to me, my heart, or my situation. For the New Years’ Brunch, I make sure all are open to receive what God wants to say in the moment. I make sure I stay present and get everything I need. It’s one of the times I choose to be as selfish as I want to be, but, also, keeping myself ready and available to be used by God in any capacity.
The Notebook
After having a toast and prayer to the new year, we were all given a notebook with our names on it. First, we wrote affirmations for ourselves, what we thought about ourselves or what we were going to change for the upcoming year. After sharing a few of our affirmations, the notebook was given to the woman next to us to give encouraging words to, whether you knew her or not. Throughout the encounter, your notebook was passed around to several others in the room, which turned out to be strategically set up. I love activities like this because you don’t have to know a person, their story, what they have been through or even what they are going through presently to minister to them. What I have learned in those same activities is if you are steady and open enough, God will give you exactly what to say to each person. I can remember doing a similar activity at the Valentine’s Encounter last year. There were huge sheets of papers with each lady’s name on it and we were to write words of inspiration on each one. I recall starting off with what I thought every woman should hear or what I would want someone to tell me to encourage or inspire me. By the time I made it to about the second or third one, my words began to change and I became intentional as I ministered to my sister, whether I knew her or not. Of course, I went back to give the other two or three I started with their intentional inspirational words. With these notebooks, I didn’t have to overthink or wonder what to write. This was an intentional instance necessary for the building of my sister. I was still and let the pen do the work.
It Started with A Hug
Let me let you in on a little secret about Lady Tina Armstrong if you didn’t know. She is someone who don’t mind getting IN THERE, with you, whether you are at your highest or your lowest, no matter if you feel like you are far away, she’ll be there. This woman of God has and always will be a force to be reckoned with. She openly gives herself, and answers the call to what God gives her to dispense to others with no holding back, which in this case was in the form of a hug.
Don’t get me lying when you ask me what we were doing before this hug between Lady Tina, and another sister. What I do know is God came and swept the room from there. It almost felt like a ripple effect and each one of us were touched in some type of way. There was even a young lady who came in a little later and it was like she had no choice but to be overtaken by the fragrance that had already filled the room. The fragrance gave instructions to some, confirmation to others, opened a conversation between sisters, and ultimately ended with ladies pouring back into Lady Tina what she had just dispensed. Nothing was missing. Nothing lacking.
By the end of the sweep, we all just sat and laid around basking in the ambience of what just took place. Upon signing up to be apart of the encounter, Lady Tina asked us to read “Hinds’ Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard and bring a journal to exchange with another sister. We started to discuss the book. At that time, I had not read the book, but I was able to take in everyone’s account who had read it or at least started it.
“For the lessons of trust and acceptance must be learned in the valley before they can be practiced on the heights.” Hinds’ Feet On High Places
The book was an amazing story that I believe all of us can relate to. As we all go through this thing called life, we are led by the Shepherd and given companions, assignments, that can leave you disappointed and “much-afraid”, sometimes of even trying to get to that “high place”. Then, to top it off, the route to the place of freedom and purpose is not only not what we expect but filled with many detours, dark moments, and times where we are forced to face ourselves and trust the Shepherd more and more while embracing the lessons that were taught through the assignments, tests, and trials. So, we push and push until we reach a point in our lives where we have accepted what the Shepherd has allowed, no longer bound by fear, walking in confidence and joy, and we receive a new name. With our new name, we return to help others on their journeys to reach the place of freedom and purpose who may not have embraced the lessons and detours necessary to get to the “High Place”.
I never would’ve imagined all of detours I had to take just to get here. This month alone, I had to experience things I thought I never would have had to experience. Now, I may not have reached the “High Place”, but I’m definitely striving towards it and using what I have learned and endured to reach others, even my son as he gets through this recovery. My experience may not be his experience, but I sure have had my share of pulling through times I felt were the hardest parts of my life, embracing the lessons, accepting what God allows, all while keeping my faith and praising God for the good.
All in all, the strength I pulled, the encouraging affirmations from my sisters, the instructions from God given to me, and with the love I felt in that one day was necessary for my next. Needless to say, I look forward to New Years’ brunches every year. I need that one day, for me, to push me, to drive me to the next or at least up the side of the mountain to the “High Place”. Be Blessed.
I started blogging a few years back and my purpose was to, basically allow people into my world and display my growth in the process because I literally had to grow up big time in the past few years. Yes, I was a mother. Yes, I was already an adult, but I would not say that I had fully grown up and, even now, I’m still growing daily. Somewhere in between me becoming an adult, a mother, then, a single mother, I lost my vision of where I was going. I hosted my first Vision Party in November of 2018. Here, we all made vision boards. These vision boards would not just be cut out pictures from a magazine pasted onto a board. They’re not just words or great sayings glued to a platform. They are visual displays of things you want to see happen in your life, things you want to do, places you want to go, or things you want to make better. The scripture I use for the vision parties and, also, my life, is Habbakuk 2:2-3. I like the way the English Standard Version reads. “And the 
So, every morning, I receive an alert when I’m leaving the house that tells me how long it’s going to take me to get to work. If the time given is not going to get me there on time, I check my map to find a faster route. This particular morning, my normal route was going to make me extremely late because of a crash on the highway. So there I was looking for another route to take. I found one that was going to make me late, but not as late as my normal route and typically, the way I drive, I can knock off a few minutes and be on time. But as I’m driving through the route given to me, which is unfamiliar areas, I receive a phone call. On my phone, I can follow the map as long as I am going the exact route given to me from the beginning. But I made a wrong turn and my phone failed to reroute me because I was using my data for a phone call I felt was important at that time. Instead of me getting off the call to find my way back onto the right route, I stayed on the phone. We do that a lot in life. We’re on a route but we get sidetracked by things that go on and become distracted. Instead of taking a step back and regrouping, we just continue to go in circles as I was doing on this route trying to get to work. So I get to a light and pull out my tablet to pull up that map to get back on the right route and realize I was going the right way twice but I decided it didn’t look like I was going the right direction so I just kept turning. Then, I hear, “All you had to do was stay the course”. God has given a plan. He’s given you a route. He gives alerts on this route. He shows you what’s coming up that may hinder or help you along the way. God is the way and all we have to do is stay the course. The route may not look the way you want it to, things may not be going how you want them to go. The route may take you through avenues that are unfamiliar, but if you’re following God, who is The Way, can He really steer you wrong?
Hello Family! Parts of this post have been sitting in the draft folder of my website for two and a half years. WOW, but I believe that me being able to finish it is ultimately strategic. So, here we go! In January of 2016, I started a journey to become a Certified Biblical Counselor. I, honestly, didn’t know what was going to come out of it, but I knew that I needed it. My Pastor and Leading Lady, along with other members of the “PRAISEDOME”, took the same course in the Fall Semester of 2015. Seeing them graduate and talk about how amazing the class and the instructor was at their graduation made me want to take it, but I wouldn’t have the deposit by the due date to sign up. So, I just kind of put it in my mind that it was something that was going to have to wait, along with the other goals I will embark upon. But, I fooled around and just said the words, “I’m interested”, and the person I told, who has been purposely placed in my life, said, “I’ll pay your deposit.” That was really all I needed to hear to lead me to believe this was something I had to do.
name and gift neatly placed. I knew from the hugs and blessing with my name on it, I was already in for a treat. As I settled in my space to prepare to do as I was asked, Mrs. Armstrong, the SUPERWOMAN herself, gave me an assignment. She handed me a Ziploc bag containing smaller Ziploc bags with what I recognized as mustard seeds in them and said, “I need you to count these. Make sure I have 40 now.” When she handed me the bag, I was reminded of the first time I saw these seeds. I was a child and one of the ministers gave an example of the seeds in his bible study lesson. I was reminded in that very moment where my FAITH in God and what He was capable of began to grow. I was almost brought to tears because it’s funny how at many times in our lives we seem to lose focus over what’s going on or wrong and forget what God gave us to remind us we still have seed. Now back to these bags. In my mind, I’m thinking she wants me to make sure there’s enough for everybody to receive a bag and I immediately thought, “We’re going to need some more bags” just from looking at the outside. She asked me did it look like 40. I told her no after I counted them out one-by-one. She then says, “So you found you had more than what you thought you had right?” And she walks away. Now astonished, I saw other women walking into the building, each one of them had their own reaction to the assignment given. My fellow blogger, Ms. Victoria Fisher, walked in and only counted 39. The entire room was looking just as stunned as I was knowing without a shadow of a doubt we all counted 40. It was found that one of the attendees heard in her instructions to take one after counting them. I found that maybe, just maybe, she pulled exactly what she needed. All she needed was just a little to make it. We’ll talk about those seeds a little more later though.
As stated by Evangelist Powell, “with recovery, comes responsibility”, which is to go and strengthen the next person. She shared her own personal experience in discussing needing covering herself and having to pour into God’s people at the same time, along with being ever so “careful not to bleed on the people God sent to you to help”. Another account Lady Powell gives is we can’t be “so alive in duty, you don’t realize you’re dying”. What that meant to me was that we can’t be so busy trying to keep ourselves moving about and not realize we have an open wound that can infect us and possibly infect others. For that reason, we all seem to “camouflage our pain”, but God has people in place who are qualified to cover you as you recover. They are watchful, alert, and in Spirit, will see you where you are and cover as God sees fit.
Next in this move, we had a “Scarf Exchange”. Everyone in attendance was asked to bring a scarf. We all grabbed our scarves and stood in a circle. Now, all in attendance for some reason or another did not have a scarf, but there were women there who gave up theirs for another sister to participate. This was a clear demonstration of the covering, to me. No one was left out. As we stood in a circle, our host, Evangelist Tina Armstrong, gave instructions to pass your scarf to the left or to the right. At the end, whoever had your initial scarf, we became accountability partners. The scarf became a direct symbolism of the covering of one another.
back to town by his nurse. His nurse stumbled and dropped him and caused him to become disabled. As she talked about this man who was dropped by someone who was supposed to be caring for him, she posed a question to the room. She asked how many of us had been dropped and left for dead? Being that “pain is universal”, everyone has at some point in their life felt some type of pain. The most interesting thing about life is, most of the time we endure pain from the least suspected person, family. To an enemy or someone who doesn’t like us or had an issue with how we do things, “we expect you to play your part as who you are.” You’re an enemy. We expect you to do what you are assigned, but when you were sent to cover me, take care of me, love me, and uphold me at my weakest moment, you inflict the deepest pain mostly because I don’t expect it from you, of all people. Lady Scales inspired us through her own testimony to not focus on what we lost in the midst of the pain caused because God can “use our broken pieces”. He can use what you have left and restore you in the process.
nutrients to grow it. On the other hand, you have soil. It has to be bought and it has the proper materials and minerals to help the seed break open. It actually fertilizes the seed and gives it exactly what it needs to produce what God wants to pull out of it. Another part of the scripture Dr. Bailey touched on was the birds. The birds represented people and he warned us to “watch who’s coming to perch”. Perch means, of a bird, to alight or rest on something. Some “birds” come to sit to snatch from your limbs to cause you to become barren or unfruitful, but you have others who come and plant a nest so they can give birth where you have planted. I did some research on these birds who build nest and found that not all birds who build a nest are there to give birth. Some birds build it, plant or lay the egg that possesses their seed, or promise for someone else to come and nurture, which brought me to believe this can be tied to one of my favorite scriptures. Habakkuk 2:2, says, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it”, meaning what if at some point I am giving birth to something, I nest it in a lively place (tree) to be picked up, when it is ready, and released to be ran with. My Pastor, then, asked us to go to the end of our planners gifted to us by Evangelist Armstrong and write down what we would like our 2019 to look like. Those of us who had been at Watch Service the night before had already done this and only by God, I took a picture of mine before I put it in the basket to be blessed. I wrote everything down from my paper and even added some things to it. Dr. Bailey had us to put our tiny bag of mustard seeds on the list and just pray over IT without saying exactly what IT is and do THIS for the rest of the year.
In November of 2015, which was about seven months after I finished paying off my first car, I started to see other people being blessed with new cars, and I asked God was it wrong for me to want a new car on that Sunday. I only felt that way because I didn’t want God to think I was ungrateful for the vehicle I presently had being that it was paid in full and absolutely nothing was wrong with it. By Wednesday, I had all kinds of issues go on with my paid-off vehicle and found myself spending hundreds of dollars to fix it and the same problem continued. Then, the search was on. I knew the exact vehicle I wanted, but didn’t know what all it had to offer until I went to CarMax to test drive a few. So, the one I liked the most was a 2010 with a navigation system, DVD player, and all kind of other amenities. I was convinced. I wanted that car. So, CarMax was ready to get me in this car with the trade of my truck. I get ready to sign the paperwork and they wouldn’t except my proof of income. Instead of getting too discouraged I started to search for the same car just at another place I knew would approve me and accept the proof of income. I ended up finding the car I wanted, but instead it didn’t have all of the amenities, but it was a 2015 with only 14,000 miles on it and the car note was going fifty dollars less than the 2010 at CarMax. Even though the 2010 was dressed up the way I wanted, God knew what I needed and had to let that deal fall through for me to get what He wanted me to have and what He knew would last longer.
his day, resonates in my Spirit. The Woman of God came from Luke 5:1-11, where it talked about, after Jesus finished teaching from the boat of Simon, He tells him to throw out his net again, after they were already pulling the nets in. Simon’s response was, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: NEVERTHELESS at thy word I will let down the net.” This meant, no matter what God ask me to do, even, if I tried before and failed, if I lost some things trying the first time, NEVERTHELESS, because You asked it of me, I will do it. I cried the entire time as this woman spoke on her purpose, the things she went through in the prior weeks, and how she was still able to stand and give God’s Word to His people. This Word, along with the other messages about purpose and balancing life while fulfilling it, was given to me because God knew what I would have to go through in the following weeks after this Word. He knew exactly what I needed because He is an all-knowing God.
“Today reflect on how you will use His strength and guidance for the next 30 days. What are your goals for this challenge? How will you become the best version of you in the next 30 days?”
The Vision Blogger 