It’s so funny how God works. I tell myself all the time, I’m going to start back blogging and have so many other things going on that I put it off until the next day and the day after that until a whole year has passed. Since New Years’ Eve, I can honestly say, God has been pushing me with a wrecking ball to do those things I keep saying I’m going to do. I know what you’re thinking; wrecking ball may be a little harsh, but God is truly wrecking all of my ways of thinking and overthinking. This blog and this event Lady Tina Armstrong invited me to was apart of that truck with that ball on it. This even tugged on my heart strings, opened my mind to release and receive hearts, and pushed me to release things I didn’t need on my heart. Whew! Let’s get into it.

FYI, if you are from Houston, Texas, that E(ast) and W(est) at the end of an address makes a difference. Let’s just start right there. On the night of the event, I had to work, but was able to get off work in time so that I could be on time. Well, I put the address in the maps of my new car (Yay God!), and proceeded to what I thought was the route. I became so upset when I found I was at the wrong address but I pressed my way to the west side of the strip. As I walked in this valentine-theme decorated studio, first, I noticed the mirrors ALL OVER THE ROOM. I have a deal with them. Mirrors force you to see what others see and see yourself in a real and raw way if you use it properly, but we’ll definitely get to that. The first assignment of the night was to make sure that you knew everyone’s name in the room. There were four tables. Now, one table, I knew every last one of the ladies seated here. I gave my hugs and kisses to my sisters and continued to the other tables to meet the ladies who were going to become my sisters by the end of this night. After the meet and great, I headed to my seat, which was an empty table in the back. I knew I was going to sit here the moment I walked in this room. I was going to sit in the back so I can watch all of the happenings, but if you have ever been to an event put together by Lady Tina, there’s no sitting in the back and not being seen. There’s no hiding AT ALL.

As I got snuggled in my seat, in this area I thought I was going to be by myself in, others came over to introduce themselves and a young lady came to sit next to me. I’ve found that a lot of people, especially Christians, get weirded out when you throw around the word energy, but there was something about this young woman’s energy that drew me to her. Believe it or not, I am not an open person, meaning I’m not the life of the party to strangers, but here’s that wrecking ball again throwing me out there, forcing me to open myself up and leads me to our activities.

At every seat, each young lady had a bowl of goodies and a wooden heart. On this wooden heart, you had to write your name and “I Trust You” using the marker you were given in your bowl. Then, you were to take your heart and give it to another lady in the room. Now, for this task, the amazing part about it, was that I didn’t have to think long and hard about this. I knew exactly who I wanted to give my heart to, but I was in a pickle because I had two people, I wanted to share this moment with. I sat there for a moment, until I heard, “Can we break it?” Lady Tina states, “If that’s what you want to do.” A piece was given to the lady I connected with at the table for two reasons; one being drawn to her and the other being apart of my process of allowing others into my heart and trusting them with it. The other young lady I have known and worshipped with for years and over the last few years, I have been drawn to her throughout watching her in ministry and through our sisters’ group created a few years ago. I am all about learning from others that I see growing in an area I desire to be better at daily and I decided to trust her with my heart from that day forward. Funny thing is, while I was breaking my heart to give my two pieces away, the young lady I had watched for years and had set in my mind to give her my heart, she was bringing me her entire heart. As I am still trying to break my heart, I try to hold back tears because I didn’t even expect to have a heart given to me. It wasn’t because I didn’t feel worthy or up to the challenge, but I just didn’t look for it. As she is handing me her heart, I’m telling her that I was bringing my heart to her. This exchange scooped me up like a bulldozer. Right now, even in this moment, as I reflect on it, I’m still in awe. Both of us, having no idea what the other was thinking, we were both open enough to take that chance to give our hearts away to each other. Whew!

At the beginning of this encounter, there were long pieces of papers stuck to all the mirrors. Each woman wrote their name at the top of a sheet of paper. For our next activity, we were to go around the room and give encouraging words to each lady in the room. You didn’t have to know them personally, all you needed to know was their name, which was learned during meet and greet. My goal with this task was to just write the same thing on all of the sheets, but to my surprise it was almost like how dare I give each and every woman the same encouraging word. Even though, in my mind, it was a generic statement that I felt every adult woman would love to read or at least be able to see every day. Then I thought, would you want your sister or your friend to just feed you just generic words of encouragement out of a Hallmark card. I, also, was reminded of the reason why I enjoy these private encounters like this one. When Lady Tina and other ministry leaders I have met, who create safe spaces for their guests, have an event or encounter and I set my mind to attend, I’m going on purpose. I’m going to be encouraged, uplifted, pushed into my next level of growth. With this, I came to the conclusion that these encouraging words could not be just any unauthenticated words. They needed to be meaningful and hold weight for each and every person in the room. So, I grabbed my marker and went to work.

At the end of this assignment, we were able to take a moment, read all of those encouraging words from our sisters and then, it was time to face the mirror. We read what others seen in us on these sheets of paper, but then it was time to look into your own eyes and speak over yourself. I know for me, it’s easy to read and even hear people tell me about what they see, good or bad, or what God has shown them about me. Easy. But when I look into a mirror and face ME, flaws and all, seeing the things I show people and the things I hide, it’s hard. Even in this moment, I am still unpacking why it’s so hard for me to look at myself and tell myself how I feel about me. Crazy thing is, I really love me. Like, I really love myself, but why can’t I stare HER in the eyes and love on HER. I’m coming to a conclusion that IT’S BECAUSE I KNOW THE REAL. We may not want to admit it, but there are so many people in this world, including me, who can wear a façade like it’s a golden armor. It takes a lot, I know for me, to remove the façade and let people see the real and I do for those I am comfortable around. Since this encounter, I am growing through the task of looking in the mirror every chance I see one and tell myself how much I love her. Pray my strength. I’m a work in progress and I look forward to sharing that triumph with you once complete.

After my mirror experience, we were all given a pillow with our names on them and in that moment, we had “Pillow Talk” with our sisters. All who desired to had a moment to share how they felt in that safe space. It was a perfect lead up to the “Releasing of Hearts”. We all grabbed our markers and heart balloons tied to our seats and wrote what we were releasing in year 2024. My balloon was not filled but I put as much as I could think of in that moment. Amazingly enough, there is only one or two things I remember putting on this balloon. Next, we all took our balloons filled with what we were going to be releasing outside. After a liberating prayer, we released all of the balloons filled with issues we were holding onto, people, places, and things held close to our hearts. We let it all go and stood together as we watched each balloon follow suit in the same direction, never to return to us.

Each one of the guests were asked to bring a scarf to participate in an exchange. All the scarves were placed in the middle of the floor and each person picked one randomly and whoever’s you chose, you covered them with it and spoke encouraging words. It’s amazing how strategic this exchange went. Some exchanges were short and sweet, some were just a hug and private words, but there was one exchange that was monumental for me. There were two sisters who ended up choosing each other’s scarves. This exchange between sisters of endearing and uplifting words made me think of my own sisters, blood and God-given. We don’t get together as much as we should to embrace each other, but at the end of the day, we all know that if we have no one else or feel alone at any time, we will always have each other. Watching this exchange made me realize that I don’t tell my sisters enough how much they mean to me. I don’t tell them how much I value my relationships with them all as often as I should. Just like looking in that mirror to speak life into myself, I believe that speaking life into the people that I love is just as important, which gave me another life assignment.

This impactful encounter took days for me to soak in; from the gifts, to the activities, to the photo shoot, to the moving prayers between the activities, to the words of encouragement, all the way to the dismissal in the parking lot. Everything was needed. Things I learned: you don’t have to know a person personally to give them words of encouragement. When it comes from the heart, God gives the words that need to be spoken. Secondly, mirrors are important, along with trusting yourself and others enough to BE WHO YOU TRULY ARE. We have the power to change what we don’t like about ourselves and strengthen our weaknesses, but never let those facades that we put on for people or to even make you feel better about yourself stop you for LOVING YOU TRULY.

Lady Tina Armstrong has done an amazing job over the years I have known her bringing women together with lessons geared towards purpose, having a plan and mindset to live out the plans God has set for you. I have seen relationships form and grow through her events, planners, and prayers. I want to give a shout out to her and her AMAZING team. Each one of these women are not only backing the ministries and endeavors for each other, but they are, also, pushing their own ministries and doing incredible jobs. To all of those ladies, I salute you and keep up the great work! I see you, sis! Be Blessed.