Tag Archives: Inspiration

Events, Motivation & Inspiration, Self-Love

My Heart Matters

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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.

Motivation & Inspiration, Purpose, Relationships, Vision

Who Are You Stagnating in Your Comfortability?

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At the beginning of the year, I made the decision that we were going to move out of the home my children and I currently live in. We were even in the process of buying a house before I was terminated from my job of almost 10 years, which you can read about that experience here. This goal of purchasing a house had to be placed on the back burner with the idea of not receiving a loan because of no job and not enough consistent income. I made up in my mind to take my savings and pay my rent up for six months and solely work on my business. A week later, my landlord of 6 years advises me they are looking to sale the house in June. This gave me less than two months to find somewhere to move, with no job, and no thoughts to how this was going to work out – but I have my business and MY faith. (That’s another blog in itself!). Today while I was filling orders, I was reminded that they asked me to move in the month of June, which for the past few years, has been a transitional month for me and my children. Today I had to realize that this next move is strategic in so many ways like many other big moves in my life. I have lived in this house COMFORTABLY for almost 6 years paying lower than what most would for this size house (FAVOR). I didn’t have to struggle with wondering how to pay this and that many times nor have we had any disconnections (Thank you Lord!). Things were comfortable to the point I never felt as stretched as I do now. 

Talking to one of my sisters yesterday helped me realize – what if me living in this home, making preparations to stay in this place longer, stopped my landlords from moving forward with their plans for their future or where they actually needed to be. After my conversation, I heard, “Who are you stagnating in your comfortability?” Who are you holding back from moving forward because you like being in the position you are in? Many times, I’ve stayed in places, emotions, relationships, and “situationships” because they were comfortable to me. There wasn’t much work I had to do to keep it. It was what I knew. I felt staying where I was or with who I was with would cause me not to have to learn anything or anybody new or have to struggle to regain the comfortability I worked hard to obtain. But again, who was I stagnating by staying in those situations? I can even think back to my job. I stayed there because JP Court was what I knew. I didn’t want to learn anything new. I didn’t want to get to know new people. I didn’t want to be in a new position or department. I became comfortable, not only with my position, but with the emotions as well. I stagnated myself. I became comfortable with going back and forth to work feeling the way I felt because I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of even looking for another job and having fear of being uncomfortable in a new place. Is it possible, me staying at that job held up someone else’s blessing of being in a better position than they were in or even my previous coworkers? What if me staying too long made the environment worse? 

Of course, when I think of this, the story of Jonah comes to mind. Jonah was told by God to go somewhere where he did not want to go. He decided to run in the opposite direction. God sends a storm which not only effects Jonah, but it effects the people he was on the ship with. This causes Jonah to be thrown overboard just so the others could make it through the storm safely. Basically, whether we want to admit it or not, decisions that we make, not only affects ourselves individually, but it can also affect the people around and/or connected to us. Last Thursday, in bible study, my Pastor spoke on Wisdom. I realized through that lesson, I may be praying for the wrong things in this situation I am currently going through. I have been asking God for the details of what to do next and direction on where to go next when I should have been asking for wisdom to make the right decisions for myself and my children. This past month, God has shown me how He truly takes care of His children. Not that I’ve been able to handle everything on my own always, but in my flesh mind, I know that having a job and steady income is what we as humans can depend on to make ends meet. For the last month, I’ve solely leaned and depended on God to take care of me and my children. With knowing God is going to supply every need according to His riches, knowing He is going to never leave me nor forsake me, knowing I can do all things through Him that strengthens me, knowing He has plans to prosper and not to harm me, knowing He is the giver of a peace that surpasses all understanding, I don’t have to know the details. I just follow His voice, ask and believe He will grant me the wisdom and strength to make the right decisions for my life and my children. 

Motivation & Inspiration, Poetry, Self-Love, Singleness

My Love Letter To My Valentine

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Dear Valentine,

Yesterday you allowed me to see something that I did not understand until later on. It wasn’t something that I was looking for. It’s just something that came across my view. But what I saw kind of threw off my day. I became agitated, irritated, just pathetic. When I had finally gotten to the point to where I became over it, all was well. What I saw still sat in the back of my mind, but it didn’t bother me like it had earlier in the day. I watched the movie of a couple go from middle school to high school with all these dreams to be together forever and what I saw came back to me like a ton of bricks. So when the movie ended I do what many single mothers do in pain. Turn the shower on, turn the music up as loud as I can, get in the shower, and cry my heart out to you. But, instead of thinking about everything that is going wrong, even though that’s how my cry started out, I begin to think about everything you do right. You make everything happen for a reason. If you did not allow me to see what I saw on yesterday, I would not have thought to release myself from whomever I needed to release myself from. I would not have broken soul ties that needed to be broken from my life. A few hours before Valentine’s Day, I cried my heart out to you. Told you how much I love you. I told you how much I needed you. I released my heart to you. I released my life to you. I released my soul and my spirit to you. I fully submitted my life to you. And as I watched the water go down the drain of the tub, I proclaimed the tears in that same water go down the drain forever. I will not have to cry about this again. I told you how I still have the faith to believe in you and Trust in the plan you have for me. I told you I wanted my desire to match your plan and purpose for my life. I believe you are going to give me the desires of my heart because I totally depend on you to have my heart and never break it. I love you. You have my heart Forever and always.

Signed,

Your child.

Motivation & Inspiration, Purpose, Vision

to begin, begin…

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Like many people in this world, I can be a little too hard on myself. How hard I am on my children to get stuff done and do things right, I am just as hard on myself if I don’t fully accomplish something or make mistakes. I know we’re all human and the way life is set up, it’s not always going to go right, but that doesn’t stop me from pushing myself to do my absolute best in everything I set my hands to do. With that being said, in a previous post, I talked about three things I set out to do this year. Vision Tees and Things was launched, the Vision Connection Party was canceled due to COVID, which was way out of my control, and writing consistently in my blog became almost impossible, so I thought. I started to beat myself up a little when I realized I pressed only one out of three of my goals, but then, I was reminded, the year is not over yet. I still have time to do what I set out to do. All I needed to do was focus and put my time management skills I learned to good use. I have still had orders coming in to be filled, I’ve been looking at ways to have a Virtual Vision Connection Party, and I have been brainstorming ideas for posts for the rest of this year and even next year. I’m on the move!

My encouragement to you today is, with a little less than two months left in this year, just do it. Why wait until January 1st to make a resolution? Most of the time, we make these resolutions, have great momentum month one and head back to our old habits by month two. Some of us don’t even make it week one. Why not start again now? Why not go back to the goal from the beginning of this year? Whether it’s writing the book, launching the business, learning something new, starting the process to buy a house, just start. This time start with intentions to finish strong. Start with intentions to stay focused and keep your momentum. COVID may have stopped the world from moving a little, but we can’t let it take our dreams and goals. I will not be one to allow my goals and dreams to be placed on the backburner again. It’s never too late to begin. Just do it! You got this!

Motivation & Inspiration, Vision

Write the vision, make it plain

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Last week, I decided to write out some personal, business, and home goals for my children and myself. I asked my youngest to bring the sheets of paper I wrote them down on to the car one morning. He dropped the home goals in the hallway. The next night, while the kids were getting ready for bed, my daughter comes in my room with tears in her eyes. The conversation goes as follows:

Mya: Mama, I read your goals. I’m so happy and sad.

Me: Why are you sad?

Mya: I don’t know. It’s just..Mama you believe in this for us?

Me: Yes I do.

Mya: I believe too Mama and I don’t care what anybody else thinks. It’s about what you and we believe.

I have heard many teachings about Vision in my lifetime, but never fully understood it until I had to have vision for my own household. When I was in a committed relationship, my mindset was the man has the vision for the house. Once the man who I sought after for vision from was no longer around, I had to learn how to seek vision, goals, and dreams, not only for myself, but for my children as well. Through the conversation with my daughter, I was reminded of the part of the scripture that says, “Make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it”. Why did I never think about my children being the ones to read it and run? Then, I rebuked myself. Ebony, you never let them read it. You never told them what God said. You never told them what your plans were for this house. You just expected them to believe in something they had never read or even heard about. I expected them to believe in me just because I was their mother and head of the household.  Then, I had to think about it. If I had a husband, would I just believe in him for those same reasons without knowing where we’re going? I believe knowing this shows me what my assignment is in the plan; I’ll know what to pray for,  what to seek God for in regards to our household, where to provide strength. This goes the same in your church. I love how my Pastor is very open with us as a congregation about where God wants to take us as a body of believers. He works diligently and seeks from God Himself on making specific moves for the church. He, also, gets direction from God on specific assignments as well. The leadership team has those assignments. Those specific leaders have a team who not only believe in the vision of the set ministry, but the church as a whole. We are all runners. We all have an assignment in different aspects of our lives. It’s on us to hear and read the vision set and get on our jobs to do what’s necessary for it to come to pass. Individually, we have vision. My Pastor says all the time, “We are not supposed to write it, read it, and run.” You’ll risk getting burned out on what your assignment is. It’s on us to write it out and make it plain. Then, God shows who is supposed to read it and run with what He said. Don’t be shocked by who He sends because God can use ANYBODY, even children. So, just write it out. The believers in it will come. Be Blessed.

Motivation & Inspiration, Purpose, Vision

The Vision Blogger is Still Alive

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At the beginning of this year, I had my mind set on pushing my blog, having the Vision Connection Party, and starting my business. One out of three is good! Before the surge with COVID-19, I invested in myself by purchasing two of the items needed to start my business, Vision Tees and Things. I learned so much through YouTube, craft groups on social media, and craft friends, it became hard to focus on one specific thing in regards to everything I wanted to accomplish through my business. I was having my syndrome again. My initial goal was to cut out the middleman and produce my own designs and logos on different products geared towards my blog, but as I started to learn more and do more, my business took a turn for the better. I started to do more than just printing t-shirts. I started to print on mugs, make keychains, customize wine glasses, and so much more. I can honestly say I probably would not have been able to accomplish and master all of these things if I was not forced to stay home with my children when the schools closed back in March. I used our downtime to create, fill orders, learn, and grow.

So, here are a few things I have learned in year 2020:

Don’t Forget Your Ultimate Goal: Your Reason Why

Recently, I sat down and wrote out personal, home, and business goals for my children and myself. In addition to these goals, I wrote how they will be accomplished. Doing this helped me to understand what my ultimate goal was for absolutely everything concerning my life. What am I working towards? What am I looking to accomplish by doing this? What do I want to see come out of this? I believe, wholeheartedly, knowing this will keep me consistent and focused.  I wrote out these goals so I can see daily what I am working towards. Whenever I need a little motivation, I can revert to what I wrote. It’s just like a vision board without the pictures. I remember when I first started blogging. It was ultimately to give people a glimpse of my life through my testimony while motivating through vision. Motivating through vision is my ultimate goal. It wasn’t going to only follow through with the blog or speaking engagements. Now I’ve created a platform where tangible items can be created to showcase that same vision whether it’s through wearing your brand on your chest, drinking out of a mug with your logo plastered all over it, or carrying a bag with a motivational message to keep you moving forward. Knowing and understanding this ultimate goal, for me, keeps me diligent and pushes me to stay the course no matter what.

Time Management

Lord have Mercy! I believe this one was the hardest lesson for me to learn, especially after I went back to work. It’s safe to say I am still a work in progress on this one. Now, if you know me personally, you would agree I can sometimes be a little bit of a procrastinator. Sometimes I can feel I have all the time in the world and wait until the very last minute to get something done. Being a business owner, working a full-time job, maintaining a household with children, all while attempting to have a social life Post-COVID, I was forced to manage my time. I write out a weekly schedule, plan my daily duties, make a to-do list and prioritize by level of importance. Doing this can help me physically see what needs to be done and what needs to be moved around. Through time management, I learned it’s okay to take a break. It is needed. At times, it can become overwhelming having so many responsibilities so it’s quite all right to take a step back and breathe. You never want to get to a place where you are forced to sit down and do absolutely nothing. So, manage the time you have, take care of what’s needed in that moment, and take a pause if you need to, but don’t ever stop going.

Trust God with EVERYTHING

Have you ever gotten to a point in life where your only option is to trust HIM? I have; more times than I could ever imagine. Trusting God goes so much more beyond words though. You can say with your mouth, “I trust Him”, but if you don’t believe God can do whatever you’re asking Him to do for you specifically, it means nothing. There were many times I looked at a situation I was going through and felt I sometimes deserved to stay stuck in what I was in, but I messed around and started believing what I had seen God do for others, He can do for me too and what He has done in my life before, He can do it again and again and again. When I started to live knowing that God can do the unimaginable, the possibilities became endless. I made up in my mind, with everything in me; I would never walk around this earth feeling defeated because I have God. I will trust Him when things are looking good and, most definitely, when life appears bad. One of my favorite sayings is, “Things could always be worse.” Many times, we look at our situation that looks unfixable or unchangeable and forget what we’ve seen before, what we’ve come out of previously. I don’t believe God just takes us through for fun. Everything serves a purpose. So since He’s all-knowing, why not trust Him? What do you have to lose?

Now, we all know this year has been CRAZY and I’ve heard a lot of people say, “I’m ready for this year to be over.” “This year sucks.” I’m not going to lie, I found myself agreeing with them for a moment until I started to look at EVERYTHING I gained and lost. To tell you the truth, this year has been life changing. I don’t regret one thing I’ve done nor do I wish anything would’ve happened differently. I believe everything that has happened was designed to happen to me and for me. I titled this post “The Vision Blogger is Still Alive” because somewhere along this journey of 2020 I neglected my reason why. Writing out my goals the other day awakened something in me I thought I lost and one thing is for sure, I don’t ever want to feel like I lost my passion, my zeal, or my tenacity to walk in my purpose and do what I was created to do. Ever. So, my reason why is springing forth. My Vision is still alive.

Motivation & Inspiration

13 MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES FOR MOVING FORWARD

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“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”  ~ Steve Maraboli

Hezekiah Walker -Moving Forward

Life happens! It doesn’t just happen to you, but it happens to us all. There have been many times in my life where I have felt just stuck. I felt I could never move on from what I was dealing with. You can almost say there were times I felt bound by things that just happened in my life.

There are so many things that go on and wrong in our lives that may cause us to become stagnant or leave us wondering or believing we have to stay stuck in the positions we are in. One thing I know for sure, despite how stuck we may feel, the Earth continues to orbit the sun, meaning Life goes on. Life continuously moves. We must move with it.

I have found some motivational quotes for moving forward. Feel free to save them, make them screensavers, do whatsoever you desire to remind you to keep moving forward and never let life halt you. Life will happen, things will happen, but I find solitude in knowing God knows about it all. Enjoy.

  • The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
  • Sometimes the best way to measure distance is not to look back and see how far we’ve gone, but to look ahead and see how close we are.
  • Don’t hold yourself down with the changes you can’t control.
  • Every exit is an entry somewhere else.
  • Sometimes God closes doors because it’s time to move forward. He knows you won’t move unless your circumstances Force you. Trust the transition. God’s Got You.
  • Failure keeps you humble, success keeps you glowing, but only faith and determination keeps you going.
  • You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.
  • The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward. ~Steve Maraboli
  • As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better.
  • Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.
  • Faith is moving forward even when things don’t make sense, trusting that in hindsight everything will become clear. ~Mandy Hale
  • If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward. ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Strive to move forward with Purpose in mind.

I pray you enjoy one or more of these motivational quotes.

What are your favorite quotes for moving forward in life?