The Power of Good Rest.

 I love  reading about rest.

When I find a new antidote to keeping my mind and body rested, I try to note it some place and come back there to help me find it. I have a few books on cultivating the art of rest and one two of the best I have found are : ‘breathe‘ and ‘rest ‘, by Keri Wyatt Kent. Kent just seems to have this haven built around the art of how to find center within individually, as well as  within our  families. She recognizes the coziness around how special it is – but not only that, she helps others see how it can add to family serenity, quality time and growth. Families often forget to spend time together and I believe  her suggestions and how she frames it all in the guise of   introducing the Sabbath, makes it all the more sacred.  She often speaks of  and interviews other in her books about  how  finding rest  - just once a week – helps keep her sane, closer to  her family and also  to God. Her books seem to help you focus on what’s important in life and what creates  special memories… and who doesn’t want memories?? I  have found it a practice now I relish in just taking an entire day to  spend time to reacquaint myself with myself.  I don’t have to leave my  home, regroup find a new spot necessarily, if i don’t want to.  I don’t have to go to a cafe,  leave the comfort of my own home and spend time with someone else. I can create it in the midst of my family time and honor God  and my passion for relationship with my family in  my  own  quirky,  little peaceful way.

So many people are not comfortable with developing enough space in their life for true rest. Some  are not even aware of the need for space.  I sometimes ASK for the space i need to “be” and  believe me, the ‘art of being’ has to be cultivated. I too, struggle with being in the  ”get it done”  zone, and I tend to forget I even  have a need for space. We all struggle with this but does it mean we neglect other times and spaces to be alone, or we just arrange our day differently and plan for “not being busy”? If you are one who finds it extremely hard to  do this, it may at  first take a few tries. because I just want to get things over and completed. Yes, sometimes  it’s really good to “finish”... but we shouldn’t always make it  primary.

Nothing does the body more good than a good rest and rejuvenation. Not only do you have a chance to relax your mind, but I often find that’s when my creativity soars the most. I have also found this time special for being able to reflect with my family and dream and plan new activities. We have a chance to find time to  re-consider what we are missing out on as a family and we need to do more often to cherish our time together.

We could miss out on one of the best opportunities EVER to bond with our child or family and/or take time to open the door for a special ritual to develop with a loved one when they have been struggling with something that’s been really challenging to deal with. The time you take to spend with them, could be life-changing and lend unto them advice, wisdom and  add immensely to their growth and insight.

Remember, GOOD Rest equals:   the wonderful opportunity for rituals, relaxation and reflection.

The Power of Making Amends…

I don’t teach with my dad often, but I really loved it this one time. We make a good duo.  Several of my family members are teachers from experience. we an teach others by simply being humble enough to make amends to them for our wrongdoing. I remember the day, the hour, the way I felt tremendously renewed and validated by the humbling experience of hearing my dad apologize to me for making the mistakes he made as my father.

My father in a very relaxed state of mind.. a blessing, indeed.

It’s no secret to those who know me that my dad had an alcohol problem for several years. He is now a recovering alcoholic and has been in recovery for about 33 years. ( Yea dad!!)  In about two weeks I will have come full circle as I face the part of my life that once held me hostage. I become a substance abuse/alcoholism therapist. Work with this particular population as social worker,  has always been a sore spot for me. I guess it’s true when they say you have to rid the skeletons out of your closet befor eyou can live freely again.  I have had so many things I had to face personally in my life and overcome in order to accept this task before me today. Low self-esteem,  confusion, hurt and pain and even some abuse in past relationships. Problems making good decisions, c0-dependency issues and issues with my weight – and a host of other things. Now … looking back, I see I have endured these things in my life in order that someone else might benefit.

 Wow… if I  only knew to what degree!

 Now, I look forward to life and embrace it every day because I have overcome these hardships. what do I take away most? I take away my sense of fortitude (my courage and bravery);  my self-confidence is back , and I also have  a strategy for those who  have endured similar hardships.

 I look at my dad today, and I am very proud of  who he has become. I am even prouder that I am who  I am today, and because he changed his life, so God has changed mine.

Selah.

 I had some trouble posting this video, but if you desire to see it and hear more about the power of forgiveness and confession of wrongdoing, just hit the link here….or catch it on the side bar – The Power of Making Amends.

What’s Calling Your Name?

 What’s Calling Your Name?    

I chose this picture because it gives a summit view, in a beautiful place. The things that call your name are set with a beautiful background. They aren’t always  beautiful journeys though, to get there. You have to make a PATH sometimes to get  there.

 I will answer this question for myself: It appears at this moment women, children and families are calling my name. So I serve them.  I have found the people in these groups have lost their voices, yet have loads to say! I can help them.

• The young girls who light up the world and are beams shining in the world.
• The mothers hopeless yet trying to find out their purpose in the midst of raising children,
• The kids who live to know their friends and what they are doing in this life and live lives vicariously through their friends with keen sense of awareness nor identity.
• The women who seek to influence in some way and need to be applauded.
• The lost souls who cry out to God for purpose.
• The little influences seen through the eye of a camera
•  The beach… in all its fullness  – wind, water, and sun.
• My Dad… as he sits in a hospital bed and I pray for him and his longevity of life. ( 8/2010)
• My nieces and nephews their futures and their babies futures.
• To lead women in retreats, conferences, identity, purpose and self-confidence.
• A silent get away like this one at: Lebh-Shomea ( a house of prayer) , in Sarita Texas.
• A new place, a new time, a new mission.
• Africa!! ;0)
•  A retreat for women on how to perfect self-evaluation.
• Motherhood.
• Babies who lack smiles because they have not been loved.
• The sunrises and sunsets of everyday.
• The ability to find my voice with regularity and consistency and helps others find theirs.
• Love, Love and to BE LOVED!!
• Friendships with common passions.
• My daughter(s).
• Red Seas – ( the Book) ~  and its desire to be published!
• My husband… all the time. ;0)
• Oklahoma! ( can ya believe it) 11/2010
• Wounded hearts and families of addiction. 11/2010
• Families to obtain knowledge through my magazine: The Kamau Voice.

 

So… what’s calling your name?

Do you spend time with yourself to hear it resound off the pages of your life?

Do you contemplate over life and living to this degree; preserve them on pages you can eventually return to and reflect?

Anyone with breath to breathe has something important enough to say – how you CHOOSE to say it , is what’s KEY. Anyone with life in their body, has something IMPORTANT TO DO; they need to prioritize their passion.

 Is  what you have to say  important enough for others to consider? What would it take for you to say it??

* ( This is one of my favorite posts! Please comment so I’ll know your’e reading! )

 Continue to return here… you may see this list GROW!

My Proofreading Party!

 

Yay! It was a special time for me!   A time to move in a strategic pattern towards launching my book! 

Soon, I will be ready to show my true colors as an author! No one knows this, but I was a nervous wreck this dau, but so excited as I prepared to  literally “  let my light shine.”

I’ve always been a bit nervous about any kind of criticism.   I am aware that’s the perfectionist in me, but this event really made me jittery, because I had no idea how it would be received.

As I prepared for my event  in October of 2010, (literally, my birth month) I was in great anticipation as I  presented my book to the world. My safety net and group of writer friends were present and I was reminded by my friend Carole, who released her a book a few years ago. (See below)  We were all smiles as she made her way into the “author world” and fully supported her vision and how she planned to launch her book. My book, however, has yet to be launched, but here are pics from my proofreading party!

So what’s a proofreading party, right?

I know… until I heard of it, I wondered the same. It’s a time for the writer or author to present her book for editing help and feedback. I had no idea how it would be received, but I did have a safety net of friends who were eager to read it. Two years ago I began this awesome feat: I spent  time with a group of women in a safe haven of a group called Write Now! and Write Direction! These groups are a part of my life, because I belonged to an awesome church – Covenant Church, in Aubrey, Texas - that encouraged groups to develop life teams. We met once a month and facilitated each other’s goals for writing.

These groups have been the best! In these groups, we gather together and are encouraging and offer information, speakers and guidance and even receive praise reports surrounding those who are planning on writing in any form. We have some who write songs, and others who write books, and poetry, etc. As writers, our influence can be vast and we love the groups because we get to come together and create and share our energies and spend time with other like-minded individuals. I have found a refuge in them. They get” my language , my thoughts, value my input, my prayers and reservations, and they understand also and pray for my struggles with writing. I am so grateful to have them in my life. In fact, wherever I end up and  in whatever city I go to, I have already decided, I want a group very similar to this one!

I just wanted to share in the spirit of such supportive sisters, I believe anyone who has a talent and desire to grow and share any of their talents and treasures they have as passions should have a similar group! This is why I created Expressive Voices. The energy in the room is so encouraging and so greatly inspires us all,  I wanted to create a ministry towards helping those with innately creative voices that desire  and help to develop the voices of those who desire  to  reach for their dreams and walk in accountability!

Here were the wonderful pictures of our event held in November of 2010 and …here are my writers friends and Carole’s book signing!

 

My friend Terri

Arrested.

I was arrested today. I didn’t expect it.It was very unusual how it happened too. I was making plans to go about my day, and I had BIG plans, too – in fact I thought: : “Wow, I have all this time… I should…” and began to create my list of things I could do, because I was “on vacation.”

As I stopped and contemplated  my options, I realized that I didnt have as much liberty as I thought.
I heard a still small voice within say:  Have you thought about the plan in its entirety?  What plan?, I thought, isn’t the whole purpose of being on vacation to spend time and do “nothing“! Why plan?? Well… I  say - there is always opportunity wherever God is. 

To Arrest means to: accommodate, apprehend, capture, commit, confine,  and constrain. Interesting words. I think about this in the sense that not everyone wants to accommodate anyone else… but isnt God ALWAYS accommodating us? He never thinks our inconveniences are His own. Doesnt when He desperately needs our attention, He grabs us – or we have something that brings us to an amazing HALT ?  has God ever used something to capture your attention? Hasn’t commitment always been the hallmark of a dedicated soul?  hasn’t God taken some very inconvenient times to  constrain you, and yet bring you to amazing resolve through that experience and what you learned from it?  I remember once,  I missed a plane going south. I was visiting with family before I made it to the airport, and the stay over was an entire night.  No more planes were leaving til the next day. that night, my life was transformed, because  new light was shed on something I’d never realized.  The deeply intense conversation we had, unraveled some of the mysteries I’d had about my family and led me to pursue some things for them in prayer. Today, I stand in a much better place, as well as my family, because I missed that plane and had that conversation in my cousin’s home. I rfer to that moment at the day “The Lord messed up my plans. “ Then this makes me consider whether being arrested by God – even during a ‘seemingly inconvenient time’ – can be a blessing, indeed.

Its funny, because we often take such liberty when we go on vacation to forget about anything else but God. But it helps to consider a few things: 1) Who made it possible for you  to have the money to go?  2)  Who gave you the peace in being able to go? 3) Where do you gain the strength to have the “get up and go” to make it possible to enjoy your trip?  and lastly,  4) What if God wanted to make it even better?

I was grateful to be “vacating”, but what was God’s plan for my vacation?  Many times we get to our destination and  forget  to take time to REST.  We end up coming back home just as tired as we were before we left!  Why not take your vacation time to think about  God, yourself  and relaxation  this time? It’s so important to remember to  consider this - and God’s purpose in your going. There may be something He wants to work with you on, and maybe you might just be on assignment. Maybe there’s something He wants to show you about the people you are going to visit. Maybe He wants to corner you and have you get away - so He can speak to your heart  in a quiet place.

For example, I love flying on a plan and writing. Some of my best stuff has been written some 30,000 miles up in the air!  Nothing like having God arrest you when you are in your groove, doing your best thing -  and feeling good about where  you’re going! As I continue to self examine myself this week, I find myself  finding God in some unfamiliar places. I find Him having a willingness to connect with me all the more , because I consider Him. It’s a pleasure to have God “arrest you”, because it can be an extremely good thing.

 So I sat down today, after being arrested and spoke to God about what I desired to get out of this trip, and I  listened to what He would have me to do. Selah. ( Pause and calmly think of that.)

 Do you want to add a little more self-examination in the mix? Where are YOU headed?

 Consider this link.

Freedom.

 Inspired by thoughts of the Fourth of July, my sister and I were talking recently and sharing about liberation. We were talking about black hair and how it has evolved overtime. She recently just went all naturale–and she is starting a revolution!  For her,  its been an interesting journey - one of  great confidence for her. She credits a group called Expressive Voices,  ( <a href=”http://www.expressivevoice.com“>www.expressivevoices.com)  – but I believe it only helped her have enough courage to do it and take some risks!

Say it Loud….I’m Black and I’m Proud! That’s what the sixties brought in and helped others to find their voices… a people were empowered through unity. I was empowered, as well when I was a child by just the smallest things. I think of my sister’s looks here, and am  reminded of the times when  we were growing up and  I used to take such pride in seeing my sister “do her do” in the bathroom mirror. Both she and my brother would take time and sit sometimes hours  ( it seemed) in the mirror to make sure they got the perfect “fro” down… smile. It reminds me of the places where pride arose in me, back in the day.

An Afro was something I could never quite get strong enough. I had very fine hair and it just wasn’t common for me to have one as a child. My mom ( God bless her generous heart) would let me wear my hair “wild and free” in the house, but I couldn’t go any further than the porch in order to show off what I had. ( Smile)  

Liberation strikes up confidence and confidence gives us Freedom. Selah.

 

Here’s a pic of my sis  ( and me ) …. rockin’ our pride!

A Matter of Intention.

Sometimes the things we intend – don’t always materialize. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because we often give too much attention to the wrong things. My husband Tim, ( the extrovert) is a deep thinker. Because he is, we tend to have really intense discussions. He is mostly intentional about just about everything he does. It’s very hard to for him to relax in fact – because he often believes he should be doing something to stay busy.

I am also intentional – but not much  in a very “busy” way – I am more of an introvert, so  it’s very hard to discern when I am being intentional about things. We have this discussion often, about what am I thinking ( ?) because he thinks I am daydreaming or just shooting the breeze – when in fact, my mind is filled with a hundred different things at one time, and unless I sit and write some of them down, they will  just disappear.

 I thanks God for Tim, because of the level of intention at which he operates.  I have found my life takes a different turn the more intentional I am about things. I don’t know exactly what i was doing before… but I tell you, things are very good, right now,in my life, and it’s not just because I believed they would be that way, it’s the STEPS I took  in order to make it happen. The steps are critical. This is an awesome  reason reason why I believe its so important to spend time with God.  I used to just think as a believer ( in Christ) , one could just “think” something and” pray something” into happening. But at what point does God want us to “join Him” in the process of seeing  things coming to pass? I believe this is a dilemma every person that wants to please God comes into contact with. I also  believe it’s something that happens consistently.

Sometimes my level of intention can   intimidate others. I just realized this recently. But when you are a “go – getter”, things work differently for you in the universe. I believe  in miracles. So miracles happen, in my life. Sometimes things beyond my imagination. I love this, because here’s the place where God begins to come into my life and help me to fulfill my purpose.

I encourage you today to ask God to help you fill in the gaps – the places in your life where you lack understanding and you just don’t understand what will move your purpose along. Because when you are on track with God, everything else is a piece of cake.  I can accept that for many , this is really hard to believe. Because God is so complex, we often are challenged in our thinking to believe God has best interests for us at all.  Yet there’s scripture to explain this. The word says : we only have 1/4 of the picture anyway… as it pertains to our future.  1 Corinthians 13:12: “we see through a glass dimly, but then, face to face.” I don’t know about you, but I want to see God face to face! ( and sometimes I do – and man oh man, is he beautiful! )  In other words, I want to understand him- as much as He would allow me to, and be eager about my intention to have all He has for me! It’s my inheritance in the Lord, to have such goods stored up for me!

I Didn’t Realize… Til Now…

 

I Didn’t Realize…

1. My voice was suppressed until I started this blog.
2. That FEAR could be so immobilizing and FAITH could be so FREEING until I became an adult.
3. That sunsets were so beautiful until I quietly chased them down on a beach in North Carolina one morn before five a.m- with my daddy – my inspiration.
4. That babies would coo on demand when I snuggled and held them close…
5. That life slows down  and becomes more enjoyable once you allow yourself to be in control of the pace.
6. That I needed more laughter in my life until I found someone else’s JOY to be my stabilizer.
7. I was a photographer until I saw the world through a different lens and other lives - ( my S. Africa experience!)
8. I WAS a writer - until my life transformed my soul and my willingness  allowed this transformation to occur.
9. Peace is a place …and it’s something you must practicing pursuing.
10. I could capture my soul until I started evaluating it with regularity.
11.  That I really couldn’t capture JOY, until I understood  true relationship with God fills me up.
12. That I could fulfill my purpose by once BEING a child of an alcoholic, then  becoming an alcoholic COUNSELOR.
13. That miracles can happen if we only believe….
14. That  LIFE may be hard, but if purposed, it can be also very BEAUTIFUL.
15. How refreshing rejuvenating and relaxing water and waves can be to the soul and sunshine to the spirit.
16. That dreams can speak so loudly to me from God, be His way of communicating with me and His people and have so much POWER and meaning in the spiritual realm.

( I have more…  stay tuned…)

What’ something you haven’t  realized…over time and it’s caused you to yet reach for more?