Living In His Will

Since my last post so much has changed. The most important change of all through my journey of life, is my ever evolving relationship with my father, God. Growing up, I was always aware of the presence and ability of His love, grace, and mercy. I prayed before meals, and bedtime. I was raised amongst a family of song birds, myself not so blessed with a beautiful voice but a voice of praise non the less. And was always amazed at my grandmothers prayers at night, filled with so much thanks and sent sealed with tears of faithfulness. But what I did not have was a heart of expectations that followed my faith. Faith was a word I new well and believed in strongly, but had no idea that I actually had to work in order for it to take resignation in my life. I mean, wasn't it enough that I believed? Wasn't the hole point of religion to simply believe and all of my prayers would be heard and then answered? If only it where that simple, we would all have what we wanted. It's good to know that isn't the case at all. A part of it, but not all of it.

"Faith with out works is dead"- James 2:26

One of my favorite versus to date. I have read this verse many times over the years, but I never read into that verse and when I did it made a complete difference in my life and how I would live it moving forward. Having the heart of expectation is a requirement of faith. Now I'm one person that doesn't like to expect anything from anyone, because like so many of us, I always end up disappointed. But God is not just anyone. His very existent in our lives depends on our expectations of His good deeds. Our faith through the good and the bad gives Him much pleasure to fulfill our needs and wants with in His divine will. I have been through some bad, trying times and had faith through it all but never expected for it to get better based on His will. I always thought that it depended on me. Basically I had more faith in myself than anything else. And because of that I was going no where fast. It took loosing my job, friends and almost the roof over my head to give in and recognize that my life doesn't begin with me. I didn't put myself here, therefore I could not put my self where I wanted to be.

There is allot more to this than just recognizing who is in charge here. It took 12 years to receive a required education. Studying , testing , reading and so one. Our walk with God is just that, a walk. A journey of experiences, lessons, and test. Stay tuned and while I continue my daily walk. You will see me grow, stumble, get up and try again to be in His will. And if I'm doing this properly, than maybe motivate someone else.

Something Special

I posted these shoes quite a few months ago and the other day I saw Raven Symone wearing them on The Wendy Williams Show and after cruising my favorite blogs I then see that they are offered in a more affordable price range through http://www.fevershoes.com/ for the low price of $200.

I know that you are probably think " she hasn't posted in a month now and here she is talking about some shoes", but My time is spent doing more pressing things at the time that I have been led to put my attention into. In due time you will know exactly what that is, but until then go buy these haute shoes!

I Love the Lord (feat. The Georgia Mass Choir)

Parenting Through God Part ll by Detra Allen

So one day, early in the morning, LaRoe asked if I would take him to the pool. I promised him “Yes”. He was thrilled and went on about his day!! He came back a few minutes later and asked when,  but because I was overwhelmed with billing I couldn’t give him an exact time. So I just told him “Later.” Although anxious and anticipating the big splash from his cannon ball he was still ok with my response. Later came and went, and the sun was starting to set as he asked if I was sure I was going to take him. I responded and said “Yes, don’t you believe me?” Disappointment started to kick in and I could see that he was starting to doubt me. He went back outside for awhile and I was thinking at last he has found something else to do besides keep asking me about the pool. But to my surprise, the entire time he was outside, he was knocking on every last friend of his door to see if one of their parents would take them to the pool. Not only was he unsuccessful but he was also hot, sweaty and exhausted as well.

I then became disappointed and little embarrassed that my son was depending on someone else to do what I had promised I would do for him. What were those parents thinking about me? Did they think I didn’t care about him and that I wasn’t the good mom that he and everybody else says that I am? I’m always talking about how much I love my children but I couldn’t even take him the pool. My response was “Didn’t I say, “I” was going to take you?” He said “yea but I won’t to go now”.

I obliged because I had promised him I would. There was only two hours left before the pool closed and I knew it would take him an hour to get dressed, so I told him to get ready. By then I would done taking care of business. As parents we provide food, shelter, and clothing but kids don’t see and appreciate those things even though that’s all they need to survive. But anyway, he was not prepared at all. He couldn’t find his goggles, trunks, towel, or swimming shoes. And for everything he couldn’t find not only did he ask me where they were, he asked me to get them for him too. I did not!! I explained to him that not only was he old enough and responsible enough to get them on his own but I needed him to it his self so that I could help his sister get dressed who had also pooped, so she needed me NOW. 


Finally he was dressed and ready to go.

On the way to the pool, I asked him where his goggles were and he told me that he left them outside the other day and when he went back to get them they were gone. He had the nerve to ask me if I would buy him another pair. I asked him “why would I when you didn’t even take care of the ones I gave you.” But because I love him so much I let him use mine anyway. 

We get to the pool and because he was mad at me, he wasn’t being nice to any of the other kids. He complained and wouldn’t share MY goggles with any of the kids. I was furious!!! After 15 minutes of being in the pool, being told repeatedly to obey, and discontinue his unkindly actions; it was time to go. He didn’t deserve to be at the pool and it dawned on me that he didn’t even say thank you. He had to come home take his shower and sit in his room until I felt he was he ready to come out. 

After being in his room for hours, he told me that he had learned his lesson, was tired of being punished, and apologized so remorsefully for the way he behaved and agreed to listen to me from then on and asked if I would please give him another chance at going to the pool. I lovingly accepted his apology, and let him  off of punishment, but did not respond to the pool comment. He knew that my silence meant no. He was a little disappointed but not surprised.

Later that day he cleaned up his room so well you would have thought the president was coming, and even had all his swim gear nicely packed in his summer bag. I would look outside in the days to follow to find him, being kind to others, sharing, and doing the right things. And it was so genuine. He wasn’t looking for anything in return. He just wanted to make me proud and show his appreciation for everything I had already done. He had given up all hope of ever going to the pool again and that was fine. He was just happy that at least he wasn’t on punishment or on my good side. And that’s when, when I saw him loving for me, sharing with others, respecting and obeying my rules, working hard to take care of his home and his belongings, giving his money to homeless and other random acts of kindness, basically, just caring about others more than he cared about himself. That’s when I decided to take him to the pool. He had given up all hope of ever going to the pool again but he didn’t given give up on me. He could have chosen to go another route and still be upset about not going to the pool and could have taken his anger out on others but he didn’t.

 

I use this example to show how in the beginning we trust that God is going to fulfill all the promises he made to us. While waiting we grow impatient and start to doubt God. We then turn to other people and other resources to fulfill our needs, only to be disappointed and drained mentally and physically. All the while we’re forgetting that our God is a jealous God. Imagine how that makes him feel. You were once a believer and praised HIM. Now those same people you went to when you thought God wasn’t there are now questioning your faith and theirs as well. “God is always saying how he loves his children, why is he taking her through this?” But we fail to see how God takes care of our basic needs and we should be thankful for that. There’s someone out there less fortunate than you that may need God’s attention a little more than you do right now. 

But finally God gives us what we ask for but we aren’t even ready because instead of trusting, working hard and preparing for our blessing, we keep trying to find other ways to get the “yes, right now” and can’t accept the “no, not yet”. If we’re asking God for a job, we need to be filling out applications, polishing our interview skills, and getting our wardrobe together. Waiting with expectancy!! But because we aren’t prepared we can’t even enjoy it. This could be the day! Are you ready? And instead of thanking God for our new home we’ve been asking for, we’re still complaining because we didn’t get the house with the two door garage. Therefore, taking our anger out on others and not even sharing that home which is really God’s house in the first place with others in need when the time presents itself . Or maybe 15 months after you get into your new house, you choose a vacation over paying your house note, and neglect to invest in the maintenance or upkeep of your home. Until, at last it is taken from you just as fast as you got it. From that point forward everything seems to be going wrong and you have nothing then but to feel like God is punishing you. Sometimes God has to put us where we don’t want us to be in order to get us where he needs us to be. 

Eventually, you can’t take it anymore. You repent and ask God for his forgiveness and another chance and His silence feels like a “no”. But you don’t care. He forgave you and gave you another chance at life, hence the fact you are alive and reading this post. We all have a second chance, for many it’s another chance, it’s time for us to start loving him, sharing with others, respecting and obeying his commandments, working hard to take care of the things he’s blessed us with (Good Steward), tithing and other random acts of kindness, basically, just caring about others more than we care about ourselves and not expecting anything in return. Doing good deeds to make him proud and show our appreciation for what he has already done. That is when God takes us to where we want to go. You may have given up on your dream but don’t give up on God. 

To understand more about God’s promises visit this page http://www.joelosteen.com/HopeForToday/ThoughtsOn/Finances/ClaimyourInheritance/Pages/ClaimyourInheritance.aspx

My prayer is that God used me as a vessel to bless someone else tonight as this note as truly giving me more understanding!!!

A Lesson From My Daddy Part 1

The CCb would like to welcome new addition to the family, Ms. Detra Allen. As a stay at home mother, entrepreneur and a child of God, growing and learning more about life, family, and of course above all, the Lord, Detra has many words of encouragement for mother's like ourselves, to share with the willing and listening soul. This is the 1st installment of Parenting Through God. Please stay tuned for many more.


For so long I've been trying to figure out the secret to life so that I can save my children time and teach it to them. Today I learned that I wasted a lot time a lot of years actually, and accepted, FINALLY, that I will never know the answers, and I'm ok with that. So actually, one of the best things I can do for my children is not explain to them why I make the decisions that I make. I'm reminded of a time when LaRoe asked for chocolate milk and I told him no without explanation. He couldn't understand but I knew I had plans for icecream after dinner. My ultimate goal would be that eventually he learns to trust and respect my no's and yet have faith, believe and expect the best yes even when he doesn't understand. And I should trust God that way. But until I build that kind of trust with LaRoe I do know that LaRoe trusts me in other areas. He doesn't sit his room worrying how the rent is going to be paid this month or whether its a good idea to spend money on fun friday this week, or not eating all of his food because he wants to make sure he has something to eat tomorrow. Just the thought of that saddens me. What if he did? What if he turned down his allowance because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to pay the light bill. I would tell him that's not his responsibility and to just have fun and be a child. That's how God wants us to live. It's not our responsiblity to worry but just have fun and be a child of God. He doesn't want us to live a life of worry and fear. He want us to live a life of love and praise to Him, hard work and good deeds for the weak, poor and needy. God is going to pay our bills, take care of health and all our other needs. We really have to look at him as not only our Father but our Daddy. And he feels the same way when he sees us sitting in our room worrying how the rent is going to be paid, not enjoying our lives, spreading love to others, and bringing glory to his name. If his eye is on the sparrow and he provides worms for them then I know he's watching me. There's a scripture somewhere in the bible that says he knows how many strands of hair are on our heads, now how comforting is that. I can just imagine HIM hovering on me while I'm a sleep with my head in his lap counting each and every strand of my hair (and I don't know about you but I love having my hair played with)! What a great feeling to know how much He loves, adores, and treasures me. Some people say that God doesn't always answer our prayers but I've heard that He does answer our prayers sometimes the answer is just no but now I know to trust and respect His no's yet have faith, believe and expect the best yes even when I don't understand it's only because he plans for me to eat ice-cream after my dinner.

I Won, I won!

I enter contest all the time with no expectations of winning but with my fingers still crossed behind my back. The first time I won a contest was when I was 13yrs old. I won tickets from my favorite radio station at 2:00 a.m., to see my favorite rap group at the time, Kris Kross. That was so long ago and I hadn't won a single thing since then. That was until now. In recent weeks I have entered maybe five contest, and out of those five, I have won three! That, in my book, is amazing. The amazing part about it is not that I actually won a contest, but because out of those five, the three that I did win where prizes that I actually wanted or needed for specific purposes meeting certain needs of my life. The other two, I entered on a thought of "why not, its a contest". My point here is not to brag, but I realized that while for so long when I wasn't winning contest for free cars or vacations, those where not things that I needed in my life at the time. But what I did need is what I have been given.

For the opportunities to win these great prizes I would like to give a thanks first to All Things Creative at www.nnekaseran.blogspot.com, from whom I won a beautiful basket from Tea and Honey Blends hair care product line for natural hair. The Gleam Shine Serum and Curl Definer does a great job on my daughters hair that produces more frizz than I can handle some days.

Second, I would like to thank a good friend Sherell Anderson, for the Sweet Pea body spray and lotion from Bath & Body Works, and the feel good lip gloss by E.L.F.. And Lastly, to www.chitownfashionista.com for the Misikko Hana Elite Flat Iron which was a major need for my profession as a hair stylist. I had been saving up now for months now so that I could purchase one for my birthday. With value of almost $400, I would have been saving for quite a long time.


And of course I would like to thank God for with out you none of this is possible and with you I know that all things are possible. Thank you (exit stage left).

In the Words of Satan - The Arrows

This video was shared with me from one of my favorite cousins. She was blessed with an amazing voice that she uses to praise the Lord 24/7, and spends alot of her time searching for other artist that use their talents to do the same. She posted the video on my FB page and it took me almost a week to even view and I'm so glad that I did. I'm not familiar with the band The Arrows, but this song has caught my attention. The message is deep and actually made my eyes well up with tears of joy and thankfulness for the grace and mercy that has been given to my family. I serve and amazing God and I am so glad that I know. Take time to sit through this 6 minute video. It'll be worth the time.