Blessed day!

Church was so good today! In Sunday school we learned about Mary and the alabaster box and giving our best to God. Sunday school was followed by an awesome time of Praise and Worship. Dr. Richard Koonce gave a testimony of the goodness of God and was touched to sing an annointed song Falling in love with Jesus is the best thing I've ever done. The song really welcomed the presence of the Lord.
 We continued to press through and ended singing We are Blessed! Pastor Tracey (Shoemo) led this song and was all over the sanctuary. We pointed to our neighbors and sang you're blessed, we pointed to ourselves and sang I'm blessed, we pointed around the room and sang we're blessed. Then we sang Dance like David and our church got down. We jumped, danced, and sang and praised until we were tired but we had to sing our congregational song, I love you Jesus. I know heaven was pleased as we sang to Jesus, I lift my hands in total adoration unto to You, for You reign upon the throne and You are God and God alone, because of You my cloudy days are gone and to You I sing this song, I just want to say that I love You more than anything, I love You Jesus, I worship and adore You, Just want to tell You that I love You more than anything....Lord I love you more than anything Lord I love you more than anything.
Pastor Tracey preached on from the book of Zecheriah in his series: 8 Visions of a Prophet. Pastor Tracey encouraged us to ready our temples for the coming of the Lord as in the rapture  as the angel told Zecheriah to ready the people for the coming of the Lord  as Jesus came to earth to show He was the Messiah. He urged us to get out while we can in our own land of Babolyn and stop "sleeping with the daughter of Babolyn," stop living a sinful life! It was awesome. I encourage everyone to come visit with us Spirit and Truth Ministries The House of Radical Praise and Worship: 910 West Madison Road Sandusky, OH!

Hope has a way.....

One of my favorite songs off of Sarah Groves album Miscellaneous is, It Might Be Hope. I like the lyric, "hope has a way of turning it's face to you just when you least expect it." I was feeling down the past couple of days and I had really been praying and searching God I found comfort in His word and in praying but I just couldn't get a breakthrough. I finally did in my son Caleb. It was like he turned his face towards me and that became my hopeful moment . His eternal optimism, his strength, his courage, his quiet thoughtfulness inspired me and lessened my feelings of hopelessness and despair. I am so grateful for my son. He came at a time in my life when I was heading down a road of self-destruction and due to him I turned on the straight and narrow once again. I remember the first time my son filled my heart with hope. It was the Fourth of July and I had been overwhelmed in the past months of becoming a new mother, a single mother, a young mother....I had experiend post-partum depression. I needed hope. I took Caleb for a walk around the block and saw the fireworks over the bay. I looked down into the stroller and hope surged into my spirit. I can do this, I thought. I love my son and he loves me. I pray that you see hope in the face of someone or something today. God can use anything or anyone to renew your spirit and I'm so glad God continually uses my son to bring hope and blessings into my life.

The reflection pool

At my old college Mount Vernon Nazarene Unversity there is a small body of water on campus called the reflection pool located in the grove. I thought about it tonight as I titled my blog "A Self Reflecting Journey of  a Woman of Hope" I wonder what is it do I see when I look in the mirror. My life certainly has not reflected my former dreams and goals thus far and I wonder if that is really a bad thing. I thought I would be in the professional world building my career but somehow I have been entrusted to raise a beautiful boy into a mature man. Me, who was so adament about never having children. I have been humbled to live with my parents in my thirties after having blasted Independent Woman by Destiny's Child in my twenties. I have gone from the petite to the plus sized section of clothes. I am sometimes tempted to self reflect and see myself as a failure yet I have overcome so much. I manage a major mental illness daily, a struggle that takes it toll on my body, soul and spirit. I pour my heart and soul into my mothering. I read about parenting, I invest in every aspect of my son's life. I have survived rape, sodomy, homelessness, domestic violence and assault. I am a survivor. I am a Woman of Hope because I have and never will lose hope that is rooted and grounded in my realtionship with Jesus Christ. I hope you never lose hope as well. I hope you see yourself as a survivor and not a victim. Be blessed be filled with hope be kind in your self reflecting.

First Blog

I am so excited about starting a blog. I've wanted to a long time but kinda forgot about it after I tried to start one in September. A lot of things have happened since September I started attending a new church, my son turned six........hopefully I can write more tonight but mothering is calling me now.