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Concentrated Writing

I don’t write like I used to. I don’t write every little revelation that I experience anymore. I have decided to let my writing be a concentration of multiple experiences. I don’t want to give too much access to my heart these days. I don’t want it to be a mystery either. I just want things to naturally flow in its own direction. You know?

I cant help to think about concentrated fruits assuming that concentration is the process of removing most of the water from a particular food. Like prunes, raisins, dried mangos from Aldi, etc. Anyway, the taste of the fruit is bigger, better and brighter.

I want my writing to be minimal but bigger, better and brighter.

I have been giving myself more time to absorb my experiences and meditate in the lessons I learn vs. running to WordPress like “OMG look what I just went through.” I used to do that often and realized later that there was more to receive from the experience but I jumped too quickly to the blog vs. letting it simmer.

If you let some chicken simmer, the water evaporates and the chicken absorbs the tasty seasonings.

I want my writing to be like chicken stew.

Featured

My First Blog Post

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

That quote is part of a WordPress template to get you to start writing. I’m gunna leave it there. Lol

Dont be that person to encourage others to “be themselves” and when they live life as “themselves”, you quickly want to correct them and mold them into something far from who they are.

If you’re going to give yourself freedom to be “you”, then be just as open when your neighbor decides to shave the side of their head to match her artistic nature.

Yup, I shaved the side of my head once and I regret letting it grow out everyday. I compromised who I was to please people who don’t even care about me. I’m still working on not doing that.

Join me in my journey on… not doing that.

Leadership 1

You’re sleeping but this idea struck me just now.

I’m learning about leadership and one of the things I’m learning is to get people to do what you need them to do.

Of course this is a secular course not a Christian one so it says to use this tactic: Make the person feel like you’re interested in their life by asking questions about their hobbies or talents.

The text even says to go as far as complimenting them often making the person feel seen, interesting or impressive.

If you do this carefully, you will get someone to do whatever you want them to do. If used maliciously, this method can be used to manipulate anyone.

Be careful of the people who encourage you to talk about yourself

Be careful of the people finding a strange interest in your life.

And be careful of compliments and praise.

Cuz as good as it seems, someone might be manipulating you.

Self-righteous

I could write several blogs about the word Self-righteous.

Self-righteous: Having or showing the attitude of someone who strongly believes in the rightness of his or her own actions or opinions.

I have a hard time settling my anger when people proclaim how much God uses them simply because they are obedient to Him. Yes, of course we should seek to be Holy as God is Holy and place our dependence on The Cross to make it happen but, we shouldn’t boast of how WELL we are doing claiming we are receiving form Christ because of our own works.

But I get it. I sometimes make this mistake when I’m in a storm. I claim to have been “good” and undeserving of whatever bad situation I’m in. I’m truly being corrected by the Holy Spirit on this one. It seems that the more trials I go through, the more I realize I know nothing.

We are all unworthy. It’s easy to pretend our lives are perfect on the outside. It’s even easier to pretend our souls aren’t crumbling on the inside. I’m learning that God doesn’t move like our logic expects Him to. I’ve seen Him move in the most random of ways that I couldn’t even begin to explain it.

I have seen people with a speech impediment preach in mega churches.

I have seen people who struggle to read understand the most complicated verses in the bible.

I have met quiet people with souls on fire for God.

I have met outspoken people keep the stories of their heart silent.

I no longer look at the “works” people do. Appearances are deceiving. God tells us to look at the fruits. As Christians, are we producing love? Joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness?

Heart – H3924

The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who Can understand it? Jer 17:9.

The Hebrew translation for The Heart is the Mind. Or our intellect. Or our intentions.

Heart – H3924

We can’t trust our own thinking. That’s why God commands we trust him which might mean we have to do things blindly.

Yet as humans, we are blind already.

A negative plus a negative is a positive.

As humans, we are blind.
But if we move in the spirit blindly (fully trusting God)
We’ll see where we’re going.

Testing of Faith x2

Reading 1 Kings 17. The story of the poor widow and her son.

  1. The lord tested the widow through Elijah. Elijah asked her for bread and said if you give to me first, your flour and oil will never waste. It was a test of her faith because it was all she had. Of course she passed the test by giving to the prophet before herself and her son
  2. Then, the second test comes. Her son was so sick he was dying. How could things get worse while the man of God is AT YOUR HOUSE?!

When the Lord moves mightily, Satan will attack right after which means the second trial of faith is sometimes harder than the first. All of it is a test of our faith.

In the end the boy revived!! But did you notice Elijah put a dead boy’s body on his bed? The law at the time was against this. Maybe it was an act of faith like, the boy might be dead right now, but in a few second…we’ll see.

Adding Hair to Box Braids

I gotta give credit to myself for all the research I’ve done. I gotta pat myself on the back for not giving up after multiple failed attempts. It might be simple to some but to me, adding hair to box braids was a challenge.

I’m already skilled at basic cornrows, parting and box braids. I’ve even created a few designs. I just never had the chance to do any type of feed in braids.

I remember trying feed-in braids on my mom’s hair and I couldn’t get the braids to look neat. I also made the mistake of cutting the feed-in hair itself. The braids were splitting everywhere. It was discouraging.

I wanted to give it another shot. This time, I researched braiding gels, techniques, tools, etc. I pinned ideas and tips on Pinterest, window shopped at beauty supply stores, and played YouTube videos over and over. I wasn’t going to give up.

I made an attempt to practice what I learned on my daughter but I couldn’t get it right. She encouraged me not to give up so I didn’t.

The next day I did more research until I got something that would stick.

I’m happy with my second attempt at braids. Check it out here https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdfemkdL/?k=1

Jesus Heals the Blind

Don’t laugh at my drawing. Jesus is not mushing their noses. He’s healing the blind.

Our classes are not just your normal Sunday school lesson. We talk. We ask questions. We try to be honest about our doubts and feelings.

My job is to bring scripture down to their level in ways they understand. Welcome to my Marker Board saga!

Gray Slacks & The Fitting Room

I promised myself not to buy anything without trying it on. The thrift store is always an exciting and overwhelming experience and the fitting room keeps my eagerness to buy everything in my hands in check. My imagination runs wild with every piece I choose but if it doesn’t fit the way I want it to fit, it can’t leave the store with me.

I imagined gray baggy slacks with the middle crease ironed out. I wanted to feel baggy and free. After trying on 3 pairs, I fell in love with one. I had to iron out the crease to bring my vision to life.

I found another pair but the waist band was a tad bit too tight. I have plans to move the button to get the perfect fit. I won’t be ironing out the crease on this pair tho.

Ive always hated fashion so I find it ironic to take such an interest in creating my own style. I felt that “fashion” was trying to tell me what to do with my clothes. Thrifting puts me in charge of my style and I love it.

No shade on keeping up with trends but I don’t see myself ever wearing sweats and heels.

It’s an Old Unposted Blog

Religion forces you to be someone you’re not. It keeps us from being honest in our prayer. It makes us change who we are to be accepted and forces us to feel uncomfortable in who we really are.

Religion tempts us to mimic the preacher on YouTube to sound important. Religion pushes away good friendships for the sake of being “sanctified”. It smooshes people into 1 mold to fit into the group. No one is different. No personalities to be found. Character is non-existent.

Opinions are not allowed. Questions are forbidden. Sounds kinda cultish don’t it?

With all these things intact. How does one talk to God in spirit and in truth. There’s no truth to be found anymore. God created us all so differently and intentionally colorful. Yet, religion steps in and strips all the color away, tells us we are no good and paints us grey. No wonder we’re miserable.

If at any moment, you’re being told to:

Dress this way

Act this way

Think this way

Feel this way

Be this way.

its lies they tell

We all get the point that this world is cursed to sin. If you believe in Jesus, He has shielded us from the consequences. Its done. Sin is gunna happen and Jesus is gunna cover it. Where there is great sin, Grace is even greater. Let’s argue.

The Law. Our Foster Parents.

I kept asking God, if the law cannot save us or bring us His promise, what is it for?

The law was our guardian. It was our mean and strict foster parents that kept us prisoner. We were prisoners but the prison kept us safe. The law was our authority until Christ came.

The pressure was too much to bare. We just couldn’t follow all their rules. Even if we were determined to try, the law would kick our butts every time. We wanted to do good. We wanted to do right. But our foster parents reminded us everyday that we weren’t even close to their standards. We felt hopeless. Defeated.

When Christ came, He won custody over our foster parents and over our lives and we were made right by God because we knew He would come for us. We were set free from the law. Set free from our foster parents. We danced. We sang. We rejoiced.

We didn’t need our foster parents anymore. It’s not that they hated us. We were just so bad and disobedient, they had to lock us down for our own good.

But now that Daddy came back for us, we don’t need them anymore to protect us. We don’t need them to remind us how bad we are.

We are still disobedient. We are still full of sin. But the power of Christ blankets our sin and shame and makes it no more. Christ did Something our foster parents didn’t have the power to do.