Girrrl Stop!

Writing Prompt Day 16 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: What surprising thing have you learned recently? Say Word!  That I’m easily distracted! How could this be - miss ‘I’m focused man’ (said in my best Jay-Z impersonation)? Well I am and it’s exactly why I’m cramming the last days of my writing prompts! It’s always so much going on and many times I have to divert my attention to the more pressing issue at that time. Ok, forget all of that. Truth is sometimes I get busy with busyness which leads to total non-productivity! Ok, forget that too. Let me speak candidly to myself: Reebs! Do better!  Ok well, now for my real surprising thing I’ve learned recently. The New Testament is not written in chronological order but rather it is written in theological order - say word! The actual first New Testament book written was 1 Thessalonians, although it doesn’t come first in that section of the Book. At least this is what the teacher says

Writing Prompt Day 15 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: List five of your favorites...favorite books, favorite foods, favorite vacations. 5. Ross and TJ Maxx - I love the hunt I guess! I love the feeling of finding that key piece for a discount!!! 4. InStyle and Essence Magazines - I love to sit down and dig into these two publications. It's simple but it's just something I love to do!  3. Howard Homecoming - I love going back to my alter mater, seeing friends and creating new memories. God always reveals something new to me about who He is at homecoming time 2. "Family Functions" - these come in the form of family dinners, game nights, movie nights and just plain ole get togethers! I love bonding with my family, it's where I feel safe and loved the most!  1. Road trips with my Mom - we travel twice a year to conventions. It's great quality time spent with the woman I admire most. I love hearing her stori

Writing Prompt Day 14 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: When did you break the rules and things still turned out great? Truth: I break the rules all the time. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't! The Lord is still working on me to follow rules but I can't seem to do right. Even with my rule speaking spirit, God always seem to work things out.  -I couldn't get to work on time (Baltimore - DC) so God made it so that I could telework 5 days a week! Problem solved!  -When I was going to the office, I would work jeans into my daily wardrobe professionally (when it was against the rules) next thing you know it was issued in a company policy that jeans were allowed everyday!  Honestly, it's a wonder I still have a job! But God!  Anyways, Jesus was a rule breaker. He healed folks on the Sabbath, He turned over tables in the temple, He touched the lepers, He denounced religious

Writing Prompt Day 13 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: What change MUST you make before 2017 ends? You gotta love this time of year when we all tend to reflect on the past year and make plans for the upcoming year. This is a time of year that can actually make or break you for the year to come. If you don’t reflect enough on the current year and really assess some things, you may be doomed to repeat mistakes and the same cycle over again. Also if you don’t plan properly for the new year, you may not progress the way you want to and to the level you would like to go. So looking at this year and assessing what needs to change before the year ends I’d have to say: my mindset.  My mindset needs to change in a few areas if I’m going to experience 2018 differently from 2017. One thing is I need to become disciplined and stick to a writing schedule. This is going to be imperative to producing work for the new year

Writing Prompt Day 12 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: "I'm usually not________________________, but in this case, _______________________” I’m usually not contrary, but in this case, I decided to march to my own drum beat!  I was called contrary on yesterday. Who me? Imagine that! My church celebrated 90 years and our church colors are royal blue and gold. Royal blue is not a favorite color of mine and gold is a color I feel should be reserved to shoes and accessories. So needless to say, I don’t own any of this in my closet. I searched and searched the stores far and wide to try and find a suitable royal blue dress, one that fit my style and personalty and unfortunately to no avail!  Then I went into a boutique and stumbled across this beautiful dress that had an array of colors: Royal Blue, Gold, Fuchsia, and Black with the dominant colors being Pink and Royal Blue. I thought to myself: close enou

Writing Prompt Day 11 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ Since I'm a day late I'm not going to hold you long. I just want to encourage you today to trust God. There's a familiar hymn that I love, the chorus of it goes like this: Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him How I prove Him more and more  Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus Oh for grace for trust Him more  Proverbs 3:5-6 says it this way, "Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not to your own understanding and in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path" I used to look at trusting God as a one off sorta thing, as situations or crisis would arise I would really focus on trusting God. The verse mentioned above I've known since I was a child and could recite it at an early age but it wasn't until adulthood that I actually learned the verses. For many years I thought that I could figure things out on my own and neglected to trust God for all thin

Writing Prompt Day 10 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ Fantasia did a video not too long ago that went viral and she sang this song by Dennis Reed:  I am who I am today Because God used my mistakes He worked them for my good Like no one else ever could God told us to tell you  It was necessary  This song touched many people because as you look back over your life, you can see where even the ‘bumps’ in your journey aided you in arriving at this current place. The mistakes you’ve made helped to shape who you are today. How? The lessons that we learn from our mistakes is what molds us into better people. Acclaimed write Oscar Wilde once said, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes”. Those experiences we go through on our journey leads us to new places of wisdom, understanding and even revelation. Authors Dr. Mark Goulston and Philip Goldberg said in their book, Get Out of Your Own Way, “We alwa

Writing Prompt Day 9 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: What do you do really well that you can teach others about? This is a question I have been pondering for some time now and one that I’ve struggled to answer. I suppose I do not see myself as an expert in any one area so this one is difficult for me to define. There are some things that I love to do like write, speak, and encourage yet I still find it to be a task to pinpoint what I would teach others to do.  This is an area of prayer for me as I’m working and exploring new things. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.” I believe that! I believe that it is already present but not clear to me. I believe that this will become clear to me in the near future.  For now, I will continue to encourage the women in the body of Christ to be encouraged and inspired in the things of God, becoming their best self

Writing Prompt Day 8 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: What gets on your nerves? I already hear all of you thinking: “She didn’t need a writing prompt to write this”! AND….you’re right!! Let’s jump right in! Here are the top three things that get on my nerves:  3. Passenger Seat Drivers - Girrrl! If you want to send me into ‘piss-stilistic’ frenzy then do this! Sittin’ over there giving instructions: slow down, watch out, the light is red - Ugh! I come to a stop sign and you sitting up looking for oncoming traffic - if you sitting up blocking the window, how am I supposed to see? If you wanna drive then drive but if you riding with me - CHILL! 2. Church Thugs - These are bullies in the church. They’re mean, cantankerous, and usually fussing about something or someone at any given time. They drive me completely insane! They use any opportunity they can to belittle you in front of others. I have to pray

Writing Prompt Day 7 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: If you could invent something, what would it be? I would invent a serum that when you drink it you could hear people’s thoughts once you focused on them. One dose of the serum would last for one week and each bottle would be 4 weeks worth inside. I think I would call it: The Fake-a-Lizer - the serum that helps you separate the fake from the real! Due to the production costs, this serum would be costly but hey, anything in life worth having usually is!  So here’s to hearing your thoughts - yeah, I hear ya! 

Writing Prompt Day 6 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: Share something that inspires you. One of the things I love are the movies with the competition at the end. You know the ones where the underdog has a rough time throughout the movie, facing obstacles and adversity and then at the end of the movie is the competition - where the underdog prevails! Think movies like ‘Bring It On’, ‘Stomp the Yard’ or ‘Take the Lead’, all of these movies have one common theme: the victorious overcomer! I’m inspired by people who overcome obstacles and never lose sight of their goals. I’m inspired by people who fight for what’s right regardless of the challenges they face in the process. I’m inspired by people who never give up no matter what - winners! 

Writing Prompt Day 5 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/ PROMPT: If you could have a do-over for a childhood moment, what would that be and what would it be like? When I was a young girl I was a bit of a tomboy. I did everything from climbing fences, rolling down hills, riding big wheels and then I graduated to riding bikes - you name it, I did it! One time I let one of the neighborhood boys ride my big wheel and I was going to stand on the back of it while he peddled. I was holding on to the seat but I was kneeling on the ground. The boy began to peddle and I was yelling for him to stop because as he peddled, my knees were scraping the concrete! I yelled louder and then he finally stopped but when I got up, you could actually see ‘the white meat’! Cognitively, I don’t know why I just didn’t let go, maybe somewhere deep in my mind I didn’t want him to ride far on my big wheel without me. Maybe I thought he would take my

Writing Prompt Day 4 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/   I think everyone has a favorite time of year (excluding birthdays). For some it may be Thanksgiving or Christmas, for others it may be spring or summer. For me it is Daylight Savings time! I do a happy dance in my head when I get to fall back!! I love to get that extra hour of sleep, it is a divine gift from above. It gets dark earlier but the positive thing about that is it puts everyone in focus mode. I focus more this time of year because the fun distractions of summer are gone, the cooler weather keeps me inside a little more and the new year is approaching and it makes me reassess.  Here’s to Daylight Savings Time and the Fall Back!!  You gotta love it!!

Writing Prompt Day 3 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/   PROMPT: If you could sum up your life in one or two sentences, what would you write? The first quarter of my life was characterized by learning and the second quarter by experiencing. It is now half-time where I’m revising the strategy, reverting back to learning so that I can bring home the win. 

Writing Prompt Day 2 Speak Write Now Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakwritenowcommunity/   PROMPT: Name a moment in your life that you remember on a regular basis? When I was in my twenties I lived in Atlanta, GA. During this period of my life I hadn’t been through too much at that point and I was on serious confidence overload! I mean honestly, you couldn’t convince me that my poop stank because in my mind I was the bomb!  One time at band camp - uh - I mean Club 112, the DJ was doing his thing but no one was on the dance floor. The DJ was spinning all the hot trap music at the time (think Master P vs. 3-6 Mafia - yeah that’s hood right there) yet no one was out on the floor. Then he switched it up to Biggie Smalls Big Poppa and I knew I had to turn this party around!  When that flute sound came in that starts the song and B.I.G begins with “To all the ladies in the place with style and grace” I eased out to the middle of the dance floor!  I ha

Fall is my second favorite season (summer is numero uno) because it’s a welcomed break from the extreme hot temperatures, humidity and all of the not so fun stuff that comes along with summer. On certain Fall days where the temperature is just right, I can always be heard saying, “It could just stay like this all year around”, it feels good and it is a good transition period between the two extremes: Hot and Cold. The Fall season is also what I often refer to as the Recycle season. It’s something about the cool air that makes people want to slow down a bit, settle and dare I say snuggle - hence the birth of Recycle Season!  Girrrl I hear you saying, what is recycle season? Ok, this is when we are heading into the cooler seasons and people attempt to recycle friendships that have already ended. This season is characterized by going through your phone/email list and reaching out to that old boo so that you have someone to snuggle up with when the weather gets cold. Particularl

Writing Prompt Day 1 I’m a certified church girl at my core. I grew up in the church and am a believer in and follower of Christ. This does not exempt me from life’s challenges in fact, I believe it makes them come on even the more. I can recall growing up having a timetable for my life that went something like: -Graduate college by age ____ -Get married by age ___ -Have kids by age ____ and so on!  As life happened and the years unfolded, I begin to see my timetable was a joke that made God laugh hysterically (in love of course). As it stands today, I’m a single, childless, successful marketing professional who is now trying to get my business off the ground. It’s not the life I mapped out on my timetable but it has been a blessed life nonetheless. I used to sulk about some areas particularly being a Christian single, but as I began to study God’s Word even more a fundamental truth became clear to me: I am exactly where God has ordained me to be.  As we study