Humbly Yours by Val Crawford

ABBA FATHER, Thank YOU for another chance. Thank YOU for a new opportunity to share with another about YOUR Wonderful Grace and Compassion toward us! And now FATHER, YOU be Glorified by the words that come from this writing - in the matchless Name LORD JESUS!

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding; ...

Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.  Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

Proverbs 4:1; 5-7 (NKJV)

Getting It!

A moment of transparency... I don't like Math.  I don't have a problem with Addition or Subtraction, Multiplication, or even Division. But Algebra and Geometry? Either I'm reading a book or completing a Math equation. I don't need letters in my Math! And now? The things that they are doing to our children in the name of Math - oh my!

Now... PLEASE - don't be offended by my attempt at humor! Don't write Cindy and offer to tutor me or to pay for me to attend Sylvan learning center. I am okay... and if your new way of doing Math gets your checkbook to balance at the end of the month... KUDOS to you! I am just 'borrowing' Math for my illustration because when it comes to Advanced Maths, Trigonometry, Common Core... I just... DON'T Get It.

When I was a child and in school back in the day, every chapter of my school books had a quiz section to test and reinforce your comprehension. But one day, I recall discovering something wonderful! Some of our books (particularly my M-A-T-H book) had - hidden behind the glossary - an answer section! You could actually look back there and get the answers to those wretched Math questions!

But I had a problem - three really:

Problem 1 - The back of the book only gave me every other answer;

Problems 2 & 3 - My Teachers and My Mother - INSISTED that I work out my Math problems to show HOW I got my answer! The NERVE! If I didn't know better, one might think that they didn't trust me to not... cheat! And the fact of the matter is that they all would have been spot on! I WAS planning on… utilizing less than honorable tactics in the acquisition of my responses.

I didn't get it. The answer section was not there to help me to cheat. It was there to help me - once I worked out the problem on my own - check my work and, if it was wrong, redo it before my Mom reviewed it or Mrs. Morgan graded it. Stealing the answer from the back of the book would never have helped me to understand how to do simple things for myself. The fact was Mom and Mrs. Morgan were not the enemies of my recreation. What they wanted was for me to get "an understanding".

I think that is what King Solomon is trying to relate to us through Proverbs 4 when he urges us to "Pay attention... Get Wisdom and in all your getting, get Understanding!"

I was sharing with my Cousin Beloved one evening after I went to hear him speak. I made the comment to him that, "You have really 'learned' me some things!" He laughingly corrected and teased me about our SouthEast DC origins, "No matter what we've done in life or how far we go, we're still from SE, right?" My reply made him chuckle, too: "No sir! You could be 'teaching' me til you turned blue, and I wouldn't get - no - you LEARNED me some things!"

I think that is what Solomon (and Mom and Ms. Morgan) want for us - to more than just 'hear' a lesson. To be more than just taught but to be 'learned'. To more than just hear what our Pastors, Teachers, and Elders are trying to impart but to be motivated by their wisdom. Then, because we have invited and allowed the wisdom to sink in when life issues come upon us, we will have a clear understanding of positive next steps.

Wisdom is the primary thing, so in all your getting, get understanding.


Val Crawford
Contributing Writer

Mindset Matters by Cassandra Williams-Herbert

February the month of Love

For years, February has been the month dedicated to show love. As a child, we are taught to love ourselves first, to understand who we are and what we want to be, enlightened with the greatness of living and loving life.

Love is a deep appreciation for how you love others as we love ourselves. That's a lot to consider when you're trying to understand what love really is in your life.

Love and Life are about an educational journey of self-discovery. It’s not selfish to love ourselves. It's understood that when you love yourself first, life becomes clearer for you; we're able to open up our hearts to love other people that we encounter in our lives. I found that when you start loving yourself, the world around you begins to change for the better.

Unfortunately, many of us will not love ourselves until a true awareness takes place in your life. Love is also in company with trauma when you lose something or someone special in our life. Love takes on a whole new meaning. I asked a loved one why she was distanced from the family over the years. Her response was “I am not sure; just living life.” That was until the love of her life was killed in an accident. Family and Love came with another meaning and understanding. The family she left behind was the family that showed pure love and support during her time of an unexpected misfortune.

When love is authentic you can use peace, hurt, pain, frustration and troublesomeness times to motivate you, rather than upset you; finding purpose in every situation.  

 I believe that all of us have a choice to bring about change. To choose to love or not to love or choose to find excuses for what love is not; one thing love is is a word of action. Love brings joy to your soul. Love is one of the most powerful forces that connect the world.

 Love is a mindset that takes action. I encourage you to love Unconditionally 365 days not just in the month of February. God is Love Every Day!

Cassandra Williams Herbert

Contributing Writer 

Connect with Verse - Poetry Corner! Featuring Wynette Williams

Catch A Bubble

When you feel fear

Catch A Bubble

When negative thoughts come

Catch A Bubble

When you're in the storm 

Catch A Bubble

When God Speaks, Listen

And...

Catch A Bubble

In your season, you will find out what will 

Be in store and you will break through like never before.

So for that reason...

Peace Be Still And 

Catch A Bubble 

Written by: Wynette Williams

Q: I need help but don’t know how to ask. How do I ask for help?

Signed: M.B. ~ Afraid to Ask

A: Believe it or not, you actually took the first step in asking for help! Now, depending on what type of help you are seeking, I am unable to help you do that. However, whatever it is that you are needing at this time, you can utilize the resources that you currently have. Is it financial, spiritual, health-related, or personal growth that you need help with? Evaluate what it is that you are needing, look at your resources and move forward with that. Sometimes, the help you are looking for is staring right at you, we just have to open our mouths and ask without the fear. Stay in prayer, ask God to guide you and He will send you what you need.

Until next time, laugh, live and love life. You only have one to live!

Love ya,
Ask AunT

Trinette Collier Green is a Certified Relationship Stylist
Submit your questions to simplycindyblog@gmail.com

Humbly Yours by Val Crawford

Thank YOU, LORD GOD for a new opportunity to share YOU. Thank YOU for Grace, Mercy, Hope, and Faith. Speak now LORD for THY servant daughter is listening! Please use me to minister outwardly and inwardly; to grow and minister to others. Strengthen us in YOUR Word and allow YOUR Will to be examples of YOUR LOVE on this side of Life! Do it Now ABBA and we will continue to give YOU all the Honor, all the Glory, and all the Praise! It is in the Matchless name LORD JESUS that I ask and thank YOU for it all! This is what the Lord says ...

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are MINE.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned... For I am the LORD your GOD, the HOLY ONE of Israel, your SAVIOR" - Isaiah 43:1-3 (NIV)

Don't Stop Moving

Fearfulness... sometimes when one thinks about all the things and people that they are up against and what is up against them, it can be almost paralyzing! BUT these days, I am recognizing something. I am relieved to know that when I pass through the waters, GOD will be with me and when I pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over me..."

That is good news to me! 'Things' come and always will but we can be assured that 'there will be Glory after this!' Even when we walk through the fire, the Word Promises that we won't be burned. ABBA promises to be with us just like HE was with the three Hebrews in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace! And IF HE is with us when we go through the furnace, we will come out just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 - unsigned and not even smelling like smoke.

The thing that has been repeating to me in Isaiah 43 (and in Daniel 3) was 'movement'... I think that is the lesson for me here today.

Don't Stop Moving! Isaiah tells us that GOD's message to us is "... when you p-a-s-s through the waters... when you
p-a-s-s through the rivers... when we w-a-l-k through the fire... HE will be with us! So, don't stop moving!

In Daniel 3, when King Nebuchadnezzar looked in the furnace, he said he saw FOUR men WALKING around. Those Hebrew men didn't allow that incredibly frightening circumstance to stop their trust or belief in our Almighty GOD. They believed that GOD would be with them - even in the fire and they didn't stop moving. Don't stop moving! The same way GOD was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; the same way HE was with Moses and Joshua; the same way GOD was with Daniel, HE will be with you and me! ABBA told Isaiah to tell you and me that HE will be with us! Through the Fire and the Flood - GOD The FATHER will be with us!

A few years ago, my Pastor, Anthony G. Maclin preached a sermon, "Don't Mess with My Momentum!" At the beginning of the sermon, he provided the definition of the word, 'momentum'...

Momentum - the force or energy that something (or someone) has when it is moving; the strength or force that allows something (or someone) to continue to grow stronger or faster as time passes.

Momentum - growing stronger as time passes! Do NOT stop moving! GOD has not given up on you! Do not give up on yourself!

I didn't think about it when I was watching Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments but, in all honesty, if I was one of the Israelites at the Red Sea, I might not have been immediately inclined to "walk through the waters..." I may very well have run in the opposite direction - right back into the hands of my enemies. Or - I may have stood stock still - and ended up in the hands of my enemies. The Good News is that GOD knows that about us! When the Egyptians were pursuing them, GOD got between the Israelites and their enemy in a pillar of fire, which actually served two purposes:

A. It blocked the Egyptians - stopping their momentum;

B. It pushed the Israelites forward - INCREASING their momentum!

So I will offer (and take) this lesson from Shadrach (and 'em), and the Israelites, and Isaiah:

WHEN GOD gives you a push - DO NOT STOP! 

I will push through my fear and the paralysis of not doing because, like Isaiah said in chapter 43, GOD knows my name and has redeemed me to HIMSELF! WHEN I pass through the fire, HE IS with me!

Whatever you are facing - - Don't stop moving! 

Whatever is facing you - Please - Don't stop moving!

Keep Praying! Keep Trusting! Keep Believing! 

Do NOT Stop!!!

Val Crawford

Contributing Writer

Sisters of Worth Empowerment Conference

On behalf of the phenomenal women of Souls Inspiring Sisterlove, Inc., we greet you and introduce our organization. Souls Inspiring Sisterlove, Inc. was created by seven ladies who bonded together in true sisterhood and love.

We are nonprofit. Our 501 (c) (3) organization is committed to inspiring sisterhood among women worldwide through encouragement, empowerment, and education. Our mission is to globally support, nurture, and inspire women of all ages seeing no color or creed; to embrace love, healing, effective communication, unity, compassion, and sisterhood.

We are excited to announce our 2018 Sisters of Worth (SOW) Empowerment Conference focusing on total health, wealth and wellness for women.

Cindy's Featured Artist of the Week - Lauren Hunt

LAUREN HUNT

(Hunt’s Over the Top) Theatre for Children is a vision that was placed in Lauren’s heart many years ago. As a passionate educator who had been impacted by Theatre herself, Lauren wanted to share the gift of theatre with as many children as possible. Lauren previously worked at a private school in Marietta, GA, known as Destiny Academy. During her time there, she had the opportunity to work with many children ages 1-5. She introduced Destiny students to Theatre and the children, along with their parents fell in love with the stage. 

The parents at Destiny Academy encouraged Lauren to branch out and open her own performing arts space. Stepping out on faith, Lauren opened HOTT Theatre in August of 2014. Lauren has worked with many children, but her HOTT Theatre babies hold a dear place in her heart. She loves watching them grow on and off the stage, but most importantly in Christ. 

Lauren decided later to start the most career-changing event called Rep Your Act. She gives adults and children the opportunity to showcase their talents to professionals in the industry who could potentially give that actor the opportunity they have been searching for. Rep Your Act will take place November 3, 2018, at the Theater in the Square. Be sure to register if you are looking for the opportunity to be placed in front casting directors, agents, and more who could potentially change these actors careers for the best.

Visit www.repyouract.com and click on registration or email repyouract@gmail.com for more information