Tag: purpose

hope, trust God

Seven Years Later

Shaun Bradford

Hello and Happy Monday!☀️

For a few days now, I’ve been dreading this day because I didn’t know how my emotions would be when I woke up. Would I be sad? Would I grieve? Would it just be another day? Well, today I woke up feeling neither sad nor grieving. However, after scrolling through my Facebook memories, I decided to share my experience from seven years ago.

On October 5, 2019, my brother celebrated his 46th birthday. Several days later, he was admitted to ICU, and about a week or so after that, he was gone.

While checking my Facebook memories to see if I had made a birthday post on that day, I saw the post below and decided to share it. Y’all, this particular post drove my anxiety level through the roof! I logged off social media afterward because I was so overwhelmed. You know how you can feel something is about to happen, but can’t pinpoint what? Well, that’s where I was. The caption in the post kind of explains what I was experiencing.

October 5, 2019

The confusion and tears were so real.😔

Here’s what I shared in my journal entry on the same day:

Oh, today and sometime last week, the “Everything happens for a reason” popped up on social media. When I mentioned it today, I only referred to this particular time period. About an hour ago, I remembered that this year started off with the song by Zhane, “Reasons.” For about a month, it was my theme song. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Now, here I am, close to the end of 2019, and I’m hearing it again. God is working.

In the post, I used the hashtag #GodIsWorking, and as you can see, I ended my journal entry with “God is working.” Even though I was experiencing anxiety like crazy, I still believed that everything that was happening—and, unbeknownst to me, would later happen—was still under God’s control. I trusted whatever God was doing.

Now, here I am seven years later…

A lot has happened in seven years. Y’all, I’m sooooo glad I stopped hearing Zhané’s song “For A Reason.” Talk about traumatized every time I heard it after my brother’s death.

Oh, and I had forgotten to mention that my mom (not my brother’s mom) was admitted to the hospital the day before. What a crazy time that was!

My thoughts are still the same today as they were back then— “Rest assured, God’s got you [us]. He already has everything worked out. Just trust Him.”

The other hashtag I must mention before I end is the last one in my post— “Your purpose is too great to give up.” Whew! Talk about powerful! I had no idea what was coming. I’m so grateful I didn’t give up!

Today’s going to be a beautiful day because God is in it and still in control. Despite everything that happened seven years ago, I still trust God and His plan.

I pray you have a wonderful day and week. May both be filled with love, joy, and peace.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.

empowerment, self love

My Journey With God, No. 150

Shaun Bradford

YOU are your priority. Not another task. Not another goal. Not another mission. Not another person. YOU, my friend, are your only priority. Everything else is secondary.

Your Priority

My kids have been telling me for the longest that I am my only priority. The last time my daughter was here, she kindly told me that although she’s glad I still consider her and my son when making decisions, they should no longer be a factor in whatever I choose to do. She said that I need to reimagine my life not centered around them.

So what did I do? I started taking on tasks and putting other people’s needs, goals, and interests before my own. Not like I hadn’t been doing it before. Smile. But yesterday was my breaking point.

Yesterday, by noon, I had become so overwhelmed by everything I had taken on that I could literally feel my blood pressure rising—plus I was having hot flashes like CRAZY! Y’all, hot flashes are no joke!! Then, yesterday evening, I saw a post about one of my step-cousins passing from an apparent stroke. He was only a year younger than me.

After finally taking time to sit and breathe, I remembered what my daughter said, I am my only priority.

Today, I need to focus only on myself and what I want to achieve. I live to help and be there for others, but who’s here for me? Who’s helping me? Umm… no one besides ME! So I need to make sure I put myself first and do it daily, not just today. I’m not being selfish. I just want to live a long, healthy life. I have at least 50 more years of life to live.😊

This is all I have for now. Thanks for allowing me to share/ramble. I pray you have a beautifully blessed day!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.

empowerment

Your Future Is In Your Hands

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️ And welcome to another Self-Love Saturday.🌸

Today’s quote is—

“The future starts today, not tomorrow.” –Pope John Paul II

Quote of the Day – 9.26.2026

Your future starts today, not tomorrow. God’s already equipped you with everything you need to begin working towards your goals and dreams, today. All you have to do is start.

If you’re like me, with hundreds of ideas floating around in your head and unsure where to begin, ask God for clarity and guidance. Then, allow Him to walk you through the process. From experience, it may not always be the process you’d like to go through, but in the end, it will be worth it. I’m sure of this.

Again, it’s Self-Love Saturday! Do something that makes your heart smile and future self proud.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

By the way, the song that’s currently playing in my head is Marvin Sapp’s “You Are God Alone.” God is good.

You Are God Alone by Marvin Sapp

Life

12 Years Ago

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

Here’s what I shared four years ago—

September 22, 2014 written on September 22, 2022

Eight years ago, I wrote my first “purse note.” It’s the first of several notes I have kept in my purse to refer back to whenever I need encouragement or to be reminded of my dreams, goals and purpose. Yes.. I have eight year old pieces of paper in my purse.

So, I wrote this particular note during a pretty weird time in my life. I say weird, but truthfully, it was almost like an awakening. It was like my spiritual awareness was on 100. No lie! It was like I was connected to the universe and everything I could possibly think of or imagining was coming my way. I felt like a magnet. All I had to do was think of something and it was drawn to me. Y’all, I had never experienced anything like that before. It was pretty surreal!

Here’s a tiny snippet of what I wrote on that day–

“Out of my reach, but nothing is too hard for God.”

I ended the note with this:

Philippians 4:7 (Living Bible version)

If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

It’s taken me a good seven to eight years to finally understand what it truly means to reside in God’s peace. No matter what I had to endure, God’s peace and love always kept my mind and heart stable and safe from harm. 

As for the snippet… Baby, I’ve learned that there’s nothing out of my reach. If I truly want it, I can have it. The catch is, I actually have to work for it. Yep.. gotta put in that work! Smiling 

I truly love my life. Y’all, God is so good. 

Grateful & Blessed

The military has a saying “Hurry up, and wait.”

One second everything’s moving a mile a minute. Then, the next second, nothing is happening at all.

For a few weeks now, everything’s been moving at such a fast pace that I haven’t had a real moment to take a good breather. Yesterday, I was both wired and tired. Had only slept a good 4-5 hours (not consecutive) in 24-36 hours. Nothing bad was happening. I just overcommitted. By yesterday evening, I was definitely operating on autopilot. Today, I have not one once of motivation in me. This engine has run out of steam…

I needed to see that post shared four years ago. I love my enthusiasm and optimism. At the moment, I really want to write about myself in the third person because that Shaun and the Shaun from 12 years ago are so different from today’s Shaun (at least, at the moment—maybe I’m just drained). They were younger and so eager to take on the world. All they talked about were pursuing their dreams and purpose (okay… I guess I haven’t changed much—Lol). They make me smile.

Truth be told, 12 years ago seems like such a distant memory. Four years ago, I could still feel the excitement. Today, it feels like someone else’s story than my own memory. I retired that particular purse note several years ago, probably after I made that post. I said it had fulfilled its purpose for that time and deserved to be placed in my box of memories. However, today I’m thinking I may need to go retrieve it and reread it because I want to feel that energy again.

Nah… I think I’ll find and read it later because this Shaun is a little too drained to get excited about pursuing dreams, goals, and purpose. Smile

This is all I have for today. Let’s chalk this up as a random ramble. I’m pretty sure none of it makes much sense and I have absolutely no energy or desire to go back and proof it. And if you’re wondering why I even stopped to write… Well, I’m 114 days into my new writing streak. I don’t care how much I try not to care about me not missing a day of writing, I care about not missing a day. Ugh…

My life.

Okay… I’m done.

I pray you have a wonderful day!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

God’s plan, Life

Hello Sunday (294)

Shaun Bradford

Happy Sunday☀️

I’ve been deep in thought this morning about life—life in general, and where I fit into the scheme of things.

Today’s Quote of the Day is a scripture, Jeremiah 1:5— “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”

Yesterday, my elder friend, Ms. Raylawi, called and asked if I wanted to go to a college football game with her and one of her friends. Although I really wanted to stay home and work on a few things, I said yes. Before I could get ready, she texted me several changes to the plan. Before the last change, I threw a pork tenderloin in the oven and prepared toppings for sliders. Then, right before I left the house, she called to tell me that all of her plans had fallen through and she’d probably stay home. I told her it was okay because we were still going to have a great evening. I let her know I had already prepared our meal for the evening so we could just eat and hang out. And that’s what we did. We ended up watching the first season of LUPIN and talking until I saw that she could barely keep her eyes open. I told her she looked like a toddler fighting their sleep. It was way past her bedtime when I left.

I shared this story because this has been much of my life. As a child, I played with kids my age. However, I spent most of my time with older female relatives and family friends. Y’all, they had fascinating stories, and I sat and listened to them talk for hours. And sometimes we didn’t talk at all. We would watch the stories (soap operas) or their favorite shows together, then sit on the porch and people watch. When I became an adult, I did the same. I spent time with each of my childhood elders until they passed. Sometimes I was the only one who spent time with them before it happened. Now, here I am again. Not saying my friend is about to pass, but she’s been talking a lot about death lately and making sure everything is in order.

I often ask God if this is my life’s purpose. Many, many moons ago, I thought about opening a senior daycare. Then, a few months ago, one of my colleagues asked if I wanted to help her provide nutrition sessions to seniors at a few congregate feeding sites, and I said yes. So, every month I get to meet new seniors and hear their stories, while encouraging them to live their best, healthy lives.

I know this was random. Just got a lot on my mind about life and my role in it. Guess I should have made this one a “My Journey with God” post.

Anyhoo…

This is all for today. Oh… one more thing!

So, Ms. Raylawni told me she doesn’t sleep with her phone in her bedroom anymore because every morning before 5:00, it would ding. She said now when she hears it, she smiles and says, “That’s LaShaundrea.” Y’all, the smile on her face when she said it made my heart smile. Whew!

My life…

Okay… now I’m finish.

Thanks for letting me ramble. I have a few things to do to prepare for the week ahead, but I think I’ll take it easy most of the day.

Please take care of yourself and enjoy your day. May it be just as lovely as you are.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

empowerment, Life

My Journey With God, No. 149

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️ And Happy Self Love Saturday!

Here’s a quote from Fave #4.

“Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar.” –Michelle Obama

Quote of the Day – 9.19.2026

Comfort zone…

I believe these last three years have pushed me outside my comfort zone more than any other period in my life. I’ve already done more on this side of 50 (at 53) than I’ve done in decades at a time. I asked for my years beyond 50 to be far different from the last, and I’m so in awe of how God is bringing my ask to fruition.

While scrolling through my photos, I came across this text between my daughter and me. Y’all, all I could do was smile. It’s a testament of me asking and God answering.

This was October 2023.

I just love my baby girl!!💗

I was at home that day, reading tweets from colleagues attending our national food and nutrition conference (FNCE). For years, I lived for attending those conferences. They gave me the annual boost I needed to stay motivated, as well as sparked new ideas. You see, after I took my big leap of faith and resigned from my job, I could no longer afford to attend the conferences. I could barely afford to attend our state conferences.

Then, a year later…

Less than six months after my daughter texted, “You are preparing for the next level!!!!”, I said yes to serving as the president-elect of our state’s dietetics association. This didn’t take me outside my comfort zone (I had served years before), but I was at a stage in my life (or so I thought) where I just wanted to live the “retired” life. Smile

Here are more pictures from that day. Y’all, I really love our conferences.

Met my fellow Potter’s House e-church member, April.😊

Okay… So maybe I go for the food.😂 Always a good time!

I also attended last year’s conference in Nashville. This year, I’m planning our state’s conference, so it’s my main focus right now.

A few posts ago, I asked the question— “What do you want most [from life]?” And in another post, I wrote—

“Listen, if you want to truly live, sit and stay in God’s presence. He will give you experiences that will satisfy your soul. Yeah…His experiences are soul deep!”

I know what I truly want, and so does God. Attending the conferences may seem like a small experience, but for me, it’s one of those soul-deep ones. Yes, I love the food (I really think food is my love language☺️), but I love being around the people most. When I’m at those conferences—and that’s any conference or event—I talk to EVERYBODY! I even talk to the janitors cleaning the restrooms. I want everyone to feel seen, valued, and appreciated. Plus, it’s how you make connections. So yeah… it’s soul deep for me.

Listen, there are so many soul-deep experiences outside of your comfort zone. Be open to saying yes to new opportunities and doing something new.

This is all for today. Have a wonderful self-love Saturday. Celebrate it by doing something new!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

gratitude, Life

This Message Is For YOU

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️ and Happy Thursday!

Whether you read this message today—the day I’m sharing it—or months from now, this message is for YOU.

“Keep moving! You’re too close to quit now.“

Here’s what I shared on this day four years ago—

Keep Moving (September 17, 2022)

Keep moving. You’ve come too far to give up on your dreams, goals and purpose. Just because you can’t see or feel God working, doesn’t mean He isn’t. Imagine if you were to quit today and tomorrow everything was set to fall in place. Again– Keep moving!♥️

Listen, God is always working. Don’t give up!♥️

This is all for now. I pray that you have a wonderful day. May it be filled with lots of sunshine!☀️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

empowerment, Life

Put Up or Shut Up

Shaun Bradford

Happy Monday!☀️

You see the title, right?

Listen, God will check you in the most beautiful way ever. He’ll call you out and leave no room to doubt that He’s doing so. And it’s always from a space of love.

Today, God is calling me out. I have to “put up or shut up.” People I care about are watching my next moves, and I cannot afford to play small. So much is riding on how I handle this situation.

“There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” –Nelson Mandela

My goal is to build bridges, not burn them.

Y’all pray my strength in the Lord.😊

This is all I have for today. Listen, when God gives you an assignment, management it well—not only well, but give it your best efforts. Also, when He puts people in your path who count on you to have their best interests at heart, you step up and fulfill your duties.

What a way to start the week, right?! I pray you have a wonderfully blessed day and a beautiful week ahead. May they be filled with an abundance of love, joy, and peace.♥️

Stay attuned to that still, small voice. God is speaking. You don’t want to miss what He’s saying.

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

empowerment, Life

True Forgiveness

Shaun Bradford
“Forgiveness” September 9, 2024

I shared the message above on this day two years ago. I wrote about how my life changed after I forgave someone who had really hurt me. Even though I said I had forgiven them, part of me hadn’t. For years I held on to the pain, but it wasn’t until I forgave them in my heart that my life began to change. Y’all, it was the release I didn’t know I needed.

Today, I encourage you to forgive those who have hurt you. Release the pain and them to God. Once you do, great things will begin to happen. Listen, true forgiveness does set great things in motion.

As I said in 2024, “Try it!”

On a lighter note…

Who’s tried WordPress’ new podcast feature?! It popped up after I made a post for Nutrition with LaShaundreaB. After trying it there, I decided to try it with my posts under Shaun’s Daily Inspiration (links below). Although you can edit conversations, I’m not brave enough to try it with the posts I share here because I don’t know what that conversation would look like.🥴🤭

Here are the mini podcast episodes. Both are under four minutes. I really like this feature!

Podcast: From “Baby Cabbages” to One Of My Favorites: Brussels Sprouts

Podcast: Becoming Your True Self

Before I end, I would like to invite you to watch Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Again? on Netflix. We have been waiting for the final movie for years. Side note: I’m not sure why the movie was released on a Wednesday, but hey, that’s above my pay grade. I’m just glad we got one more movie. Can’t wait to watch it!😊

I’m going to end here. Wishing you a wonderfully blessed day.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

🎶 By the way, I’m still singing “Air I Breathe” by Byron Cage. I can’t express it enough, I’m so grateful to be surrounded by God’s presence.

empowerment, hope

Life, Time, and Clarity

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning!☀️

Here’s today’s quote—

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” –Nelson Mandela

Quote of the Day – 8.31.2026

Earlier, I came across a post from a renowned author and photographer (we’ll call her Lis) whom I met years ago after she spoke at an event I attended. I know I caught her off guard with my enthusiastic claim that our meeting was somehow a divine encounter. I said something to the effect that I knew God orchestrated our meeting and that we’d work together someday. Well, that day never came. Laughing. However, we became Facebook friends, and she did meet my mom. Lis interviewed my mom for a book she was writing and took photos of her—which made my mom feel so special. So, although we never worked together, the time she spent with my mom was so worth our meeting. Smiling.

The reason today’s quote and Lis’ post are so significant is because they were both divinely timed. Lis shared her post three days ago, but I didn’t see it until this morning, after today’s quote was posted. You see, Lis and I both began our doctoral journeys (in different fields) at the same time (Summer of 2018). She finished and became a professor, and I quit and started pursuing other ventures/adventures. Seeing Lis’ post reminded me of the journey I sometimes question whether I allowed fear to stop me from pursuing. I know that my heart wasn’t truly in it; however, deep down it was still a goal I wanted to achieve. It was a space that challenged me, and I caved under the pressure—just being honest and transparent.

Again, I needed to see the quote and post because I have so much work to do that will require me to operate at a different level. A few months ago, I became the southern region representative for our state’s Public Health Association. Public health, advocacy, policy making, and program development were the focus of my DrPH (Doctor of Public Health) degree.

I have a lot to think about and some decisions to make. This time I need to let hope guide my decisions and choices, not my fears.

Y’all, pray my strength in the Lord. Smile

Have a wonderful day and week!♥️

I love you,

Shaun