hope

Welcome to Freedom Fridays

Can’t you tell I love themes?!☺️

Welcome to Freedom Fridays!
What are you releasing today?

Me… Limits! I’m releasing the limits I’ve placed on myself and the ones I have placed on God.

How about you?🤍 ~Shaun

hope

Tiny Successes

Facebook Memory: December 20, 2021

I believe successes are just like blessings; no matter the size, each should be acknowledged and celebrated.

Each success means that you are one step closer to achieving your dreams. I know the tiny ones may feel like drops in a huge bucket that seem impossible to fill. Believe me, I am right there with you. However, I also believe that one day, that bucket will overflow with success. You just have to keep filling it. You must stop looking at the size of the bucket—it’s a distraction. Instead, lean into the size of your God. With Him, what might be considered a tiny success could be enough to fill that one bucket, then some. But the only way you’ll know is if you keep going and keep adding to the bucket—adding to your dreams.


Please, do not give up. Keep going. The impossible is possible with God.♥️

Love you,

Shaun

P.S. I’m ditching my posting schedule. It’s way too limiting. I have too much to share in between scheduled times that never gets posted. As I have said before, some people make videos, I write. Looking forward to sharing more!

Hmmm… I think I just reached another level of freedom.

Welcome to my world!😘

hope

The Trade

Good Morning!☀️

I’m not sure if this new routine of getting more sleep is going to work. I feel like I’ve gotten too much sleep. It’s new so I will allow myself time to adjust. The real test will be how I perform throughout the day. Will I need to take a nap this afternoon or not?

Anyhoo, here’s a message I found in last year’s journal entry. I wrote I found it on LinkedIn.

The LinkedIn quote—

“Your new life is going to cost you your old life. You ready to make that trade?” –Author Unknown

The cost.

There’s always a cost associated with change.

When I declared that this side of 50 would be different than my last 50 years of life, I had no idea of what it would cost me. On some days I feel like I have lost so much more than I’ve gained. My life isn’t the same. (Just being honest.) Then, on other days—most days—when I’m working on my own projects or spending time with my loves (which is what I really wanted—the freedom to move and spend time as I please), I’m on cloud nine. But it did cost me.

Yes, I made the trade because I desired something different. I wanted to experience something different. I’m only a year and a half into it so it’s very new. I know that in time I will adjust and one day the things I lost will feel like a gain. Giving myself time, grace, and space to process it all.


That’s all for now. Not sure if 6:00 AM CT will be my new post time or not. We shall see. I did wake up around 3:30, but forced myself to go back to sleep. This is another thing I will eventually adjust to. I know in the long run it’s for the best.

I pray you have a wonderfully blessed day!♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

Be You, Part 2

Yesterday I wrote—

“Be You. You were never created to fit in. Stand in your fullest glory and be YOU!”

Sometimes I struggle between showing up fully as the passionate, loving person who believes there’s good in everybody and wants to save the world, and suppressing myself so much that I don’t show up at all. When I turned 50, I made a promise to myself, and to that five year old little girl who used to get in trouble for being overly expressive, that I would show up fully! Y’all, it’s taken me a while to get to here, and now that I’m here, I’m not going back.♥️

Freedom

Shaun

hope

Expect The Unexpected

When you wake up to a text from your daughter saying, “BTW, I meant to tell you I’m going [out of the country] today. Headed to the airport now. Here’s my flight information. I’ll be gone for a few days.”

What do you do?

I mean what else can you do but say, “Safe travels”, “Have fun!”, and “I love you!”

She is almost 30.

Of course, my mind went into military mode, and I sent her the government’s travel info about the country she’s traveling to and the Embassy’s information.

Then, I said a prayer to cover her.🙏🏽

She is grown and free to explore. I just wish she would’ve chosen somewhere I was somewhat familiar with. She dances to the beat of her own drums, and I love that about her. Also, she gets it honestly, so I can’t be mad at her. It’s not like I told my mom everything beforehand. However, unlike her, the military made me a little more wiser and a bit more cautious.

As I alluded to in my earlier post, I’m letting go of things I cannot control. She’s God’s child. He’s got her.

But y’all, I wasn’t ready for that. I wasn’t going to talk her out of going, but I would’ve asked a lot of questions.🤷🏽‍♀️

I can see my life as a mom with adult children is about to take me to a whole new level of motherhood. I can already see my son is ready to test being 21. He hasn’t done anything but I can feel it. This is definitely going to be interesting!

Now, I’m smiling because we’re all grown!! Wow!! I know I started off sounding a bit weary. However, the more I write the more I feel another level of freedom coming on. Again, we’re all grown!

Okay… I’m going to end here.

I guess you can say this is my first “random rambling” on this side of 50!

Y’all, why am I so excited?!!!

Okay… Bye!✌🏽

Shaun

hope

In A State Of Praise and Gratitude

When I created this blog site, I created it with the intent of sharing a bit of my world with the world. Well, most of my world is my relationship with God. Y’all, I’m still on that note and the past 10 years. When I tell you my life has drastically changed. I used to wonder why people told the same story about overcoming hardships over and over again. They say it’s good for business, and is. However, I see mine a little differently. To me, it’s my opportunity to acknowledge and praise the greatness of God. Y’all, His grace and love are unmatched.

After I shared my last post, I realized those 10 years were so much more than my obedience. They were about me rekindling my relationship with God. A relationship I began at eight years old, and one that I took very seriously when I became a teenager. Then, after I thought I had let God down, it began to fall apart. I was so ashamed of myself for not resisting temptation. Honestly, I’m not sure why I thought I had to be a perfect Christian. It’s funny how I gave grace to everyone else except myself. Then, when life happened to me, I didn’t give it to myself. I always reference my marriage because it was during that time when my relationship with God basically ended (nothing to do with my ex, I actually hindered his worship). Now, don’t get me wrong, I knew God was still God, but I felt like I had lost all privileges to communicate with Him. I knew I had entered something sacred and knew I shouldn’t have. I was just so disappointed with my life and God not stopping me from making the first mistake I made. I mean, He was God, right? So, why didn’t He stop me?! Y’all, I’m just being completely honest and transparent about how I felt. It wasn’t until much later, during that four year long divorce process, that I realized I had been punishing myself for years. Those crazy decisions I made were punishment because I felt I did not deserve better. And y’all, all that time God was loving me.

So, when I say that things make me a bit emotional, or I am forever praising God for one thing or another, it’s because I am no longer in that bondage I had created for myself. Y’all, I’m actually free!!

All praises to God!

Okay, this time I’m done for real. Just had to share my testimony. Listen, there’s nothing like being mentally and spiritually free.

God is so good!♥️

Shaun

hope

Discernment – Are You Using It?

Good Morning! Today’s Facebook memory is a great reminder to use discernment when making decisions. Especially when making decisions that are potentially life changing. Here’s what I shared two years ago.

Facebook Memory: September 6, 2022

Discernment– the ability to judge well: the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure.

God has given each of us the ability to discern whether or not something is in our best interest. If it’s not, let it go. If it is, embrace it. Discernment is one of our superpowers. Be sure to use it.♥️

That’s it for now. Remember, God has given us all the power of discernment. Let’s use it. Our purposes are too great for us not to.

Love ya.♥️

Shaun

hope

Feeling Free

Welcome back!

♥️

Y’all, there is no greater feeling than the freedom to be. The freedom to just be me.

Thinking about how I woke up this morning and shared my random song. That was me just being me. Me loving life without feeling awkward or wondering what others would think or say.

This wasn’t always the case.

When I tell you I am so in awe of how my life has changed. One thought/request for this side of 50 to be different and it happened.

God is so amazing.

Loving the freedom to just be me.♥️

Shaun

Life

You Already Have The Answer

You keep asking God for signs, for confirmation. But, you already have the answer. God gave you the answer a while ago. Now, it is up to you whether or not you accept the answer and act on it. Meaning, God has done His job now the ball is in your court.♥️ ~Shaun

Life

It’s Time To Live

Was looking back through my Facebook memories a little while ago. I try not to spend so much time in the past, but that’s where I find a lot of my answers. Saw the following memory this morning, but didn’t pay much attention to it. However, this evening, it caught my eye.

April 18, 2019

As you can see, I had one of my “Aha” moments. This was when I realized I had been making decisions based on pivotal moments in my life.

It was in April of 1994 that I had decided to make a few life changes. Little did I know, life was about to change me. I’ll say it was around this time in April that I had received orders (a new military assignment) to go to Florida. I was about to leave Germany and my trifling boyfriend. Already had in my mind how I was going to be FREE! We had just broken up and I felt like I finally had a handle on life. Well, by the end of the month, and I know the exact date, I was back with him.

Long story, short… I really need to write a book. Maybe in my 80’s or 90’s. That night will forever be etched in my memory. It’s the night he told me he was going to give me what I wanted…a baby. I laughed it off. For over a year I had wanted to be pregnant, but it never happened. Yeah… I was young and naive, but I really wanted a baby. I wanted someone who would love me unconditionally—and she actually does (my blessing🥰).

Six weeks later, I went to the doctor’s office for one thing and left with what seemed to be the worst news of my life, I was pregnant. Y’all, I had already made up my mind that I was moving on. Then…BAM!!

From that day on, even until recently, most decisions I have made have been somewhat based on what happened for me—no longer going to use “to me”—during that time. My baby became my priority. She became my life. Then the divorce happened, and she and my son became my life. Every decision I have made has been somewhat based on them. They have been trying to get me to enjoy life for myself, but I have been hesitant. Honestly, I am not really sure how to live as a single person. However, I believe it is finally time that I learned.♥️

This is Year50…

Shaun