hope

My Journey With God, No. 51

Good Morning!☀️

I normally start my Sundays with a “Hello Sunday” post but this one was too good to wait. This one has me smiling from ear to ear. If I were to title it differently, the title would be “Free Will vs Completely Allowing God To Lead.” Here’s what I shared in a “Wednesday Writings” post that fell on January 19, 2022 (copying and sharing in its entirety):

Wednesday Writings, January 19, 2022

Obedience. The definition of obedience is – an act or instance of obeying (following the command or guidance of). 

As many of you know, I have been on this journey of completely allowing God to lead; to follow his guidance without wavering. Well.. just imagine how that’s going. Sigh

So, there is this little thing called free will, which is the ability to act at one’s discretion. Well, I’m finding free will isn’t always my friend. During this journey, free will has popped up numerous times and continues to pop up whenever – 1) I don’t believe God is moving fast enough or He’s moving way too fast; 2) I believe things are going in the wrong direction; or 3) whenever I flat out don’t want to follow His instruction. Y’allsometimes free will is a pain and often delays blessings. Ugh!

Last night I was given specific instructions to leave a certain matter alone, to allow God to work so that I could see His glory. Y’all know I love watching God work! Well, that didn’t happen. I kept picking at it. Checking to see if progress was being made. Kind of like putting a bandage on a wound and removing it every couple of hours to see if it’s healing. Uhh.. It won’t if you don’t leave it alone. So, this morning I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t leave things alone. I went in and started manipulating things. I was like, “God, I’m just gonna do this one little thing then give it back to You.” And that’s exactly what I did. And guess what, I feel like I have failed another challenge. Not in a shameful way, but in a way that has me regretting my decision. However, at the same time, I still have the desire to do better. I just have to know how things will turn out if I allow God to lead. 

Okay.. y’all, I just had another “Aha” moment. Imagine going into a lab, starting an experiment and when the experiment isn’t moving along fast enough, you decide to manipulate the process. Guess what?! You just altered the outcome. You will never know what could’ve been had you left it alone.

Slowly but surely, I’m learning. If I am going to allow God to lead, I must be obedient. Period.

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a lovely Wednesday!


So I went and checked my journal entry to see what I was referring to that I wouldn’t leave alone. Well, it was a post I had made on my Shaun’s Daily Inspiration Facebook page—I had recently created the page a few weeks earlier (December 31, 2021). God had instructed me to do one thing with the post and then to leave it alone. Instead, I kept going back manipulating things. Y’all, He specifically told me to leave it alone so that I would know the outcome was all Him. Well, as you can see from what I wrote three years ago, I couldn’t leave things alone.

Fast forward to today…

Baby, that free will I was referring to is gone! Now, when God says jump, I say “How high.” I don’t move without His guidance. Y’all, it took me a long time to get here and I never want to go back to the way things were. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with having autonomy. I’m all for it! However, when God specifically directs me to do something or release a situation to Him, I do it. I do it without hesitation because I know He knows and sees things I don’t. Believe me, I have bumped my head too many times trying to do things on my own because I didn’t think He was capable of properly handling them—in other words, things working out the way I wanted them to.

So, yes, I’m smiling from ear to ear because He is in control. Y’all, I never thought I’d get to this point because releasing control has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Whew! If you only knew. However, the peace and freedom I’ve gained since letting go is indescribable. Whatever comes, comes. Whatever goes, goes. Knowing that God is the one controlling everything lets me know that I will always come out stronger, better, and on top. Yes, I can’t help but smile.


Well, that’s all I have for now. Thank you for following my journey. Here’s another picture from 30 years ago. It’s from the same day as the last picture I shared. This is me with some cute astronaut who had flown into Eglin. They would leave patches and autographed pictures to hang on our display wall. Y’all, he was such a cutie. I just had to take a picture with his picture. Lol.

January 1995

I pray you have a wonderful Sunday!♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

Supersized Dreams

Just like I keep all kinds of memorabilia, I also screenshot inspirational quotes and captions to refer to when I need a little encouragement. In continuing with the theme, “Dream BIG,” here’s a message I saved from Joel Osteen. As you can see, it’s from 2016.

Smile…

“You cannot out-dream God. God thinks big.”

Isn’t it wonderful to know God has so much more in store for us than we’ve ever imagined?! Y’all, God is so good.

We are blessed.

We are beyond blessed!♥️

Shaun

hope

Chosen Vessel, Part 2

Y’all, I am still singing Marvin Sapp’s “Chosen Vessel.” Maybe this is the song of the month or the year. I’m not sure.


Hmmm…

I’m chosen.

You’re chosen.

We’re chosen for this season in time—definitely something we should not take lightly.

The message I’m getting is…

We have work to do!♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

Blessings Flow When We Pour

Good Morning!☀️

Our gifts were never meant for us to keep to ourselves. They were always meant to be shared with others.

Blessings flow our way and to others when we pour into others. Keep pouring.♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

My Journey With God, No. 50

Me at my “man’s” (he was 21—barely a man😂) dorm room. We had no idea what we were doing. Lol. Life…

Thought I’d be asleep by now but I am wide awake. The Facebook memory above has me smiling because in 10 days I will have a 30 year old!🎉

When I took that picture, I had no idea my life would be totally different two years later. You couldn’t have told me I would be pregnant, single, and broken, and I’d believe it. There was no way!

I’m smiling because I remember that young girl who was pretending to be a grown woman. She had so much to learn about people and life, but she thought she knew it all. Couldn’t convince her otherwise.

I smile at her innocence.

I smile at her perception of life and people. She believed in everything good.

I smile because she was once me.

I was once her.

I’m still her.

Just older, wiser…and a little lot heavier.☺️

What a journey this life has been. I am forever grateful for the experiences, good and bad, because both made me who I am today. I’m not going to lie, I do miss her.🥰

Shaun

hope

Good Night (36)

I’m still singing Marvin Sapp’s “Chosen Vessel.” I recently watched a video of Priscilla Shirer explaining how God intentionally chose every part of our lineage, placing us where we are today. It isn’t by chance that we are here at this moment in time. We were purposefully chosen to be here.

Let that sink in…

We were chosen to experience this AI era. We were chosen to go through the next phase of world challenges and changes. We were chosen.

Yes, let that sink in…

So, if God chose us for this specific time and we were not created to fail, we are strong enough to get through anything—but not without God. No, God has to be at the forefront of everything we do and at all times.

We can do this!

Yes, we can do this because We Are Chosen. Smile


I pray you have a restful night.♥️

Love you always,

Shaun

hope

Chosen Vessel

Covered.

Marvin Sapp’s song “Chosen Vessel” says—

I’ve made mistakes I thought
I’d never recover from
Some said I fell from grace
I just knew I was done
I felt discarded, abandoned and thrown away
But then God’s love stepped in
Restored me to my place
He said

You are my chosen vessel
You are anointed for this season in time
What people rejected
I have accepted
I am with you, you are mine
You are mine


You are God’s chosen vessel. You were specifically chosen for this season in time. How wonderful is that! Listen, allow God to use and work through you. Believe me, He won’t let you fail.♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

Find Wonders In Every Moment

Photo Credit: Unknown

I shared the image above on this day six years ago. It’s true. Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful. Be sure to pause and discover wonders in every moment.♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

It Will Happen: Never Stop Believing

Good Morning!☀️

Wrote the following on January 16, 2023 — “Never stop believing. In spite of the struggles, heartaches and setbacks, never stop believing that the dream God placed in your heart will happen. It may take days, months, years or even decades, but IT WILL HAPPEN. Just keep believing and leave the timing to God.”

Habakkuk 2:2 (NIV). Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”

A few years ago, I shared Matthew A. Cherry’s story about his desire to be nominated for an Oscar award. Eight years after he tweeted about it, he was nominated for one and won! Here’s what I shared:

This is the social media finding I was referring to. Photo Credit: Hair Love/Matthew A. Cherry

Never stop believing. It will happen!♥️

Love you,

Shaun