Tag: God’s plan

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

empowerment, Life

Perfection Is An Illusion

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️ And Happy Friday!🌸

Decided to check my Facebook memories this morning. Something that I rarely do nowadays. And this memory/quote hit me like a ton of bricks!

“You’re not a perfectionist, you’re just scared.” –Gary Vaynerchuk

When I tell you I felt called out! THIS is how God usually gets my attention.

You see, perfectionism is what I’ve been dealing with lately. It’s the real culprit in me feeling drained this past week. It’s not the amount of projects I’m working on or me overcommitting. It’s me overthinking and constantly revising things to make them perfect, when perfect was never possible. Smiling because my daughter said this very thing after I submitted something I was working on.

I just love her!🥰

Here’s a sneak peek at today’s post under Shaun’s Daily Inspiration:

I believe Gary Vee is right. Perfectionism is more about fear than being perfect. Gotta overcome that fear.

Anyhoo… I’m going to take a quick nap before I start my day. Today I’m releasing perfectionism. No more reviews and revisions. Only submissions, publishes, and sends.

Happy Friday to me!☺️

This is all for now. Wishing you a beautiful day and lovely weekend. Be sure to do things that make your heart smile.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

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

Life

Check On Your Strong Friends

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

I’ve always agreed with the sentiment—“Check on your strong friends”—but I never factored myself into that equation. Yes, I’m usually the strong friend, but I don’t need checking on as others do.

I’m good.

Nothing keeps me down.

I bounce back quickly.

God’s got me.

But yesterday, I needed to be checked on.

I wasn’t depressed or anything. But I was mentally and physically exhausted. And, I really needed to talk to someone. Not text, but talk. It’s crazy that I didn’t realize I needed to hear another’s voice until my phone rang. Then, when the person on the other end asked, “How are you doing?” Whew! Boy did I start talking!!

The funny thing is, we didn’t talk about much. I just needed human interaction that didn’t involve working or solving problems. Honestly, I needed to laugh.

Yesterday, I wrote about how drained I was. Well, this is how drained I really was.

While I was on the phone, I was also changing my bedding. I kept trying to put a fitted sheet on the bed but for some reason it wouldn’t fit. I would put it on one corner and by the time I tried to put it on the opposite corner, the other side would come off. I tried this several times before realizing I was trying to put a twin sheet on a queen size mattress. Ugh!! All I could do was laugh. I was out of it!

After our call ended, I texted my friend and thanked her for the call. It was definitely a God thing. You see, my friend and I rarely talk on the phone. We either text or talk in person, but never over the phone unless we’re working on something.

Again, I needed that call.

I also need to get out of the house more. I work from home and rarely interact with people in person, and rarely for fun. But this is about to change.

It has to change.

Okay… This was another random one. Or maybe I’m finally using my blog for its intended purpose, to share bits and pieces of my world with the world. Yeah… I think I’m back!

Welcome to Shaun’s World.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

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

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. 

hope

The Goodness of Humankind

Shaun Bradford

I believe the only way any of us manage to press on after devastation and adversity without losing every single ounce of hope is by finding something good to hold on to. We focus on the good.

As we remember those who lost their lives on this day 25 years ago and those who continue to lose their lives daily due to hate and fear, let’s remember that there’s still good in the world. Sometimes it’s hard to see, but goodness is still here. The day that we stop believing in the goodness of humankind is the day hope dies.

We must keep hope alive.

I pray you have a wonderfully blessed day and beautiful weekend.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

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

SDInspirations: The Podcast
God’s Timing, Life

Happy Thursday!

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️ and Happy Thursday!

This morning, I spent a little time traveling down memory lane (scrolling through photos on my phone😊). It’s incredible how quickly time passes when so many experiences fit into certain timeframes. What I once considered “passing time” was anything but passive. Even though I couldn’t see it then, life was always moving. I was always moving. Now I see how different events and experiences shaped who I am today. It’s truly amazing. God was definitely working in my life.

Here’s a post I shared five years ago. Looking back, I can truly say my best days have far outweighed the bad. Feeling blessed.

I know sometimes you may feel as if you’re standing still and life just isn’t moving. But it is definitely moving, and in your favor (I truly believe this). Just take a scroll down memory lane and intentionally look for the good, only the good. I promise you, you’ll see how life, in some shape, form, or fashion, is so much better than before.

Remember—only look for the good.

This is all I have for now. I pray you have a wonderful day! May it be filled with lots of love, peace, and laughter.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

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

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

hope

Always Choose Kindness And Love

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

Today’s post is a gentle reminder to always choose kindness and love—always.

These are not your weaknesses, but your strengths.

Kindness And Love

Y’all, this week has flown by! I can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year. Seems like 2026 just began. I say it all the time, all you have to do is blink and it’s 10-20 years later. Smile…or Sigh

Listen, stay present, but also keep moving. Don’t let time get away from you. As I wrote a few days ago about life, time is also precious and should be respected and held dear.

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. 

hope

Optimism

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️ And happy Wellness Wednesday!

Optimism…

Cambridge Dictionary defines optimism as: “the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen.”

Optimism isn’t a lost cause.

The Best

Optimism is most definitely not a lost cause, and as the late General Colin Powell put it— “perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”

Listen, your optimism could be the difference between a plain old good day and a FANTABULOUS day!✨

Remain optimistic!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

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