Tag: love

Life

Obedience Takes Courage

Shaun Bradford

Being obedient is not always easy, but necessary. Spiritually, I have struggled with being obedient for some time. Although the struggle has became easier since intentionally allowing God to lead, I still struggle with it. I still question whether the moves are right for me, especially when those moves cause uncomfortable shifts. So yeah, I am still working on being obedient. With that being said, I can also proudly say that I am becoming better at listening and complying. Yes… patting myself on the back.

Yesterday, Bishop T.D. Jakes said the following during his sermon – “Your gift will get you there, but your obedience will keep you there.” If I want to stay where I’m going, I must be obedient. Period.

This morning I was scrolling through my Facebook memories and there was the word, “Obedience,” again. This time it was associated with last year’s blog, Hello Sunday July 31, 2022. That particular blog was about me logging off one of my main Twitter (X) accounts.

For several years, I had been struggling with the value I had placed on that account. Basically, it was my life. At first, it allowed me to get away when life became a little too much, but it did not stop there. Later it became my obsession (being very transparent). Sadly, I did not see it at the time – you know it’s hard to see things when you’re right in the middle of it. Y’all, I was obsessed and addicted to it. I was addicted to the interactions and feedback and impressions (yes, I’m a numbers person and Twitter analytics was my best friend). Well, God told me I needed to let it go (I explain all of this in last year’s Hello Sunday). I was never told to deactivate the account, nor delete it, I was simply asked to log off. To log off so that I could get my priorities and focus right. Listen, the way I reacted you would’ve thought He had asked me to throw away my entire life. Y’all, my priorities were not right. All of the glory and praise I should have been giving Him was going elsewhere.

Over the past year, I have logged off, logged on, logged off again, then logged back on… currently, I am logged on. This time I logged back on because I was instructed to do so. I was obedient. Won’t go into detail but the account wasn’t the problem, my obsession and addiction to it was. Until I had learned how to properly handle it, I could not log back on.

Y’all, I am so grateful God loves me. He loves me so much that He even protects me from myself. Honestly, I would not be where I am today had I not been obedient. I would’ve still been stuck where I was, doing the same things and getting nowhere. I’m so glad I listened and obeyed.

I am so much stronger and better equipped because I listened and obeyed.

Be obedient.♥️

Shaun

Life

Hello Sunday

Shaun Bradford

Woke up with Smokie Norful’s, “I Need A Word,” playing over and over in my head. Here are the lyrics courtesy of LyricFind and Capitol Christian Music Group.

I Need A Word

The noise of my day
The depression that steals my voice
The confusion that arrests my life
So I can’t even make a choice

Life seems so loud
I’ve been too proud
So Lord, what do I do?
I just need a word from You

Oh, I need a word
Tell me which way to turn
I need a word
Tell me which way I should go
I need a word
To tell me just what to do
Please send a word
God, I need to hear from You
Drown out the noise
Let me hear Your voice
I need a word from You

Ooh, oh, I just got bad news
Life just darkened my day
My family is in need
And I just cant seem to make a way, oh

Life seems so loud
I’ve been too proud
But I’m asking you now
Lord, send a word from You

I need a word
Tell me which way to turn
I need a word
Tell me which was I should go
I need a word
Tell me what should I do, Lord
I need a word
I need a word from You
Drown out the noise
Let me hear Your voice
Oh Lord, I know need a word from You

I hear You Lord, I hear You say

Stand still and know that You are God
Stand still and believe You’ll work it out
Stand still and see my victory walk right in
‘Cause with You, I will win

I need a word
Greater is He that’s in me than He that’s in the world
I need Your word
No weapon formed against me shall be able to prosper
Drown out the noise
Let me hear Your voice
I need a word
From You

It’s growing season. You are being pruned. Lean into God.

Praying you have a wonderfully, blessed week. Love you!♥️

Shaun

Life

Guard Your Heart

Shaun Bradford

I love you, Shaun. Keep your guard up. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s not. Period.

Journal Entry: July 28, 2021
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Life and love flows from your heart. Protect it.♥️ ~Shaun

Life

Be Encouraged

Shaun Bradford

I can hear William Becton singing –

Be encouraged no matter what's going on,
He'll make it all right,
But you gotta stay strong.

I know right now it's impossible to see,
But God is gonna work it out if you just believe.
Remember this one thing while you're going through,
If God delivered Daniel, He'll do the same for you.

Be encouraged no matter what's going on,
He'll make it all right,
But you gotta stay strong.

Know your labor is not in vain.♥️
Stay in prayer while waiting and listening for your next moves.

Y’all, politics is not my thing. I have never been interested in being involved in more than encouraging people to vote and showing my support by sharing information. Now I am doing things that are stretching me far beyond my comfort levels. I’m not sure what God is doing; however, I know from experience that whatever this is it’s preparing me for future endeavors. As Bishop Jakes says, you cannot have change without disruption, and boy has disruption come.

Here is what I have learned and am still learning – my job is to lean into God, allow Him to lead, move when He says move and be still when He says be still. AND I must do ALL of this while operating from a space of peace. Talk about challenging, but if He believes I am capable of doing it, then I can do it.

Shaun

Life

Fulfilling God’s Purpose and Promise

Shaun Bradford

Allow God to use you as He sees fit to fulfill His purpose and promise.♥️ ~Shaun

Resist the urge to abandon your calling because you cannot see anything happening. Follow God’s lead.
Life

The Journey Continues

Shaun Bradford

I’m not sure what I want to write about today so just follow along as I figure out.

So, first thing this morning I attempted to finish a drawing I had been working on. However, the more I worked on it the uglier it became. So I set it aside. Right now I’m really contemplating whether or not I should hit the delete button and start over or work on it later. I named it “Salvage.” Because is it worth salvaging?

Recently… like last week… (by the way, today I have been 50 for exactly ONE month – woohoo!)…

Anyhoo… Last week it dawned on me that as much as I wanted to close the door on so many things associated with the last 50 years, I couldn’t – and boy did I try. Y’all, I was almost there, then my heart, and definitely the Holy Spirit, kicked in. One of the things I could not do was bring the baggage of “unfinished business,” “shutting down,” and “I don’t give a … care,” into my fifties. Honestly, I truly thought closing those doors would give me a fresh start, but I was wrong. Closing those doors only prevented me from feeling every single emotion I needed to feel – specifically the pain of hurts and disappointments.

Last night I received a call from one of my older cousins (actually my mom’s cousin). During our conversation, he began telling me how he always looked up to me. Said I always had my stuff together so he was shocked when he heard I had gotten a divorce. He said that for as far back as he could remember, I had had my life planned out. And he was right, I did. I had everything planned right down to when I would get married and how that marriage would flow. I had written the perfect story. Then life happened. You see, he knew the teenage Shaun. The Shaun who had been hurt but not really hurt. The Shaun who was determined to achieve every single thing she set out to achieve. However, as I mentioned, life happened. One blow to my plan led to another, then another. Pretty soon I no longer had a plan nor confidence.

Eventually, the way I dealt with it was to shutdown emotionally. I believed that the way to get my life back on track and make the most of it was to write another story and control the narrative. One thing I was dead set on was leaving my heart out of it. The goal was to not feel anything, not even anger or sadness. Any time I could feel those feelings creeping up, I would suppress them. Then my forties happened. Y’all, my forties hit and I felt everything! From anger to love, I felt it all.

Now, here I am at the beginning of Year50. If you have been following my journey you know that I tried to close the doors to my past. I wanted to shutdown and do a hard reset, but couldn’t. At the beginning of my forties I was searching for ME, well, last week I actually saw ME. It was like this book of my life was opened and I could see ALL of me including the disappointments and hurts I tried to bury.

After last night’s conversation with my cousin, I realized there was more things I needed to address. One was my desire to control everything to include timing. In one of last week’s blog I wrote about how whatever didn’t happen before 50 was basically a lost cause. Had written another story. Even though I was saying I trusted God’s timing, I really had given Him a time limit, and since He had not met it, I was about to do me. Ha! The joke was on me. You see, while I was going through all of those feelings and emotions during my forties, I was actually building a stronger relationship with God. So although I wanted to do me, I couldn’t and can’t. I belong to God. Period.

As you can see, a lot has already happened on this side of 50 – all good things, things I need for growth. I am so grateful for the wake up call. Looking forward to continuing this journey with God. My focus is finally where it needs to be, on Him and the calling He has for my life.

Before I end, I am also celebrating 800 consecutive days of blogging – 200 to go!

Thanks for reading my real first random rambling from this side of fifty. Praying you have a wonderful week!♥️

Shaun

Facebook Memory: July 24, 2017

It’s uncomfortable but necessary.
Life

Necessary for Growth

Shaun Bradford

Lessons are necessary for growth, and life is filled with lessons. Be sure to build on what you have learned, whether from wins or losses. It’s growing season.♥️ ~Shaun

Learning and growing is a constant process.
Life

Step Into Your Calling

Shaun Bradford

You already know what you have been called to do. You have seen the vision and it is very plain. However, you are hesitant to move forward because it will take you completely out of your comfort zone; you feel like there are too many uncertainties to take the risk. Believe me, I understand. I am right there with you. But now is the time for us to step into our callings. No more excuses. No more delays. Those who need what we have to offer need it now… TODAY. Let’s do this!♥️ ~Shaun

It’s time!

Side Note: This consecration time with God that Bishop Jakes suggested Sunday is THE TRUTH! Listen, I thought I was already spending time with God and following His guidance, but clearly I wasn’t. Over these past few days, things that I thought I had handled resurfaced and I had a choice to either bury them again or face them head on. Well, I decided to face them. Listen, if you want to KNOW about yourself, spend a little time with God, real time with God and I guarantee He will show you who you really are. Y’all, it was not easy, but it was so necessary. Grateful