hope

Keep The Prayers Going

On June 14th I wrote—

“Now isn’t the time to turn away from God, but to draw closer to Him. Please don’t lose faith or let your heart grow cold over the chaos and destruction that’s happening across the world. The more the enemy tries to pull us apart or make us doubt God, the more we must dig in and band together. Goodness and love will win. Amen

Keep the prayers going.“

Covered.

Sending up prayers.🙏🏽

Shaun

hope

Hello Sunday

Good Morning☀️

This morning, I’m thanking God for keeping us through yesterday’s disastrous storms. I am so thankful, grateful, and blessed to still be here. I am also praying for those who suffered losses—and there were many losses. Lord, please send them peace and comfort as they navigate through the next few days, months, and years of grief and rebuilding. God, they need You. Amen.


This morning, I am also praying for YOU. I pray that you are healthy and doing well.🙏🏽

Have a beautifully, blessed Sunday.♥️

I love you always,

Shaun

hope

God’s Gift

Good Morning!☀️

This morning’s message is another Hello Sunday. This one is from January 30, 2022.

Hello Sunday”– January 30, 2022 (shared in its entirety)

Today I would like to share some of my thoughts and feelings about where I’m at in this stage of life. Basically, I just need to write. 

This morning I came across another Facebook memory I shared two years ago. Here’s the quote:

Never allow waiting to become a habit. Live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now. AUTHOR UNKNOWN 

Back then I was like, “Yeah! I’m not waiting for nothing or no one. I’m living my best life now!” Fast forward to today, this quote has me feeling some kind of way. Let me explain.

Transparent moment:

For a while now.. I guess you can say for months now.. I’ve been second and triple guessing my feelings. Even after a few sessions of therapy, my therapist says I’m fine. So why don’t I feel fine? 

Here’s what I’m feeling or have been feeling, and as strange as it may sound it kind of frightens me – calm, peaceful, relaxed, happy, and loved. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of and it frightens me. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Like why does it frighten me so?

Okay.. back to the quote. When I shared it two years ago, I remember feeling like I really needed to enjoy the space I was in, needed to be more present. I remember constantly waiting for things to happen or trying to make things happen. I spent so much time doing both that I was only living my life in spurts and was always anxious. Now here I am two years later, very present and living in the moment, living the dream.

So why am I so perplexed about where I am in life? 

Well, since I was a teenager I have always said, and lived by this –“After I turn 50, I’m going to live my dream.” You see, the first 50 years were supposed to be my test and trial period. My period to make mistakes as well as make the amount of money needed to support and sustain my lifestyle for the next 50 years. And the next 50 were to be spent doing what I actually loved, which kind resembles what I’m doing now but without the millions of dollars I imagined. Yep.. I’ve had it all planned out for decades. Yeah.. planned. I have to laugh because according to my plan and timeline, I’m supposed to be working my butt off trying to figure out how I’m going to live and sustain my dream and I’m here living nonchalantly like 50 isn’t fast approaching. Guess you could say I’m still in the test and trial period so why am I worried. Well, I’ll be 49 this year and time is running out! 

Side Note – As I was writing, God reminded me of what I asked for. Last March, as I was sitting at my desk working my butt off, I looked out the window and saw this bird singing. At that moment, I told God I wanted to live as free as a bird, and as clear as day He told me I could. Three weeks later I resigned from my job. Ever since I’ve been living this carefree, basically, euphoric life. He gave me exactly what I asked for but for some reason I keep trying to find fault in it. Maybe, I don’t have to work my butt off trying to figure out how I’m going to support my dream. Maybe all I need to do is leave it in God’s hands while enjoy life.

Note – After I write this blog, I’m going to leave this matter alone because I get the feeling that I’m disrespecting God’s gift every time I bring this up. 

Y’all, I’m feeling much better now that I got that all out. Life is really good. Just had another “Aha!” moment. Have I been subconsciously searching for ways to self-sabotage my dream? Would I do that to myself? Hmm.. Something to really think about. 

Anyhoo.. thanks for reading and following my random thoughts. Sometimes I just need to get it all out into the universe. I’m so grateful for this space. God is so amazing!


As you can see, I wrote a lot that day. Today, I can say I’ve adjusted to the gift God’s granted me. I received it early (a couple of years before 50, which threw me for a loop) and, I’m not going to lie, it took me until sometime last year to fully embrace it—meaning not waiting until my life looked like what I envisioned but living and taking risks now.

Now, I’m moving on to the next phase of life after 50. Of course, I feel like the withdrawal from the World Health Organization has thrown a wrench in my plans to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams (as you can see, I said “my” plans). However, knowing God, like I know Him because of past experiences, He’s already in the works of making something I didn’t even consider happen. Y’all, God is so good at what He does and so unpredictably strategic—so I am going to leave that whole matter alone and relax and keep doing what I need to do until He tells me otherwise. He is in control, and I know He loves me and will never lead me wrong. Even though I don’t always understand what He’s doing, I trust Him.

Before I end, please keep those suffering right now in your prayers. Last night, when I made my “Prayers” post, I didn’t want to mention the plane collision because the news was too new. I didn’t want to be the one to share the news if everyone hadn’t heard about it. It was devastating for me and so many more. I can only imagine how their loved ones felt, especially if they saw it play out almost in real-time on X. It was a lot! So, please keep them and everyone else in need of prayers in your prayers—which is probably all of us, but some more than others.🙏🏽

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I know it was long. I truly do appreciate you. My prayer for you is that God blesses and keeps you in His loving arms and at peace. May He soothe all of your hurts and calm your fears. Know that He’s always with you. Always. And He loves you, and I love you too. Have a wonderful day.♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

Prayers

Sending up prayers for those who need comforting right now. Lord, please soothe their hearts. Please bring them peace. They need You right now. Amen.🙏🏽♥️

So much is happening at this moment. So many are hurting. So much loss, including lives lost. Please keep praying.🙏🏽
Life

No Words

When your heart is heavy and you cannot find words to express your feelings, what do you do?

Praying

Last night, a tornado destroyed a small town outside of where I was born. I was on the phone with my dad as the tornado sirens were going off. Minor damage was done to our town; however, the little town of Silver City – mostly rural, population around 200 – is basically gone.

Y’all, I watched it all play out on Facebook. People were begging for help. So many families were trapped under debris. Some couldn’t find family members. One young lady posted that her dad was running out of oxygen. Talk about devastating!

The saddest part is there aren’t any medical facilities nearby. Several years ago, the local hospital closed leaving the rural communities in that area without access to medical care and emergency services. Then, last year one of the largest hospitals in that area closed. Last night local nurses, first responders (significantly understaffed) and community members pooled resources together to provide assistance.

This morning, I am praying for everyone in pain– physically and/or mentally. Lord, we need Your help.🙏🏽

Shaun

Life

Hello Sunday

Asking for prayers.

This morning, I can say that I’m feeling much better physically than I was yesterday. However, mentally and emotionally, I’m about the same. So, here’s some of what’s going on.

Early yesterday morning, my mom was taken to the ER for being unresponsive. My brother, who lives with her, couldn’t wake her up or feel a pulse. Long story short- She’s now in ICU.

She’s still with us but remains unresponsive. She’s also on a ventilator and sedated. Everyone on her medical team keeps stressing that she’s, “very, very sick.” “Your mother is very, very sick.” Of course they told us what was wrong; however, it’s the way they’re all stressing the severity of what’s happening is what has made this ER visit and ICU stay different from the others.

For those who don’t know, my mom has paraplegia. She hasn’t been able to feel anything from her waist down since 1998. Well, over the years, she’s developed many more complications, and these last four years (2018 – now) have been the worse. She has had so many ER visits and hospital stays since then. Fortunately, things calmed down a bit during the height of the COVID pandemic. She did become very ill a few times but the doctors treated her at home.

Now, here we are. Unlike times before when I only contacted immediate family, or a few of her siblings, this time I have contacted her friends and extended family. As I said before, this time feels different.

My prayers have been whatever’s in God’s will, let it be; and let us, her children, be prepared to handle whatever comes – good or bad. Even though my mom is paralyzed, she’s always been independent and strong willed. So some of the decisions we may have to make are going to be very difficult.

At this moment I’m just praying she’s at peace and not in any pain. One of her biggest fears is being in a predicament like this and not being able to tell anyone she’s in pain or uncomfortable. So I’m praying that she’s completely comfortable. Also, praying that we get to see her smile and hear her laugh again, soon.

We love you, Momma.🙏🏽♥️

Please keep our mom and family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

Shaun