Tag: reflections

hope

Hello Sunday

Shaun Bradford

Happy Sunday!

Rather, Happy Self-Care Sunday!

Today is the last Sunday of my birthday month, and I’ve decided to relax a little more than usual. Not in a rush to do anything. Today, I’m taking it easy and going with the flow.

This morning, I took my time reading through my Facebook memories. Here are a few random memories that made me smile. I’ll start with June 29, 2019.

June of 2019 was a pivotal month for me. It was the month my divorce was finalized. It wasn’t until my birthday, maybe a couple of days afterwards, that I celebrated being FREE. That year’s theme was “46 and Free🦋.” I had waited so long for it to happen—years. And then, I was free.

This was a second chance at life. One that I didn’t take lightly. A decision I am still grateful I made.🦋
This was me celebrating my newfound freedom. Enjoying the water and good food.
This is a picture of my babies using my location to pull up on me. I was so surprised.😂 I just love them.🥰🥰

Maybe I’ll take a ride down to the coast. That’s if I can let this bed go.☺️

Here are a few more memories from June 29th.

The flowers, the pinks, the gold, the look, the quote—all made me smile. I’m forever a princess at heart. Even when I’m ninety, I’ll be a princess.🌸💗☺️
Ralph T, Rizz, Rizzo! The New Edition king that’s often slept on. Johnny Gill is usually my go-to; however, for some reason, on that day, I decided to listen to Ralph. Yep… this memory made me smile. NE4Life✨
Yes, I’m God’s vessel. His glory radiates through and from me.☺️✨

Great memories!

Favor, overflow, and grace. This is Year52.🎉

I pray you have a wonderfully blessed day. May it be filled with lots of love, peace, joy, and laughter.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

hope

Stop And Look

Shaun Bradford

Take a moment to stop and look at how far you’ve come! Did you ever imagine you’d reach these heights? And guess what?! God has even more in store!

Keep going!!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

Residing in favor, overflow, and grace. God is so good!
hope

Being Present And At Peace

Shaun Bradford

One of my themes for my fiftieth birthday year was, “Present and At Peace.” I shared the following on this day in 2023—

That was two years ago. Here’s what I’ve discovered since—

Yes, this is peace.♥️

Love you,

Shaun

hope

I’m Blessed, Yes

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning!☀️

I pray you’re doing well.🌸

Blessed!🥰

I woke up this morning singing Charlie Wilson’s song, “I’m Blessed.” The song says—

“Ask me how I’m doing, I’m blessed, yes. Living every moment, no regrets. Smile upon my face, I’m like, oh yes, I’m blessed, yes. I’m blessed, yes. I’m blessed!”

Yesss… I am so very blessed. I am so grateful for God’s love, mercy, and grace. There’s nothing like it. Amen

Y’all, only FIVE days until my birthday!!🎉😄 I’m so excited! I’m even more excited because I get to see my baby girl today!!😆 Let the festivities begin! Year52 is loading!

I pray you have the greatest day yet! May it be filled with love, joy, peace, and laughter. You deserve it!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Fun fact: Many, many moons ago, when I was a little girl living in Kansas, we belonged to the same church as Charlie Wilson’s sister, Loretta. She had four or five boys and I had a crush on one. Those were the days. Good memories!

hope

Seven Days

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning!☀️

I’m hoping all is well with you.🌸

The final week of my birthday countdown is here! Seven days until Year52!

I smiled when I saw this Facebook memory. I remember how excited I was. I couldn’t wait to celebrate my 50th birthday, my jubilee year. Smiling because that was some year! Whew! Little did I know that my jubilee year would actually be my “tried in the fire” year. Soooo… did I come out of the fire as pure gold?

Hmmm… I’m still being refined.☺️

That year, I learned I needed to take better care of myself. I needed to put myself first to become a better, stronger version of my former self, especially if I wanted to live fifty more years. It was so necessary! I’m smiling because the pruning I went through had to be done. I needed to let go of so much of my former self to fully embrace the person I am today. Y’all, I like this version of myself better. This version of Shaun even breathes differently. As I said in the memory above, I am truly blessed.

I pray you have one of your best days yet! You deserve it!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

Deborah, if you’re reading this today, HAPPY 69TH BIRTHDAY!!! Thank you for your unwavering support, kindness, love, and prayers. May your day and year be filled with an abundance of love, joy, peace, and laughter.🌸💕🙏🏽

hope

My Journey With God, No. 102

Shaun Bradford

Sitting here reflecting on when my life took a major shift around 10-11 years ago. I was entering my fourth decade of life, and was in the process of getting a divorce. Looking back, I can’t believe I went through and overcame as much as I did. God is so good!

On June 13, 2015, I wrote in my journal that my house was about to be foreclosed on, and I didn’t know where I’d get the money to save it. Well, I never got the money, and it went into foreclosure. That was a difficult year—probably one of my most difficult ones—but I made it.

I started that entry with—

“Thank you Lord for all you’ve done and continue to do. Lord I thank you for grace. I thank you for loving me. So many times I don’t see a way, but you make a way.”

Well, God didn’t make a way in the way I wanted Him to. I lost the house. However, I’ve gained so much more since that loss. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained from multiple setbacks and restarts over the years have only made me stronger.

I ended the entry with a self-discovery that has shaped who I am today. I wrote—

“I’ve tried to be like others, but it didn’t make me happy. Now I’m embracing the true me, the forever evolving me, and I love it, but some don’t. They liked the fake Shaun. Well, I’m me!”

I love how I picked up on and embraced the “forever evolving me.” Because that’s who and what I am. I am forever evolving. Who I am today will not be who I am next week, next year, or ten years from now, and I’m okay with that, because I love being me!

God, thank You for making me, ME!♥️

Shaun

hope

Nothing Wasted

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

How are you?

I hope you’re doing well.🌸

If you don’t remember anything else, remember this—nothing is ever wasted. Not one thing. Not a single tear. Not a single heartbreak. Not a single setback. Nothing is wasted.

Live!✨

I love you,

Shaun

hope

Shaun’s World

Shaun Bradford

“Shaun’s World” was the original name of my blog. I’m not sure when I changed it to “It’s Shaun’s World.” A couple of days ago, I celebrated my 7th Anniversary of blogging. I hadn’t realized I had been blogging for so long.

On June 11, 2018, I wrote the following in my journal—

“I launched my birthday blog early. I was bored and had things to share. It’s called “Shaun’s World.” It’s me and all of my quirkiness. I needed this outlet. I’ll see how long I can keep this up.”

I started this blog to commemorate my 45th birthday, but as I mentioned, I launched it early. I needed an outlet besides Twitter and Facebook to express myself without being completely judged. Thank you for allowing me this space.

Here’s what I shared in my first post on June 9/10, 2018 (there are two different dates on the post).

Welcome to Shaun’s World, Again! Lol

Ha! I had published this same blog on my old site. That site is being deactivated. So follow me on this site. My new site.

Welcome to the world of random thoughts, inside jokes and carefree writing. Yes, it’s Shaun’s World!

This site isn’t meant to be stuffy or too serious because all of that is pretty boring. It takes too much thought and time to create those sites (been there, done that) when all I want to do is share.

So, be warned, grammatical errors will happen; corny jokes will be told; heartfelt and meaningless stories will be shared and life will go on.

Again, welcome to Shaun’s World!

Muah!
#Year45

Again, thank you for allowing me this space to freely express myself and be ME. I truly appreciate YOU!

Love you!♥️

Shaun

hope

My Journey With God, No. 101

Shaun Bradford

On June 11, 2019, I began my journal entry with—

Singing, “Anointing fall on me. Anointing fall on me. Let the power of the Holy Ghost fall on me. Anointing fall on me.” Amen 

I mentioned that I was about to rewatch Sarah Jakes Roberts’ message “Unfinished Business ” from that Pentecost Sunday. I had been on the phone with my mom and had missed most of the message.

I also wrote about Leah Chase being laid to rest the day before, and how my conversation with her was connected with the nutrition sessions I was providing for children attending a summer camp. During our meeting in 2014, Chef Leah encouraged me to teach children about where food came from—that it didn’t come from the grocery store but from gardens and farms. So, on the day of her funeral, I was doing just that.

I wrote so much more on that day (I usually write several times a day); however, I ended the day with this—

“Whew! God just blows my mind. For real.”

And He does. Every day He blows my mind. He’s so wonderful. Just to know Him and be in His presence is indescribable.

God, thank You for loving me. Thank You for showing me YOU!

Amen

Shaun♥️

hope

My Journey With God, No. 98

Shaun Bradford

Since I began the day on the topic of being worthy of the best, I thought I’d share my journal entry from May 31, 2019, which was three years before I shared the Facebook memory in my previous post.

Journal Entry: May 31, 2019

“Yesterday I felt differently. Like something had changed. Even the way I was carrying myself was different. Before I left the house yesterday morning, I told [my son] how grateful I was for all of my blessings and how, up until this past week, I had been seeing myself as unworthy of the best. I thought others deserved the best, but not me.”

I went back and read my journal entry from the day before (May 30, 2019) to see what I had written about my conversation with my son. Here’s some of what I wrote:

“Over the past 5 years I’ve been through some major changes. During this time, God has never left me and has given me more than I thought I was worthy of.”

I ended my entry with this.

“Come on, LaShaundrea! Who has a life like yours. Plus you have two AMAZING kids who are self thinkers and they really love you and they show you. Like A-MAZING! God has given you the world all you have to do is walk in your light. Bask in His glory. EVERYTHING is working according to plan.”

I had no idea what was to come the next day, which was the day my ex-husband finally signed the divorce papers. I just knew, even before then, that I was blessed and worthy of more. Of course, life did what life does, and it took me another three to four years to begin walking in “my light.”

I’m blessed.

Been blessed.

And

God is so good.

It’s time for me to finally—yes, finally— bask in His glory.☺️

Year52 is loading…

Shaun♥️

Beyond Blessed!