Tag: reflections

hope

My Journey With God, No. 94

Shaun Bradford

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Hmmm… Here’s what I shared three years ago.

“Forever in awe of the power of manifestation. Don’t just think it. Write it down. Verbalize it. See it. Feel it. Walk in it. If you want it, manifest it!”

I wrote that at the height or tail end of the manifestation hype. Everyone was either walking in things they “manifested” or they were “manifesting” things. When I think about it, it was similar to the hype surrounding the Prayer of Jabez in the early 2000s. Back then, everyone was praying for God to “bless them, indeed,” and enlarge their territory. Even I was praying the prayer. And guess what? God enlarged my territory. I went from studying to become a chef to becoming a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN). Who knew?! I didn’t even know dietitians existed. Side note: Nothing against chefs because culinary and food are my first loves, but becoming a RDN opened doors and connected me to a world that was more aligned with my vision and lifelong dreams of helping others.

Manifestation…

I’m not sure when I began hearing about the power of manifestation. I believe it was during a period when I was first becoming active on Twitter/X (around 2014). Several weeks ago, I saw an article written by a lawyer I met on Twitter around that same time, 2014/2015. I hadn’t seen her name in ages. We were asked by another person we met on Twitter to help them form a nonprofit. Just thinking about it makes me smile because I can see where everything is connected to where I am today. I’m not quite sure what I manifested ten years ago; however, I do know I’m walking in what I manifested three to five years ago, and I’m watching it evolve. Smiling.

Oh, the power of being present and recognizing that I am already moving and living within my manifestations. Thank You, God, for not letting me miss this moment. I don’t have to wait another ten years, or read past journal entries, to realize I’m already in it.

I am truly, truly blessed!🥰

Shaun

**P.S. Have a wonderfully blessed day and week. I love you!♥️

hope

My Journey With God, No. 93

Shaun Bradford

I’m built to stand on my own ten. So, I’m good. –Shedeur Sanders

I saw a snippet of an interview with Shedeur Sanders expressing how all his drafted teammates were drafted in pairs or more and had each other to lean on, but he didn’t. He’s in it alone. The clip ended with his quote above—basically, he’s saying he’s built to hold his own.

When I tell you I felt what he said to my core! I’ve spent my entire life feeling like I have had to do things alone—to hold my own. Not because I wanted to, but because I was raised to feel like it was expected of me. When you are the oldest and in charge of everything and everyone younger than you, there is no one else to depend on. You are it! So, you learn to stand alone. I believe this is one of the reasons I have a difficult time expressing emotions like sadness, grief, and even pain. Expressing them makes me feel vulnerable and as if I can’t handle them on my own. BUT… I’m working on it. Little by little, I am beginning to open up and express those feelings, not only in writing but verbally. I am slowly realizing and accepting that it’s okay to let others know when I am not feeling strong. I don’t have to hold my own if I don’t have to.

Y’all, I am so grateful that God continues to reveal areas where I still need healing and pruning. I look forward to meeting the woman I will be a year from now and even ten years from now. (Just another nugget of encouragement I’m leaving myself. Girl, you’re growing!☺️.)

God, thank You for loving me.♥️

Shaun

hope

Here Is A Nugget Of Encouragement

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

May 13, 2024

Be intentional about encouraging others and yourself. Leave little messages for yourself here and there so you will see them when needed. I found the following in one of my posts from 2023.

“It always amazes me how God has me leave nuggets of wisdom and encouragement for my future self. Nuggets that are always relevant for when they are needed. Forever grateful. I’m blessed.”

In the same post, I wrote about finally becoming comfortable with sharing my works and ventures on all my platforms. That I was no longer intimidated or worried about being judged. I used to feel the same way when sharing my writings here. My heart would drop whenever I found an error after publishing my post. No lie. I would literally become sick and dwell on it for hours. Today, I don’t have that problem. If I see an error, I correct it and keep pushing. The anxiety I used to feel is gone.

So, I said all that to say that this reminder was a nugget of encouragement I needed today. Where I was a few years ago compared to where I am now is like night and day. I’m so grateful for how far I’ve come. Even where I was a year ago is nothing compared to where I am today. I’m growing, evolving, and becoming, and I love how it feels. God is so good.

Today, I would like to encourage you to reflect on your growth over the years. Look at how far you’ve come!

I’m proud of you. Now, keep going!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

hope

I’m There

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

I shared the following on May 12, 2022—

Thank You, Lord for hearing my prayers and making this side of 50 different. Amen

That was God’s word to me three years ago, which I so graciously shared with you. Smile. You’ll never get to where you want to be if you can’t see or feel yourself there. It’s all about mindset.

Same questions as before:

– Can you see yourself there?

– Can you feel yourself there?

– Are you already there?

Me, I’m already there.

I’m there (here), fully immersed in and experiencing it all.

Y’all, God is so good! When I think about where my life and mindset were three years ago compared to where they are now, all I can do is praise God. I’m so thankful that He never gave up on me. So grateful that He kept nudging me forward when I felt like giving up and when I wanted to settle. I am so very blessed.

I pray you have an exceptionally wonderful week. Remember to keep God first and keep shining!✨♥️

I love you always,

Shaun

hope

Stronger And Braver?

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning!☀️

Three years ago, I wrote that the complexities and experiences of life and love made us stronger and braver and were worth experiencing.

Question—

Have the complexities and experiences of life and love, particularly love, made you stronger and braver?

My answer…

“Yes” on the strength part. The complexities and experiences of life and love have made me stronger. However, “No” on the bravery part. Well, only in the case of love. My experiences with love and its shenanigans have always made me retreat. I have yet to become brave in this area; however, I am working on it. One day I’ll be a love warrior-Queen! Smile

Anyhoo… On a softer, less complex note.

Last year, I celebrated the tenth anniversary of my dreams being revived. I wrote about how an invitation to a culinary experience had changed my life ten years earlier (May 2014). I said it had awakened childhood dreams I had buried in my early 20s. Well, at 51, those dreams are still alive, and this time, despite the “complexities” of life—because life is going to keep lifeing—I plan to keep them alive. Just call me the warrior-Queen and protector of my dreams!

That’s all I have for you now. I do want to know your thoughts on the question above. Are you stronger and/or braver because of your experiences?

I pray you have a fabulous day. You deserve it!♥️

I love you much,

Shaun

hope

Grateful For Second Chances

Shaun Bradford
Full circle.

Singing—

“You gave me
A second chance
You forgave me
like only You can 
You gave me 
A second chance.

For You’re the God of a second chance.”

Yesterday, while I was trying to figure out what God was doing with my life—because I had not remembered asking to go the route my life seems to be going at the moment—I had one of my “aha” moments. On several occasions in my life, I missed what God was doing because I was so focused on things not going the way I planned or looking like what I envisioned. The opportunities to have what I always dreamed of were there, but I kept missing them because I was so focused on my circumstances rather than the opportunities.

For those who haven’t been following me long, as a child, I dreamed of “world peace.” President Jimmy Carter and Sally Struthers were my inspiration. In my eyes, they were both doing things to save the world, and I wanted to help.

In middle school (junior high back then), I started taking French and Spanish classes. Then, I met a group from Switzerland who was visiting our school and decided I wanted to live in Switzerland—hence the reason I’m so set on the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. By the time I reached the 11th grade, I already knew I would be living abroad doing some kind of work to make this world better. I had a French, student teacher who had just returned from a mission in Sri Lanka. She had a nose ring and wore saris and sandals, and I thought she was one of the coolest people in the world. She told some of the best stories. Then, I had another student teacher, a UN Peace Keeper, who did mission trips around South Asia. Y’all, I just knew I would eventually be like them until I had a dream and saw myself at the UN speaking to leaders from so many nations. That’s when I decided I should go more of the corporate route and become a translator or interpreter.

Long story short, NONE of it happened!

Instead, I went to college for a semester and decided college wasn’t for me, so I joined the Air Force. Now, here’s where the opportunities came and kept coming, but I missed them because they didn’t look like what I spent my entire childhood planning for. When I was in Basic Training, I was asked if I wanted to take a foreign language test for either French or Spanish or both, and I declined. I was too afraid I wouldn’t pass them. Get this, they asked me TWICE! I declined both times. The next opportunity came when I received orders to Germany. I didn’t want to go to Germany, so I never took advantage of the opportunities I had there. Opportunities like learning the German language or traveling to France. I was stationed near the border and about a 4-5 hour drive from Paris—we even had tours going there all the time—and I didn’t go. Was waiting on my boyfriend to go with me (that’s a whole-nother story🙃). I also wanted to go to Greece and didn’t go. Y’all, I was even stationed in Turkey and didn’t go to Greece. Now, don’t get me wrong, I did travel within both countries but never did the things I said I wanted to do because I couldn’t see past what I envisioned. Talk about a word!!!

So, yesterday, while I was trying to figure out where God was going with all this (a few more things happened yesterday that had my mind spinning, too—this has been some week!), He dropped in and reminded me of those missed opportunities. He told me that even though what was happening didn’t look like what I saw, this was it! This is part of the process. If I want to get where I saw myself all those years ago, I must go through this first.

Ha! Then, this morning, I saw the Facebook memory above.

Full circle.

A second chance.

Last June, I started my term as president-elect, and on June 1st, I begin my term as president.

My life.

My journey.

I know God is with me.🙏🏽♥️

Shaun

hope

Encouragement

Shaun Bradford

This is very random…

Sitting at my desk and noticed the “Trust” rock I wrote about several posts ago. It’s funny how, in years, I have rarely turned the rock over. I never had a reason to until today. After picking it up, I noticed a bit of white paint peaking around the side, so I flipped it over. I forgot that I had written “Encouragement!!” on the other side. Now, I really want to know the full story about the rock. What was the assignment that day, and why did I write encouragement on the other side instead of something else? Life is truly interesting. I have to do better at leaving myself notes. Lol

This is the Facebook memory I shared with my other post.
Here’s the front of rock today (7 years later).
Here’s the backside.

All I can think of is I must have known I would need encouragement to rebuild trust.

Or maybe the two aren’t even related. Perhaps I just needed encouragement.

I guess we’ll never know.😅

Welcome to my world!♥️

Shaun

hope

My Journey With God, No. 82

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

God is always working and moving, even when it appears He’s not. Here are a few memories from April 7th.

April 7, 2022 and 2018

This is a photo of a rock I painted at the same conference held four years earlier, April 7, 2018. “Trust” was one of my biggest barriers to moving forward. I had lost trust in almost every aspect of my life—family, job, profession, and myself. I was at ‘rock’ bottom and in the process of figuring out how to rebuild the trust I once had in those areas, as well as in unfamiliar areas I was tapping into.
On April 7, 2022, at the same conference mentioned above, I was presented with an award for Nutritionist of the Year. I had no idea I was receiving an award and had left the conference to check out of my hotel room. I remember receiving texts from several colleagues congratulating me and asking where I was.🤦🏽‍♀️😅

April 7, 2024

This photo was taken last year on April 7, 2024, at our state dietetics’ conference. It was the day my colleagues learned I had decided to run for president-elect again. These ladies have been by my side throughout my entire dietetics career—almost 20 years. They are my rocks!

In 2018, I was going through a weird phase in my career and wanted change. I needed it! I was losing confidence and trust in the work I was doing and in myself. So, a few months after the conference, I enrolled in a doctoral program to pursue a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree. I had already been working in community and public health nutrition, so it seemed like the logical move at the time. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, I needed a change. That was 2018.

Three years later (2021), I took a leap to become a full-time, independent consultant. That was around the end of the pandemic. At that time, I hadn’t seen my colleagues in person for over a year, so I felt pretty isolated. However, it was also during that time that I decided to promote our profession and my colleagues on my social media platform, Mississippi Thriving. I wanted Mississippians to know who we were and what our contributions were to improving our citizens’ health. So, I reached out to our dietitians asking if they’d be willing to be showcased on Mississippi Thriving’s “RDN Saturdays” (something I came up with early one morning🤷🏽‍♀️☺️), and several agreed! Hence, one of the reasons for the award I received.

Looking back, I’ve actually done a lot more than I thought over the past ten years. In no way am I bragging. I’m only acknowledging my accomplishments. For the longest time, I’ve felt like my life’s been stagnant, but in reality, it’s been moving. God’s been moving!

Y’all, I can’t say it enough, I am truly, truly blessed.🥰

Shaun

hope

Life: A Reflection Of The Heart And Soul

Shaun Bradford

A few years ago, I shared—

“How we view life is merely a reflection of what’s in our hearts and souls.” – Moi

April 4, 2022

Do you agree?

Is the way you view life a reflection of the state of your heart and soul?

It’s a ‘Yes’ for me.

Even when things aren’t the best, there’s something about life that’s still beautiful.♥️

Smile,

Shaun

hope

Lord, Guide Me

Shaun Bradford

Good Morning☀️

Ten years ago, I ended my journal entry with, “Lord, please guide me.”

Ten years ago, my entire world changed. During the final days of March 2015, I experienced my greatest heartbreak but also my greatest relief. My ex-husband had finally moved out. That was the relief. However, the greatest heartbreak came from those I always thought would have my back but instead turned their backs on me.

Y’all, it’s been a very long ten years. Not only did I have to rebuild a life for me and my two (my hearts and rocks!), but I had to rebuild relationships. I’m not going to go into details, but just know that when I say I made it, believe me—I MADE IT!!!

I am forever indebted to God. I know I wouldn’t be here had it not been for Him. I am so grateful for His love, mercy, grace, kindness, patience and GUIDANCE. I asked for His guidance, and He answered.

Today, I’m celebrating.

Yes, I’m celebrating!

I made it!!🎉

Thank you so much for your love and continued support. I pray you have a beautifully, blessed day!♥️

I love you,

Shaun