Happy Sunday! Over the last few years, I have written about being “chosen” so I am going to continue with the same theme. Here are a few captions from past years:
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find myself asking God, “Why me?”. His answer is always, “I chose YOU.”
I’m not going to lie, sometimes I have a hard time understanding why my life is as it is. Then I’m reminded that although small, I’m still a piece of God’s beautiful puzzle – uniquely made, will only fit where I’m designed to be, and will noticeably be missed if I don’t show up. It also means He’s confident that I can achieve any task He’s assigned.♥️
Whenever I wonder why God chose me, I’m reminded that He hand picked and uniquely designed me to fulfill a particular purpose that ONLY I can fulfill. I was chosen. Same with you! YOU are the ONLY one who can fulfill your unique purpose. YOU were chosen!♥️
Whew! I do not know about you, but being chosen does not always feel like an honor. Sometimes it feels like a burden.
Now, I know the word “chosen” sounds all glamorous and only applies to a select few. However, that’s not so. You, my friend, were also chosen. Smile. Whether you believe it or not, or wanted to be or not, you were chosen to fulfill God’s plan.
As I mentioned earlier, we are all pieces of God’s beautiful puzzle and here to fulfill a purpose. Although we see ourselves as one dimensional pieces, we are actually one of a kind, multi–dimensional pieces. Every facet of our lives are either fulfilling a purpose or meeting a need that only we can. We are so uniquely made that when we try to fit into other spaces we never quite fit. It’s because it’s not where we were chosen to be.
That’s all for now! It’s still early so I think I will go back to sleep. Wishing you a fabulous Sunday. Love you!♥️
Gifts are nice and ALWAYS appreciated. However, it’s so important to recognize nothing can replace the gift of your presence. Whether physically or virtually, your presence is priceless. You ARE the gift!
Even though we are gifts to others, let’s remember to appreciate our gifts. Those who God placed in our lives to love and support us. They are priceless. Getting emotional as I think about my gifts. We must hold them dearly.
Side note: You will not be everyone’s gift, nor them yours. Learned this a lot over the past few years.I used to consider everyone a gift. They may have been for someone, but they were not for me. Yeah…took me forever to get this through my head. Listen, treasure your true gifts (don’t be fooled by the fake—the ones who pretend to love on you while intentionally draining you) and let the others go.
This is all for now. Didn’t mean to end on a sour note, but we really have to be careful. As I said before, I am learning. Anyhoo… Wishing you a lovely day and beautiful weekend! One of my gifts (my daughter) is coming home to visit! Can’t wait to love on her!!♥️
First, let me start off by saying God is so Good. Y’all, I needed that visit with my bestie, Shawn, yesterday.
Moment of transparency…
After my mom passed, I began feeling isolated from everyone and everything (still do at times). It was like I began seeing people and things for who/what they were, and decided I no longer wanted or needed to participate in the shenanigans just to feel included (personally and professionally). Basically, the only ones who mattered were my babies. They were the only ones besides my tiny circle (cause family was iffy) who I could count on to remain the same. I am pretty sure most of what I was feeling was grief, but not all.
Anyway, I needed to see Shawn, even if it was only for several hours. Y’all, we laughed and laughed. Like I said, I needed her visit. One thing I can say about our friendship is we don’t let what’s going on around us affect our relationship, never have. Rarely do we waste our conversations on negative things. Life is just too short and too precious to focus on the negative. Which leads me to the topic of this post—my newest chapter.
A few days ago, I hit the midpoint or peak of Year50. Instead of waiting until 2024 or Year51 to start a new chapter, I have decided to start it now. I mean, I am the writer, right? (Laughing) However, with this being said, I must remember God is the editor-in-chief and has the final say. Yeah…I cannot forget this part. Listen, sometimes he throws in more plot twists than my fav and have me all over the place (laughing), but I trust Him. He knows what he is doing. So, welcome to my newest chapter, “The Next Six Months.”
Y’all, it seems like I have a Facebook memory for every occasion. As I said, God is the editor-in-chief, and I guess you can say I am living out the edited version of what has already been written. Here is what I shared two years ago.
Facebook Memory: December 29, 2021
Your next chapter will be AMAZING! Receive it. Speak it – “My next chapter will be AMAZING!” Own it!
Speaking it. Receiving it. Owning it! My next chapter will be AMAZING!
That’s all I have for you for now. Listen, you do not have to wait until the new year or a special occasion to start your next chapter. You can always start today. You control the pen. Feel free to end this chapter now and start the next one. But, beware, God does have the final say, and He just might throw in a few unexpected things (those plot twists) to keep life interesting. I mean, who likes boring. Okay…sometimes boring is good. Smile
In a few hours I will be picking up my bestie of 48 years from the airport. This will be our first time seeing each other in person this year. I’m so excited! She will only be here for a day, but any time with her is always wonderful. I can’t wait to see her! God knew I needed this.
Friendships…
Lately, my circle of friends has become smaller. I guess I should now refer to it as tiny. Yeah, 2023 has been some year. Most of the ones I have now I have had for decades. Thankfully they are not fair-weather friends. They can actually stand the rain. Hmm…Now I have to listen to Johnny Gill’s “Fairweather Friend,” or New Edition’s “Can You Stand The Rain” or any JG or NE/BBD (because now I’m hearing “When Will I See You Smile Again”) song for that matter. Laughing. Baby, I can go on and on with the songs. I am NE4Life!!
Anyhoo…As always, my Facebook memories are so timely. Although I shared this song a week or so ago in another post, I also shared it two years ago.
Facebook Memory: December 28, 2021
“Keep smiling. Keep shining. Knowing you can always count on me, for sure. That’s what friends are for.” Dionne Warwick
“In good times and bad times I’ll be on your side forevermore. That’s what friends are for.”
Today’s going to be a great day! I pray you have a strong circle of friends or at least one true friend. Friendships are so important. Wishing you a wonderful day! Love you!♥️
Decided to include two Facebook memories in this morning’s post. Even though one is about healing from hurt and the other about love, I believe they were meant to be shared together.
Facebook Memory: December 16, 2018
Today’s message: “Hearing When You’re Hurting.” Bishop T.D. Jakes
Sometimes emotional pain is worse than physical pain, and it’s harder to heal. So many people are in pain. Some of it stems from years of hurt. But God is a healer. Amen
Facebook Memory: December 16, 2022
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is understanding. Love ALWAYS wins.♥️
As I mentioned earlier, I thought the two memories should be shared together. Have you ever heard the phrase, “hurt people hurt people”? Well, I never bought into the idea until recently. I used to believe that the phrase only referred to people who intentionally hurt others. You know, the vindictive ones. I never considered the unintentional hurts.
I believe it is not until you are healed that you realize you hurt someone else because you were hurt.
Without going into too many details, that’s exactly what happened before I decided to divorce my ex. After 17 years of holding on to the pain of my daughter’s father abandoning me (and all the other craziness), I forgave him. Y’all, that was when everything changed. My entire outlook on life had changed because I was no longer in pain. Sadly, my eyes were opened and I began seeing all the damage I had caused. This included my marriage. Up until then, I honestly hadn’t realize I had married him out of pain. Little did I know, I was one of those hurt people who hurt people.
Now love…
I believe love is everything I had defined it to be—patient, kind, and understanding. However, I do not believe it is possible to fully love someone else while you are still in pain. Shoot…you don’t fully love yourself because if you did, you would let go of the pain. I still cannot believe it took me 17 years. I almost repeated the same mistake when my ex wouldn’t sign the divorce papers after almost 4 1/2 years. I had to let that pain go.
So, here is what I have learned from my experience. It’s not until you are healed from the pain that you realize—1) your pain can cause you to unintentionally hurt others and 2) fully loving someone else—including yourself—while you are still in pain, is impossible.
Life is definitely full of lessons.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Wishing you a wonderful day. Love you.♥️
Once again my Facebook memories have come through. Laughing. Was going to add what I am about to write to the comment section of one of yesterday’s controversial posts; however, I will add it here instead. It is just too long of a story to add to someone else’s post. I try to be considerate.
Speaking of being considerate, that’s what the controversial post was about. Okay, here is what’s happening on my show, Tyler Perry’s Sistas. So this guy creep, Gary, has been seeing multiple women (because after what just happened I know there are more out there) simultaneously. Well, during last week’s episode, two of them met and one is seven months pregnant! Maybe five…but that’s not the point. She’s pregnant! Long story short, the one who believed she was the main chick, Andi, found out she’s been his side chick the entire time. Baby!!! If I didn’t want to jump through that screen and let Gary have it!!
I had two problems with how everything was handled—1) the way the ladies (sistas) told Penelope (the pregnant fiancée—yep…they are engaged) was way too dramatic and 2) their main focus should have been on Gary the entire time, not Penelope. I really have a problem with women targeting other women with their aggression when the culprit is the man. Anyhoo…they (not really they but Andi’s friend, Danni) cornered the poor girl and forced Andi to tell her that she had also been seeing Gary and had recently (a week ago) ended things with him. Y’all, he bought them both the same things—car, house (one a penthouse) and used the same engagement ring (Andi said “no” so he gave it to Penelope). Just trifling! And to think I had a soft spot for this……. Oooow!!!
Anyway, Andi tells the poor girl about her relationship with Gary and they compare timelines and all. Then, they finally turn their attention to Gary and let him have it. And in turn, Gary basically pooed (trying to keep it nice) all over Andi’s character. Again, I could have jumped through that screen.
Okay…story time…
I have written about my situation with my firstborn’s father before. We were stationed in Germany. He had a pregnant girlfriend I didn’t know about when we got together, but after finding out I stayed with him anyway. I really liked him. Laughing. I even decided to stay with him after he went home on leave and married her. I was hurt. He said he was getting it annulled, and I stayed. When I finally couldn’t take any more of the craziness and decided to leave, I discovered I was pregnant. Ha!! Y’all life can be hilariously cruel at times. Anyway, I got back stateside and went along my merry way as a single mom. So here is where the drama comes in.
One night, after I had gotten off work, I received a phone call from this woman telling she was my baby’s father’s girlfriend. I was like, “Okay.” Then she began to tell me she had been seeing him since he had gotten back stateside. That she was the one who picked him up from the airport. I guess I should add, he was still writing me letters and calling me about the three of us being a family. My baby was about two or three months old at the time. The girlfriend through in the part about her picking him up from the airport because he was supposed to be with me at that time because I was only weeks away from giving birth. He made up some excuse about his mom being sick or something. Nah…she wasn’t sick. Y’all, there is so much more to this story. I know I’ll have to write a book one day.
Anyway, let me not get sidetracked. After she finished telling me her story, she told me she thought she had said too much and didn’t want oh boy to find out what she had done. I thanked her for telling me and told her that I didn’t care if she was telling me out of spite or concern, that conversation would remain between the two of us. Y’all, I really don’t like drama. Plus, she wasn’t the one in the wrong, he was. Well, she told his mom that she had called me and that’s when all hell broke loose. I told her I wasn’t going to say anything. I was going to find a way out of the mess. But no… When I tell you the drama I experienced in my early 20s made me who I am today. I didn’t have, and don’t have, time for nonsense. Everything I experienced hurt like hell, but I knew back then and still know today, God’s got me. Listen, He loves me!!
Anyhoo…that was only a small part of a very crazy story. The comment I left underneath the controversial post said I would have handled the situation by sitting down with everyone involved and had an adult conversation; one without all the drama. Y’all, the scene was a mess. “Tell her, Andi! Tell, her!!” Penelope crying her poor little eyes out wanting to know what was happening. It was a mess! But…it did make good tv. I tell you, if a show doesn’t evoke some kind of emotion out of you, it ain’t a real show!! Baby, I was hot but I was okay by the end of the second episode. The writer’s room redeemed itself. Listen, I was about to boycott the show…until the next episode. Laughing
Well, I believe I have written enough. Can’t believe they celebrated 100 episodes a year ago! I was having all kinds of proud momma-fan moments.
It’s Shaun’s World 
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