Lessons From Marvin Sapp

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Celebrating Moms And Teachers". Let me wish mothers, stepmoms, grandmother's, great-grandmothers, godmothers, and aunts happy Mother's Day! Thank you for what you do for the next generation with your love and care. I also want to give a shout-out to ladies who are teachers and wish them happy late "Teachers Appreciation Week". I especially want to give a shout-out to lady teachers that may not have biological children but you're in a way "mothering" kids in your classroom and mentoring adults if you're a college professor. I want to honor you for that. Being a teacher is valuable whether you're a homeschool parent, (my mom was back in the day) preschool teacher, teacher of elementary, middle, or high school, college professor, teacherpreneur, Sunday school teacher, pastor/teacher, or teacher of the Word of God as I am! If you're a mom you get double honor being both mom and teacher! Now I know that Mother's Day can be a hard day for some people. If you lost your mom, lost a child, have a wayward son or daughter,or your kids or grandkids live far away I pray that God gives you ladies or men extra measure of grace during this time. I pray that God will comfort those who miss their mom or child who died. I pray for the mom or Grandma who has kids or grandkids that they raised to serve the Lord but drifted away from the Lord I pray that the wayward will return back to the Lord. If mom has a difficult relationship with one of her kids or the kid has a tough relationship with mom God will heal what happened with that relationship. If you're a single mom, if you're a wife struggling with infertility struggles, a stepmom, or you're an unmarried no kids single woman (as I am and some other ladies that are part of my women's group of) know you're not forgotten or overlooked. If you're a single mom may God give you grace to balance your motherhood, work, and responsibility how to raise your kids. I also pray for the stepmom in a blended family that God will give her grace to love her stepchildren and her stepchildren will respect her as well too. (Side note there are friendly stepmoms out there and not all stepmoms are mean!) For the wife that's infertile may God enable her to bear children either naturally, medically, (through IVF) or through adoption. For the single woman with no children or the teacher that's overwhelmed may God give them grace during this time. Single women with no children often get overlooked but thankfully I have a nephew though. Single women you can find young people or adults to love on and mentor making you "somewhat of a mother figure". You even can mother pets too cause they're fur babies! Teachers that are ladies can be mother figures too. I fit that category and some ladies from my women's group fit that as well too. Happy Mother's Day to my mom, sister, grandma, and my aunt and may y'all enjoy your day. Let me also say that God has given us women whether we are biological mothers or not the gift of nurture. That's what we women do! A woman is meant to birth life naturally or in another way! Ladies never forget that! Another thing I want to say is I'm so thankful for my local church "New Life Assembly Of God Church" for so many reasons. Number one they remained open during Covid, (It's a smaller church compared to my former church "Discover Church") been singing on the worship team more, and thankful for small community. But most of all I'm thankful that on "Mother's Day" they honor and give gifts to ladies in the church whether they are natural mothers or not! I'll never forget when I first witnessed that six years ago and I've never been at a church like that! That touched me deeply that they allow single women with no children a gift on "Mother's Day"! So thank you so much Pastor Kevin (former pastor of "New Life") and Pastor Antonio Bowen (current pastor of "New Life") who makes sure every lady biological mother or not gets a gift every year! That means so much to me! That's one thing I love so much about "New Life". I want ladies in my group that aren't biological mothers you matter! I hope you know that! As a woman you can make a difference whether you have a biological family or not! Let me wish all you ladies mothers or not Happy Mother's Day, happy Lord's day, and hope and pray that y'all enjoy your day in God's house and with loved ones!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. The title I have for this blog is called the ''Life Of King David''. You might be wondering. ''How in the world can he teach us something about mental health?'' Well the answer might surprise you so the first time we get introduced to King David long before the incident with Goliath. We meet him as a shepherd tending sheep in 1 Samuel 16 where old prophet Samuel is told by the Lord to go to Jesse's house. Jesse introduced to the prophet Samuel his sons (before David came along) and Samuel thought the Lord would choose one of them! But you ladies know the story and God revealed to Samuel that man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart. Each of Jesse's seven other sons got evaluated by God and the prophet Samuel but God refused each of them. Samuel asked if Jesse had any more kids and he reluctantly mentioned David and David was called into the house. Then the Lord revealed to Samuel that David, though he was a teenager, would be chosen to be the second king of Israel so Samuel anointed him! David resumed being a shepherd because at that time the youngest able bodied male of the family was a shepherd and that was looked at as a ''least esteemed position'' in Israel's time! We know that David was a songwriter and harp player and was sent to play the harp for King Saul to help him deal with tormenting spirits! Then we know that Golaith the giant Philistine began tormenting the Jewish armies and King Saul and eventually David heard about it. He gave his brothers food and got angry at Goliath for disrespecting God and the Jewish army. He told King Saul he'd fight Goliath and King Saul suggested his armor but David refused. David remembered his experience of killing a lion and bear and used his slingshot and five smooth stones to kill Goliath! That incident would cause David to be known throughout Israel and become a warrior in King Saul's army! But despite him killing Goliath, that caused tension and jealousy between David and King Saul. Yet David befriended Jonathan King Saul's son and crown prince of Israel. David also married his first wife Michal King Saul's oldest daughter and older sister of Prince Jonathan. King Saul threatened to kill David with a javelin and David had to escape from King Saul. It got so bad that Michal David's first wife as well as his friend and prince Prince Jonathan warned David multiple times to get away from King Saul because of his threats to kill him. How wicked is that! In fact Michal and Prince Jonathan lied to King Saul about David's escape which made him even more angry and threatened to send an army to destroy David! But Prince Jonathan warned his dad if he killed David that innocent blood would be in his hands because the Jews back then took murder very seriously and knew the consequences of that. David continued to run from King Saul for years and often had to hide in caves and wrote songs to cope with dealing with that. As time progressed, he met a man named Nabal and took care of his flocks and asked to be compensated for it. Nabal was a wicked man who refused to help David and David and his men threatened to kill Nabal! Well Nabal's wife Abigail prepared food and other things and begged David not to kill her husband because her husband is a fool! (The book of Proverbs warns a ton about how God feels and deals with people who are fools. Nabal would not be exempt from that!) Because of Abigail's gentle nudge, David refused to kill Nabal and accepted Abigail's food, kindness, and proper compensation! Days later the Lord enabled Nabal to die and God enabled David to choose Abigail as his second wife! That may not seem significant but you must remember that Abigail was a godly woman who was ''unequally yoked'' to a wicked man Nabal but death was her way out of being married to him! As time progressed David became a mighty warrior and there was a time in Ziklag that he and his men returned only to find their wives (especially Abigail David's second wife) and children were kidnapped by the wicked Amalekites. 1 Samuel 30 addresses this incident how that was emotionally traumatizing for David and his men who grieved over the incident till they had no strength to weep! To make matters worse, they threatened to kill David but David leaned on the Lord despite that. Then the Lord prompted him to overtake the Amalekites and while his enemies were partying, David and his men fought hard and recovered their families by the grace of God! Then not long after that, King Saul, his son Prince Jonathan and the Jews went to the army against the Philistines and lost that battle. Prince Jonathan and countless other men were brutally killed while King Saul got wounded in battle. It got to a point that King Saul committed suicide therefore causing an end to his kingdom on earth and him being severely judged by the Lord during the tiime of his death. David at thirty years old became king of Judah and after several years of other battles with the majority of the house of King Saul that died (with the exception of King Saul's grandson Mephibosheth) while King David's house waxed stronger. When David was 37 years old, he was crowned king over all Israel! King David endured many more battles with the mighty bulls of Bashon but overcame them all. He sadly had an affair with Bathsheba Uriah, his general's wife and got her pregnant without him knowing. Uriah was sent into battle and was killed brutally on the battlefield causing Bathsheba to lose her husband. Bathsheba married King David and bore their first son and God sent Nathan the prophet to confront King David and he thankfully repented. Him and Bathsheba's baby boy died but they later had another son named Solomon who would later become third king of Israel, wrote Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. King David lost many more children and endured more trauma in his household such as his son Ammon raping Tamar causing that to anger his other son Absalom. Absalom got so bitter and angry over that incident that he murdered his brother Ammon causing King David to lose another son! Absalom finally had enough with his father and decided to set his army against his father David's army causing there to be a civil war in Israel. Then when Absalom went into battle his hair got caught in a tree and Joab, one of King David's men, used his sword and killed Absalom to stop the civil war in Israel! Whew! King David lost three of his sons which I can only imagine how brutal that must have been for him to bury those children. He endured rejection from his family or origin, rejection from King Saul,done wrong by Nabal, endured the kidnapping of his wives and kids along with his army's loved ones, lost his best friend Prince Jonathan in battle, trauma in his household that he started, and endured many natural and internal battles. I can only imagine how emotionally each of these incidents must have affected King David. But he always turned to the Lord in prayer and wrote many Psalms that we Christians enjoy today. Just to name some Psalms he wrote such as Psalms, 1,2,3,23,34,22,51, and 63 just to name several! Many of those Psalms were Psalms my dad would read to me and my siblings when we were little before bed. King David poured his heart to the Lord in prayer and him writing the Psalm helped him process his deep traumas that he had to endure. King David endured alot but the Lord was with them and I don't know what you ladies are facing right now during ''Mental Health Awareness Month''. I pray that the story of King David is a reminder to you ladies that whether you endured rejection, loss of loved ones, betrayal of loved ones, facing consequences to your sin or others sins, emotional challenges knowing that God is with you and will help you through those things. You can be raw and honest with God about your raw emotions to the Lord and let Him meet you there. I love to mention stories of the Bible, especially people who endured alot to show their humanity and how they can relate to us! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Tuesday and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog for the month of May which is called ''Mental Health Awareness Month''. The first blog I'll be sharing about is called ''Amy Grant's Journey To Wellness''. In this blog I'll be sharing about Amy Grant's journey of faith, family, music, mental and physical health as well as the hills and valleys that she has faced in her life. First of all let's start off how she came into the world. She was born to the late Dr Burton and his late wife Gloria Dean nee Napier who were married in the 1950s. They had four daughters with Amy being the youngest who was born in 1960 in Augusta, Georgia. Amy's family members moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was a child in 1967. Amy Grant grew up in a Christian home and grew up singing hymns in church because that was the main thing churches sang back in the day. It wasn't until 1973 when Amy was a teenager that a revival broke out in Nashville is what caused her to give her life to Christ in a nontraditional way. When she gave her life to Christ, she began learning how to play the acoustic guitar and began writing songs about faith. As time progressed she connected with a Christian, youth leader, and producer by the name of Brown Bannister that encouraged Amy Grant to record a demo tape at a Christian college named ''Belmont University''. When Amy was still in her teens, Brown played Amy's demo tape over the phone for Word records a Christian record label and they offered a record deal! Amy thought it was a practical joke when Brown called her about it and she got in trouble for being on the phone after hours. Then Amy got signed to Word records and released her self-titled debut album in 1977. Amy would be the ''godmother of Contemporary Christian music'' for women while the late Larry Norman would be the ''godfather of Contemporary Christian music'' for men. (Side note how Contemporary Christian music got started was due to hippies who got saved during the ''Jesus Movement'' and Christians wanted to sing something other than hymns.) Amy continued touring to promote the album and eventually graduated from high school in 1978. She later attended ''Furman University'' in Greenville, North Carolina. In 1979 Amy released her sophomore album called ''My Father's Eyes'' and in 1980 released her third album ''Never Alone''. She later transferred from ''Furman University'' to ''Vanderbilt University'' in Nashville, Tennessee and started dating Contemporary Christian artist Gary Chapman. As Amy's touring schedule increased it became too hectic to the point she decided to drop out of college to further her music career. Eventually in 1982 Amy married Gary Chapman and remained married to him for the next seventeen years. That was also the same year she released her album ''Age To Age'' which featured singles called ''Sing Your Praise To The Lord'', ''In A Little While'', and most of all her signature song ''El-Shaddai''. She won two Dove awards for that release and received her first Grammy award for that album as well. ''Age To Age'' was the first Christian album to go Gold in 1983 and first to go Platinum in 1985! Whew what an accomplishment! Amy released more albums throughout the 1980s such as her first Christmas album released in 1983, ''Straight Ahead'', (released in 1984) ''Unguarded'', (released 1985) and ''Lead Me On'' (released in 1988). (Side note I've done some Amy Grant cover songs on my youtube channel stating she's one of my favorite artists because her songs fit my range.) Her popularity increased by that point, had sold-out stadiums, won more Dove awards and gained more Grammy awards for her released work. As time continued to progress Amy decided to transition her creativity from the Contemporary Christian music world to the secular pop music world and released ''Heart In Motion'' in 1991. That caused a significant amount of controversy because her hit single ''Baby Baby'' was a pop tune causing many to be upset at Amy's decisions. Despite that, Amy released more albums in the 1990s such as her second Christmas album ''Home For Christmas'', (1992) ''House Of Love'', (released 1994 duet with country singer Vince Gill and 1994 was the year I was born) ''Behind The Eyes'', (released 1997) and her third Christmas album ''A Christmas To Remember''. Amy also faced a significant amount of troubles in her first marriage to Gary Chapman because got a good period of time he struggled with drugs until he overcame it in the 1990s. There were challenges dealing with the spotlight which negatively impacted Amy and Gary's marriage but despite that they managed to have three children together. Matthew Garrison Amy's son was born in 1987, Gloria Mills ''Mille'' was born in 1989, and Sarah Cannon was born in 1992. Amy's kids had to deal with the challenges of the spotlight too which got even worse when their parents Amy Grant and Gary Chapman divorced in 1999 causing there to be more controversy for Amy's actions. Christian radio stations refused to play her songs, some stores pulled her albums, and many Christians sadly got a judgmental attitude for Amy Grant when she and her family went through a difficult time. Amy later dated longtime friend country artist Vince Gill and married him in the year 2000 while Gary Chapman married Jenny Pittman in 2000 as well too. (They later divorced in 2007 and in 2008 Gary married Cassie and they later adopted daughter Eva Rose.) Amy adopted Vince's daughter Jenny from Vince's previous marriage Janis Oliver from country band ''Sweethearts Of The Rodeo''. Vince and Amy had a daughter named Corrina born in 2001 a great addition to their blended family. Amy thankfully returned to her ''gospel roots'' in 2002 and released an album called ''Legacy, Hymns & Faith'' her first hymns project. Thankfully she has since remained in the Contemporary Christian music world since 2002 and has never gone back. She's released more albums such as ''Simple Things'', (released 2003) ''Rock Of Ages Hymns And Faith'', (released 2005) ''Somewhere Down The Road'', (released 2010) ''How Mercy Looks From Here'', (released 2013) ''Tennessee Christmas'', (released 2016) and ''The Me That Remains'' released this year. Since Amy has returned back to the Contemporary Christian music industry she has faced more challenges. She's faced condemnation from Christians due to her divorce and remarriage, her dealing with depression, her getting rebaptized, and even questioning God's love. She also dealt with her parents getting older to the point her mom died and went to heaven in 2011 and her dad later died in 2018 went to heaven and such. She's also dealt with the challenges of blending a family and has stated while she's happy in her marriage to Vince Gill, it took her three kids (Matthew, Millie, and Sarah) from her previous marriage awhile to accept him though they like him now. (She also has gained many grandkids causing her to enjoy being a grandmother too.) Amy has also dealt with heart issues and had to have surgery in 2020 and she suffered a biking accident in 2022 and cancelled touring for a good while in the midst of that. Amy Grant has had her fair share of challenges physically, loss of her parents, blended family, judgmental Christians, and suffered from depression. But through it all Amy has leaned on God,her family, and music that's helped her work through various challenges. Amy has also gone to counseling to help her work through various challenges and believes one should not be ashamed to go to counseling when a person needs help. Amy has dealt with the challenges of the spotlight but by the grace of God she's handled that with grace, humility, and dignity. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. I want y'all to know all throughout the rest of this month I'll be sharing stories about people who dealt with the challenges of mental and physical health and by the grace of God they've overcome it. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called the ''New Life Women's Event'' and I'll be sharing with you ladies about what took place this past Saturday. But first let me give y'all a bit of a backstory. As many of you ladies know, I've been attending ''New Life Assembly Of God Church'' since Covid in 2020 and have been a member there now for the past five years. (Even though I lead ''Women's Warriors Academy'' I still remain submitted to a pastor of a local church and that's important for any women's leader.) We used to have women's events more frequently but as I've stated this past year we switched leadership from Pastor Kevin (a white pastor in his sixties) to a young black pastor closer to my age named Pastor Antonio Bowen! Also women's leadership also drastically changed because Pastor Kevin's wife Jan was over that and for a good while there were hardly any women's events for several months! That was so until February of this year when we at ''New Life'' hosted the first women's event and I was thrilled to go to that! Now with this latest event it was scheduled for April 18th but because of the severe flooding at ''New Life's'' basement the event got canceled because of that! I was heartbroken over that but it is what it is and it was rescheduled for the following week. Now on April 23rd, I prayed earnestly to the Lord for it not to rain at all on Friday April 24th or Saturday April 25th! The reason was because the week of April 12th (the week of the flooding and I shared about it on a previous blog) in addition to ''New Life'' having flooding in their basement we had flooding in our basement too among other people who did too! I didn't want that to happen during the week of April 19th and I prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain even though we were expected to get rain on April 24th this past Friday! But by the grace of God He answered that prayer and therefore I was able to enjoy the women's event at ''New Life'' on Saturday. The event was free, (as was the previous event in February) so was the food, and there were women from our church and women from other churches too. The theme was knowing your identity in Christ. Whew, that was a good one especially for me! So many times we allow ourselves, others, the world, or circumstances to define who we are! I know I've done that countless times but it was such a good reminder that we must always remember our identity is in Christ. The main Scripture that was read came from the book of John 1;12,13 KJV says ''But as many who have received Him (Jesus) to them power He gave them to be the sons of God even to them that believe on His name. Which were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God''. The leader also had us use a mirror to take home and even had us take cards with words written on them to reflect who we are. There were also great discussions as well too not only about identity issues but also issues that affect our day to day lives especially in the body of Christ. I definitely benefited from the discussion and it was a great reminder for me because I'm sure all of us ladies at sometime have all struggled with identity issues. Even those of us who have walked with the Lord for a good period of time, we know that many times the enemy loves to attack our identity. We also should be aware that the enemy can even use people (sadly sometimes people closest to us) or others to make us question ourselves or think that we're ''nothing, unworthy, or unlovable''. Now sometimes there are choices that we've all made (myself included) choices that we're not proud of and have to deal with the consequences of that. That sometimes is a fact of life. But what I'm learning is even with that being true, God is a forgiving God and we often need to forgive ourselves for the bad choices that we make. But something my beautiful, wise, godly, and loving godfather reminds me of is we're not what we've done and that was another theme of the event. We must remind ourselves we're the righteousness of God not because of us but because of what Christ did on the cross for all of us. The late Dr Billy Graham also said when God sees us He doesn't see us but sees Jesus when we give our lives to Him! I could go on and on about this but I want to encourage you ladies even though y'all didn't go to the event because many of you go to different regular ''local churches'' which is great. (Side note ''Women's Warriors Academy'' is an interdenominational ministry that welcomes godly women from various different churches.) If you've been having a hard time with your identity lately whether it be because of the enemy's attacks or him using people or your past to attack you, I pray that this blog reminds you to know who you are. It's important for us Christians to know who we are in Christ and once we do, we'll be able to love God and others better but also love ourselves. Not only that, we'll be able to help others to know who they are in Chsrist if they're struggling with their identity in Him. In addition to that, we can help other women who don't know Christ as Lord and Savior or prodigals to encounter Christ and find salvation and worth in Him. To let you ladies know I enjoyed the event very much and I'm thinking and praying about perhaps doing a virtual women's conference for ''Women's Warriors Academy'' in the future if it be the Lord's will. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Tuesday, and have a blessed rest of the week!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called ''Jesus Calms The Storm''. The gospel accounts such as Matthew 8;23-27, Mark 4;35-41, and Luke 8;22-25 mentions that after a long day Jesus and His twelve male disciples were traveling on a boat. Mark's account mentions there were other sailers in boats that sailed along with them. Christ had a very long day ministering and decided to take a nap on the cushion in the back of the boat. As He was resting, a massive storm broke out and the water began to fill in the boat. (Side note there's nothing wrong with taking a nap and our Lord knows what it's like to be tired in need of rest. I also like to take naps on Sundays too and I'm unashamed to mention that!) Now you ladies need to remember that many of Jesus' male disciples had been fishermen in the past so they may have encountered thunder storms and rain before. But the Bible says that those disciples were scared so it was a brutal storm! Now ladies before you point a finger at Jesus' male disciples for being scared think about what we in Wisconsin had to walk through recently. Now thankfully we weren't on a boat like Jesus and His disciples were, but we've encountered severe raining and thundering. I can remember on Tuesday April 14th I taught my adult student online and afterwards had to run errands for the rest of the afternoon. But I I got home five minutes before 6;15 P.M. and started making dinner after that. It was then that the massive rain and storm occurred to the point it was a ''tornado watch or warning'' and after dinner I took my guitar my cell phone, and a few other items and remained in the basement for quite awhile. I was also able to host my virtual prayer meeting in the basement instead of my bedroom my usual spot! On Wednesday April 15th I recorded my music video ''Halleluljah Praise The Savior'' by now disbanded Christian music band ''The Worldwide Message Tribe'', I ate dinner, and mom and I headed towards my church ''New Life Assembly of God Church'' to attend Bible study. When church was over, we got caught in the rain! Then on Friday April 17th me, my parents, and others drove to ''Discover Church'' to head towards KB's concert! While we were in the sanctuary, the massive storm and rain broke out but the concert kept going on! (Y'all can read my previous blog where I shared about that concert!) Ladies both on Tuesday April 14th and Wednesday April 15th, water hit our basement twice while on Friday April 17th by God's grace, there was no water in the basement! I don't know about y'all but that can be absolutely overwhelming so I can to some extent have some compassion over the disciples being scared. In fact the Bible says that the disciples woke up Jesus and said. ''Teacher don't You care that we're going to drown?'' Now that may sound like they're ''accusing'' our Lord but remember they were scared. Ladies what you done if you'd be in the disciples shoes? Then Christ got up and rebuked the storm and said. ''Silence be still!'' Immediately the storm, rain, and water that was wild calmed down. Then He looked at His disciples and asked. ''Why were you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'' Now His male disciples responded and said. ''Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him!'' Whew! We all know that natural storms are a part of life right? Afterall I mentioned not long ago what natural storms we Wisconsinites had to walk through recently. How many of you ladies know that we Christians aren't immune from going through ''spiritual storms'' in life or what others call ''the dark night of the soul''. Some spiritual storms could occur in your physical health or a loved one's physical health, others may encounter a death of a loved one, or maybe you lost a job. For others you maybe going through relational challenges either in the family or outside the family, others maybe dealing with fianancial challenges, a loved being incarcerated, (Like I'm dealing with right now) infertility struggles and more! Ladies I don't know what your spiritual storm is but what I've been learning especially through what we Wisconsinites have been through recently is that we can't control the storms of life whether natural or spiritual but we can control how we respond to it. Does that mean that I like it when natural or spiritual storms occur? Of course not! Who in their right mind would? Only God can control the outcome when storms break out. As I mentioned on Tuesday April 14th I hosted my virtual prayer meeting in the basement and on Friday April 17th I was at KB's concert enjoying the presence of the Lord in the midst of the storm. We have the choice to pray, praise, and trust God in the midst of natural or spiritual storms or both! That's something that the disciples should have done since they had the ''luxury'' of having Jesus physically with them while we Christians today have the presence of the Holy Spirit with us today. I'm sure that was a lesson that the disciples never forgot and it wasn't the first or last storms they've encountered (Remember another storm occurred and Jesus and Peter walked on the water mentioned Matthew 14;22-33) but through it all Christ got them through it. If Christ was able to bring His disciples through that storm how much more can He bring us through and calm our storms? Our spiritual storms may not go away overnight (they rarely do) but His presence is with us during the storm. I pray that this is a reminder for you ladies especially now that we're in the Spring season and we've walked through massive storms recently. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to share another blog called "The Fun Friday Night Concert". Y'all might be thinking. "I went to a concert?" Yes for the first time in five years! (Side note the last concert I attended was back in the fall of 2021 when it was the "Newsboys" featuring the late Mandisa and other well known Contemporary Christian artists and it took place at my former church "Discover Church". Well this Friday night concert took place at "Discover Church" but this time it was different artists. The first opening act was Trip Lee a Christian rapper, (also good friends with Lecrae and collaborated with him in the past along with others) Terrian Woods, (she was a former backup vocalist for Contemporary Christian artist TobyMac, made it to the Hollywood round season 15 of "American Idol", and now is a solo gospel artist) and the headliner KB another Christian rapper. Get this ladies all the artists that ministered that night were all black not white! I know right? How was the turnout? I was there along with my parents, sister, colorful and upnoxious brother-in-law, (My nephew Abraham was with a babysitter) my younger brother, countless friends of the family, and many other families too. (Side note I was surprised how many kids were there though I wasn't surprised there were many teenagers and young adults there.) It also was a racial diverse crowd as well as age diversity which was really nice. Now get this ladies. As the concert was going on, there was a bad storm outside and I and others received notices on our phone to not go outside at all and to be in the basement! Well by the grace of God the sanctuary (where the concert was held) was the safest zone we were in and the concert continued to go on! KB ministered many wonderful songs like many up tempo songs, slow ballads, and have sampled many songs. He sampled songs such as "Let It Rain", "When The Spirit Of The Lord" by gospel artist Fred Hammond, "Long As I Got King Jesus" by gospel artist Vickie Winans, "Holy Forever" and "God Of Angel Armies" by worship artist Chris Tomlin, "Bless The Lord (10,000 Reasons) by worship artist Matt Redman just to name some! It was so touching to hear the audience sing in unity with those samples that were being sung! I'm sure all of heaven was touched by that too. But there was one slow ballad that touched me deeply and made my eyes water was the song called "Masterpiece". Why is that song significant? Well KB has been married to his wife for many years and has three children. He has two sons and a daughter and his daughters name is Nala named after Nala from "The Lion King!" I believe the song "Masterpiece" was dedicated to her to let her know how beautiful she is to him and that song was written for to encourage other women of God too. Man that song touched the depths of my soul in ways you could never imagine and it felt as though my Heavenly Father was singing that to me! I think of all the songs KB did I think that one maybe one of my favorites even though it's made my eyes water! The other thing about the concert was that it was more affordable compared to all the other concerts. I think what may have helped is those artists Trip Lee, Terrian Woods, and KB are independent Christian artists which made it economical. I'm sure if there would have been major Contemporary Christian artists, it likely would have cost more! The concert started a little bit after 7 PM and ended at 10 PM or close to that which meant we got put in good timing. Not only that when the concert was over I got to talk to some people as did relatives about how the night went as well as concerns for the rain we've had. (That's for another blog for me to share!) When it was time for us to go home it was raining outside but not as hard as it was when the concert was going on. But the further drove home the rain got less and less to the point it eventually stopped! By the grace of God no water was in our basement (Side note had water in the basement on Tuesday and Wednesday) though sadly my church "New Life Assembly Of God Church" had severe flooding in the basement countless times. (Again that's for another blog for another time.) But looking back I believe it was an act of God that He enabled me, my relatives, and others to have fun at an indoor concert (I've been to outdoor concerts in the past) despite the brutal rain. So much for praising God in the midst of the storm! So that's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called the "Ascension Of Christ". If you ladies recall before I shared the blogs about prison injustice and my recent vacation, I wrote blogs honoring "Holy Week" starting with "Palm Sunday", (His triumph entry riding a donkey) His crucifixion on "Good Friday", and His resurrection on "Easter Sunday". The Bible says that after Jesus rose from the dead He remained on earth for 40 days and appeared to over 500 people! Wow that's a lot of people! (Side note I wouldn't be surprised if He appeared to His younger stepbrothers James the Just, Jude, His mom, and the rest of His younger step-siblings. Perhaps His resurrection is what made His younger step-siblings believe that He's the Son of God!) Scripture mentioned that He appeared to His disciples in Mark, Luke, and John, appeared to the discord of Emmaus and countless others. I also wouldn't be surprised that Christ wanted to make sure He spent quality time with His male disciples, women of Galilee, and others knowing that He was going to go back to heaven shortly. Matthew 28:19 talks about the "Great Commission" that He gave His male disciples to go preach the gospel baptizing folks in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To teach all He had commanded them. Then He promised He'd be with them always until the end of the age. We also know that in Acts 1:8 that Christ made another promise to His male disciples and declared they shall receive power that when the Holy Ghost comes upon them. He told them they shall be witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Another thing I want to mention here is that after Jesus died and rose again, His male disciples believed that perhaps would restore the kingdom of Israel! That may sound strange but their mindset was that Christ would set on an earthly kingdom and rule! (Side note that's going to happen much later and Scripture mentions that Christ will reign during the Millennial reign for a 1,000 years after the seven year tribulation period! By that point the kingdom of Israel will be restored but that's for another blog!) But see they weren't seeing the "big picture" and Christ came during His first coming to establish His kingdom not outwardly but inwardly! It would take awhile for His male disciples to understand that but Christ also promised to send His Holy Spirit to help them and commanded them not to leave until they've been clothed with power from on high! As He was giving them those instructions He stood with them on the Mount of Olives (a place where they've met before) and out of nowhere He started ascending into heaven in front of their eyes! What a sight that must have been! The only other person that ascended into heaven which was Elijah mentioned in 2 Kings 2 and was taken up through a chariot of fire in front of his "spiritual son" Elisha! What a scene that must have been for Elisha to have witnessed! Now thousands of years later it happened again this time with our Lord and He continued to go up, up, up! As that continued to happen His male disciples kept looking until they couldn't see our Lord anymore! Then two angels appeared and said to His male disciples. "Why are y'all gazing at the sky? The same Jesus that was taken from heaven will one day descend in like manner! In other words the angels promised Christ's male disciples that they'll see Him again! Of course they wouldn't see Jesus face to face again until they all died a martyrs death is when they were able to go to heaven! But when Christ ascended is when the Holy Spirit descended and as we know they were baptized in the Holy Ghost in the upperroom after waiting for ten days! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. I don't know about y'all but I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus and Scripture come alive! I know y'all are thankful for the Holy Ghost too. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a great week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Me And A Friends Interesting Vacation". Let me start off by saying I don't go on vacation a whole lot for various reasons due to money, timing, and depending on the occasion. The last time I took a vacation was after Christmas during New Year's season at Taylor, Michigan was December 30th 2025 through January 2nd 2026. (It was my godfather's meeting.) We got to fly all the way to Washington DC which was crazy! Me and my friend drove from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to an airport in Chicago, Illinois. But here's where the craziness came in. We booked a flight the night before and it got cancelled because my friend had a paper ID instead of a physical copy of a state ID! (Side note I had my physical copy of my state ID which made it easier for me.) Yeah that's what happened! We stayed at the airport trying to figure out what other flight we needed to book and it was even more challenging! I then had enough and had to call an intercessor to pray with me and for me about the whole situation. My stress level was on a all-time high and I went into the bathroom and sobbed because of the stress! By the grace of God we were able to book a different flight on Frontier airlines and we were able to fly at 4:45 PM or a little after that and we stayed at Orlando, Florida which it was a several hour layover! Me and my friend decided to stay at the airport overnight to avoid staying at the hotel and ubering! Number one if we stayed at a hotel in Florida we would have had to pay for it and we had to Uber there and back to the airport. It would have made it complicated and not only that I don't think Uber drivers work that early in the morning! It was uncomfortable staying the night at the airport but by God's grace I was able to sleep a few hours or so! (I got up early to pray and read the Bible.) Then we were able to make the morning flight and landed at the airport but my friends luggage wasn't delivered and it had her clothes! I had to lend my old clothes for her to wear and we split the cost for uber to make it to the Washington DC Lincoln Memorial! It would be there that I took pictures there and got to meet friends out of state! I took a picture of President Abraham Lincoln's statue as did many other people! We got to march with other Christians from other states to protest against injustice! For those of you who may or may not know injustice is still happening in our nation. One of the injustices is people getting incarcerated unjustly, against minorities, and even against pastors! As we were marching, some us were carrying posters while all of us were chanting! The poster I carried was "Stop fighting my religious beliefs" because that's the most important freedom there is! Some of the chants that I remember that said. "If you silence our pastors our voices get louder!" Another chant I remember stated. "You will not target churches anymore. No more!" I think that was my absolute favorite chant because it's a rebuke to the government to leave the church of America alone! It was a nice day no rain by the grace of God. Get this ladies. This was me and my friends first time ever being in Washington DC! Another important factor to remember is this was the first time of me flying an airplane since 2019! Whew! The last time I flew on a airplane was when I took my last missions trip to Los Angeles, California with my former church "Discover Church". (I took a missions trip to California in 2014 and flew to Mexico twice in both 2016 and 2018! (I took a bus to Missouri for a missions trip in August 2017.) I flew on a airplane four times for missions trips (At my former church "Discover Church". I attend and am a member at "New Life Assembly Of God Church" for the past six years. ) which was why I flew! But since Covid occurred, my traveling life slowed down or was non-existent! (The last time I went out of state was traveling by car or bus to Taylor, Michigan twice last year in 2025. That was my first time out of state for six years if you can believe that ladies!) But God made a waste when it seemed to be no way! After we ate we split Uber costs to head to another airport which enabled me to get a flight home. (My friend sadly had to book a flight on a different airline for her to get home which was also had its share of complications.) But God was gracious despite the madness and I was able to fly home from Washington DC back to Milwaukee Wisconsin on a non-stop flight! Now remember that's a miracle because most nonstop flights are very expensive and we were able to get it $230 something dollars which is unheard of! Not only that it was a last minute flight (last minute flights are quite complicated at times) and on the way back I got to eat lovely snacks and soda which I didn't have to pay a dime for it! My dad picked me up from the Milwaukee airport, visited my grandma, and eventually headed home! Everything was crazy from beginning to end but by God's grace we made it through! (I pray our next vacation is smoother than that in Jesus name!) For those that prayed for me I'm so thankful for that. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, happy Tuesday, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I know it's after Easter season but I feel that the Lord has had me "switch gears" for a bit and share what's on my heart about prisoners. The title I have for the blog is called "Prayer For Prisoners" Part 2. This is a follow up blog that I wrote three months ago during my birthday week in January where I wrote "Letters To Prisoners" where I revealed some deep and personal stuff without revealing names. I'll be doing something very similar with this even after Easter season to share stuff about the prison system y'all will be surprised to know about. First and foremost the Bible talks about in Matthew 25:31-42 talks about the "Sheep And The Goats" where Christ will either reward or condemn those for the deeds they've done in the body. The sheep were the ones who fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, invited strangers, and those who visited the sick and imprisoned. But the goats were the ones who refused to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, refused to clothe the naked, and refused to visit the sick and imprisoned. Christ was saying in that parable whatever we do or don't do for the least of these we did or didn't do unto Him! Whew! And that's why for the past few months in my virtual prayer meetings, I've been more intentional mentioning the importance of praying for prisoners because I'm sure Christ will ask if we visited them or said a prayer for them. One thing I know I can say is I prayed for them and those who have been at my virtual prayer meetings have been praying! That's the first point I want to make. The second point I want to make is I know that people go to prison for just reasons. We know especially with murders, pedophilers, abusers, and human traffic people need to be in prison for what they've done. I'm not at all justifying what they've done at all but hopefully in prison they have time to think about their actions and hopefully consider their need for Christ. Another thing I want to say is that there's consequences for wrong doing and we know since Adam and Eve's sin, consequences were brought upon the earth because of that. So those that are in prison justly know that there's a price for sin and how that damages us as human beings, damages society, and even hurts the heart of God. Yet despite that, God can use your situation to see your need for salvation. In fact the Bible says in 1 John.1:9 "If we confess our sins He's faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". If you're a prisoner locked up right now and it's for a just reason I want you to know that God the Father sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins, mine, and for the whole world! In fact we just finished celebrating "Holy Week" last week concluding on "Easter Sunday" on April 5th (It started on "Palm Sunday" March 29th and it progressed to "Good Friday" on April 3rd.) where we honored the death and resurrection of our Lord and if you call on Him and accept Him into your heart, you can and will be saved! That's a promise! So even in prison you have time to think about your choices and perhaps you have time to think about Jesus and what a good opportunity to give your life to Him! God can take your heart of stone and make it into a heart of flesh! God can take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it around for good! The third point I want to make and really the main point of this blog is there are people incarcerated for unjust reasons. Sometimes the police may think a person is a "suspect" when they're not or arrest the wrong person. Other times they may arrest someone because they're racist (It's sad but true and that's happened before) or sadly people can be arrested even for righteousness sake. I'm gonna let you ladies know that it's common in certain countries overseas where sometimes Christians can get arrested for sharing and preaching the gospel if you can believe that! As a matter of fact in the Bible times the Apostle Paul, Apostle Peter, and John the Revelator to name a few were unjustly incarcerated for sharing the gospel but thank goodness they didn't stop! (You can read about that in the book of Acts!) Another thing that maybe shocking but sad to say is it's starting to happen in America the land that we love in a gradual way. I've heard of horror stories in America about pastors (who will be nameless in this blog) having legal troubles or getting arrested for sharing the gospel! I know right? In fact ladies I have a dear friend of mine who's a black man who loves the Lord with all his heart who got unjustly incarcerated because of greed, racism, and for righteousness sake! (Side note it wasn't because of him being greedy but because of the police who arrested him were greedy!) Yes it's happening folks and that's alarming! So ladies we need to remember to pray for those unjustly incarcerated to pray that God will defend them and that the police and court will realize their mistakes and let the innocent be let go! The fourth point I want to say which maybe shocking is there are more blacks than whites that are incarcerated if y'all can believe that! Side note does that mean that whites don't commit crimes? Of course they've committed crimes! Just look at the school shootings alone and the majority of murdered for that are white! (The sad thing is sometimes those murders end of committing suicide so they don't get caught which happens a lot though there are times they do get caught and get arrested justly.) But even with that I'm shocked how many blacks especially men that are in prison more than white men and that should reveal there's subtle racism going on in the prison system and a black friend of mine is dealing with that right now for the past eight months! The fifth point I want to make is that the court systems are often unjust to minority races as well. It seems to me that whites who commit crimes do get sentenced either to prison or granted a bond but blacks often get harsher sentences and hardly granted bond whether they're guilty or not! Whew! A friend of mine has been repeatedly denied bond and I believe it's due to racism and corruption in the court system! So there's racism in the court system and don't even mention about corrupt judges, lawyers, people lying in court, and prosecution that often goes on in the court room as well too. The sixth point I want to make is we need to pray for corrupt police, corrupt judges, lawyers, prosecution, and people who work for corrupt systems to repent, get saved, and act justly. Jesus tells us to love our enemies which can be extremely challenging something that I've had to do more alot lately! The Bible also says in Micah 6:8 says to "Love justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before the Lord our God". We need to pray for these people who have acted unjustly to see their need for Christ, to truly repent, as well as remember why they have their positions of authority in the first place! The purpose of police officers, judges, prosecution, lawyers, and the prison system is invoke justice in our land! There are reasons for those positions and I believe in respecting those offices too. But if they act unjust they need to be accountable and they need to repent or give their lives to Christ. I guarantee you ladies that a person can't truly walk with the Lord for any length of time and be unjust. It won't work! We also need to pray they remember they're in those positions to serve and to protect our community not to harm! The seventh point want to share is having a loved one incarcerated justly or unjustly can overwhelm family members and friends. I know firsthand how hard that can be when trying to be in communication with them or access to that is denied or the prisoner is treated badly as a result of that. Don't even mention how loved ones often worry about their loved one incarcerated well being and how much they miss them. Don't even mention the challenges of the holidays where it hits deeper as well and how grief of them being not there because of that. If you're a family member or friend that's dealing with a situation like this I want you to know I feel your pain. I also want a friend of mine who's unjustly incarcerated that I love you and miss you so very much and not a day goes by that I don't think about you. I also pray for you on a regular basis and ask other Christians to pray for you as well too. Know that where you are hasn't changed me caring about you and I know that it hasn't changed God's mind about caring about you as well. The eighth and final point I want to make is we serve a just God. If someone was put in prison justly God allowed it. If someone is incarcerated unjustly God saw that as well too. One of the hardest things to do is trust God to bring justice to people who have been done wrong in His timing and in His way. The Bible says in Romans 12;19 says "Dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, '''Vengeance is mine: I will repay saith the Lord.''' Scripture also says in Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon formed against us shall prosper " which means you won't get away with hurting God's children and get away with it! It won't work! That is not easy to accept especially since injustice has gone on for quite awhile but I believe there's something I've been learning through this process. God even in prayer time has had to remind me that He's taking care of my friend unjustly incarcerated and to "put him back in His hands" multiple times! We know that one day non-believers and prodigals who never came back to God according to the book of Revelations 20 will stand at the "Great White Throne Judgment" at the end of time God will throw them along with the devil, demons, Anti-Christ, and false prophet into the lake of fire where they'll dwell forever more! Whew! (Side note, isn't that why it's important to pray for the lost to get saved and prodigals to come home before that happens? Of course we know that!) Those who reject God will have to deal with the consequences of that at the end of their lives! But not only will God deal with the wicked (as well as the righteous) at the end of time but He also deals with people in this life too. Again I want to say to a friend of mine unjustly incarcerated I know you're there for righteousness sake, for greed, (I know people financially took advantage of you and I'm sorry for that) and racism. It breaks my heart it's ever had to come to this and it breaks God's heart too. But I won't stop praying for you, won't stop loving and caring about you and I won't stop asking Christians to pray for you either. (Side note praise report someone did get out of prison during "Holy Week" which is exciting!) That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Please continue to pray for me, pray for my friend unjustly incarcerated, pray for prisoners justly or unjustly incarcerated, pray for judges, police, prosecution, and lawyers to be just and get saved. That's what's been on my heart to share with y'all lately. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.