Bible

Trading Places

This week’s class assignment got my brain to hatch an idea. My assignment was to write a paper about collectivist and individualist parents how they differ and what would it be like if they were to switch children. Would their parenting skills influence them enough to make changes? So it got me to thinking and evaluating my lifestyle as a Christian. If I were to swap my life with a person who doesn’t know Christ would my Christian lifestyle change them. I know that I would not want to live their lifestyle I have been there before. It definitely should make one think. God wants everyone’s soul to be saved. He doesn’t want not one of us to perish. We have all heard the saying that we maybe the only Bible that a person reads and it may cause some pressure for some people. If we’re living according to God’s will one should not mind others watching them as an inspiration not as an idol. Now I feel that people shouldn’t focus only on me or any other Christians but the one who we look to which is Christ. All Christians want to be pleasing to Him.

If a person were to swap lives with me I liked to hope and pray that it would inspire them to turn to Christ. There are many testimonies that I have and that alone should be a huge inspiration. My mother grew up in Christian home her church was right next door. She was very active in her church things like being in the choir and writing church bulletins. When she became an adult she kept being a Christian and passed on her  parenting to skills to her children. I am doing the same things prayers day and night most importantly teaching my sons to have a strong relationship with God. One important thing that I have learned that having a relationship with God must be all of the time. The devil doesn’t take time off to attack us. It isn’t about the devil anyway it’s about God’s love for us that in itself should make the hardest heart soften for Him.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Second Time Around

When you can look back at past mistakes and own up to your choices it says a lot about your work with Christ. Our God is awesome. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me!

 

https://www.podbean.com/media/player/a4e27-617669?from=yiiadmin

God’s Creations

Hey Everyone Blessings!!

One of classes that I am taking is called Cross-Cultural Psychology this week’s assignment was to choose a country to write about it’s culture and how are their emotions. I chose to write about Italy. I also had to compare it to the culture of the United States what a huge difference that there are. There is so much that I learned about Italy that I didn’t know like it’s a little larger than the state of Arizona but has ten times the population. How Italy has only been a country for 153 years. I learned how important family is to Italians not just immediate but extended too. How most Italians children don’t leave home until they are 30 and even though they are gone their mothers still cooks for them. Or how they talk with their hands and doesn’t hold feelings in. Practically every place in Italy holds some type of significance.  Vernice is my favorite place it’s the most beautiful and romantic place in the whole world.

My class got me to thinking about the beautiful things that God has blessed us with and the gifts that helps us to create more. I love all the beautiful things that we have here on earth and the things that we are blessed to experience. How God took so much care with all that He created including each one of us. God loves is everywhere all we have to do is take a look around. It blows my mind and gives my heart so much joy thinking about the goodness of the Lord. I’m so glad that I know Him and so very thankful for all that He does. I thank God for waking me up. I thank God for my children. I thank God for my family immediate and extended. I thank God for my friends. I thank God for every experience good or bad and the ones that made me happy or sad. For every blessing that I have ever had I am glad. Father God thank You!

 

Reflection

My My My time flies doesn’t it? Where does it go? This week is the last week of the course that I have been taking. The last assignment that I had to turn in is a writing about my reflection of the course. What will I do differently in my next course? What will I continue to do?  It got me to thinking ( which is no surprise) not just about this course but my walk with Christ, my sons, my relationships my past period. It had me feeling perplexed for a split second. My life though not perfect I’m content with my decisions because I have Christ in my life. Like what was I even thinking my life is beyond a book report this isn’t the movie the Breakfast Club. Anyway I trust God with everything always if there’s one that I have learned that’s report worthy I am nothing without God. I will not push Him out of my life He has brought me a long ways for that I am truly thankful. Sometimes I just like to write out how awesome that God is not that I could ever forget.

Recently and this is kinda off topic I lost contact with one of my close friends for some reason they were on my mind heavily. This friend was a Christian too on fire for God when I spoke with them it turned out that they had experienced a huge tragedy and in fact has turned away from God. What a bummer. I mean really everything that happens in our lives is not God’s fault all the time. It is sometimes the devil or our poor choices that put us into certain situations.

Having a strong relationship with God helps with understanding many things I may hurt but I won’t allow anything to cause me to fall away from Christ. When I think back on the many times that God has helped me there is just no way that I can turn away from Him. Some of the worst times that occurred was when my relationship with Christ wasn’t as strong. What I have learned is that the devil attacks us at our weakest time. But with God He keeps us strong all we have to do is trust Him. He speaks to us, comforts us, loves us and guides us all we have to do is let Him.

 

No one Deserves To Die

Many times I get slammed for my views on various situations and I am fine with that everyone can’t take the heat…. I can though. Just call me Onyx slam me all you want duh duh duh duh duh duh. On a serious note the media again has fueled another story up and has caused a stir between the races. There is already so much tension this just added more to it. Now let me start by saying that the Philando Castile shooting was in no way justified and neither was the shooting of the innocent Dallas police officers. It’s all wrong. It’s not about race but people try to make it about that every time perhaps sometimes it maybe but Not all of the time.

With my background as a Christian and education in Paralegal studies I base my judgement on a case to case basis. There are some people who are walking around with hate in their hearts towards cops, towards black people, towards white people, towards asian people, towards latinos etc etc. And don’t give me the I don’t care about black people or self hatred speech neither are true. I am a black woman who is the mother of two sons. Look I know who I am. I love all people and no one has the right to cut another person’s life short.

I get the frustration that everyone has but we must not lose our heads. Now I watched the video of the Philando Castile shooting it was heartbreaking the officer sounded like he was panicking. He pulled the trigger way too quickly. Now I know some police officers and they are good yeah I said it.  They are people too who are doing a hard job and the job isn’t a popular one. There are some good police officers anyway I would ask them questions and one thing that they all have said to me a police officer only has a split second to make a decision. A police officer’s goal is to get back home to their families every night. Do you know the things that they see everyday? The things that a police officer sees can mess them up and then they have to remain in control. I don’t know what happened in Dallas exactly but I bet that the snipers who gunned the police officers down used the Philando Castile shooting as an excuse. Which is wrong. Some people wants to say how much they hate the police but they’re the first ones that people call when there’s a problem.

There are good people in every race. There are bad people in every race. It’s time for us all to understand the difference. Some people wants to have a reason to be angry and sorry I’m not one of those people. Facebook is off the hook people are arguing and deleting one another racism is a touchy subject. We tend to see who people truly are when the subject is brought up. Everyone is hurting and our country is in need of healing. Our country need much prayer. God is the only person that can save us. Many of us are so lost because of hate. Everyone of us are sisters and brothers we may be different on the outside but underneath we are all the same. It’s time to get prayed up and to fight the real enemy which is the devil. Yes I said it the devil anything opposite of love is his work and he’s using people to do it. I’m not falling for the hate that’s going on. You can do if you chose to. I got nothing but love for everyone. That’s just how my heart is setup God give me my heart. Every life touches another we all matter to somebody. Nobody is a nobody somebody is somebody a to someone. We have to do better. Blessings. Much love to all.

dallas-police-killings-protest-03

 

Racism and Christianity

Racism-the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

Prejudice-preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience

As you can see racism and prejudice means two different things. Here on Be Lifted the things that are thought about are talked about. I would like to compare Christianity to the four food groups fruits, vegetable, bread and meat all are essential we need them to grow. Yes as Christians we are suppose to be filled with love. Still we can not act like things don’t exist we must face them because the people who are aware of racism use it as a crutch. Racism is in the church. Now I don’t race bait I do think we need to face all situations it helps with our maturity level on our Christian walk. One can’t call themselves a Christian and be racist. Yeah I said it. How can we go out and save souls when some of us can’t pass the basic elementary level of Christianity. You can’t claim to love God but hate your neighbor. This is regardless of the race of a person I once heard a person tell me that black people can not be racist or prejudice and I was really? Get the heck out of town.

I am black my mother grew up during a time where she drank from separate water fountains and  attended segregated schools. My mother didn’t bring my sisters and I  up to be racist because racism is taught. Racism is something that is sometimes past down from several generations and yes it is in church too.

I wanted to point out how racism is in the church and what can be done about it. The main question that we must ask ourselves is do we as Christians really know how to love one another if not we must ask God for His help. Being racist and being prejudice is a sign of a person who is spiritually immature. It’s important for us to be honest why do some people attended church with others who look like them? Look we all know that the Word of God can bridge the gaps between any group of people. All people have to do is give God their hearts and He will soften it.

I remember I had a Facebook friend of mine apologize for what her white ancestors did to black people. I quickly told her that she doesn’t have to apologize for something that took place long before she or I were born. It’s with all the guilt and hate it’s hard for racism to go away it keeps getting fed. I know that I may get slammed for what I am about to say but so be it. Some of us must stop giving racist people a reason to hate whether it’s with guilt and the blame game it just needs to stop. Racism needs to be fed to continue so let’s starve it and make it go away. We can do this one step at a time.

John 13:34

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Yes He Is!

I have my ups and downs more ups than anything. No matter what I feel the Most High is with me. If we don’t feel various emotions how will we know that we are alive. I am super excited in a week my blog will be five months old and I have been in college for one month.  I think most of the cobwebs on my brain are gone. The brain juice is loose. There is more to come. I just can not wait to see what God has in store for me. All I want to do is thank God for making me who I am and for all that He does. I love God so much. If I had a million tongues it could not thank Him enough. Thank You Father God Thank You! I just want to thank You! Praise Break!!!! Hey Now. There’s joy all up In my soul.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Betrayal

I’m pretty sure that I am not the only person who feels this way but we all know that when we have a problem it seems bigger than everyone else’s. Many times I ask Christ for forgiveness about feelings that I feel when certain situations arises. Here’s the thing we as Christians know how hard it is once we decide to come to Christ especially when we tell our family and friends. One thing that I always say is a person can want to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and or blood pressure those things will get a round of applause but if a person says that they want to live for Christ it’s questioned. People want to bring up your past or want to feel like you really aren’t real about it.  Growing up all the way up until now I have had my guard up. I always worry about a person betraying me because they can’t accept who I am. So they will attempt to get close to see what they can find out. Is Tameeka really a Christian? What sins are Tameeka struggling with? Is Tameeka really as friendly as she seems? The most disturbing part is betrayal never comes from strangers. Enemies most times are family we aren’t speaking to or former friends. They know the most that is why betrayal hurts the most.

Recently I was betrayed by a person whom I thought was a great person sadly I found out otherwise. It hurt me to the core. What I am about to say may seem crazy but I am glad that the experience happened. For two reasons it helped me to become stronger and it helped me to have faith in good people. A good person came forward and told me about what this person did so that showed me that they are good person who stand for what’s right. I noticed that  I wasn’t hearing from people like I normally did. I thought that they were just busy it turned out that it was because of this person.At the time I was overflowing with emotions and questions. Like why did this person do this to me. What did I do for them to betray me the way that they did? What exactly did this person say? Why did these people believe this person? I felt so anger because I was so loyal and this person rewarded me by betraying me. Now understand this person turned people whom I have known for years against me. I have no idea what was said but I do know that this person is responsible for people not talking to me. This person’s betray felt like a crime of passion with all the backstabbing that they did. They are angry with me for some reason not sure as to why but I do know that God is a excellent defense attorney and will deal with this person. Still I never get angry with the person who lies on me must times I know why but I don’t understand why people choose to believe the lies even though the have witnessed differently. Look for me I always question when a person says something negative about someone there is always something behind it trust me. A messenger always has a motive that’s why it’s best to keep your eyes and ears open. What a person says about someone else actually says a lot about them. 

Majority of the time the lessons learned doesn’t feel great at the time but the purpose of it in the end does. Jesus Christ was betrayed and I can’t hold a candle to him. I do asked God to continue to protect me but to help me to  not shut out the wrong people. We are not meant to be alone Jesus wasn’t. Every person that cross our paths is for a reason we just have to wait and find out why. Also every move that we make has a purpose as well God many times allows us to witness situations to test us about what will we do. I’m thankful for the person who informed me of the situation even though it hurts I’m glad that I found out the truth.

All I Want To Be

In order for things to be successful

Between me and you

There are essential things

That I need to do

I am going to be your

Prayer warrior, a leaning shoulder,

A confidant and a Proverbs woman

Because I want to be your

Best friend under God of course

All I want to be is

A ray of positivity

That shines like sunshine brightly

In your morning

When you first open your eyes

I want to be motivation

In your afternoon

That gives you a boost

So you can reach the end

Of the day with peace smoothly

I want to be the highlight

Of your night

So when you close your eyes

To sleep you will

Dream sweet dreams of me

When the next day come

We’ll start it right over again

I want to do this daily

Be everything

That you want and need

I’m going out on a limb

And be a little cocky

Because ain’t nobody like me

That’s why I do these things

With easy

I aim to please

My king

You are the right man

This I believe constantly

That’s why I show

You so much love

That it overflows

I love you truly

And I am not letting you go

How Dare You?

Good Morning. Happy Saturday to All

I experienced a rather interesting week one that I will forever will remember as long as I live. This week’s homework assignment touched me as someone who is black, a woman and a Christian. As I have talked a little bit about on an earlier post there was a speech that we had to read and we had to explain which impacted us more about the speech reading it or seeing it. The name of the speech is called Ain’t I a Woman by Sojourner Truth’s it was given at a women Convention in 1851. She spoke of the inequalities of blacks and women. What I loved the most about the speech is how she made biblical references that really hit home for me. Even though I am black and a woman I am a Christian first. Nowadays people like to make a mockery about Christianity let me tell everyone something this woman showed strength and bravery during a time when it could have placed her life in danger. But her love for Christ made her fearless and it touched me in a mighty way. This speech put me more on fire for Christ more than ever.

The speech also got me stirred up about another thing that I talk about quite often and that’s how black women are disrespected by Some black men. I never feel that it’s okay for a black man to bash a black woman or a black woman to bash a black man. I could go on for hours on in about this subject however I find it comical the way that Some black men bash black women. Let me get this right a black man came from a black woman majority of the time witnessed first hand what his very own mother went through. Yet disrespect black women who are encountering the exact same thing? I highly doubt that God intended for it to be that way. In fact a man is suppose to be the head of the family and the woman was suppose oversee the household being the rib of her hubby. Some of these men can’t possibly feel that women don’t have frustration from the hand that was dealt and expect them to smile about it even though we do just don’t forget what’s behind our smiles. Absolutely cannot stand when a person says for a woman to pick better as if they knew that the man would waste their time. Most of the time we never know a person intentions until it’s too late. Some people are good as wearing a mask until they get what they want. The last time I checked no woman wants to be a single mother it’s a hard task.Look black women have to be strong and hold on no matter how much we get kicked around. Our strength is what keeps us going so Some of you black men don’t get intimidated understand us and respect us.

The last thing that peaked my interest was Cicely Tyson interpretation of the speech she’s 91 years old so we all can imagine what she has seen in her lifetime. I wrote a post about her in class she inspired me so much. One of my classmates said that maybe because she’s a great actress is the reason why she was about to bring the speech to life. I told them no that’s what she’s experienced in 91 years of life she definitely knows a lot the reinterpretation only sparked something inside. It made me feel proud to wear my life lessons like strips on a military jacket. I am indeed a Christian black woman and very honoured by that fact too.