A Blog, A Magazine. It's JustsumInspiration!

This post is dedicated to all mothers – from the new, to the not so new, to the seasoned and mothers whom are soon to be…

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From the first time a child is placed in its mothers hands. We realize then that those 9 months prior to baby being inside the womb is now a reality in our very arms. We have feelings of awe; amazement and oh how beautiful he or she is along with the reality of “Now I’m a Mother”. But after the newness of everything begins to fade away —- We are faced with the question of what type of mother will I be. Not realizing that the real responsibility of having this child has deeply sunk in. Upon leaving the hospital you are given your child, the arm bracelet that was used to separate them from the other children in the nursery, a couple of diapers, a little milk, some information you need to take to the social security office, a final CONGRATULATIONS!!! And suddenly you’re whisked away in a wheel chair to the car that will escort you and your bundle of joy home.

There are no manuals of the how’s, what’s and what ifs and there’s no paper for a nanny service just in case you get too overwhelmed. You are now a Mother and you have a 5-10Ib responsibility in your possession – life has just begun. If you did not have a prayer life before – It also has just begun for you, the day your child was born. Because now you have more than yourself to pray for, a child is an ever constant circle in our prayer lives and it continues eternally. (It never ceases)

At this point you have no choice about whether or not you will be an influence, because now every action carried out by you will mirror that of your child. But the question is what type of influence “YOU” will choose to be.

About 3 months ago my daughter approached me, she has always told me she wanted to be an author and have wrote a couple of things that have been strolled in and out of notebooks, this time she wanted to try and write a chapter book, but she found herself stuck and couldn’t get past the first couple of pages – she needed a little motivation to keep going, I often tell her – don’t start and stop, keep going you have to be consistent with your writings, don’t give up – why are you always quitting..

So I decided to show her something that I really hadn’t shared with anyone else, I took down all of my writings from the inside of my closet, which has been kept in a torn pouch, inside that pouch are plays, short stories, poems and random thoughts that I have kept over the years, I write something and place it in the pouch on top of the closet shelf…this time since I have a daughter who’s aspiring to write, I figured I would let her read one of the stories that I had written. I felt so proud to see her face go from side to side as she was reading each line, my daughter reading something that I had written, her mother…..not from a book, but she’s actually reading my writing….I was thrilled!

Once she finished she said mama, that was awesome – you are a good writer and while that motivated her to write a couple of more pages to her novel….as I turned to pick up the story and put it back in my torn/worned out pouch – MY HEART SUDDENLY BROKE INTO A MILLION PIECES!

I began to think about the treacherous road I was taking my daughter down, is this the way I am showing her how to live out her dream? “Once you finish that story honey, we’re going to buy you a pouch to put it in and store it on the top shelf of your closet and one day you can show your daughter all of your hard work” – THAT HAS LITERALLY GONE TO WASTE. All my  dreams went to the top of the closet and stayed there and that’s exactly what I was telling my daughter to do with hers, don’t go further – for it stops at the top of the shelf in the closet.

It hit me like a ton of bricks, what was I doing? – This two pound baby whom was born a preemie, this baby whom has depended on me from birth until now, was given by God to a mom with no legacy plan. As I sat there and cried, realizing that I was not only holding my daughter from her dream but I had held myself from my own as well.

What type of Legacy will you leave your child MOM, what gifts/dreams are you storing in your closet, locked away for no one to see. We are our children’s first influence; No TV personality should hold the #1 spot in their lives as being their aspiration; YOU SHOULD! Your child, from the time you bring them home from the hospital is your first FAN, show them how to be successful – show them how to be loved – show them how to be humble – show them how to be the better side of YOU.

You are your child’s first influence, everything you do or teach will be a reflection of you and your child will be there to be the little fish to eat up everything you dish out to them…make sure you are dishing out the right information and please whatever you do – take your gifts down from the closet and share them with your child, because we shouldn’t very well live out our dreams through our children, but they should aspire to live out their dreams through us.

Make sure you give your child all you have; for they are only small once and will grow so fast right before your very eyes….the time you have with them are only for a little while, give them everything that’s inside of you including what’s in your very own closet…

What Legacy are you or will you live out in front of your child?

A couple of weeks ago I got a call that I thought was going to change my life, I had been praying; seeking God and felt like I had gotten my answer…….It was a position at a job that I had left, a position had come open and I was called out of the blue and asked could I apply. They told me that I was chosen because they appreciated my work, I was a team player and thought I would be the best candidate for this position, I was excited and giving God praise that they thought of me that way. I told them that I would apply…….

Let’s rewind a minute: Before I left that job I had worked there for almost 8yrs, I started in one position and ended up in another position that soon led me to work directly with the Director and her assistant – I had some UPS but many, many downs while there, talk about Thorns – I was the rose in the midst of every thorn possible. That job indeed kept me on my knees in prayer and fasting and when I left I promised I would never go back, so when they called me asking me to apply for a job in the financial office – I was a little hesitant because of the promise I made to myself, but I said Well, it’s not for the other department and the environment is a lot different than the department I left…………..so I applied.

They received my application and a week after I applied to the job, they were calling me for an interview – Ok, I said “Great” all the while I was still praying and asking God for guidance through this process, I asked the Lord to let his will be done and if this job was in his will for me then I know he will allow me to get it. Upon the day of going to the job, I was excited and really wanted to look my best – I felt comfortable in knowing that I had built good relationships with the individuals in that department and knew that if they called me for the job, that I indeed was going to get it……..I wanted a change and if that meant going backwards then I was willing to do it at all cost…

As I was driving to the interview, I felt a rush as if I was going in slow motion – the calm mood I had when I was dressing, drastically took a turn for the worse…..I literally forgot where the job was located and what direction I was supposed to go in, I ended up calling a girlfriend of mine to see if she could help me out. I was running late due to this and had to call just to tell them that I was going to be late, when I finally got to the town, my stomach felt weak – As I looked at the road ahead of me and how far things seemed to be moving away instead of close to me, I asked myself a question “Are you sure you want to do this?” I kept on going because I wanted a change – but the more I drove the sicker I became…….I got weary, discomforted and my stomach was turning in knots every second…….I began to look at the  fields and they looked so dry, The town looked barren and everything seemed to have a dark cloud over it …

I kept  going, but before I got to the job I felt the lord say “This is not it” – This is not my plan……..I heard him but I kept going forward, I completed the interview and gave my best effort and put my best foot forward. You see, I felt at that time; that, that was the place for me because I knew these individuals and why would God have them to call me if this was not in his will. But the enemy hears us as well and if we are not careful we will find ourselves going for the first small fish that comes out of the water, we grab it and make a quick run, with the thought that God gave it to us, But God is standing on the pier saying WAIT! There is a bigger fish coming but because we failed to wait, listen and stand still…….we take the first thing that comes to shore..

The bible tells us to stand still and see the salvation of the lord take place (Exodus 14:13) Just know that Gods answers are not always swift (quick), you have to wait and meditate on the still small voice on the inside of you – for it is there that you will hear his voice. A lot of times we will settle for less because we don’t want to wait for MORE…

When the job called me, I was hesitant about picking up the phone because I thought they were going to tell me I had the job,  But when I answered the phone it was the total opposite, they told me that they could not meet the money amount that I had requested (which wasn’t much) and that they would revisit my application but wanted to see whom else they could interview whom would be willing to start at level one. They  said that if they couldn’t find anyone then they would come back to me. I got off that phone and shouted for JOY!! because God had already told me that, that was not his plan so for me that was just confirmation of it……

I said all of that to say “If going backwards  no matter what you are going backwards too, makes you sick or if  it’s not feeling well in your spirit then that’s God telling you “To Stand Still & Wait”  Because that PERSON, PLACE  OR THING is not in his perfect will for you. Trusting God is not only waiting on him to answer but it’s trusting his timing in the process…If you hold on and hold out, I promise you he has something greater in store…….

I have been in many situations where a person’s outlook on me was different than the outlook I had for myself. Trying to prove to someone that you are a good person can be very tiring, you lose sleep, and you wonder constantly trying to come to grips as to why they feel that way about you, especially if they really don’t know you. You try to find ways to make amends with ONE person whom may have a misunderstanding about you – BUT what about the other 7 Billion people in the world whom are doomed to have the same misunderstanding about you – What are you going to do, Chase them all down……I think not.

In my life I have been misunderstood, judged wrongly, not liked too much, called stuck up (in which I have no idea as to how they could come up with that analogy), I have even been judged by others concerning the relationships I’ve chose to nurture, everybody has an opinion and while they smile in your face on one hand, you find out that they are saying other things about you on the hand. The thing is people will be people, everyone has a thought or an opinion as to how you should run your life, raise your kids, whom you should and shouldn’t date, where you should go to church, where you should work, what kind of car you should drive and even about your choice of residence……with so many opinions it’s easy for us to get sidetracked and on the race of “WHY I DID, WHY I SAID, WHY I MADE THAT CHOICE & WHY I’M JUST BEING ME” If we’re not careful and I have been here many times before, we lose sleep, we lose weight, we lose our sanity and even lose focus trying to please people and be whom their thought of us should be……

About three years ago I had an instance of this sort concerning my son, at the church I once attended we were getting ready for Christmas Cantata and the kids were going to do a song/skit for the program. While my son was standing with the kids in the choir another young man started kicking him, well he told the young boy to stop and to his surprise – he didn’t. My son told me about it and being the mother I am, I just told him to look over it and move over a little, maybe they were standing too close – Well when they went back up to continue to practice, the young man continued to kick my son, Once practice was over we went in the back for refreshments and my son ended up sitting by the young man and his sister, the young man became rude and began to act unseemingly, (inside story, my son told the young man that his sister was cute and that’s what made him act out even more) I finally told my son to stay away from the young man and to leave him alone, We already had the issue of him kicking him and I really didn’t want him to get involved with anything else concerning him, I honestly thought that by telling him that, it would resolve things, I didn’t want to discuss the matter with anyone because children are children and they do tend to act out when a parent is not around, but in the midst of me telling my son to leave the young man alone, a church member came into the dining room – catching the ending of that sentence, went and told another church member that I told my son to stay away from the gentlemen. Of course I was called to the carpet and was told through someone else that my behavior was out of order and that I should not be speaking that way to children, they stated that they were trying to draw people to the church and didn’t want to run people away. So according to them the language I used was uncalled for, I immediately was accused of not being “church-like” I was wrong and that is not how church people were supposed to carry on, WHAT??

They took the half-truth of someone else and ran with it, they didn’t know of the events that happened prior but at that time it became of no concern, I was being judged on what I said and the verdict already had me looking very GUILTY! My integrity was challenged, they weren’t thinking of all the other good things I had done, said or given; NO, right now I was rachid, thoughtless, careless and downright wrong. REALLY?? What I didn’t understand was, why was all this information being related to me by someone else, I immediately became sad and disappointed because all my life I had been judged in some type of form, way, shape or fashion, it’s amazing no one remembers the good somehow as the negative always has a domino effect of coming in first place in every circumstance.

I lost sleep over that incident, I immediately began to think of the many situations I could do to make it right, I didn’t mean what I said – IF only they had gotten the full story and maybe it was my fault as I should have told someone what was going on with the young man and my son prior to this fault, then maybe none of this wouldn’t have taken place – But I was just trying to be the PEACEMAKER in the situation by trying to figure out the right way of dealing with my son and this negative situation. Now I’m being viewed as a NON-CHRISTIAN! 

I said that to say many times our character is tested, our integrity is questioned and our motives will be judged but you can’t help, neither do you have control over what people may say, think or perceive about you, There’s no need in chasing down an untruth and forget the notion of trying to get people to see you in a different light – While people are people and they will talk, criticize, judge and perceive what they want about you. Just remember one thing:

THEY DID ALL THAT AND THEN SOME TO JESUS FIRST!!

There’s a song by Vickie Winans that states, No Cross; No Crown, the song goes on to say if you can’t stand to be talked about sometimes, if you can’t stand a little disappointment sometimes, if you can’t stand being talked about sometimes and if you think you should always be up and never down – No Cross, No Crown – Must Jesus bear the cross alone?

We all will be misjudged sometimes and our identity will be compromised but if Jesus could endure it then so can you, by acting out and chasing a misconception down to prove you are not like what’s being said or misconstrued about you is saying you are better than Christ or Well that was in Jesus’ Day – He has no clue about LIFE today…

Trust me my friend, the same messed up people that was back then, is still the same people today – the clothes and time century may have changed but God is still the same. The bible says that there’s nothing new under the sun – so everything that happened back then, is just a repeat of things happening now.

Keep being you, you can’t chase a lie – PLEASE DON’T TRY! That LIE will always run into the TRUTH. So keep your cool, keep your sanity and just know if they talked about Jesus, they will do the same to you – HE ENDURED and has now given you the POWER to ENDURE! Even more than he did.

Continue to let God work in your life and let people think what they want to think and perceive what they want to perceive because their thought of you (which is what it is) will outweigh the TRUTH you have about yourself any day. Don’t compromise your character instead STAND STILL and watch God turn that THOUGHT into the TRUTH.

 

 

 

You know tomorrow is or today, whenever you read this is Thursday; However, I hear a lot of people talking about Throwback Thursdays, in which is supposed to be a day where you revisit the past to bring something to the present day, this could be a variety of things depending on the individual. In thinking about that I decided to revisit a passion of mine that I honestly didn’t really put too much thought into and that was/is “writing” – You know before you were born God knew if you were going to be a boy or a girl, he knew what color you would be, what your name would be and even knew (far ahead) who you were meant to become, what accomplishments and failures you would experience in life and how you would handle or use the gifts that he has placed on the inside of you.

The bible says “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5)

So if God knew you before your parents knew that you were to be born, do you not think that he already has equipped you with the tools to handle the gift that he has placed on the inside of you. He placed a wonderful gift in you, a magnificent gift that someone else might do or duplicate but because it’s a GIFT that HE has given to you, you will have the emotion, the spirituality and the drive in you to take your gift to levels that an ordinary person whom don’t have that gift will not be able to do. You see God has equipped “YOU” with the gift, so you already have the necessary tools to take that gifting from a 2 to a 20.  With that being said, I revisited a writing that I did when I was in the 11th grade, which was just last year – Just kidding, it seemed like last year, but it’s been many moons ago.

When I looked back at the writing, I couldn’t believe that it had been so long ago as my words were so big, you would have thought you were looking at cloud writing, guess I was still trying to figure out my writing technique. As I looked at the writing before me I thought about the gift that God had placed in me, I realized that I always had the ability to write; I wrote poems, I wrote short stories, I wrote plays, I even composed and wrote for newsletters – WOW! all these years and I had not even noticed how God allowed me to use my gifting and I sat on it, used it sometimes but generally sat on it, I didn’t take it no further than I wanted it to go, It was just a passion that I loved doing but I wasn’t using it the way God wanted me to use it. You know there’s a saying that says “Your talent is God’s gift, What you do with it is your gift back to God”

I challenge you today to revisit your passion, which is your God given gift. Are you using it like you should?, Have you used it some and now it’s on the backburner because life has gotten too busy? What is your passion…..what have you been doing all this time, maybe just for fun only to realize that it’s your natural born gift.

You see, you were not just BORN, you were BORN with a gift already equipped and ready to go on the inside of you. You wouldn’t expect to buy a car without the engine or buy a lawn mower without the motor, just as those objects come equipped already to help you do the job that you need to do, so is the God given gift that’s placed on the inside of you.

USE EVERY GIFT, EXPEND EVERY TALENT – So when you go before God, you won’t have to give him anything back.

In Lieu of Throwback Thursday, I thought I would share one of my first writings with you – It may be a little cheesy but it was for a class project, the teacher challenged us to use our imagination and write about anything in the room for a grade – This is where my imagination took me..

THE DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CHALKBOARD