You Are Released! Stop Hiding!

Shame: 1a: a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety. 2: a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute:(Merriam Webster Dictionary).

Fear: 1a: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. (2). anxious concern: solicitude. 3: profound reverence and awe especially toward God. (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

Regret: sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one's control or power to repair an expression of distressing emotion (such as sorrow). (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 54:4 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

1Peter 2:6 “” See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone ,and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

Let’s visualize some scenes.

Scene 1: Can you imagine for a moment that her life was full of shame, that she thought perhaps she was a failure? Five marriages and now a live-in honey. Making a journey to the well early in the mornings to draw water, hiding her face and her heart against the comments, pointing fingers, the whispers and harsh condemning looks from those who would gather at the well to trade gossip and judgement.

  Scene 2: Let’s start this scene with the most powerful and handsome man in the kingdom, strolling on his rooftop to catch a summer breeze and some sunshine. He glances to his left and he is stunned into silence. He sees this gorgeous ho and hottie washing herself and bam! Lust took over and what was right flew out the window. He had to have her even if she were married and loved her husband, after all he was powerful and could have anything he wanted and he wanted her. He took her she became pregnant with his child. Out of fear that he would be found out he used his power to kill her husband. He then had the nerve to marry her thinking that would make everything right. His fear should have been of God and not his kingdom.

Scene 3: Twelve years of feeling unclean, uncomfortable, twelve years of vaginal hemorrhaging feeling uncomforted, because she felt dirty and unworthy, she felt shame and fear. She knew a doctor who could heal her, but shame took over how could she ask him in a crowd of people who were staring and listening to her personal sickness. If she could just hide in the crowd without being seen and just touch his hem perhaps just perhaps!

Here are three scenes where people thought that they could hide their shame and fear and even their regrets in the wrong places. But the beauty of each person in the scene experienced the grace of God’s power to break the hold of shame, fear and regret that held them captive in their own lives. Shame and fear and regret has held us hostage since Adam and Eve was created. The shame of them being naked, the pain of guilt the instinct to hide from God and hide from each other. The enemy had them believing that there was no way back, that they were doomed to an eternal hell. Isn’t that how the enemy has us today, that because of our fear and shame, and the things we hold on to with regret we cannot move forward into the blessings God has in store for us, our deliverance and breakthroughs.

We give power to our shame and fears our regrets. When we mess up, we tend to want to hide from God, and hiding suddenly makes us weak, we become damaged and silent. We let shame and fear keep us from going to God, we think because of our shame we are not worthy, we hold on to the comments and finger pointing of those who look at our shame to remind us of our past. We gave the finger pointers of our shame power; we just simply give it away. Instead letting our shame, fear and regret rest at the feet of Jesus, who is not ashamed of us no mater what we have done. We let our pride hide us from going to God as if He doesn’t already know what we have done or what we are dealing with. Shame makes us hide in the wrong places; we should be hidden in Christ. (Colossians 3:3” For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.). We become like the game “Hidden Objects.”” Find Us!

 We hide in our homes, offices, Computers, music, television, phones, we hide on social media, Instagram and pulpits YEAPH I said it Pulpits. We hide behind sermons that we think is for others, but it meant for the person who is giving the sermon. Until we stop hiding like the three scenes will always live-in fear shame and regret. Shame will pronounce us guilty; fear will pronounce us weak, and regret will steal our joy of breakthrough. While all of that pronounces us, unworthy Jesus pronounces us redeemed, free, worthy and not hidden. Don’t stay hidden come out into the open, the open arms of God released from shame, fear and regret. God released you from the sting of shame, fear and regret, released from the finger point, rear keeping folks who will help you to continue in your prison of those things. “YOU ARE RELEASED”! Selah Chayil

Stay Rooted!

“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.” ~ Psalms 1:3

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

We know that Water is essential to all life, it is human, animal or plant based. Water is a nourishment that quenches a thirst and a dryness. For a moment visualize that you are a tree that has been planted close to the riverbanks. Your leaves are brilliant green as your branches reaches towards the sun (Son) in praise and thanks for your glorious flourishing beauty. The nourishments from the son and the water nurtures your fruit to grow. Isn’t that a beautiful metaphor for our lives as believers? We arise every morning to a world around us that is noisy and so loud that often we cannot hear the voice of God.

The enemy distracts us with difficult situations in our life; we feel worn out from issues and circumstances and yes people! Ah People! Jonathan McReynolds said it best “I know you can heal me from anything what about people, people, deliver me.” Yes, God can even deliver us from people if our roots are planted where He plants us, and we don’t try to pull up roots and move further downstream. That’s not the spot that he put us in. When we try and uproot, we cause our own troubles by thinking there is a much better spot to grow in. In that instance we walk away from our life source “The Living Water”. We want things fixed fast and, in a hurry, we move out of character and disobedience. Instead remembering that we are rooted in His word,” BE STILL and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10.

No matter what we face daily we must take heart in knowing that we have “Well Established Roots”. God is the one who developed the roots, they anchor us, when we trust Gods plan and not ours our roots run deep to the source it makes us unshakeable. Because we are rooted and planted by the waters of God it enables us to weather any storm that the world throws at us. Planted by the rivers of waters will allow us to grow and produce fruits, trusting God brings an unlimited supply of blessings and promises. Stand firm trust your roots, trust where you are planted. Trust the water that nourishes, that helps you thrive. Yes, you will be will go through the trails of life, don’t be consumed by anxiety or fear. Stand rooted when the world tosses everything it has at us. Keep your hope and trust in God, planted by the rivers of water we are in our natural spiritual element. Let the essential waters of God continue to nourish, give growth! Let your roots drink from the everlasting waters of God. Stay rooted and planted it’s an everlasting quench. Selah!

Chayil

 

Note From A Lotus

Original Art.Artist Wendy Sherden..(Wendy City Blossms https://wendycityblossoms.com

The Lotus Flower is one of the most forgotten about and not talked about enough resilient flower that can grow through and go through the darkest and toughest times. This amazing flower reminds me so many times of sisters who have endured so much, battered, bruised, abused and rejected, wounded and just cast aside. I think about how society like to term us as the angry black woman. But I beg to differ we are not angry just misunderstood and underappreciated. We are so like the Lotus flowers that grow through the murkiest, darkest muddiest waters. Even in our darkest moments when we feel like there is no sunshine, we yet produce beautiful colorful petals. 

 We even learn to dance in the dark we float upon the waters with fluid movements that looks like dance moves swaying to smooth jazz on a summer’s night, we sway and dance underneath a bright moon. We are like graceful ballerina’s each move we make has a meaning to the journeys that we walk in life, for instance we Plie` we are bending our knees to pray, kiss tiny faces and yes even bending when we have breakdowns that has brought us to our knees, by people, circumstances and issues. In life we do Grande Jete`’s jumping from one foot to the other learning how to balance life, how to jump into action for our children and our loved ones. But like the Lotus we can persevere and thrive, like the Lotus we rise out of suffering, we have regeneration and rebirth. Even though our reemergence can be painful. But we yet emerge from the things that stagnate us, zap our positivity, the very thing that would hold us hostage crush our visions and dreams oh my how yet beautiful we are. The darkness of the waters cannot not hold us down, just like the Lotus we are weary and worn and we sink under the waters of life, oh but my sisters at dawn we open our beautiful petals and we “RISE” again. 

We must remember that “” Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” Psalm 30:5. My sisters use the Lotus as your go to flower when you think about who you are and what you have endured or what you are enduring. Your darkness and murky water are a momentary thing it doesn’t define you as a woman nor does it mean that you are weak, but what it does say is Hey! I am yet beautiful no matter if I am covered in mud, no matter if the waters around me a murky, smelling and it seems like I am forever floating. Yet you will “RISE” every morning with new meaning and new purpose because Gods plan for you has already been ordained. “His mercies are new every morning” Lamentations 3:22-23. His word reminds us that “” My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9. So in your moment of weakness my beautiful Queen Sisters remember that He is our strength, just when we think the murky waters are about to drown us, when our petals become heavy with mud, that’s thrown at us, don’t throw it back just smile and think about how you are a Lotus flower, what it represents and you will realize the worth and power that resides in you no matter what you face, its momentary because you will rise from the darkness into the light. A Note from a Lotus! Be well my Queen Sisters. "Selah"

Chayil

"Sistha's You So Graceful"!

 

 “Sistha’s You So Graceful”!  I want to encourage my sistha’s that are on the journey to ageing. Aging is a natural process of life, we age in the womb, from the moment we take our first breath we continue to age. As we age most are afraid to embrace getting older, we wonder if we will be forgotten about, if we can still enjoy life with happiness and joy. Then there are those of us who will embrace ageing as if it like going on your very first date, excited, nervous and scary all at the same time.

I for one have waited quite a long time to age, and I say that with the biggest smile I can plaster on my face. I don’t want a refund on ageing as if its some garment that I brought to just simply see how it looks on me and then return it. Ageing will allow me to lighten the luggage that I have acquired over the years that were packed with heartache and tears, no longer having to grab hold to the handles or make sure the wheels are rolling in the right direction.

Ageing allows me a set of new luggage, and now I’m ready for the rest of the trip. I can yet throw coins into fountains and make silly wishes. Ageing gracefully gives me new purpose to rise and stretch each morning and say, “Thank You God”! No wasted energy in wondering what is to come, because what is to come has already come. Ageing gracefully lets me know I have fulfilled my challenges and passed each test.  

Who says that I still can’t dance in the rain or sing like nobody hears me? It is also said that sometimes we get to old for things, well the only things that would be is the drama other folks create, and old newspaper. Who says that I can’t throw on a smidgen of Red Lipstick and still wear purple highlights in my hair? Or dance through my house when my jam comes on! Ageing is how you see it and feel it, if you think you are old, then you are, if you feel old then you are. It’s a mindset, keep your mindset physical and your body will follow. Ha! ageing comes with gray hair you say, don’t look at it as graying hair look at it as Life! Ageing comes with wisdom, be young enough to try it and wise enough to do it right.


Don’t be afraid to age gracefully, aging shows what you’ve been through, what you’ve survived, and what you’ve accomplished. Don’t be intimidated by ageing, keep embracing that beautiful melanin skin that god created you in. Look in the mirror and ask yourself what’s your best feature? Continue to appreciate what you can still bring to the table. Love how you look and embrace it.

For my sistha’s that are afraid of ageing, know that your melanin is beautiful, your internal beauty enhances it, it’s a part of your black sass a part of who you are. You can’t be anything other than a beautiful gracefully ageing black woman. Put on your best dress, your best pair of heels, crown on, a smidgen of lipstick and stroll across that floor like you just entered the Queens court in England. Remember nothing gets old but drama and newspaper. Sistha’s You Look Fabulous”!

 

 

 

"Super" "S"

 

Throughout history the strong black woman is iconic and our sheroes. A black woman can rock a baby, breast feed while putting dinner on the table. Run corporate meetings, while handling sibling squabbles with just a certain look. Black women can organize laundry while supporting her little league players and her tiny ballerinas and put on a head wrap at the same time, by the time the man in her life gets home, homework is done, baths completed, lights out candles lite , so she can focus on “How was your day honey?” Super Woman, Super Wife, Super Mom, cape wearing phenomenon. She pays to be the “Boss”! She is everything to everybody.

But has she been evaluated by everyone the side effects that she may encounter while wearing the many titles? Is it ever understood that even in her strength comes her weakness?” Most black sistha’s do not have time to break down, to cry and to be vulnerable. She becomes burn out, told that’s life! She cannot be weak, weepy because her super cape may become wrinkled.  But she needs a hug, a thank you, a I appreciate you. Her frustration and burn out becomes like a pot that is boiling over, she can’t hide her head under the covers and shut out the world because there is life that’s happing on the home front and on the corporate front. She has sacrificed visions and dreams, set up a complaints department to hear everybody’s rant, and violins song playing woe is me.

 From the moment we come out of the birth canal we are handed a mini super cape stamped with an “S” on it. Unrealistic standards are set for us to follow, s we grow we fine tune that “S” because we don’t want to fail our families, fail others, but in all of not failing others “We Fail Ourselves”. But my Super Sistha’s its okay to take off the cape and let the “S” take a vacation. It is okay to throw up a time out hand and say or even scream “LISTEN”! I am tired, I need a hug, I need help, hey I am hurting, what about me?

When we fail to take off our super cape and let the “S” rest, our mental, physical and spiritual breaks down, we starve for air because we fulfill everyone else’s needs except our own. It is said that black don’t crack, it never said anything about the woman not cracking! Hummmn Sistha’s let’s not crack. There is no need to fill like the world around us including home cannot function without us wearing that cape and displaying that “S” all the time, while juggling womanhood. “LOVE YOU” enough to take off the super cape. The super cape is not a badge of honor if there is no you to get honored for all that you do. You can still be that freedom fighter while sitting back loving you, taking some “YOU” time, saying hey, I’m not cooking today, ask your dad, honey fix dinner. Run you some bubble bath, print you a do not disturb sign, slam it on the door handle and “Breathe”!

 

You can still be mom, wife, friend, lover, CEO while taking some to rest. Just remember.

God rested on the seventh day: Genesis 2:2-3

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: Exodus 23:12

Come to me all who labor and are heavy and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

 

 There is rest my Sistha’s take it! Take off the super cape, let the “S” rest.

 

My Re-emergence Happy Birthday to Us.

 

There is always some form of darkness that tries to drown out the light. I have learned in this season of waiting, that it's really not about re-inventing yourself, but it's about allowing your self and learning how to Re-emerge from the things and people that would hold you captive in the darkness. There are times that we are afraid of the darkness, but I have also learned that in order to get to the light you have to brave the darkness. It's like walking into a darkened room there is no light until you flip the switch to ON!

To brave the dark we must sometimes wait, be still, listen and wait some more. Re-emerging can be painful, it can be uncomfortable but it's well worth the stretching and pulling that God takes us through..

Today a Queen was born ME! I celebrate my life today on a different level. Knowing that God created me fearfully and wonderfully made, He knew me before I was conceived, He called me forward ,He engraved me in the palm of His hand, what better reassurance than to know Who I Am On This Day.

I celebrate the woman who birthed me my mother Maggie  Warren, who risked her life to make sure I came into the world. I celebrate this Queen who taught me how to be a Queen. I celebrate her life, because of her sacrifices I never wanted for anything. I was taught at her kitchen table how to pray and seek God, how to be a wife and mother. At Maggie 's table I learned life lessons , advice some I took and some I didn't but wish I had. I celebrate you mother because your DNA of strength and , fortitude is within me. 

Thank you for every switch to the ankles, every punishment, every rule, every lil gal ! I thank you, I thank God He allowed you to be my mother. Thank you for risking your life to birth me. I celebrate you my phenomenal mother.  Happy Birthday to US.

 

My Re-emergence

 

Please visit my Authors Page and purchase my books.

 

https://www.facebook.com/Sadie-Chayil-Collier-1548047265457337/

This Woman’s Walk https://www.amazon.com/dp/1702086283

Talitha Cumi Little Girl Arise Affirmations and Poetry for the Black Woman

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086Y6HM2R

 

 L.I.F.T. Ladies Intentionally Following Through Devotional https://www.amazon.com/dp/1657652955

Soulful Journey A Compilation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0615889751

 

Break Free Queen

 

 

 

 

So many times, as black women we are afraid to break free. Break free from the path that the world we live in sets for us. It tells us that we must be thin, we must be the right shade to be recognized and accepted. It tells us that we cannot be corporate lawyers, business owners and Pastors. We cannot be empowered to know who we are and what we for ourselves. We are often stereotyped as angry black women who are so bitter to a degree that we always carry an attitude around. We have been rejected through out history, we have abused on so many levels, verbally, emotionally and physically.  Chained to the ideocracy and oppression of those who had hidden agendas to keep us from rising and breaking free.

But we are warriors none the less. We have catapulted off the backs of our black women ancestors that paved the way for us to break free. Women who was destined and determined to blaze a trail for us to follow. Sojourner’s last name was not just truth by coincidence, but by ordination, Sojourner was not even her birth name, it was Isabella Baumfree she  chose and changed her name because she heard the Spirit of God calling on her to preach the truth. Choose your name Queens and preach the truth to yourself and to others, Queen Truth was the first black woman to sue a white man and win! so you see VICTORY has always been ours. She blaze a path for us to have faith, a legacy of strength and fight, fortitude to press forward no matter the fear or obstacles she faced, a Queen in her own rights she earned that rite of passage, she said it best when she penned “Ain’t  I A Woman”? Sisters, my Queens Aren’t You A Woman”? Break free Queen.

We must break free from the roadmaps that others have created for us to follow, where there are roadblocks set up just a head to keep us from reaching our destinations of greatness. Break free from those who would tell you that you are your past. Break free Queen from those who say you must wear the long lashes and lace fronts because they snicker at your natural nappy, kinky that defines the very essence of your caramel, chocolate, honey, mocha coffee creamed colored beautiful skin. They say your hips are to wide, but those hips will birth presidents, and black CEO’s, surgeons, lawyers be it male or female. Those wide hips birth legacies.

Break free Queens from the pattern of putting down our reflections I am She and She is me, I am refereeing to the sisters that are Queens just like we are, she has earned that rite of passage just as we have, hard knock s, abuse, put downs, struggles. She warfare’s just as we do, she bleeds red just as we do. Same shoes different sizes. Break free from allowing those who would wound you to continue to rip off bandages from wounds that will not and can not heal until you stop them. Do not allow others who have garbage to simply come and just dump it in your pathway. We must break free allowing people to disrupt our journeys because they chose to walk a different path, beside everybody was not meant to travel with you anyway.  Break free Queens from speaking negative things over yourself, speak what you are and not what you were. Speak what you want and not what you think you cannot have. Break free from wearing fear as if it is a diamond bracelet around your wrist,  my Queen it’s a chain to keep you manacled to the I don’t think I can do this or I don’t think I can make it.  Break free Queens. Switch your chains of bracelets to a Crown.

@Sadie Chayil Collier@Copyrights2020@