Heart Flow...

Challenging.Liberating.Molding. These three words help to paint a picture of my faith journey because what I have been through, good or bad, has helped me to understand life and my faith more clearly. I have learned that I am always evolving, growing and learning. That no matter what point I get to, there is always another greater level that I must reach and attain. Not for my benefit, but for the benefit of others. Every time I rise, someone rises with me and also vice versa. If I choose not to rise then someone falls with me. So I desire to live and lead a life of rising and in constant elevation. Significant moments: Grandmother passing away, running a 26.2 mile marathon, unexpectedly publishing a poem,  being declined acceptance to Universities, raising $2400 for LLS, family falling apart, working, volunteering, serving, giving, dealing with past pain/hurt and discovering who I am and whose I am in my Faith...this has all led me to this day. It is Thursday, May 1, 2014 and 5:35am and here I am desiring to serve in a capacity that have yet to serve in. These moments brought challenge, pain and tears. These moments freed me in my faith and helped me to take my eyes off of me and focus them on Jesus. These moments hurt and made me feel uncomfortable because there was some work that had to be done. These are the moments and there are more that have helped to see that my Faith is bigger than me. That there is a big world crying out for my experiences. There is a young woman who needs to know that yes you have been abandoned and hurt, but because I did the work and persevered, so can you. There are tears of a hurting nation that my shoulders are waiting to catch. There are voids within hearts that my love is ready to flow into. It is not easy but its worth it. That person's life is so worth it.  I have been fortunate enough to be surrounding and placed amongst Sheros. A shero is a woman who has impacted her community in tremendous ways. One of the Sheros in my life is my Pastor, LaQuetta Bush-Simmons. She is truly the essence and being of a Proverbs 31 woman. She loved me through every struggle, hurt and pain that was keeping me from fully operating in my full potential. She saw in me what I could not even see or imagine in myself. The beautiful thing about her is that she doesn't discriminate, what she does for one she will do for others. She is the giant in which shoulders I stand on. If she didn't accept her calling and trust God then what would have happened to me or the hundreds, thousands of others she has and will help. Her life is a testament in itself and a reminder that this life is not about me. That sometimes you have to lay your life on the line for others. That sometimes you have to love even when you don't feel like it. That sometimes you have to give when you don't have it, because the life that can be changed and the ones attached to those lives are priceless. Being in college has broaden my mind and thought. I have been immersed in cultural and religious courses that have allowed me to get a clear understanding of where I stand and where others stand. It is wonderful to be able to look through another's eyes and see the world in which they see it, so college has allowed me to better identify with others and also accept different faiths and see there purpose. Once you can identify with and accept an individual that is where the relationship can begin. You cannot allow your ideas and perceptions to cloud you so much that you cannot see others clearly for who they are. We must do the work. We must grow, learn and expand our thoughts in order to help the world. I'm reminded of a quote by Pastor LaQuetta Bush-Simmons," I will save the world, one person at a time." That is the key...that the one person you help will in turn help another and so on. So everyone's efforts when done with positive intention will be multiplied and manifested. It's the laws of the harvest. What you sow, is what you will reap.