Even when one chooses to see life one way,

Life may open one’s eyes to a different perspective.

As time passes by, one realizes that there is more than one way to see a situation,

So, it is imperative to hold on to one’s values.

Time passes quickly,

Reactions happen swiftly,

And the result may not be what was intended.

But what has happened, has happened.

Another day has begun and another chance has been given,

To be better today than yesterday.

This is the fact of life.

Live each day with purpose,

Choose reactions carefully,

So, the end result is what was intended.

And when the sun rises again the next day,

There will be less to perfect, and another opportunity to be better than yesterday,

Another opportunity to see life more than one way.

I recently went to a new hematologist, who said that I should be on preventative medication. A medication that could provide me with a better quality of life. I am not against preventative medication, but if I am already experiencing a better quality of life without the medication then why would I need it? We proceeded to have a deeper discussion about the positive effects of the different medications and when I asked her if life could be guaranteed she said, no.

I am not afraid of dying, I am afraid of dying without having all of my items in order. I will be leaving behind the best person that God has ever introduced me to, my sister, and she being my best friend and I hers, would have no one left. Our family is not the type one would want to be left with, so I have to make sure things are in order so she can live with independence and no stress.

Anyway, I told the doctor, if God calls me home in five minutes, no medicine would be able to prolong my life. She mentioned that I may be healthy now but in the next ten or fifteen years my health could decrease. Well, I would be older, and maybe not. I am living my best years now and that is what matters. My time is my time.

I have faith that the things she sees could happen, will not happen. I acknowledge that God made people to be doctors to assist me in managing my health, but managing does not mean owning. I know what God told me when I was sixteen. I have accepted a healing that I walk in daily. I know that my God is greater than every health issue that COULD come my way, and I know that doctors are here to assist.

She ran some blood work and said the results showed that I have protein leaking from my kidneys. That is a sign of kidney failure, according to Google. Well, I have faith over that test result and all of its implications as well.

Faith is the belief in the things one cannot see. It is the action of continuing to move forward in the direction that Christ calls one to move. And I am moving forward believing that I have been healed and will remain healed.

I wonder if anyone ever loves the skin that they are truly in,

If one does not love the skin that God has provided is it a sin?

As I look in the mirror at my imperfections,

I realize the only ones I can see are superficial,

But I am still uncomfortable in this skin.

Skin is a blessing to have,

Some lose their skin to fires, abuse, objects, or disease,

I would never want to find myself begging for skin, saying, Lord, please.

I guess I should be happy with my imperfections,

As it was perfectly created by God.

Even though, I do not like the skin that I am in,

I pray that through maturity, I am able to appreciate what others may wish for. Skin, that provides protection, life, and beauty.

I vowed in November 2023, to not carry any negativity, stress, or problems of 2023 with me into the New Year, and what happened? The devils heard my vow and conversation with Jesus and on New Year’s Eve, my puppy ran away and came back causing me so much stress and anger in my spirit. On New Year’s, my cat peed on me in my bed causing me to feel, again, stressed, angry, and powerless. I felt powerless not because of the actual action of the cat, but because I was filled with the feeling of being unable to control my emotions and feelings.

The New Year was beginning to feel a lot like 2023, with me carrying over my anxiety, stress, exhaustion, and sinking feelings. It felt like nothing was going right, and everything that could go wrong, did. I was already exhausted. At this point, I was two days into the New Year. I kept praying and trying to fight to get back into the light before I fell further into the darkness. Four more days and it would be Saturday – Bible Study!  

Saturday morning, I woke up with a headache so bad, that all I could do was call on God, take medicine, and lay back down. As my headache subsided to a high 9 from a 10 on a pain scale of 0 – 10, the pain felt on a level 10 would make one call the ambulance for a ride to the hospital and family to say goodbyes. I forced myself into the shower, forced myself to let the puppy out, and forced myself to get ready for Bible Study. Finally, 10 am had arrived, and I began to tell my prayer partner about my feelings and emotions, she is gifted with visions and we began to pray. We host these Bible Study sessions over Google Meet, from our propped-up cell phones. As we were praying I was feeling so heavy, but slowly I could feel my shoulders getting lighter, with my eyes still closed and calling out to Jesus, I heard her say, “I demand you in Jesus’ name to release Rhonda,” then a loud crash. Our eyes are still closed and we are still praying pleading the Blood of Jesus over my life, house, and mind. Finally, we ask Jesus to protect all of us and we say “Amen.” As I open my eyes, I am looking at her ceiling, and figure the phone toppled over on the desk, but no. She says, “Rhonda, my phone is on the floor behind me and it is cracked.”

I am able to still see the ceiling and I can hear her. She could not see me, her screen was black, and could hear me for about two more minutes then she lost sound. The call is still active because she could not hang up her phone – the screen is black. Finally, I got a call and it was her from Google. I send an invite to her email and she joins through the laptop and we still claim victory over our lives and all of our battles. The topic was, Which Road will you Choose: the Wide or the Narrow?

Just like that, we proclaimed the road we travel will not be easy, but we will continue to travel down the narrow road because that is the road that leads to Jesus. Then she told me, “I saw it while I was praying. You were surrounded by demons and they were pulling at your mind and heart, so I began to pray harder. I am here for you, just as you were here for me in my vision. You are a warrior, so keep fighting.”

Quickly, about two weeks ago, my prayer partner was going through a spiritual battle of her own. It became too much to bear and she began to pray, then she said she had seen me appear like a warrior and I began to pray for her, assisting her in winning her battle. Now, fast forward two weeks later, and here we are, physically doing the same for me. There is power in prayer and battles to be fought and won by warriors.

My headache subsides to a 2 on the same scale and I feel rejuvenated, ready for the next battle. She shows me her phone and it looks like someone picked up the phone, grabbed it at the bottom, cracked it with their thumb, and threw it behind her. Now she too can see that her camera is still on and everything she says can be heard through that blackened-faced cell phone. Luckily, she has insurance, so she will have another phone sent to her.

Well, satan, you can get mad all you would like, because we will win these battles! Every. Single. Time. Even when it does not look like it, We Will Win. This year will still be blessed with victories, covered in blessings, with goals being met, and life being lived as God intended it.

I share this story in hopes of encouraging someone to keep going and keep fighting. Pray about all things and go forth, “because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (KJV 1 John 4:4).

I pray you all had a safe New Year and were able to thank God that you are here to see another year! As I reflect on 2023, it was full of hardships, learnings, victories, and minor setbacks but I did not lose last year! That is truly a victory.

As I go forward, I intend to have more victories, successes, learnings, and opportunities to grow. That is what I will be writing about this year. I am sure there will be some sidetracked commentary but bear with me as I tread forwards and upwards.

My word for this year is decisiveness. I intend on moving with purpose and being pertinacious with my choices. This year I will be working on letting go of outward opinions and thoughts and just going forward. I will be a decision-maker this year! It will be different to take hold of my own life, but I am ready to do it. It will feel uncomfortable but I am ready for the challenge, I may look awkward at first due to the lack of confidence, but in the end, I will look as I should in my newest skin.

Join me as I continue to disencumber the chains that bind me with the Lord Almighty’s help.

Welcome to 2024!

I hope you all have a safe, prosperous New Year. As you settle down and start planning resolutions, dreams, goals, aspirations, or hopes, be sure to take a look at 2023 and deeply reflect. Remember where you were in 2023, is not where you have to be in 2024!

Please join me, in welcoming the New Year through prayer. Speak prosperity, life, and good things over your life, your family’s life, and those you have met along the way.

Talk to you all soon in the New Year!!! 😊

We have hopefully started implementing some of the smaller tasks that we set as objectives. How has it been going? Has it been easy to remain with the steps that we laid out? If not, that is okay. This stage in the plan is meant for those questions.

Go back to the plan and re-write the steps that did not work for your current situation and think of a better way to do it! Warning: do not skip the step, because it seems impossible. Get frustrated, yell about it, pray about it, and then come up with a more feasible way to implement that step. For example, it is difficult right now to put aside $1,000 so choose to put aside $500 or $100 but do not put $0 aside as the goal will never be reached.

Remember, it seems difficult because this future state is new to us. Then one day, we’ll look in the mirror with pride and a feeling of achievement at who we fought to become.

We are equipped with some tools to assist us in the New Year, to become or develop the skills we have always dreamed of becoming or developing. It is up to every one of us to either take the steps or to sit and keep wishing. I will be the first to tell you, that I am going into the New Year excited to become the person and obtain the skills that I desire.

It is time to turn our plans into actions! We have written our why, now live it. Our why should be woven into our daily tasks and work. It should be a part of who we are or want to become. Our vision should always be at the forefront of our mind, as a goal that we are continually looking towards. If we find ourselves distracted by minor tasks that do not lead us to where we want to go, our actions of who we want to become should be strong enough to reset our minds to focus on where we want to be.

We see our current state every day, as we are currently living it but try and remove yourself to live in your future state. This will not be easy as you are surrounded by the things that you can see and the same people that speak the same way. Mentally or physically, depending on your situation, remove yourself. See yourself living in your future state. Speak your future language, walk in your future confidence, lead from your future position of being a leader, and understand using your future knowledge and wisdom. Live in the future, and every time someone tries to pull you back, look at your future state and state your why because that is the reason why you cannot remain in that position.

In this implementation stage, this is where we put our plan into action. We already wrote down our process map or steps to get where we want to go. So, put on those shoes, grab those keys, get in that car, and start driving to the path of the future state.

Good luck! I cannot wait to share with all of you, how my present state has transitioned into my future state. I hope you share with me your successes as well! I know I did not write about Christmas, but I pray you all enjoyed it and remembered to tell Jesus, Happy Birthday. As He is the reason for the season!

It is time to put our why, where we are, where we are going, and how we are going to get there in writing. This should be a good exercise to make sure that we do not have any gaps in our plans. Start by writing down the Mission and Vision statements. Reflect on it and make sure it expresses exactly what you want it to convey. If it does not, then re-write it, ask other people what they think it means, and if it is unclear, then make it clearer. It is important to note, that while it is your why, it needs to be clear so that when you want to give up, you remember WHY you cannot.

Next, write the current state of your situation. Go back to your notes, look around – perhaps some things have changed, better or worse, write it down. This is extremely important because while you are here now, this is NOT where you will end up!

Now is the time to write down where you want to be in detail. Think about it as we did and write it down. Now that you have written where you want to be, write down in great detail, how you will get there. It is okay to start high level, such as being debt-free. But then, break that down, how will you be debt-free? Ask how will that get done, and ask it again, and again, until it is feasible to do. All goals are obtainable, some take longer than others, but all can be achieved.

Congratulations, we have written our plan! In the next step, we will discuss Implementation.

We have reviewed our why, reviewed what is happening around us in the current state, and now we will look at Setting Objectives or goals. When I reviewed my why and truly looked at my current state, it helped me realize how I envision my future state. I even thought about the type of people I would be around, the places I would go, and my etiquette. All of this takes change. Imagine, riding in a car and going to the local grocery store. Current state – home, future state – grocery store. How do we get there? We set objectives and they are: grab our purse or wallet, shoes, and car keys. Get in the car, start it up, turn the music on, reverse, and start driving down the road. Stop at stoplights, stop signs, and for crossing animals. Park at the store, turn off the car and exit the vehicle. Walk inside! Congratulations, high-level, we are at the store in our future state. Just as we took those steps, we have to take steps to get to our future state.

For me, there are little steps and some major steps that need to be taken. I have broken the major goals into little objectives that once accomplished will complete those major goals. For example, being debt-free is important to me. So, I have to start paying off the little debts, which will add up to the larger debt being paid off. For my major debt, I need to take the money saved after the little debt is paid and put it all on the larger debt. This will result in me being debt-free. As you are going along, strategically planning your life, be sure to set feasible objectives.

Now that we have set our objectives it is time to Develop a Plan.