#prayforourchildren2015...I'm on assignment again

Last year during the Lenten season, God told me to pour into my family and keep a record of how I was being intentional with them.  I did just that, blogged about it and within six months it had actually become my first book.  That is NOT God’s mandate for me this time. Let me show you how God works though. 

This week, my family and I visited Barnes & Noble bookstore.  (That’s when I actually saw my own book on the bookshelf in the parenting section.  THANKYA! )  Yes, I screamed and took pictures with the boys but that wasn’t the only thing God wanted me to see. In the Christian section, I saw the name Mark Batterson.  This was familiar because I had just completed reading his book, The Circle Maker and my husband is actually teaching from it in Bible study.  It’s a powerful book!  One that will change how you pray .  The title of this book was different though.  This book is Praying Circles around the Lives of Your Children.  This title immediately caught my attention because I had just mentioned to my husband less than 2-weeks ago that I wanted to make sure that our children are getting their Christian foundation from us and not from Children’s or Youth Church.

  Let me let you in on a little secret….oftimes when you Pastor a congregation, you get caught up in the job of saving everyone else and your children get the leftovers.  This is why there’s a running joke about Preacher’s kids.  For this reason, I have not been to Bible study consistently during this past year to manage the boys’ schedules.  We are mindful and intentional about it! While Byron is at church, I’m at home praying for him as he ministers, while ministering to our own children as I carry them home from school and practice, feed them, help them with homework and try to shut the house down at a decent hour.  Yes it’s a sacrifice and sometimes I feel like I’m missing something (our Bible study is off the chain), but in the end I refuse to let my children be the punch-line to Preachers kids jokes. 

For this reason, the title of the book really caught my attention!  Yesterday while waiting on the boys to get out of school, I sat in a sandwich shop and began reading the book. I could not put it down and started praying for my boys right there at the table.   Then I put out a call on Facebook for my friends to pray a blessing over their children.  Batterson mentions in the book about hyperlinking your prayers to scripture.  Not just reading the Bible, but praying the Bible.  So I asked my friends to pray Luke 2:52,  “May (insert child’s name here) grow in wisdom and stature and find favor with God and men”. 

As I lay in bed this morning, God gave me the latest assignment.  I am to leverage social media  (#prayforourchildren2015), during the remainder of the Lenten season to start a prayer circle around each other’s children.  Join me on Facebook, twitter and instagram to intercede for all of our children and pray circles around them.  I am here today, because my parents prayed for me and over me! (Although Mommy has been gone for 2 years, her prayer never dies.  Even my mother-in-law references her father praying for unborn generations.) Prayer works my friend!

So join me, as we lead up to Resurrection Sunday, to #prayforourchildren2015.   Even if you don’t have children, you know a child who needs your prayers.  IF YOU ARE A PRAYER WARRIOR, please pray over the requests daily. The Bible says in James 5:16, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”. (New Living Translation)

Let’s produce wonderful results in the lives of children EVERYWHERE!

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter  @soul2soledoctor

Now walk it out……………………………………and start circling your child in prayer.

#prayforourchildren2015

Has it been 2-years already? Tribute to Mommy

Dear Mommy,

February 28, 2015 marks your 2-year transition date and yet it seems like you were here just yesterday.  I can still hear your voice, still feel your prayers and sometimes feel your presence as I experience new things in life.

Thank you for being a praying woman, who loved us all so deeply, yet differently.  Thank you for allowing all of your children to develop into our own beings.  You didn’t force us to be like anyone else and you loved us just the way we were.

Thank you for showing us what true love could be between a husband and a wife.  This was evidenced by the fact that you decided to leave when it was just you and Daddy.  No fanfare, no show, no audience... just two lovebirds in the room, sharing their last moments together.

I can’t thank God enough for giving you to us.  You were a great daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and friend.   We knew that if we ever needed to get a prayer through, we could always call on you.

We rejoice on February 28^th because it’s the day that you transitioned to a place where pain was no longer your predicament, nor was sorrow your situation because you'd finally found peace in the pasture. 

Nelda J. Mattison we honor you, we miss you and we love you!

Love always,

Your #1 and only Baby-girl

Rules to Live By

Live your life to the fullest!

1. Get off your "rusty dusty" and do something that feeds your soul! ‪#‎getmovingnow‬
2. If you're waiting on someone else to do it, it will never get done. ‪#‎itsalluptome‬
3. Your message is unique!  ‪#‎nobodylikeme‬
4. That test was tailor-made for you, so only YOU can share the testimony. ‪#‎customfit‬
5. Surround yourself with others who will support you and want to see you excel. ‪#‎hatersnotallowed‬

Happy feet

Today, I am walking in my mother's shoes. Literally! It is snowing in OKC and I have on a pair of her rain/snow boots. I have happy feet!
It's been almost two years since her transition and I can still feel her presence.

10 ways to flip a lemon

Although they are bright, round, yellow and look pretty in a glass vase sitting on the kitchen table, the truth is, lemons are bitter.

Let's learn how to flip a lemon....

1. Make lemonade 
2. Make lemon meringue pie
3. Make lemonade pound cake
4. Make lemon bars
5. Make lemon cookies
6. Put it in your garbage disposal or dishwasher to freshen it up
7. Place it in a cup of hot water in the morning for detox and energy purposes
8. Mix it with honey to help clear phlegm from a cold
9. Squeeze it over seafood to enhance the flavor
10. Use it as a garnish for your favorite drink

Yesterday, my husband was preaching and he mentioned how many people hang on to the bitterness of life.  We've ben hurt, so we hurt others.  We hold onto grudges and make ourselves sick worrying about other people. We may have had money issues in the past and now operate out of a sense of lack even though we may have the finances now.  Always the victim, never the victor.

Well today is the day that you make a change...  it's time to flip those lemons.

Don't allow the situations of the past, cloud your outlook for tomorrow.  One bad relationship that broke your heart?  Go back and study the things that you learned about yourself during that relationship and make the adjustments as you move toward the next relationship.  You do know that it will come, right?  But YOU have to be open.  Financial issues?  Talk to a friend who knows how to help you clear your credit and perhaps pick up a part-time job.  Having health issues?  When was the last time you really looked at your pantry?  Is there more processed food on the shelves than fresh produce in the refrigerator.  Get a workout buddy and an accountability partner who will help you to be more mindful in your eating.

What's the bottom line...

Stop being a lemon hoarder!  Take all of your situations, both good and bad, and learn how to flip them to work for you.

EVERY circumstance that we encounter has a purpose.  God is not wasting His time, but is very masterful at how He allows us opportunities to see His hand and trust Him in the process.

During his sermon, my husband gave four points in handling a troubling situation.

• Recognize it
• Acknowledge it
• Accept it (this is the most difficult step)
• Get through it!!!!!!

Now go get all of those bright, yellow, bitter lemons and do something wonderful with them.  You don't have to accept what's been given to you.  Create your own masterpiece by flipping your lemons, thereby maximizing their potential.

Now walk it out...

Make a Connection

Connection is person who aids another in achieving a goal.

• Relate
• Associate
• Kinship
• Reciprocity
• Intermediary
• Mentor
• Ally
• Friend

Sometimes we are running around so busily that we forget to stop and appreciate the individuals who have strategically been placed around us.  It is not an accident that you keep running into each other at the store.  Nor is it a coincidence that his or her name continues to pop up into your news feed.  Maybe it's a reminder that you need to address them and make a connection.  My father used to always tell me to walk down the street with my head up and always look people in the eye.  This is connection! 

Who knows? That one connection might catapult you into your next assignment and victory.

Now head up, make eye contact and walk it out...........

Bringing Balance to the New Year

Well, well, well....2015 has finally arrived!  To God be the glory, because you made it!

Whatever 2014 held for you, it is now over.  Whatever decisions you made, whatever news you received, no matter what happened to you this past year...2014 is now over.  We can't erase, forget, lament or stay stuck, but we must move on and forge ahead into 2015.

I've been thinking for the last few days what message I would send to you to begin the new year.  All day yesterday, I was contemplating over what my treatise should be. Should I talk about the resolutions that we make at the beginning of the year?  Should I mention the 10-day cleanse that I'm doing and how that can affect your overall wellness?  Should I talk about ending one and beginning a new year in gratitude? My mind raced, but my heart wouldn't allow me to release anything to you.  I even woke up this morning early, ready to impart what I believe God would want me to say....but I didn't feel it.  So I didn't type.  I helped my husband cook black-eyed peas (an old tradition in African American households to bring luck to the new year).  I called a few friends and family members.  I cleaned the kitchen.  I caught a couple of New Years' Day sales online.  I drank my smoothie and my water and then I got back in the bed and went to sleep.

Going to sleep, while my children are up moving about, is very difficult for me.  For some strange reason, I feel like I need to be engaged in something, rather than just stopping and sitting still.  In fact, they usually ask if I'm okay, if I somehow fall asleep before the normal bedtime.  Because we had a late night service attending 'Watchnight service' at church, we were all a little tired today and everyone was in their own corner.  This is probably the only reason that I decided to take a little nap in the middle of the day.

When I awakened from the nap, nearly two and a half hours later, I felt refreshed and renewed.  There were no more signs of the scratchy throat that I had early this morning.  I was ready to move around and check on the people in my house.  And just like that, the Lord gave me the revelation and the word to give you...REST!

In my blog from last week, I talked about RESTART, RESET and REFUEL!  All good points to get your mind situated for the new year.  Something to inspire you and enable you to let go and begin anew.  However in order to begin anew, you must learn how to REST.

Most of us since Thanksgiving, have been entertaining friends and family members or we've been traveling in and out of town to visit friends and family.  Constantly moving and probably tired! As I meandered through the house this evening, feeling well rested, I realized that this is the one day that most individuals allow themselves to REST.  It's almost the non-spoken rule of January 1st.  Most of us stayed up past midnight to bring in the New Year, transitioning from the old and embracing the new.  Unless you had to work today, we were all excited about the idea of "sleeping in".

Well isn't that just it?!

In order to bring balance into 2015,  you must restart, reset and refuel...but you must also learn to REST.  When you rest, you allow your body to heal itself naturally.  Resting gives your brain a chance to recover and sort out the events of the day. Resting increases the body's ability to fight illness.  The proper amount of rest allows you to think more clearly and to work more efficiently during the awake hours.

As you set out 2015 to become a better you, please realize that with all of the strategizing, planning and envisioning, you must also REST!  Rest will make your vision shine brighter.  Rest will allow your plans to come to fruition. Rest will bring balance to your life. 

Now walk it out..............and walk towards your bed or favorite chair, because it's time to rest!  Let's start all over again tomorrow.