let it bloom

and like a flower

sometimes you just gotta plant the seed

and nurture it with love

with enough water

and the right amount of sun.

weeding it out,

and overdosing it with more water

will not make it grow faster.

it is the same with love.

some things you just have to let it go.

let it be

and let it organically bloom.

in the end,

your result will be a beauty.

-live productively

i love that i'm richly blessed with older woman

to guide, teach and lead me into the way of righteousness.

i admit the narrow way seems slumber at times

and almost all the time i lose my way

but these women keep me level headed

and make sure i'm going the right way.

today i acknowledge my mentor and my mom.

two strong pillars in my life.

women who have experienced life.

listening to what they have to say,

i mainly sit there soaking in every morsel of their words.

it's life experiences, that can't be read in books!

they remind me that i'm still young.

i don't have to grow up so fast

and that i can take life a bit slower.

which brings me back to cutting myself off from my childhood.

having to grow up pre-maturely took in many scenarios in my life.

it made me a mom, a wife, a sister all at the age of my teens.

i've developed some mechanisms that i still carry around today

the mechanisms that sustained me through those rough times.

but today i acknowledge that i am no longer a child

and as much as i sulk and whine like one.

i must get a hold of myself, stand firm and be strong.

that's what these women in my life teach me.

when it comes to love, it hurts.

but through that, you become stronger.

and to become stronger you must become your own person.

today, i have grown just a little bit,

from child's play to being a grown mature adult.

we'll see how i turn out throughout the years.

-Live Productively

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior,

not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine,

teaching what is good,

so that they may encourage the young women

to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible,

pure, workers at home, kind, being subject

to their own husbands, so that the word of god will not be dishonored.

Titus 2:3-5

He gives grace to the humble

there has got to be a better way for me to stop breaking my valuables

once problems start to arise in my life.

arousing the anger that i never even knew i had inside me.

i've been doing so well on detoxing the unhealthies out of my life

and incorporating healthy remedies to a healthy lifestyle.

stress less, eat healthier, drink more water, exercise, LOVE more!

tonight i am living out the bible study that i taught this afternoon.

with the question that i posed to my students:

Q. When is it the best time to love?

A. When it is the most hardest to love!

and correct they were....

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another,

because love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

i love when God humbles me, proudly.

Got the memo, Lord. Got the memo.

-Live Productively

winter in ann arbor, michigan

was SOOOOOOOO amazing!

he who has an ear let him hear

But I have this against you,

that you have left your first love.

Therefore remember from where you have fallen,

and repent

and do the deeds you did at first;

or else I am coming to you

and will remove your lampstand out of its place-

unless you repent.

Revelation 2:4-5

How does a church become a lifeless place?

biblical servanthood

Faithful servants developed new skills to better serve.

Faithful servants did all they could to build the esteem and prestige of those they served; and this prestige, in turn, brought the servant prestige as well. He took great pride and honor in his role as a bondservant. And he, though perhaps wise in his own right, treated the thoughts and opinions of those he served as being as valuable as his own.

Faithful servants performed menial, thankless jobs in order to make room for those they served to exercise their gifts. The servant made allowances for the weaknesses of those he served as if they were his own. And in that way, he actively protected them from shame.

Lord, break me that I may be a faithful servant to those around me...

happy new year!

always with me [audio]

The sun shine don’t shine without you
You bring me the light in me
That makes me follow you
But sometimes my arms can’t reach you
Cause I keep falling down and I don’t know what to do
I keep falling down and I don’t know what to do

But I know that you know what’s best for me
And as I’m crawling on the floor
You’re crawling with me
And as these mountains get higher
And I struggle with fire
I know that you’re always with me

My heart beat don’t beat without you
And every scar on my body tells me that I’m through
But who am I to live without you
Cause I keep falling down and I don’t know what to do
I keep falling down and I don’t know what to do

But I know that you know what’s best for me
And as I’m crawling on the floor
You’re crawling with me
And as these mountains get higher
And I struggle with fire
I know that you’re always with me

You lie with me where I’m caught in between
The green pastures and the waters deep
You restore my soul, you take me where I wanna be
And as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I fear no evil cause you are my happiness
I know goodness and mercy will follow me
Cause I know that you know what's best for me...