What Type of Gift are You?

Do you remember what it feels like when you hear that someone close to you is having a baby? Usually there is joy, excitement and anticipation. As the birth day gets closer, the parents become nervous and begin to wonder how they will handle the upcoming change. The day finally arrives and baby comes into the world not knowing at that time that his birth was precisely planned for that moment.

Precious Present

When we think of babies we can easily associate them with the word gift. Babies bring an immeasurable amount of joy that becomes contagious. Who can resist the smile or giggles or a tiny babe? Mothers and fathers fall deeply in love with their children at that stage. They cherish their new and precious present.

As that baby gets older, goes through adolescence and then to adulthood, they all seem to lose sight of how important they are. College, work, competition and marriage become a blur of goals. Life moves quickly until it forces them to stop and take inventory of accomplishments. Discouragement settles in when they see that their hopes and dreams are not a reality. They accept that they are like everyone else and blend in with all the other unimportant people who have decided this is just how life is.

You Are a Gift

No matter how we came into this world, how we were received, or how we grew up, we are all gifts. Some of us were acknowledged as gifts coming into this world. Others were acknowledged as gifts years later. There may have been a difference in the timing, but that didn’t change what we are. We are, you are, a gift.

Each of us brings uniqueness to the table of life. Although some of our talents may be similar, none are exactly the same. We impact people differently. We love in our own special way and have the power to change lives with our actions. We have the influence to create ripples that can cross oceans at times.

Most of us do not realize how valuable and how loved we are. We hear of how we take others for granted and forget that we do the same for ourselves. We overlook our contributions as a friend, lover, parent, and child and view them as expectations and obligations. We do not see that we’re a gift.

Sharing Love

People are in a habit of listing the praises of others when they pass away. They begin to recall all of the wonderful things that person may have done. It’s a natural inclination to do that. However, I wonder what impact we would make if we made it habit to tell those closest to us how much we love them, and acknowledge how we appreciate what they do for us while they are alive.

We all need to hear positive affirmation. We need to know that we are loved, accepted and cherished. We are all born with those essential needs. Babies know they are gifts because they are showered with love. Why should that change as we get older? We have an obligation to continue that in our homes and with those we love. In loving others we increase their value and our own. We acknowledge we are gifts and recognize they are also.

Your Worth

Too much emphasis is placed on worth based on dollars and status. Your value and worth is beyond that measure. Life is about us, not I. It’s about the joy of being with one another and experiencing this journey together through the good, the bad, and the ugly. You won’t recognize that you’re a gift until you become a gift to others. You cannot live as a gift until you bring your uniqueness to the table.

What kind of gift will you choose to be? Yes, you have a choice. You can be a big present or remain a small one. You can view others as big or as small. The emphasis you place on both will determine the outcome. Choose to be a gift. Choose to be a big gift. Let’s unwrap ourselves and those around us together.

Get Dressed in Love

There are different ways you can dress up your inner gal. She can be dressed in love or hatred. That love or hatred can be towards others or yourself.

To get dressed is a choice. You choose what you wear and how and when you will wear it. You choose the accessories to go with it.

You may be tempted to blame others for how your inner gal is dressed. However, the blame is with you. Your reactions determine your decisions to your choices.

Are you wearing love or hatred? Choose love.

Surrendered Prayer

More often than not, we dictate to God how we want a prayer to be answered. We outline how it should be answered and even go as far as setting a deadline.

When the prayer is not answered, we get mad and disappointed. We conclude that God is not real, we are too sinful or He's too busy with other people who really need Him.

Surrendered Prayer is when you make your need or want known to God and then you trust. The trust comes into play when you thank Him and let "it" go, whatever it is. You trust that His answer will be the best in His timing.

God always answers prayers. He will not answer a prayer that will harm you, harm another or go against His word. In this case, the answer is no.

Often, it is the wait that makes one give up. Sometimes, what looks like an unanswered prayer to you, was an answered prayer to a loved one that was suffering for example, and you asked for them to stay but they asked God to let them come home.

There are many things you and I will not understand, here and now...but one day we will.

Surrendered Prayer is when you have relationship, a love relationship with Jesus and you know that you can trust Him. He's got ya.

Emotional Me...Emotional You

In the quagmire of emotions, I often found myself trying to find the balance that is considered right and acceptable. The dos and don’ts always floated in my head.

• Don’t cry too much. You’ll come across as unstable and weak.
• Woman, you never cry. You come across so cold.
• Woman, you feel too much. You have to stop wearing your heart on your sleeve.
• Let him do all of the work. Don’t show so much love.
• You’re too sensitive. You need to become (fill in the blank).


All those outside voices required an apology and acknowledgement of what I needed to be or become.

But eventually I had to step back and look at me, emotional me, and I had to quiet out all the other voices. When I did, I began to realize that there was a season for all sorts of emotions. It came with the life happens that occur from time to time, like the stress of being a mom with young children; the pain of losing someone dear; the regret of wrong choices; the anxiety of too many changes occurring simultaneously; the risk of diving into the unknown; the betrayal of a friend; the burden of holding on or letting go; or the challenge of starting over (to name a few).

Emotional me discovered that tears were not necessarily a sign of weakness but often a display of love, happiness and yes hurt and pain. But to feel meant I was alive and not dead to my senses. It meant I was living and not existing. It meant that I recognized there were areas to heal and that acknowledgement is the first step towards it.

Emotional me recognizes that at times the feelings of the blues is my body telling me to slow down or stop so that I can nurture the inner girl. It forced me to seek and uncover where I lack. Perhaps I’m working too many hours, facing a hurtful situation, not treating the body right or having a hormone shift and in dire need of chocolate.

Emotional me assures me that whatever pain that afflicts me is temporary. She reminds of times past and urges me to find a friend when the cloud of blues lingers on a bit too long.

Emotional me coax me to apologize after an irritable moment and encourages me to choose future dialog that will build instead of tear down (internally and externally).

Emotional me is the chick that tricks me many times into believing I should dress beautifully and escorts me happily into the shoe store to buy pair number 75. Ah yes she reminds me to buy or give hubs a little something so that he doesn’t freak out on the latest purchase.

Emotional me, emotional you… Too often we chuck valid emotions as being too emotional. We beat ourselves up, drive ourselves crazy and sometimes become more emotional because of it. We feel we’re not allowed, so we become more depressed and become more emotional and it becomes a vicious cycle.

To acknowledge emotional you is to embrace the essence of who you are as a woman. It doesn’t provide an excuse to reign as a woman gone wild but offers the acceptance that you love deeper; you’re wired to nurture, are built with a 6th sense intuition and have tear ducts that activate at a drop of a hat.

When you understand that about yourself, you begin to learn, as with everything else in life, that there’s a need for balance. Don’t ignore, belittle, or get exasperated with emotional you. Find out what she’s trying to tell you…LISTEN.

Get Dressed...Feel Pretty!

Some friends and I talked about how important it is for a woman to dress up. It makes her feel pretty. It's not about vanity.

It is easy to become careless with self as a person gets older. One of the things my mother drilled into us is that you need to dress appropriately and for the occasion. Although we don't follow it to the T, my siblings and I still take great care how we represent our family and that includes how we dress.

We know that our mom would be embarrassed if we looked constantly sloppy or walked into church or dinner disheveled. A lot of our friends look at us and say, you haven't aged. We actually have, of course, but we take good care of how we look. Again, it has nothing to do with vanity. It is loving oneself enough to invest the time.

We not only represent our family but we also understand that we are the reflection of God and represent His family. We understood that when we dressed up for a Sunday service, we honored God. I guess that impression stayed with all of us and we took it beyond church.

Do we wear jeans, sweats and forgo makeup. Heck yea! However dress up is not limited to clothes. It is smelling nice or pretty, making sure your hair is cared for, not being afraid to try new colors, throwing on some polish, shaving! You know the basic care to remain attractive for your significant other. That stuff is important but you see people let themselves go, and they don't realize that the lack of care impacts their self-esteem because eventually they don't feel good about themselves. It tells their partner, I don't think you're important enough to keep the attraction, and it tells God, I don't care to be a reflection of your family or a reflection of you for that matter.

Get Dressed today. Have fun and feel pretty or handsome. Each Sunday we take a selfie in church during service with the person we sit with. So if you dress up today after reading this, go ahead and take a selfie and represent proudly.

(Inspired by my book - Get Dressed! Life has stripped you...NOW WHAT?)

No Eres Victima. You are Not a Victim.

No eres victima. You are not a victim.

What is past tense, does not define what you are today. The reason you don't move forward is because you hang on to the past or to the labels that have been placed on you.

Others do not determine who you are. You do. There is a choice you are given every moment, of every day to believe. What you believe defines you.

There are many things, positive affirmations tied with identity that God says about you. None include being a victim. If anything, you are called an overcomer. What that means is that if it's in the past, you have overcome that situation. If it is in the present, even if you don't currently see a positive outcome just yet, you have overcome that situation. If it's coming in your future, and you can't avoid it, you will overcome that too because God said so.

If you're smarter than God than you will doubt the words you've just read. It takes crazy abandonment to do certain things in life. Why not use the same energy to believe the positive labels God has placed on you instead of remaining stagnant.

I dare you...

You are Courageous!

Often the focus is on the times we were cowardly or scared. Yet each day, we live courageously.

You have the courage to do your job and do it well. You have the courage to drive a car amongst maniacs. You have the courage to step into the unknown time and time again.

What is the unknown? It's finishing college and stepping into the work world. It's buying a new house. It's having a baby. It's starting a new business. It's facing a disease that can potentially kill you. It's the choice to deal with whatever comes your way in any of these choices...or more.

You may see courage as a valiant act but what it really looks like is the ability and choice is to live for more. You look forward and grow continually. You grow and you evolve constantly. That my friend, takes, and is courage.