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The Audacity of Hope

A poem by Dr. Connie R. Shipman ©2017

From their homes, their place of safety, our ancestors were stolen.  Brought to a foreign land and forced to become less than who they were born to be, they survived, they fought, and they thrived, due to the audacity of hope.

For the rights that we have today, for the freedoms we enjoy to work and live and love alongside those not of African descent, freedoms that should not have had to be a fight, but were, all were brought to bear due to the audacity of hope.

The endurance of the water hoses, the dogs, the false accusations and wrongful imprisonments, inferior schooling and substandard housing, we had the nerve to survive and even thrive, due to the audacity of hope.

We rule, we teach, we organize, we preach, and we serve as activists, still due to the audacity of hope.

Why do we dare to hope, regardless of the challenges?  Because there is power, strength, viability, and endurance in not just the ideal, but the certain sincerity that exists in the audacity of hope.  Selah!

#hope

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Laughter Is Indeed Good Medicine

“He Who Laughs, Lasts” – Taken from Pastor Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional 

As I’ve mentioned in these devotionals, many people think the Bible is only filled with commands labeled “Thou shalt not”

They assume the Bible is all about restrictions and making you lead a boring life. 

But this should put a smile on your face: Having fun is good for your health. 

God tells us in his Word that life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22 NIV) 

I like to put it this way, “He who laughs, lasts.” Learn to laugh at yourself, put some play in every day, relax, chill out, have some fun. 

ENJOY LIFE A LITTLE MORE!

#LAUGH!

 

 

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Inauguration Day 2017

Well, good people, I have been thinking about the upcoming inauguration of America’s 45th president.  What a historical and monumental moment.  The speeches are often memorable and events of the day not quickly forgotten by some pundits and commentators.  An amount of controversy surrounds each president-elect, and Donald Trump is no different; he may have more controversy surrounding him than the last 2-3 presidents, not sure.  What I am confident about is before I considered being Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or other, I was American first.  For all of the joys and ills that is the USA, I am an American.  So, on 1/20/17, I will don some combination of red, white, and blue, enjoy my workday, and see what I can glean from the inaugural speech that may define what the next four years will hold.  Regardless of my choice of candidate, I will respect the office and view what I can of the inauguration.  Post inauguration, during the ensuing months and years, I will become an advocate for one more cause or another only if I am so moved and most assuredly, continue on with my life and impacting well those around me. 

#InaugurationDay   #IamanAmerican   #Americanfirst

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Your Work as Worship 

From Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional 

“As you enter your Decade of Destiny, it is important that you understand your work can be an act of worship to God. In fact, if I want God to bless my finances, I must make my work an act of worship. 

What I’m saying is that no matter what you do – sweeping the streets, running a corporation or the work of a stay-at-home mom — your job is more than a job. The Bible says while you are here on earth, you should use your work as an act of worship. 
This means whatever you do, you are to do it with enthusiasm. If your heart is not in it, you are in the wrong job. If you are not working with all your heart, you are sinning. I didn’t say that, the Bible says it. 

Why work with all your heart? Because you are working “as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.” No matter what I do, if it is to prepare a meal, if it is to sign an invoice, if it is to do an analysis, if it is to close a deal, if it is to make a sale, if it is to make delivery — whatever it is, I am to do it as if I’m doing it for God, and so it becomes an act of worship.”

Corresponding scripture reference:  Colossians 3:23

#Purpose

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The Importance of Meditation 

From Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional

What does it mean to meditate? Well, it doesn’t mean to put your mind in neutral and go “ohm.” That’s not meditation. Meditation means seriously thinking about something. 

Psalm 1 says, in part, that a person who meditates on God’s Word is “like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (v. 2-3). 

I want that to be true in your life. I want whatever you do to prosper, but the Bible says the premise for this promise is your commitment to study his Word. 
Today’s action point is this: I want you to get involved in Bible study. If you already are, that’s great! Keep it up! But if you aren’t, I would encourage you to find a Bible study group and join it. You will be amazed at how much studying God’s Word in a small group blesses your life.
#meditation

Meditation 

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Don’t Let Limitations Limit Vision 

I could not have expressed the below thoughts any better.  From Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional:

God will not only use your gifts to fulfill your destiny, He’ll also use your limitations. 

Consider Queen Esther:  She had several big limitations that made her perfect for the role God wanted her to fulfill. She was an orphan adopted by Mordecai; she was a minority, a Jew living in a Persian country; and she was a single woman. 

And God used all of these things, along with the gifts of her beauty, brains, and personality, to fulfill her destiny. Sometimes what looks like a disaster in your life is part of a much bigger plan, but you will never fulfill your destiny if you are having a pity party. 
Esther could have just said, “If only I hadn’t been chosen, if only I wasn’t Jewish, if only I was like someone else.” A lot of people do that. They live their lives in resentment, always looking at people and saying, “Well it must be nice to be them.” 
If you have that attitude you will never fulfill your destiny. You have to realize that the unpleasant obstacles in your life are often God-ordained opportunities to make a difference. 

You might be in a situation right now where everything is going wrong and you can’t figure it out. But God knows. Nothing in your life is accidental. The pleasures and pains, the opportunities and obstacles, God can use it all. There is nothing God cannot use for good in your life if you’ll hand it over to Him – and then trust him.
#dreams #goals #purpose

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Passionate Pursuits

When you have a righteous conviction, something about which you are absoultely passionate, inconvenience is irrelevant.

As I pondered this statement, I realized that my passionate pursuit is advocating for children who have been abused and/or neglected.  For some, they share my passion, for others, it’s sharing the gospel of Christ…loving Him and making Him known, it’s working out and encouraging others to be healthy, it’s working with those in shelters, advocating for the mentally challenged, it’s making money to achieve a certain lifestyle or to be able to give more and meet needs or provide for their children.   A passionate pursuit, a righteous conviction towards change and making a difference can be anything.  We all have one, we just have to be willing to tap into it if we haven’t already.  What is yours?

Remember:  Commitment follows conviction.

#purpose

 

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Perseverance Quote

“The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try it and the faith to believe it.”  You gotta at least try to go after what you want.  If you do and it doesn’t work out, at least you will have TRIED instead of only WONDERED if it will work.  It you try and it succeeds…well then, you’ve exceeded your goal!  Your goal is to at least try!