How do you personally know when God is speaking to you?  Christians are known for saying, “Then God said to me…” or “The Lord told me…,” but what does that mean in real life?  Do you hear an audible voice?  Does it sound like rushing waters?  Do you hear tingling bells? I have struggled with knowing God’s voice.  Or at least that’s what I tell myself.  I haven’t ever heard clanging bells or the cry of a dove, but I do know when He’s speaking to me.  Participating in the Bible study Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby gave me good, practical application of discerning God’s voice from my own. I…

I’m not a cat person.  Which I know seems odd, because I have a cat.  I tend to be dramatic and deal with life in absolutes.  I make statements and take stances that don’t have to be so extreme.  After having my dog put down on Christmas Day 2017 due to illness, I proclaimed that I was done being a pet owner. Then along came Greg.  I was looking at pictures of animals available for adoption in the central Arkansas area.  I had decided to get a cat for several reasons. They take themselves to the bathroom. Aforementioned rat infestation in “Under Construction.” No rats in the house, but I…

Even though she is the quintessential definition of a Sour Patch kid, Sweet Baby just melts my butter.  She is curious.  She is dramatic.  She is funny.  She is inquisitive.  And she never forgets. I didn’t realize how much she was listening to me.  I was hugging her one day, and I told her she was the sweetest girl.  Her reply was “In the whole world?  You forgot that part.” I usually tell her that she is the sweetest girl in the whole world, but for some reason I left the last part out that day.  But because she listens to me, she didn’t forget.  I have been reflecting on…

Online dating is interesting.  We live in a technologically advanced world.  It’s only fitting that the current dating style reflects the world we live in.  But it’s weird.  I’m naturally an introvert so I’m not really into being aggressive. Which is probably why I’m single.  Women are AGGRESSIVE nowadays.  I’ve come to the conclusion that men are enjoying being pursued.  That’s just not my style. Actually, there are probably lots of reasons why I’m single.  It’s come to my attention that my flirting radar is not activated.  During another smaller cousin council, my cousins informed me that I succinctly shot down a man who was trying to shoot his shot. …

Music makes me happy.  When I was younger, Boyz II Men was one of my favorite groups.  Those brothers can SANG.  Do you hear me???  I was thrilled when they were coming to Barton Coliseum.  My mom got tickets, and we went to the show.  The stagehands brought the roses on the stage…and Boyz II Men never came out.  I don’t know why they didn’t perform, but I do know I was devastated. Two or three years ago, we decided to give Boyz II Men another shot.  They were performing in Birmingham, Alabama.  Birmingham is not that far of a drive.  We love road trips.  The night before the concert…

When I was living with Ma Patra, each person present at the table said a scripture before we ate.  I was too little to understand exactly what we were doing.  All I knew was that before I could eat, I needed to say “Jesus wept.”  Now that I’m older, I know that it’s the shortest scripture in the Bible.  I was the youngest kid at the table, so the length of the verse fit me at the time. I don’t recall a time in life when my family hasn’t prayed over the food.  It’s what we do.  It’s who we are.  And as much as we like to eat, that…

Although it doesn’t often look like it, I’m invested in my hair.  I mentioned previously that, at one point in my life, I wanted to be a pediatrician that did hair on the weekends.  I could spend hours on the weekend microbraiding my doll’s hair just for fun.  I perfected the side ponytail and would use my curling iron to “press” my new growth between relaxers.  Baby, I was all about my hair. When I started my professional career in 2007, I decided it was time to go natural.  I attempted to transition for about four months.  And when I say attempted, I really mean that I didn’t get a…

Rats terrify me.  Especially the rats that took over my home.  I’m not being deep or poetic.  I’m being literal.  I closed on my home on February 29, 2016.  I was excited, but honestly, I was mostly thrilled that the fun surprises of buying a home were over.  Such a fool. My home was built from the ground up in 2008.  So, it’s fairly new.  Unfortunately, the previous owners had different ideas of what taking care of a home means.  The front door had an indentation from an ax.  Mold abounded in the vanity of the master bathroom because of a leak under the sink.  The carpet was all kinds…

I confessed Christ at Sam’s Club on a Saturday.  Way back when the Metroplex Event Center was a Sam’s Club.  “Confessing Christ” is just a fancy way of saying that I said out loud that I believed in Jesus Christ.  I wanted to claim Him as my own. I was helping my mom with our Saturday grocery selections.  In those days, my family had an addiction to Clearly Canadian, and Sam’s had it in bulk.  Just a little piece of heaven on earth.  Alright, I’ll get back to the point. I asked my mom why you had to be twelve to be baptized.  She told me that wasn’t true.  I…

Confidence is not my strongest trait.  When things get difficult or seem like they’ll be too hard, I have a tendency to retreat.  It’s a life pattern that I’m not proud of.  The more I reflect on my past, the more I see God’s hand pushing me to trust Him. I took Advanced Placement (AP) classes in high school.  I liked them because the grades carried extra weight.  Earning a “B” in an AP class had the same impact as earning an “A” in a regular class.  So, you could potentially have a GPA (grade point average) that’s higher than a 4.0. Mrs. Pickering was my AP English teacher for…