We all need encouragers in our lives, don’t we? Having just ONE person in your life who will speak encouraging words to you makes all the difference in the world. Have you noticed that there seems to be plenty of people who will readily put you down and a real shortage of people who will lift you up? Has it ever dawned on you to be the one who builds and lifts up?
As wives, we need to realize just how much we contribute to the atmosphere in our homes and marriages. Proverbs 14:1 says, “A wise woman builds her house, but a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands.” That is a pretty strong Scripture.
Did I hear you say, ‘Just how can a woman tear down her own home, her own marriage, or her own husband?’ She does it with her actions and most often with her words. In The Path to Becoming a Proverbs 31 Wife, I share about how we as wives can build our homes, our marriages, and our men. I talk about one of the ways we can build our men – it is through our words.
Pausing To Share…MY BLACK HISTORY MOMENT – A Slave, Midwife and Legacy: Dr. Judy Simmons – uncovered by my cousins Cleo and Melvin Graham
Who are your ancestors?
Have you thought about your connection to them lately?
Is slavery and freedom a part of your family’s legacy? If so, what impact did it have on your family’s life?
Here is a story about one of my ancestors, who played a remarkable role on the South Carolina plantation where my family was enslaved and later the community where she lived. According records we have found, my third great grandmother, Judy Simmons, was born in South Carolina or Alabama. She was initially called Judy Pickens, a surname of her slave owners Governor Andrew Pickens Jr. According to Andrew Pickens’ 1834 will, Judy and her family were deeded to his son, Governor Frances Pickens, who owned the Edgewood plantation in Edgefield, S.C. Fortunately, Frances Pickens preferred keeping slave families together rather than separating them, as so often happens after the death of a slave owner. After Emancipation, Judy’s last name became “Simmons.”
Judy figuratively stood on the shoulders of her strong African heritage and tapped into her familial knowledge of medicinal plants that she commonly used for delivering babies of plantation slave and freed women for more than fifty years (1830s to 1880s). Although she was not credentialed, she became known as “doctor” by other slaves and slave owners, out of respect for her knowledge. She was a remarkable midwife, who traveled between Edgefield, S.C., and Augusta, GA, to purchase traditional folk medicines that she used to deliver hundreds of babies. And after the War, she crossed the bridge from slavery to freedom. She crossed the bridge from dependence to independence, and in so doing she left her footprints as a path of grace that is traced to her descendants.
LaShawnda Wright is the CEO of The Wright Administrative Firm and founder of Yes! I Got The Promotion course. She’s born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and has a heart to serve God. She’s happily married to her husband of 8 years, Sheldon Wright, and mother to 4 little beautiful and bright girls. LaShawnda is a mentor, teacher, administrator, coach, and most importantly a servant of God.
Don’t you just love it when God confirms the season you are in. We are one week in our Bible & Group Study Pausing In His Presence: A Shut-In Experience by yours truly and I receive the following article by my good friend and editor, Barbara Hollace. I thought this word of encouragement was too good not to share. We hope you are as blessed as I was when I read it.
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 AMPC)
In times of uncertainty, I have found a place of refuge and strength. In the midst of the storm, I have found a shelter that is waterproof. When the hurricane-force winds of turmoil threaten to blow me away, I have found a solid rock that cannot be shaken.
There is no other name like the name of Jesus. There is no greater power than His resurrection power. There is no greater hope than what we find at the empty tomb.
As we emerge from the chaos of 2020, our lives have not instantly changed. Even what we thought would “stay the same” has not. If we put our hopes and dreams in a person, business, a leader, our bank account, or even our health, we will be sorely disappointed.
The only place where we will remain stable and secure is in His presence. “In Your presence is fullness of joy.” Are you experiencing the fullness of God’s joy today?
On my journey through 2020, God brought me new revelation and new “tools” to add to my “toolbox.” One of them was a new song in the night.
Over the past few months we had been praying about transitioning from the Pausing With God quarterly magazine to something different for the new year. When I received this wonderful article about my cousin, I couldn’t wait to share her with you all.
HARTFORD — The Rev. Cleo Graham, a New Haven native, has accepted a call to serve as pastor of Faith Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Hartford.
The Faith Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ is a historic church, located at 2030 Main St. The brick Romanesque Revival-style building, completed in 1872, houses the Faith Congregational Church, whose lineage includes the city’s oldest African American congregation. It was established in 1819. To learn more, visit https://faithmatterstoday.org/
“The UCC is the first denomination to ordain a black man,” members said in a statement. “It is the first to ordain a woman into ministry in this nation. We are a historic local church, having taken part in the nation’s first civil rights case, the Amistad trial, where the captives on the ship La Amistad were eventually set free. Faith Church raised significant dollars for the captive’s defense.”
“The UCC is the first denomination to ordain a black man,” members said in a statement. “It is the first to ordain a woman into ministry in this nation. We are a historic local church, having taken part in the nation’s first civil rights case, the Amistad trial, where the captives on the ship La Amistad were eventually set free. Faith Church raised significant dollars for the captive’s defense.”
The Rhode Island Conference UCC ordained Graham in 2013. Next, she co-pastored at Hope Congregational Church in East Providence, then served Beneficent Congregational Church for seven years. Beneficent’s community outreach programs, weekly open sanctuary sessions, and service to the sick, homeless, and aging populations of East Providence were a model for how people of all backgrounds can come together for the greater good, according to a statement. She was also asked to serve as Vice President of Administration for the Rhode Island Conference Board of Directors, a post she held for two years.
Registration for group study is closed. If you’d like to participate in a Spring 2022 study, send us your contact information to PausingWithGod@gmail.com
Genesis 2:21–23 (Life Application Bible) states, “Man gives life to woman; woman gives life to the world.”
******* HERE’S A LITTLE SNIPPET OF THE INTRODUCTION *******
While women are looked upon to meet natural needs, her immense spiritual contribution must be noted. Women are created to be more than physical carriers. Women are born intercessors. There is nothing like a woman who knows how to pray in such a way that she and her prayers reach the throne of God.
Registration for group study is closed. If you’d like to participate in a Spring 2022 study, send us your contact information to PausingWithGod@gmail.com
Pausing With God Ministries is deliberate and intentional about providing Engaging, Encouraging, Empowering group studies that will Equip you to be all you were created to be. If you’d like more information, email us at PausingWithGod@gmail.com
Registration is now closed, but email Sheri at PausingWithGod@gmail.com if you are interested in scheduling a future group study.
Currently we find ourselves in an unexpected shut in, but the doors of fellowship with God are always open. Here is your invitation to join us in Pausing In His Presence – A Shut In Experience
God is still in control, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. So let’s take advantage and take a journey from the Outer to the Most Holy Place.
Our time together will engage, encourage and empower us to be equipped before, during and after life circumstances.
Last year (2020) one of the items on my bucket list was to run a 5K by my birthday. So the wisest thing to do, I thought was to join the gym and get to stepping. It started out on the right foot till COVID hit and I was given a choice. Use this unfortunate event as an excuse to postpone the run or allow it to push me to an alternative.
Well I am happy to say that I did accomplish this goal, but soon afterwards something happened…
2020 Prepping for 5K by my birthday
One of my ongoing battles, is that I reach a certain number on the scale, slide in my favorite jeans and then I tend to think that it’s time to pause and celebrate the weight loss. Before I realize it, I reached out for that extra bag of chips, candy bar, topped with a midnight snack. ‘But oh no, this was not a best practice for me nor a healthy one.’
December 2020, with encouragement from a few friends, we started a Zoom online exercise group. This group’s focus isn’t about weight loss, though that will be one of the outcomes, but about living a healthier lifestyle.
So I hear you say why online? I say why not. For me, hosting a class online is enlarging my level of accountability base and it is also another item on my bucket list. I would like to become a class or Zumba instructor by the time I retire (wish me luck, I got 5 to 8 years to go)!
Let this video from Rachel Engaging, Encouraging and Empowering you!
One of my biggest fitness heroes happens to be a good friend. I trust her because I have witnessed her journey and her beautiful success. From time to time, she will be sharing some tips or best practices that are sure to Engage, Encourage and Empower you.
So do more than stay tuned, let’s get physical! Send us an email to PausingWithGod@gmail.com, in the Subject matter enter: Zoom and we will send you the Zoom dates/times/more information.
May God bless us with a healthier New Year (emotionally, mentally, physically, financially and spiritually).
PWGM continues to work hard in fulfilling our mission engage, encourage, empower and enrich women. We have seen numerous lives transformed. Women are challenged to turn their weakness into strength and using their gifts and talents to make a difference in their life, their family, and their community.
In All You Do…Don’t Forget to Pause and enjoy the Reason for this Season!
We thank God that for more than eight years, some wonderful sisters and I have gathered, Monday through Friday at 5:30 a.m. for Early Morning Prayer. We often pray for one another, but the mandate the Lord gave when He called us together was to be intercessors. Every 3rd Saturday of the month our group gathers to encourage one another. Someone would share a Scripture and then we close out in prayer.
We often remind one another of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
It was Jonathan Swift, the satirical author of Gulliver’s Travels, who said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” I like to paraphrase that to say, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but notenough of a relationship with Christ to make us love one another.”
(I do not own the rights to this video)
Paul explained three characteristics of Christian love that show why it is so important in ministry.
In verses 1-3 we are reminded that LOVE IS ENRICHING (improve or enhance the quality or value of). Paul named five spiritual gifts: tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and giving (sacrifice). He pointed out that, without love, the exercise of these gifts is nothing. Tongues apart from love is just a lot of noise! It is love that enriches the gift and that gives it value. Ministry without love cheapens both the minister and those who are touched by it; but ministry with love enriches the whole church.
The most important lesson in the school of faith is to love one another. Love enriches all that it touches.
In verses 4-7, we are reminded that LOVE IS EDIFYING(providing moral or intellectual instruction). “Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth [builds up]” (1 Cor. 8:1). The purpose of spiritual gifts is the edification of the church (1 Cor. 12:7; 14:3, 5, 12, 17, 26). This means we must not think of ourselves, but of others; and this demands love.
The Corinthians were impatient in the public meetings (1 Cor. 14:29–32), but love would make them long suffering. They were envying each other’s gifts, but love would remove that envy. They were “puffed up” with pride (1 Cor. 4:6, 18–19; 5:2), but love would remove pride and self-vaunting and replace it with a desire to promote others. “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10).
Read 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 carefully and compare this with the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22–23. You will see that all of the characteristics of love show up in that fruit. This is why love edifies: it releases the power of the Spirit in our lives and churches.
In verses 8-13, we are reminded that LOVE IS ENDURING(continuing or long-lasting). Prophecy, knowledge, and tongues were not permanent gifts. (Knowledge does not mean “education,” but the immediate imparting of spiritual truth to the mind.) These three gifts went together. God would impart knowledge to the prophet, and he would give the message in a tongue. Then an interpreter (sometimes the prophet himself) would explain the message. These were gifts that some of the Corinthians prized, especially the gift of tongues.
When the gifts fail, and they will, it is love that will endure forever. We will not be fully completed until Jesus returns, but we ought to be growing and maturing now. Children live for the temporary; adults live for the permanent. Love is enduring, and what it produces will endure.
Note that all three of the Christian graces will endure, even though “faith will become sight and hope will be fulfilled.” But the greatest of these graces is love; because when you love someone, you will trust him and will always be anticipating new joys. Faith, hope, and love go together, but it is love that energizes faith and hope.
In his commentary, Wiersbe says that he has ran across too many local church problems created by people who were zealous for the gifts, but careless of the graces.
Let’s break that cycle…. let’s not complicate a simple four-letter word.
Love is the key!
(excerpt from Wiersbe Commentary)
Ladies if you’d like information or to join us for Early Morning Prayer, email me @ PausingWithGod@gmail.com IN SUBJECT LINE: Early Morning Prayer and we will send you information within 24 to 48 hours.
Sheri is available for seminars, conferences, evangelistic outreaches, youth events, bible studies, workshops, or book signings for your event. To contact or book Sheri for your engagement, submit a request by US Mail: Pausing With God Ministries P.O. Box 9172 Fleming Island, FL 32006 or call (904) 610-4947 or feel free to email at PausingWithGod@gmail.com.
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