I Guarantee It...

This month, November, is the month set aside to give thanks. Thanksgiving Day many of you gathered with family and friends and enjoyed food and fun. It was a time to laugh, to reminisce and to give thanks. It feels good to sit around with family, friends and loved ones and be cheerful. It feels good to feast on fine food and hear stories from others about things going on in their lives.

But how do you give thanks when you've had a year of layoffs, bad breaks, heartaches, the loss of a loved one, foreclosures and even the literary industry has taken a huge blow. How do you put on a happy face and be content when the events of life have punched you in the gut?

It is possible to be thankful when there have been sad situations and occurences that have taken place in your life. How? I'll tell you how and I'm going to tell you what I know from life's experiences. I have learned that life is not always fair. I have learned that good things happen to the just and the unjust. I have learned that through tears I can smile. I have learned that through heartache that I can love again. I've done this by simply 'living'. See living this earthly life teaches us how to face adversities and pressures. I believe that I have gained strength because of God's unconditonal, never ceasing love for me. Yep, I've had some tough times, and probably will always face tough times. But listen, tough times make you tougher. God has shown me this over and over again with each day that He allows me to live and breathe on this earth.

I've been tried through the fire and I've come out on the other side! Not because of some great faith that I have but because of the greatness of the Father who loves me and created me. He has not left me alone. Every time I could have been dead, He has seen fit to keep me one more day. Every adversity that has come into my life, God has brought me through it. Every time I've worried and doubted and felt lost and all alone, God has come to my rescue.

I know from experience that God never fails. I know from experience that every single, solitary situation that lucifer meant for my demise, meant for evil against me and my seed, that the God who loves me turned a bad situation into a sweet situation. In other words, God took what the devil meant for harm against me and God took it made it work out for my good.

He will do the same for you. I know He will. I know He can. If you have not placed your trust in God today, I double dare you to do it! Find out for yourself.

Give thanks in everything and remember to keep God first. I know He will come through for you. I guarantee it!

The Dreamer

In the words of President Obama, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

And so I dare to dream. I dare to dream of change. I am the dreamer, the author, the writer, the speaker, the path setter, the road less traveled, and the called according to His purpose. I am special, unique, divinely created to be Shelia. No one can write like me. No one can speak like me. No one can do those things God has called me to do. There is no one else like me. I am a dreamer who dares to believe in my talents, my gifts, my hopes, my aspirations and that I can have the desires of my heart.

The word, Dreamer is defined as a person who dreams. A person who lives in a world of fantasy; one who is impractical and unrealistic. A person whose ideas or projects are considered audacious or highly speculative; visionary.

That defines me exactly. It denotes who I am. I AM that audacious, impractical, highly speculative and unrealistic visionary. I am that person who dares to dream, who dares to have visions of greatness. I am that person who looks beyond the situations and circumstances that life offers me and reaches for more. I am that dreamer. My words are more than words that burst forth from an overflowing spirit of greatness given me by my Father who art in Heaven. The words that escape from my belly, that are birthed in my spirit, that saturate my mind, my thought processes and travels down my arms into my pointed scrawny fingers, yield captivating power from pen to paper. I am that dreamer that through the blood, sweat and tears of my ancestors. Through the blood, sweat and tears of my parents, my sisters, and my relatives fought for my right to be treated equally. I don’t have to look back to the great martyrs like Harriet, Rosa, Martin, Malcolm or Medgar. I only need look within my household.

I only need look at the struggles of a mother who worked long hours as a maid on bended knees scrubbing floors. I only need look at my father who lost both legs fighting a war that when it was over, he still was treated as less than the hero he was. I only need look at my sisters who marched along Martin in Memphis, next to sanitation workers who screamed I Am A Man. I come from the belly of struggles. I come from the belly of dreamers who dared to believe. I come from the bellies of faith that dared to trust in God my Father. I belong to God who chose to adopt me into His eternal kingdom. I come from the lineage of David, the man after God’s own heart. I come from the pits of cruelty, stares and glares that make me strong and keep my head raised high. I am a dreamer.

You ask me why I am a dreamer? You ask me why I tell my sons and grandsons and you and every one whose path crosses mine to live your dreams now! If we don’t dare to live what God has purposed in our hearts to live, to do, to seek, to pursue then why are we here? This world is predicated, made up of, rooted, and grounded on dreams dreamed by a dreamer and brought from dreamality to reality.

What if Malcolm had not been a dreamer? And supposed Martin had not been a dreamer? Then there’s Harriet who dared to dream about freedom. There’s Rosa who dared dream about a place to rest among those whose skin color lacked pigmentation and therefore considered themselves higher and mightier. What if? What if President Obama had not dared to be a dreamer? Then what? I am a dreamer! I write. I will succeed. I will thrive. I refuse to merely survive. And so I write. And so I speak. And so I strive. And so I move forward to that which I have embedded in my spirit, my soul, my flesh, my thoughts. I am a New York Times Bestselling Author. I am the owner of one of the world’s largest nonprofit organization that teaches people to go after, run down, and chase after their heart’s desires and their dreams. I am a most sought after speaker. I am beautiful despite the limps and the frailties that polio has ravaged on my body. I am lovely despite the hardships of life that try to keep me down. I am mighty despite that ole sly devil trying to trick and trap me. The fruit of my womb is blessed because I am the child of the most high King. My words, given to me by a God who loves himself some Shelia changes lives and prick hearts, causing people to look at themselves and see what they are really made of.

I dare to believe the words of God that say if I fully obey His commandments that I will be above and not beneath. I will be the head and not the tail. I will be blessed going in and going out. The fruit of my womb will be blessed. I am a dreamer who dares to believe that the race is not given to the swift but to him that endures to the end. I am the dreamer that writes perfect stories about imperfect people who overcome tremendous odds because they dare to believe.

My vision will happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won't be a lie. If it's delayed, I will wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won't be late. Yes, I am a dreamer. My vision will burst forth. It will not be kept back, it shall appear. What about you - are you a dreamer?