Author: juantetcts

juantetcts https://juantetcts.wordpress.com I USED to be VERY normal! Dave Ramseys's definition of normal is OBESE, and BROKE! To be honest, I was both, and had no idea I was either! I'm a slow learner, but once I finally "get it", I do something about it! I'm definitely a person of ACTION (although the hardest part for me is actually getting started!). Once I was told I was obese, I started my weight loss journey on Weight Watchers! It took me 2.5 years to reach my Lifetime weight, after making four attempts! It was NOT easy, but was definitely worth it! This time, for the first time, I realized I was a FOOD ADDICT! That realization was the key to success for me. It was suggested that other types of addicts attend meetings for the rest of their lives, that support group to help them stay focused! I finally figured out I needed to do the same! Food was no different! I needed someone that understood when I said I thought about food ALL DAY. Fast forward a few years later to serious medical challenges with a family member, and the realization that I was also broke! Nope, I again had NO idea! (I thought the number of credit cards in my wallet determined my worth!). Someone had to point it out to me, just like with my weight. I answered the call to action by taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University! My Supervisor gave me the book, The Total Money Makeover, when I was discussing the financial challenges I knew would come along with the serious medical problems! I didn't read the book immediately, but started listening to The Dave Ramsey Show every evening! This is where I found the thing I needed most, HOPE! In fact, I received so much hope that 7 years later I am debt free except my home, and my son just graduated from college DEBT FREE! The purpose of my blog is to give HOPE where there is none! When I was going through the struggle to lose the over 70 pounds shed (still at my lifetime weight 9 years later!), AND to become debt free, it would have helped to have more encouragement from others with the same challenges! My financial weight and weight loss journey had the same key ingredient for success, a support group for accountability. It recently occurred to me that others could use the same support I needed, while I was sacrificing to reach my goals! The journey will still be hard, but the support from others that understand, makes so much difference! I want to support and INSPIRE others to find the same HOPE and courage to change, as I have foound.ly

On God!

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Me: Hello God.
God: Hello…
Me: I’m falling apart. Can you put me back together?
God: I’d rather not.
Me: Why?
God: Because you’re not a puzzle.
Me: What about all the pieces of my life that fall to the ground?
God: Leave them there for a while. They fell for a reason. Let them be there for a while and then decide if you need to take any of those pieces back.
Me: You don’t understand! I’m breaking!
God: No, you don’t understand. You’re transcending, evolving.
What you feel are growing pains. You’re getting rid of the things and people in your life that are holding you back. The pieces are not falling down. The pieces are being put in place. Relax. Take a deep breath and let those things you no longer need fall down. Stop clinging to pieces that are no longer for you. Let them fall. Let them go.
Me: Once I start doing that, what will I have left?
God: Only the best pieces of yourself.
Me: I’m afraid to change.
God: I keep telling you: YOU’RE NOT CHANGING! YOU’RE BECOMING!
Me: Becoming, Who?
God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light, love, charity, hope, courage, joy, mercy, grace and compassion. I made you for so much more than those shallow pieces you decided to adorn yourself with and that you cling to with so much greed and fear. Let those things fall off you. I love you! Don’t change! Become! Don’t change! Become! Become who I want you to be, who I created. I’m gonna keep telling you this until you remember.
Me: There goes another piece.
God: Yes. Let it be like this.
Me: So… I’m not broken?
God: No, but you’re breaking the darkness, like dawn. It’s a new day. Become!! Become who you really are!!”

~ John Roedel

On Juneteenth!

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Meaning of Juneteenth in our culture:

The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, contained, among other things, the following:

“…all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

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 Texas was the most remote of the slave states, and the freedom proclaimed in 1863 was not enforced there until after the Civil War had ended.  In 1865, two-and-a-half years later, on June 19, enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, learned from Union soldiers that they were free.

 

In 1921, the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the site of one of the country’s worst episode of racial violence, when white mobs attacked a wealthy black business district known as Black Wall Street or Greenwood.  The black community was trying to defend a man who had been falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman.  It was later proven that he had tripped and stepped on her foot.  The community gathered outside the prison and a mob gathered and destroyed more than 1,200 homes and killed as many as 300 people.

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On January 1, 1980, forty years ago, Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas, it the first, and only, officially recognized emancipation celebration.  Today Juneteenth is celebrated as an occasion for encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures.

Prayer:  That those entrusted with authority in our nation may support the changes needed in order to exercise leadership and promote healing in its most authentic, responsible, and peaceful manner.

Sister McBride, Margaret