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Sometimes I think life happens so fast we don’t take time to lean in and sit in the gravity of the moment. I want to share my appreciation for my first children’s book reading. My friend said this comment and I’m going to repeat it because I agree. The pictures shared didn’t do any justice to the gravity of the moment.

First off, it was a full-circle moment for me. The event took place at the very first library I ever visited as a child- in the same area I grew up in! Like – wow! S/o to the Dallas Public Library – West Dallas branch location. In addition, two copies of Kids Can Pray Too are now in circulation at the public library! Ahhhhhh!!!!!! 🎉🎉

When I first wrote Kids Can Pray Too, I don’t think I understood the impact it could have on others – honestly I still don’t.  I’m truly grateful God used me to give language to so many children’s situations. It warmed my heart to hear stories from parents of their children going through similar experiences mentioned in the book regarding feeling alone, identity issues, bullying, transitioning to a new school and so much more. It’s so necessary to have community and support. Not only did we discuss Kids Can Pray Too in detail, but I was provided with amazing ideas for other children’s books. I’m in awe of the moment and the experience. I’m truly grateful for every person who purchased a book, liked a post, shared a post, sent me encouraging words, and came to the Author’s Reading ! I appreciate all of you.

Kids Can Pray Too is just getting started! Cheers to more book readings and encouraging children to communicate more with God!

First off I want to give a s/o to the people on my airplane row yesterday, they were the real MVPs and even assisted with naming this blog. 😂

So, as a frequent flyer I love window seats – unless I’m flying international then aisle seat me please! While traveling this weekend – I was given a middle seat on my departure flight and the person near the window kept the shade closed until we landed. 😩 Like why? How do I even know when we are in the sky or when we are landing? And why can’t I see the beautiful clouds? 😬 and then on my return flight home I had a window seat with no window. 🙃🪟

First off, what do you call it when there’s no window – near the window seat? The people on the row with me agreed we will call it a wall seat. Lol. It’s a speciality row. It was literally the only row like this on the plane. 😂

I truly believe nothing happens by accident. I also believe if you look for God you will find him in so many ways. He’s everywhere!

In my recent conversations with God one thing he’s said repeatedly to me is to trust him.

How does this relate to the plane? 

I’m glad you asked. It’s easy to trust God when you can see how something you want will take off and or land, but what about when you can’t see?

Even scripture reminds us:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

For my flights this weekend I really had to:

1. Actually take off my earphones and listen to the flight attendant to know when we were landing and taking off and

2. trust the pilot to do his job without seeing where we were going.

In closing, since God should be the pilot of our life, can we trust him when we can’t see?

Picture reference:

Fight or flight! Your body immediately picks a side when you are going through an experience that feels traumatic. Majority of the time depending on the situation my body picks flight. Last week, I had an experience and my body immediately felt like it was in danger. It’s crazy what your brain tells you to protect you from any real or perceived threat. I immediately grabbed my luggage and decided I would ask questions later. 😂

It all happened so quickly and all I could think was let me flee (flight) from this situation and put myself in a more controlled environment to feel comfortable.

Fast forward another 10 minutes or so I calmed down some and told myself I could practice a healthier response to calm my body and brain so that I could make a more logical decision. So, instead of fleeing (flight) from the situation I went for a walk and calmed down. A nice brisk walk was a great way to calm my environment, get some fresh air, and slow the internal noise in my head. I understand my body’s ability to respond to situations to alert me to fight or flight will vary depending on the level intensity to protect me. Which is – great, but sometimes it’s okay to calm down and respond differently.

Do you tend to fight or flight when you encounter situations?

#permissiontothinkdifferently

I saw on social media the other day someone decided to go from a nickname to their full name. The reasoning behind it was they initially wanted others to be able to pronounce their name easier, but they prefer to be called by their birth name. I thought this was a great idea as I’m learning to give people to grow, change and evolve.

Storytime: I remember in grade school when my teachers took attendance I always knew when they were about to call my name because they would stop and look confused. In their defense it didn’t help that due to my first name containing 9 letters and my last name containing 8 there was a letter or two cut off from my first name on the roll. So, they weren’t sure if they should say Lawrence or Lawrencia. 😩

Fast forward to now, people occasionally happily share with me my name is difficult and to their comments I’m often unsure of what to say because like you all reading this – I didn’t have any input in my name. Our names are given to us by parents or someone else as we arent even old enough to chat at birth.

I truly believe you can’t even get to know someone until you know their preferred name. The best thing to do is to ask them – that’s it!

I’ll say this and I’ll probably keep saying it-  therapy is hard, sometimes. All weekend I’ve been trying to process things I discussed with my therapist on Friday. Additionally, every other thing I’ve listened to from sermons to mentor calls and conversations with a couple of friends compounded off that conversation. 😭

I will say this for starters when God wants to get my attention about anything it may start gently, but if I miss the cues and don’t do the work, then it will hit me like a ton of rocks. #woosah

In case you are new to my blog, one of the ways I process things is through conversation and my writing. So welcome aboard.🤗

After a combination of many things this weekend, I’ve realized sometimes you have to ensure you embrace how God has wired you.

We are wired exactly how God wanted us to be for my unique assignments and purpose.

The more I become clearer on my assignment, it allows me to produce speed and execute my purpose quicker because I can easily say yes or no to different things which don’t align.

– Dr. Darius Daniels

God graced me for every assignment he wants me to fulfill even if it feels weird to someone else and that’s okay.

I’ll dive deeper into this with a later blog, but enclosing we all have unique things which bother us from social justice issues, the abuse of animals, orphans, lack of systems in organizations and so much more! Lean into what bothers you as you may be able to solve a problem that others don’t see!

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What’s something which bothers you which no one else seems to notice?

In case I haven’t shared sometimes I like therapy and others – well therapy is hard. You are continuously looking inward and if I’m honest I’ll like to believe the issue is not me. 😂#whewchile

Story time: So, a few weeks ago I shared a post about feedback, (read this first: https://www.wrenhowsway.com/floppy-feedback/) . After meeting and discussing this story with my therapist she gave me a completely different outlook on my initial post and I knew I had to share a follow-up blog.
After sharing the story with my therapist, she first reminded me I volunteered to help with a project. Secondly, she advised once you agree to do something you sign up for every part of it – the good, the bad, and even the unsolicited feedback conversations which may result from it. Y’all! #therapyishard 😂 Definitely, not something I wanted to hear, but I understood her point.

Moral of the story: I’ll be very selective when I volunteer. 😂 That’s it!