The "I AM" Factor (from Donald Lawrences' Y.R.M Album)

… and in the middle of this interesting scripture Joel says “Let the weak say I am weak”. When you make a confession and when you prophesy, you’re not supposed to tell the truth because the truth is that you are weak. You are not supposed to tell the truth about your circumstance. Let the weak say “I am strong”!

The reason Joel (the prophet) is saying “let the weak say I am strong” is because the “I Am” factor works this way: If you use My (God’s) name it’s a memorial to all generations and if you do not use it correctly you will receive the consequence of applications in the wrong way. So here is the principle, whenever the universe hears the words “I am”, anything that follows “I am” starts looking for you. Let the poor say “I am rich”. The truth of the matter is that a poor person is poor, and the minute the poor person says “I am poor” everything in the world of poverty starts organizing itself to your life …

Therefore…

I am RICH!

I am WEALTHY!

I am FEARFULLY & WONDERFULLY MADE!

I am PROSPEROUS!

I am VICTORIOUS!

To God Be The Glory...

"I Am" by Donald Lawrence

   

Mother Daughter Talk

My mom and I were riding one day and started talking about dating. She expressed that she feels she's ready to start dating again. I stubbornly told her that whoever she dated needs to be approved by me. That led to the last 3 guys I dated and the conversation went something like this:

Mom: why don't u talk to "X" any more?
Me: he's unstable, doesn't take care of his kids, and mooches off others....
Mom: what happened to "Y"?
Me: he's a habitual liar (amongst other things), not loyal, and took advantage of the many chances I gave him
Mom: what abt "Z"?
Me: he wanted me and everybody else.
Mom: so you just drop them? you ain't perfect you know?
Me: I know. And I don't want someone who is perfect. I want someone that's perfect for me... 


I've always been the type of girl that didn't take much BS from guys. In the time it would take you to blink I would have dismissed one. But I'm also a "go getter". When I'm truly interested, I do what I have to do to prove to a guy that I am. It sucks that  I've never been exposed to a healthy marriage but being exposed to the unhealthy ones taught me just as much. They showed me what I didn't want to have to put up with and what I refused to to settle for. After seeing the negative effects of what my mothers past relationships, friends relationships and even my most recent experiences can do to ones health, mentality, and emotional state, you'd think I would be ready to throw in the towel. Not because he may have flaws, but because he may just have the very flaws I'm not willing to compromise with such as repetitive lying, and cheating. As my mother pointed out, I'm not perfect and I don't claim to be. I know their is a guy out their who is not only willing, but capable of accepting my flaws.  He has a realtionship with God and the qualities characteristics that I'll willingly submit to. But until he finds me, I've excepted that I may have to bite into a few apples before we realize that what I need is an Orange. 

The Lesson from my Stressin' : A letter to you

Dear Person,

I know you didn’t expect to receive a letter from me. The truth is that I didn’t expect to write one to you. I didn’t expect that I’d ever even speak to you again but that just wouldn’t be me. There are some things that need to be said and now is a better time than ever.

            My relationship with you has been a roller coaster of smooth inclines and extremely rocky declines with added twists and turns that were just as bad. I’ve gone to bed many nights and woke up many mornings with eyes that were blood shot red from crying, and begging God to make it all go away. I just knew I wasn’t strong enough to deal with the feelings of rejection, and betrayal all by myself. You’ve done things to me that anyone would deem unforgivable. You’ve told lies and defamed my character to people. You’ve lied to my face and played sides just to “save face” and remain a “favorite”. You’ve put me in situations that would have jeopardized my job and my relationships with the people I love. You managed to convince yourself that some of the things you did were to help me. Hmmp… at the time I would have preferred to die in a burning fire then to receive help from you. I was hurting. But what hurt the most was that I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why someone that I called a “friend” would be so evil, bitter, and do such hateful and hurtful things.

            All the while God didn’t make it go away. I felt like He sat there and watched me toil in my pain. I prayed and asked for guidance but all I kept getting was “be still”. My anger and frustration with God pushed me to plot and sometimes go through with my own vengeance towards you but it never helped. You may be thinking that this is petty and that I should have let go of all of this by now but to be honest, the only way that I was going to be able to write this was once I was able to let go. If this had been written while there was still anger in my heart this would have been a bashing letter and an opportunity to put your business on the street. But instead, I’m writing this letter with a grateful heart.

            I want to thank you for fabricating lies. Thank you for spreading false rumors. I even want to thank you for exposing me and my flaws for people to see. Sounds crazy right? Well, I’m thanking you because what you don’t realize is that it forced people to watch me and formulate their own opinions about me. Needless to say, those very people love me and love what they’ve learned about me through their observation. While they watched… I praised. I praised God even when I didn’t want to. I couldn’t imagine how I was supposed to “put on” an exterior that didn’t match my interior. But I did. The times I didn’t want to, it seemed like I’d quickly forget that I didn’t and praised even harder. I realize now that God took me THROUGH, to get me TO where He needed me to be. When I thought God wasn’t answering my prayers He was actually killing 2 birds with one stone. Prior to all this mess I’d wanted God to bring me closer to Him. Now I realized that it was a test. I had to go through this drama and even have my secret issues outted in order for God to deal with me on an intimate level and show me that ALL things work together for the good of those that not only love Him, but that are called according to His purpose. So thank you….

“Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.”

A Facebook discussion, continued...

Ok so a friend of mine posted this as a discussion topic on facebook. It seems that I was the only person that had a response to it. I’d like to hear other people’s opinions but I don’t want to offend her so im bringing the convo here…

“If you're in a relationship right now, christian or not, ask yourself this simple question, " DO I SEE MYSELF MARRIED TO HIM/HER?" n if the answer is "NO" why are you in this relationship?”

• Lula Mae

  Everyone doesn't date in hopes of finding a spouce. Some ppl date just to keep from being lonely, some do it to keep their minds off of a past relationship.
• Her: thats true ,but all your really doing is adding extra wounds in your life so when u do get that person you want to marrie he/she as to deal with all those wounds that could of been prevented n lets be real how long do that last? try friendship
• Lula Mae 

  I agree with you to an extent but Sometimes we have to look at it as a trial and error type of thing. How will we know what we like/dislike? How will we know what we're willing to put up with? How would we even learn about our own selves and how WE are in relationships if we don't have a few? Experience is the best teacher and most ppl learn and grow only through those experiences. now, don't get me wrong... Some ppl can't handle going through different types of relationship but in most cases they Meet, Marry, and live Miserable all because they failed to Mingle.
• Her: see thats the thing about it you must know urself ahead of time b4 entering a relationship ma you cant count on ur mate to do so n God will built you up ma n there is enough trial set up for us in this life to built us up, all we doing is playing marriage (when we enter a relation) and divorce(when we break up) its this simple God will never give u someone u cant handle but the problem is that we never wait for Him to do so thinking we got this only to bring pain n regrets in our lives
• Lula Mae i know for a fact that you can be a souled out christian and believe that God will give you just what you need, however, in most cases he places ppl in our lives sometimes for a reason (to teach us things), sometimes its just for a season (temporarily), and if He see's fit then they'll be there for a lifetime... all relationships that your get into aren't meant to last forever.

  
Go ahead, I’d like to hear what my people have to say. I wanna know what others think about this…

John Legend - Some of My Favorites

Many people dont know about this one... They dont know what they're missing

(((((Hello Sunshine: FM2U)))))



My Trip to Orlando

Hey Bloggers,
I thought it'd be nice if I shared some of my travels and fun times with you!
My latest trip was to Orlando. Originally, I was going up to hang out with my sister Ashley who is in school at UCF. I asked a friend girl of mine to tag along but since she was unable to I decided to use the opportunity to treat one of my best friends, Ross, for his 33rd Birthday. Since I get exclusive discounts with a particular airline the round trip ticket for a day was only $40 each! What a deal right? Well, on  the morning of the 25th Ross and i got on a plane and flew to O-town. While there, he and I along with my sister enjoyed a day at Wet-N-Wild's theme park. We had sooooo much fun! Don't believe me? check us out...

The Birthday Boy: Ross Pierre

@YungBlakNWise

Me and My Baby sister Ashley 

((@MsCrys23 & @GoddessOya on twitter))

So i guess you can see that we had loads of fun! I miss my sister already. Cant wait to hang with her again...

Well, as for Ross, I see and talk to him often...lol... That's my dude. Yea yo!



Love

When I asked why he loves me he said,
"Because of your originality, there is nothing fake about you. You don't want to be someone that you are not. You've been real from the very beginning. You are loyal and true to our friendship and never cease to let me know in actions, words, and deeds that you love me and appreciate my friendship. You stand on your own 2 feet and at times have to go toe to toe with me, but you respect me enough as a ma not to cross the line, and you accept when I'm right and when you're wrong. You are a beautiful person all around. You never make me choose between you and our friends. The list goes on and on... I see that you are trying you best to be true to your relationship with God. That within its self is worth loving. I might be in my feelings, but I love you in more ways than one. However, I do wonders to suppress it. It doesn't always work. Every moment spent with you is fun, loving, and enticing. In different ways you make me feel special. I feel a connection that is not ordinary. I never leave your presence with regrets of having just been in your presence. In my vulnerability, you never took advantage of me. That made me respect and fall in love with you even more. You know what a good man is supposed to be like and you saw that in me and cherished it. That's worth loving. I've been disappointed by women who claim to be friends, but of course they were not true. You have set yourself above many others. The more I spend time with you the more I see the qualities I long for in a woman and it makes me start falling more in love with who I see, which subsequently makes me want us to become an item. Of being the person that I am I hate the thought of being rejected. So I fall back to save myself from facing rejection."

Can you imagine someone actually articulating these words to you ladies? Im just saying...

Hello Chicago!

So I went on my 1st trip to Illinois. The reason for our trip was to celebrate Morning Star’s Church Anniversary in Kankakee. We took a tour of the city of Kankakee and Chicago on that Friday when we arrived. Then on Saturday we walked through downtown Chicago on the trip on Michigan Ave. While all the ladies were doing their shopping, me and my little lady Brianna played dress up…

On Sunday we fellowshipped and attended church. Rev. Alphonso Jackson, Jr. preached the early service and Pastor Alphonso Jackson, Sr. preached the 11am service. Bother were great. The weather was AWESOME! I can’t wait to go back next year…Here are some other pics I took in the city. Hope you enjoy!

Let me Be...

This one is dedicated to my future King...


Let me treat you like the mighty and awesome king you are
Let me do my job as you partner and protect your heart,
I was created from the rib that was in your side
You were created to rule and by you I'll abide,
Let me be your queen who willingly submits
I will follow your lead and assist where you see fit,
Let me pamper you with the affection you heart and body desires
I am what you want, I have what you require,
Let me rub you down after a hard day of ruling
In your peaceful palace where their is no room for dueling
Let me prepare a meal that is fit for a king
Let me be the one you seek to fulfill your fantasies
Let me wrap my love around you as you pour yours into me
Let us replenish God's earth with future kings and queens,
Let me be your prayer worrier, Let me be your strength
Let me be the Queen of you Heart the resides within
Let me be...

Mistletoe

This journey that I've been traveling on keeps sending in the wrong direction
But I have a new driver, I'm the passenger, and in the mirror I'm his reflection.
With that being said I have a new found appreciation for what I see
I'm a daughter of the most high so the one I give my heart to has to be royalty.
I've settled for less knowing what was best for me, I admit I just wanted to have fun
But I know He created me with a partner in mind, and their could only be one.
Why did I have to realize this just recently with holidays being so near
Everyone's happily smiling and laughing with the one they hold so dear.
So I find myself taking frequent rides as the thoughts race through my mind
Of how I should've been sharing these moments with you loving every minute in time.
Its been months since I had the chance to share these feelings but I thought u should know
That your name is "tatted" in my heart and I want u under my mistletoe...

((This was written in December 2009))
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

30 WRONG songs for FUNERALS

1. No Air – Jordan Sparks & Chris Brown


2. Dead and Gone - Justin Timberlake

3. I Am a Living Testimony

4. Touch My Body-Mariah Carey

5. I Will Trust in the Lord until I Die

6. How Low Can You Go – Ludacris

7. It’s over now – Kirk Franklin

8. O-Mazing Grace

9. Bye Bye Bye - NSYNC

10. Go Get Your Life Back by Donald Lawrence

11. It's a Highway to Heaven

12. Shake Your Body Down to the Ground - The Jacksons

13. His Eye Is On The Sparrow - Keyshia Cole (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4ee2oRUL1Q)

14. when I move u move – Luda

15. I don't Mind Waiting - Juanita Bynum

16. Let It RISE - William Murphy

17. Living he loved me, DYING he saved me

18. He Lives - Fred Hammond

19. I Wanna be down – Brandy

20. killing me softly

21. When can I see you again – BabyFace

22. I give myself away

23. "Turn Off The Lights" Teddy P

24. Chasing after you

25. I'm A Survivor –Destiny’s Child

26. Get Up – Mary Mary

27. Is My Living In Vain – Clark Sisters

28. Make me Over-Tonex

29. Tomorrow – Annie

30. Who Shot ya – Biggie Smalls

I’m Officially… DEAD…Please feel free to add to the list

Ur my pain, Yet I long 4 U...

I can't stop it.

How do I deal with this?

I thought I put this away but it keeps resurfacing in my life.

Everywhere I turn its there!

Pain.

Hey, how you doing? We meet again...I can't forget about you because with practically every move I make in life you're there to remind me that I'm still dealing with you.

Pain.

They love me. Yea, they do.

And sometimes I love them too but in a way that I should be loving you! You didn't take me out to dinner at nice restaurants to show me how I should expect to be treated. You didn't stop to make phone calls to find out what I needed.

You didn't tell me u love me. U didn't show me how I should be loved.

You didn't tell me why I was supposed to secure my "goods".

Where were you when I needed to be taught how not to provoke a man?

Why didn't you tell me how to pick up on the clue and realize that he's just not that into me?

You should've been the one to tell me that he wasn't your choice for me and not to call him after he dropped me off home at 2am!

You should've been here when that nigga made me cry, to tell me that he didn't really care for me! You should've held me. But you didn't!

So now I'm trying to figure out why the hell I get so attached to a guy when he shows me the least bit of affection.
When he holds my hand I squeeze really tight because I'm secretly hoping that he wants to guide me through the phases of true love.
I intertwine my fingers in his hoping that he will protect me from all the things you didn't!
But when he corrects me I look at him side ways and in the back of my mind I'm wondering "why does he think he's my daddy?".
Who is gonna be there to make sure the oil in my car is changed and make sure that I have a spare tire in my trunk?

When a guy realizes that he wants to spend his life with me who is he supposed to go to and ask for my hand in marriage? Are u gonna be there to give me away? Nope. You haven't been there and I suppose I never will. Yet you find a way to show up and remind me that what I want from you is what I'm looking for in him!

So I'm sitting up at 3:07 am crying rivers from my eyes longing for YOU! For you to tell me that you will always love me. And longing for you to sit and listen to my silent cries and tell me everything is gonna be alright.

How is it that the very thing I long for is the root of all my pain?

Hey Daddy

I was 12 years old the first time u and I eva met
Nothing like how I imagined didn't know what to expect
Kinda cute so I could see why the ladies put u on a throne
But time revealed to them, and now me that poppa was a rolling stone.
Had I known I'd only see ya every once in a while
I woulda never even half way believed that I was really your child
Just me, mamma, my lil brother and sister
That's all I knew and to this day ur still just a "mister".
You missed every singing engagement and all the basketball games
But when your church needed a song I was there, aint that a shame?!
Like many girls I was seeking that fatherly love
I searched all around but never bothered to look above.
Sure enuff mamma taught be about the bee's and the birds
I took notes from her life so every word she said was heard
Hey daddy, on 2 of my teams I was voted MVP
I wore #11 until High School then I switched to #23
I played badminton, was a cheerleader, and I even ran track
I went to college as 1, came back as 1, I'm still 1 how bout that?
I was never a late night dancer, never had a rep' of being "shone"
But I'm guilty of looking to men to fill the void of being alone
I thought I was past my anger of thinking I never made u proud
U never treated me like ur child but ima child of God and I'll say it loud!
Hey daddy, I'm a child of God and I tell it wherever I go
I'm serving with attitude God and I thought that u should know
I still love u and not just because God says so but because its right
I'll pray for you and for my strength
Signed,
Daughter of the Most High

EVER WONDER....just for laughs

DO YOU EVER WONDER...

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why are they called APARTtments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity by encouraging them to read it!

Light Bulb...just for laughs

I urgently needed a few days off work, but I knew the Boss would not allow me to take leave. I thought that maybe if I acted "Crazy" then he would tell me to take a few days off. So, I hung upside-down on the ceiling and made funny noises.
My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me wha t I was doing. I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb, So, that the Boss might think I was "Crazy" and give me a few days off.

A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, "What in the name of goodness are you doing?" I told him I was a light bulb. She said, "You are clearly stressed out. Go home and recuperate for a couple of days."

I jumped down and walked out of the office...

When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her, "..And where do you think you're going?!"

(You're gonna love this....)

She said, "I'm going home, too. I can't work in the dark."

SENIOR DRIVING ... just for laughs

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77. Please be careful!"

"Heck," said Herman, "It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!"

Spread the Stupidity...Just for laughs

Only in America…do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in America ......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.


Only in America ......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.


Only in America ......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.


Only in America ......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.


Only in America ......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.


Only in America .....do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

Banks, People, & God

Banks...
We make deposits and withdrawals. In order to get the full potential of what the banks purpose is we have to do both. One day something unexpected happens and you may need to make a withdrawal. Naturally we expect that their will be sufficient funds since we've made numerous deposits. When we can't withdraw, not even a portion of what we've put into this account we're confused. Then we get a message stating that it was an error on the bank. Granted, its very rare that this happens. Never the less, we furious over it!

This is what happens with relationships...
We pour, and pour, and pour so much into it. Then something unexpected happens (such as a disagreement amongst each other, or something may have happened and you just need that person to be there for you) but they don't react or respond in a way that you expect. Many other times before you may have been able to turn to them for encouragement, or maybe they reacted to the situation in a way that you expected. But not this time. And you're furious!

But with God...
All I'm going to say is that when people are like bank's, God is that accessible ATM with no business hours! He's always accessible! And you can rest assured that when you make deposits with you PRAYER, with your PRAISE, with your WORSHIP, with your LOVE, with your ADORATION to him, and with your TRUST in HIM to be your guide in every step you take and every decision you make, you are guaranteed to receive an out pour that's exceedingly, abundantly, and above all you could ever ask or think!!!!
(( Praise Break ))

(In the words of Steve Harvey) Now you can take that to the bank!

Always Swanky
Ms Crys'
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

My Funny Valentine(s)

So…


I had a lovely Valentines Holiday. Everything about it was unexpected. Even the gifts…

This came with an unexpected movie date...

I named him Roscoe... He's MY size...

These were delivered to me at work the following Tuesday

And these were delivered today (friday)

I feel loved! Yay me!

To set things off... AGAIN!

So to set this off let me express how angry I am. I had a BEAUTIFUL blog page set up recently. Make a few bad clicks and POOF!!! It’s gone! I had pictures and posts archived from 2008. So yes, im still a little heated. Anyway, I’m not going to start my blog off with an “About Me”. That can wait until later. Hope you show some love while you’re here and I hope you enjoy what you read…
~Stay Swanky