As we celebrate our history in the month of February I am in deep gratitude as I am reminded of the strength and greatness that we come from.  When you hear the stories of what our ancestors had to endure for most of their lives the limits that were placed on them, the struggles they faced and sadly the lack of freedom, what comes to your mind? I am always inspired by their courage to think that there were people before us that not only survived but were brave and selfless enough to fight for our freedom today. In a time where even valid excuses could have been good reasons to roll over and die there were people that stood up and fought for our rights, our freedom, and many died trying.   The desire to be free to be treated equally was their focus and without evidence of it being a possibility they held on to their faith and continued to show up. Being present to that fact it leads me to my question “How dare us know the stories and continue to exist and take life and the sacrifices of our ancestors go in vain?  The truth that I often think about it the fact that they endured a lot of pain but when it was time they rose to the occasion versus choosing to be a victim and allowing the rest of their life to be dictated by their experiences.  Daily we are struggling we are constantly faced with adversities, we are challenged daily, but the greatest news is that today we have been blessed with the freed to choose freely.  Being a victim is a choice, and being victorious is choice, our challenges is not a good enough reason to remain the same, instead it should give us more reasons to trust God and no matter what fight to thrive.

I think about my own experiences in life growing up and I also think of the valid reasons that I knew would have justified and enabled a limited way of thinking and being. Complaining and having regrets rewards us with more emotional distress, confusion which does not serve us. We can choose to continue to relive every hurtful experience we have ever had or be open to seeing them as a part of our story as a testimony of God’s love and teachings. It is easier to be a victim than it is to fight the thoughts in our minds and the stories we have created around our experiences.  The conversations we have with our selves matters and whether you believe it or not the bible says that the power of life and death lies within the tongue.  It is our responsibility to be mindful of the words we use and what we think about ourselves as they can either bless us or curse us. I spent a lot of time telling my self lies and believing them I told myself how unworthy I was and that there will no man that will love me for me because I did not believe my father loved me. The happening was my father had to go away for eight years of my life which had nothing to do with me but everything to do with his bad choice of lifestyle. I spent years being angry with him, I allowed myself to be a victim to an experience and I continued to relive the last day I saw my dad from the age of three until I was nineteen. I had to get complete I had to let go of the stories I created and truly discover self to appreciate how amazing I was despite not having a two-parent home. The greatest thing that happened to me was I got present to the blessings in disguise once I decided to forgive. Although painful at different times of my life it taught me how to make choices that would serve me as an adult.  What I desired and deserved for a family and the kind of love and stability I wanted my child was clear thanks to my experience and the pain I endured.

In life it is important that we do allow the pain we endured  to be in vain and only result in hurt, our ancestors , our grandparents , and our parents  did not fight through their circumstances for us to choose to be victims of life and live in mediocrity. Everything that we have experienced from the day that we were born and in this present moment is a part of our story. The great news is we were not only created to live and learn but to apply all that we have learned and be brave enough to leave our prints in history. The time we invest today making a difference may not benefit us directly or immediately but just like our ancestors that died fighting for our us to live a better life we too are responsible for paving the way for generations to come. God’s love  connects us all and our purpose in life has nothing to do with us , and our past holds no weight there is an assignment that we must complete and there is a calling on our life we should strive to live up to.  When God gave his life for us he did not become a victim to the hate and the treatments he received by the very people he was here to save , what gives us the  right to be right in our feelings and allowing limited and negative thoughts to direct our paths .  I want to remind you all that being a victim does not serve us do not be victimized by your experiences and lessons in life.