No Receipts = No Respect

Fresh garments with old wounds.? This statement was one I heard loud and clear listening to Bishop T.D. Jakes’ message earlier this week.? Of course, as I continue to grow as a leader and full-time businesswoman, I have to ensure I take care of my mental and spiritual health.? We live in a world where many showcase the highs in their life.? They tend to show us the mountain top without showing us the valley low.? How can one authentically connect with you, if you are not willing to be vulnerable?? How do you view vulnerability?? Is vulnerability a strength or weakness?? Chime in.? I really want to hear from you.??

The gist of his message, back to Bishop Jakes, is that we have to be vulnerable with confidence to show people who we are based on where we’ve been in our lives.? Our backstories exemplify the reality that many of us are not willing to share due to shame, guilt, the inability to seek healing, and/or the normalization of dysfunctionality.? Now, the last part can be tricky because unbeknownst to you, dysfunctional ways have been normalized based on the surrounding of the people and your environment. It can take one instance or several occurrences of exposure to something functional or less dysfunctional to become aware that what you have normalized is not the best way to live this precious life you’ve been given.

Oh!? Let me show you exactly what I mean.? For the most part of my life, I was taught and told to pray my way through any given situation.? That was a blessing and a curse.? We will tackle this subject later in the year.? Promise!? Without context, I found myself depleted at the age of 15 not knowing who I was and where I was going.? Fast forward to the age of 26, I realized that the foundation that was given to me to pray and praise God came full circle when I lay dying on the operating table.? The only thing I could remember was to pray.? There was this crucial and vulnerable moment in a room of strangers operating on me where I decided to pray a prayer that saved my life.? Have you ever been in a situation where you knew what to do, but the anxiousness and panic controlled your narrative to the point where you forgot all the things you remembered???

A more recent situation was to hold myself accountable for not producing the deliverables of a contract I agreed to.? The communication was on point in the beginning, but as life started to weigh heavy on me, I started to decline in my responses and made assumptions that should not have been made.? Ugh!? The accountability meeting was overwhelming and brought me to tears because of one word, “disappointment”.? That one word took me back to my childhood when the self-disappointment outweighed the disappointment of others.? Conviction.? Honestly, at this point, I am not sure how to move forward with this particular project without the support needed to do so.? I have to be specific with my requests in order to redeem myself and not compromise integrity.? This one hurts to the core.? Say a prayer for your favorite Dr. J ( or at least I can hope I am your favorite).? With this said, I am love personified with full vulnerability…..no receipts.? No respect.

Prayers to the many lives taken by the hands of hate and isolation.? For context purposes, please read these articles and say a prayer for our world: The Texas Tribune: Uvalde School Shooting and CNN: Tulsa Hospital Shooting.

God is.? To work with Purple Path By Dr. Jones schedule here.??