Lakisha, the Author

Daily Devotional – 12/5/16 “It’s time!”

Don’t go searching for the past! If it was meant, it would be your present. And you know good and well what I mean. Quit searching social media, stop reading old texts, erase those old emails, delete the phone numbers and move on. Stop with the stalking of their pages and throw out those old pictures. Beloved, it’s time you move on. See, your identity has been tied to your past for so long that you don’t feel comfortable without it but it’s time. It’s time the real you stood up. You are no longer the abused woman, you left that relationship years or even months ago. You are no longer the spouse that was cheated on, that part of your life ended with the divorce/separation. You are no longer the spouse that cheated, that should have ended with the divorce/separation. You are not the victim anymore that ended when God allowed you to walk out victoriously with your mind. You aren’t the person who lost your stuff to repossession/foreclosure because God gave you everything back including your mind.

This is why, it’s time! Time you come out of the past. Time you throw out the excuses of what you can’t do because of what you couldn’t do before. Try again. It’s time. Time you let go and move on. It’s time. Time you release it. Because the truth of the matter is, you’re tired but you don’t know how it’ll feel to be a new you. Yea, you know it’s time but you’ll afraid you’ll like it. You know it’s time but you don’t know how ‘they’ will accept this new you. Well, either they do or they don’t. But it’s time. Time you stop answering when the past feels like showing up. It’s time! Time you stop letting the past get comfortable in your present. It’s time! Time you put the past the hell out! It’s time boo. Time for the new you to shine. Time for you to come out of the shadows and take your rightful place. It’s time. Time you took what’s justifiably yours! It’s time. Time you took what you’ve already paid for through blood, sweat and tears. It’s time!

I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.” — Isaiah 44:22

The Family That Lies … Book Discussion & Signing

The Family That Lies … Book Discussion & Signing is almost here? Are you coming?

It will be held, Saturday December 10, 2016 at 6PM. You can check the flyer for more information.

You can RSVP here or even sign up to be a sponsor or vendor.

Daily Devotional – 12/2/16 “The Heart Matters!”

How can I truthfully tell you to follow your heart when I know good and well, it ain’t right and never has been? See, me telling you to follow your heart to find love when I know your heart still holds bitter residue from your last three failed relationships, is setting you up for failure number 4. If I tell you to follow your heart to choose a place to worship, when I know your heart is still filled with hatred from the last church hurt, you’re likely to get the same thing from every place you join. This is because, unless you deal with the underlying issues in your heart, you’ll never be able to truly follow your heart. Beloved, you can’t get anything out of an investment unless you put something in. What am I saying? Well, you can’t benefit from being in God, if your heart isn’t really in God. Yea, I know you’ve heard the saying. “If you place your heart in God, a man will have to go through God to get it.” And while this is true, the catch is, your heart has to be in God.

Don’t you know the bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “”The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked? Who really knows how bad it is?” This is why our heart has to be in God, otherwise we’ll be a complete mess. How do we get our heart in God, it starts by praying as Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” When you do this, God will do just that. But before you pray, you have to be willing to go through God’s open heart surgery. And it hurts! In fact, it hurts like you wouldn’t believe because it takes being put to sleep (that’s surrendering), some cutting (that’s losing some people, places or things), some healing (that’s being alright with the stuff lost during the cutting) and then some outpatient therapy (that’s prayer and fellowship). Understand, you have to be all in because you can’t do part of the surgery and expect to be fully healed. Yes, it hurts but the pain is worth it because afterwards you’ll be able to truly follow your heart to the right people, places and things. Because when its God filled, you’ll be God led.

Daily Devotional – 12/1/16 “Letter to my younger self!”

Dear younger me,

I never thought I’d be writing this letter to you but I recognize the need for it. See, there’s some things I need to say and thank you for. Growing up, life wasn’t hard for us but it was necessary. Yea, it was necessary that we saw the struggle because it made us appreciate what we had and what we’d eventually get. So, thank you for taking the time to learn to cook and keep a house because we can now you can take care of our family. Thank you for being attentive to the strength of our mom because she taught us how to be strong and now we can provide with a little or a lot. I even thank you for taking time for granted because it taught us how to appreciate the days of now. Thank you for making careless mistakes because it made us into the person we are now. Thank you for taking people and things for granted because we now value who and what we have. Thank you for not appreciating your credit history then because it taught us how to work hard for what we get now. Thank you for our past because it built our present. So, to my younger self, I appreciate you and I am thankful for the journey. Had it not been for the things we experienced, we wouldn’t be who we are today. Had life not knocked us down, we wouldn’t have been strong enough to get back up. Had society not deemed us unworthy, we never would have tapped into our worthiness of greater. Had we not endured watching momma struggle to survive, we wouldn’t know how to now push through. Had grandma not made us go to church, we wouldn’t be grateful for our worship now. To you, my younger self, I thank you because had anyone told me the things we’re doing now, I wouldn’t have believed them. But look at us. God did what He said He would do. He cleaned us up, made us brand new and gave us a new way of living. He kept His promise to us. And now, I can confidently say, I appreciate it all and you’d be very proud of us.

I don’t know why God had me to share this but whoever you are that’s still angry over your upbringing or mad about your past; know this, you aren’t there anymore. Your younger self is gone and you’re where you are now. So write the letter, tell the story, share your testimony but understand this — had it not been for the things you’ve been through, you wouldn’t be half the person you are now.

“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10

Daily Devotional – 11/30/16 “Where are you planted?’

Matthew 7:16 says, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” Reading this, I asked myself, “How many of us are producing edible fruit? You’re probably asking, “What do I mean by fruit? And how do we create fruit when we aren’t trees?” Well, the bible says in Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither– whatever they do prospers.” See, as children of God, we ought to be like a tree planted by the river because a tree that is planted there have roots that runs deep enough to make it unmovable. And just like the tree, our roots should be so deep within God that no matter what happens to us, it doesn’t blow us like leaves.

Oh, you know how it is when things begin happening in our lives, we run like a leaf being blown in the wind. When trouble comes, we stop going to church. When death shows up, we grieve as if there’s no hope. When finances are out of whack, we start acting as if God isn’t our provider. But when we are rooted, our leaves of faith don’t wither when the seasons of life change. When the storm of situations show up, it won’t knock us out of our place. When the fire of burdens ignite, it won’t burn off our covering of faith because we’re rooted in a God who never fails! And when we bear fruit, it’s edible. What kinds of fruit? Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” This is why, beloved, you are known by the fruit you produce. And trust and believe, people will know if it’s good or bad based on where you’re planted.