Selfless

 Hello and Thank you so much for stopping by!

I’ve been thinking about one of my goals that I set for last year- yes, I am thinking about last year, when most of us are trying to forget last year. Anyway, one of my goals for last year was to be more generous, selfless, thinking of others more than myself. And then WAM!!! Covid shows up on the scene and everything turns crazy and I go from having the best intentions to worrying over the spring about my mom and my job- if we were going to even be employed! Such a scary feeling and so humbling, which makes me forever grateful to God for my career EVERY SINGLE DAY🙏🏾 Thank you sweet Jesus! 

My whole point for bringing up Covid- which I hate bringing up- was that my goal pre-Covid was to think about others more and less about my self .Selfless. I want to refocus on that goal by starting right now and thinking more of others and less of my feelings and my wants and what makes me happy. And start focusing on how I can bring joy to someone else’s day. I’ve had some close friends who have needed that extra joy in their life- so right now I’m taking the opportunity to give to someone else. 

One of my favorite ways to give is through flowers🌸 I’ve made these small individual arrangements to give out as a small act of selflessness. 

Of course the best Selfless act was from Jesus and that can never be outdone. 

 John 15:13 KJV

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I truly hope that this blogpost encourages you to follow suit and be selfless.

Hugs,

Ebonee💜

Verses of Peace and Unity

Hi Friends,

I wanted to provide some verses of peace. We all know that we definitely need peace, not only in our lives, but also in this world. With all of the violence, riots, murders, looting that we have not only seen at the Capitol; but including the past summer that left people with decimated cities, neighborhoods, and worst of all, death. I wanted to share some verses that will provide peace and hope; because as a Christian, I will always advocate for peace and civility. Because that’s what Jesus did and would do. 

I hope that these verses encourage you-

Matthew 5:9 KJV

[9] Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Romans 12:18 KJV

[18] If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Mark 9:50 KJV b

And have peace one with another.

Luke 1:79 KJV

[79] To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Psalm 133:1 KJV

[1] Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

I hope these verses are an encouragement to you and I'll leave you with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

And as the Bible says, Be ye kind to one another. Epheasians 4:32 a

Have a great day friends! 

Hugs from Florida 💜

Fall in Lilly

As Summer is coming to a close in less than two weeks; I know that we all still have some Lilly that we are wanting to wear and transition into fall as well. So, I put together 3 outfits that you can add a little fall touch but still look colorful and wear Lilly.

Outfit number 1: I love this dress/ Cardigan/ Gold clutch as well in style/ Sarah Flint heels 

Outfit number 2: Navy ruffle dress/ I have this gorgeous scarf and love it/ Cork and gold crossbody/ Sarah Flint heels

Outfit number3: This tangerine dream of a dress screams Lilly but can be toned down with a denim jacket/ Leopard pumps that I have and love/ Cork and gold crossbody

You can get $50 off your first pair of Sarah Flint shoes here when you checkout/ I also linked the discount under each outfit.

Which one is your favorite? I'd love to hear from you.

Hugs from Florida🌞

Setting my sights higher

Good morning Friends! Lately I have been so overwhelmed, frustrated, saddened, scared, and helpless to everything that’s been happening in the world. By nature I fight for my beliefs and for things that are right- that’s just who I am as a person and will always be. I’m definitely NOT a wall flower. But lately, it’s been so much to where I feel helpless and discouraged. So many opinions/feelings over Facts.
But I constantly have to remind myself of a wonderful Bible verse, Colossians 3:2 KJV
[2] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

If I set my sights higher,  on the ONE who matters most and knows what’s best and knows what’s happening and knows the end from the beginning. I can rest assure that Jesus has everything under control. When it seems like things are out of control- God is in complete control.
Knowing this brings my heart true peace and setting my sights higher makes me see the bigger picture. That this world in all of its chaos is ultimately not my eternal home. My eternal home will not have violence, hate, sicknesses, death, or division or any other terrible thing. My eternal home will be truly peaceful and everyone will get along. So when I feel that discouragement start creeping up again; I’ll just remind myself to set the sights higher🙏🏾

Have a blessed day Friends!

Seven things I’m Thankful for

Good morning ☀️ I’ve been thinking lately of all the things I’m thankful for; and I wanted to share and reflect this weekend all things positive. First thing’s first, having a thankful heart produces contentment in what you have right now. Having a grateful heart helps you to realize that it’s not peace wanting more things but having peace with the ONE who gives you those things.

Today’s verse
Colossians 3:15 KJV
[15] And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Here’s my current thankful list-although I’m incredibly thankful for a lot more.

1. My family
2. My home
3. My job
4. My garden
5. My beautiful home state of Florida
6. The beach
7. The freedom to pray to a God who listens and answers

Happy Saturday from the Sunshine State☀️

God answers prayers

Good Morning! I wanted to share some good news if you've been following along you know that my Mom had been furloughed - without pay due to the Coronavirus. We were so worried and even stressed. The unemployment website was down due to so many people trying to apply. I don't want to go into a lot of detail but we really prayed- family and church friends. This past Wednesday I really got down to business and prayed to God for answers and told Him that I know He answers prayer and my Faith is BIG! Fast forward to Thursday (the next day.) My mom received an abundance of good news, She's supposed to go back to work Monday. My main reason for writing this devotional is that God really does exist and answers prayers. If you've ever had any doubts about God or Prayer please feel free to reach out to me and we can chat further. I will continue to pray for those of you who have asked for prayer. I wanted to share a message of hope with you all.

2020 Goals

As 2019 comes to a close I reflect on what's transpired over the last months, year, decade...

I started the year with my "word of the year," Grateful. And I truly say that I am very grateful for all of the good that has happened and lessons that I've learned from the not so good. 

The beginning of the year started with achieving a solo, a first-time plane ride to NYC and it was the best decision and trip ever! Soon after I got back home to Florida; I had an adorable 1933 historic Bungalow pop up in my inbox. The next thing you know I'm moving into a neighborhood that I always wanted to live in, but thought it was impossible being a single young female. To say I'm grateful would be an understatement! With that being said I hope and pray 2020 will be full of so many achievements from goals I'm setting. 

The first goal I'm setting is to be more charitable and selfless. Pursue happiness for others and to help those in need.

I also want to dedicate more time to pray for others.

My second goal is to take better care of my health, skin, and hair. Moving into a new house and my busy work schedule from being understaffed for 8 months and so many changes have caused me to eat lots of fast food, get zero exercises and very little sleep. 

READING!

I want to challenge myself to read a new book once a month. I know that sounds small but hey, I have to start somewhere. I currently only read four books and the rest audiobooks; which are much more because I travel a lot.

I would love to travel to another place that I have never been to before. We will see, wink wink!

I have goals for my house as well and two more personal ones. Those two I have to leave in God's hands

What are your goals for 2020? I'd love to know.

Thank you all for reading my blog and for following along and for all of your kind words.

Happy New Year!

What I'm Thankful For

Hi Friends, thank you for stopping by. First and foremost, I want to say that I know that it is expected and cliche to talk about Thankfulness when Thanksgiving is less than a week away. But, I truly want to express my extreme gratitude to my Heavenly Father for his abundance of blessings on my life. If you have been following along with my little blog you might remember my blogpost talking about my 2019 word of the year "Grateful." I'll link the original post here for you to read if you missed it. I am truly Thankful for my Family- my precious Nephew just fills my heart with warmth and happiness. My mama who is so supportive and my fun sister and brother in law. I'm Thankful for my Career, the Owners of the company and the people who make it run smoothly. I'm so very Thankful for my house which came to me in a time of contentment and at a time when I was abundantly grateful for the moment that I was in at the time. I feel that true thanksgiving and contentment produces an abundance of blessings in so many ways. Believe me- my life is evidence of it. My heart is forever Thankful and I can't express it enough! There are so many things I am Thankful for that I can't begin to list them all. I'm so Thankful for you all as well, for your kindness and support for my little blog. So in closing of this blogpost; I want to leave two Bible verses for you to think on and it will make your heart Thankful to know a Savior who can do so much beyond what we can imagine.

Ephesians 3:20 KJV Now unto him that is able to do exceding abundantly above all that we as or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

Revelation 7:12 KJV Saying, Amen: Blesssing,and glory, and wisdom, and thaksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen

We are important to God

Hi Friends! My pastor recently said something in church that touched my heart. It was " People are very important to God!" Every single human being on this earth is important. Christ died for each and every one of us and he cares for our souls. This is why it is so imperative that we tell people the truth when they are doing wrong because it could cost them their eternity with God if we coddle and condone bad... or worse - wicked and perverted behavior. Not that we should be mean and nasty, but we should speak the truth and stand for what's right. And help people overcome their faults and bad behavior.
So back to being important to God. People are so important that He made a way for us to escape eternal separation from Him. By becoming human and giving his life to redeem us from sin. Now it's up to us to turn towards God and live for Him forever. So when you feel hopeless- Just remember that you are important to God and he cares for your soul.

Humble Heart

Good morning Friends! Today's weekend devotion is about Humility. I have been thinking about having a humble heart towards God and people. Being humble as in not being proud of things and accomplishments because after all, God is the one responsible for all things and all blessings. Also, want to humble towards God's word; if I read in the Word of God that I need to change my actions- I want to be humble enough to know that I am human and I make mistakes but God is ever faithful and never makes mistakes. Even Jesus humbled himself to become a flesh and blood man to die for mankind. As a Christian, I should imitate Christ and have a humble heart.

James 4:10 KJV Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Thank you all for stopping by and reading and a great weekend.

God's Will and Plan

In church, we talked about God's will and plan for our lives individually. And it really made me think about praying more about what's right for me or God's plan for my life may not be what I have planned for my life. It reminds me of the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

We often plan things or do things without inquiring for God's will which is so important because God is the only one who knows the future. It made me think that from now on I'm going to pray that the decisions I make or if I'm planning on making big changes in my life that I'm going to make sure it's in God's perfect will.

The Ninth Commandment

Good Morning Everyone! I haven't written a devotional in a long time and I really wanted to write this one today. It's about the Ninth Commandment from God. We all have heard of the Ten Commandments, well this devotional is about the Ninth one. Exodus 20:16 KJV Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Which basically means - Don't bring false accusations against people or lie about people. Even God doesn't like when you lie about people; that He added it in the Ten Commandments. There are examples in the Bible of false accusations against people- like for example; Genesis 39 talks about Joseph a man very good man falsely accused of trying to rape the Government Officials wife and she tried to create (false) evidence by ripping his jacket. And Joseph had to pay for that until God made things right. Another example is King Ahab was wanting to buy someone's Vineyard but the person didn't want to sell his families property. So King Ahab's wife hired FALSE accusers to say that the man did and said horrible things, just so that they could put him to death and take his Vineyard. There are more, but these stood out to me. As you can see, creating false narratives about people is not wrong but it hurts people. We should never lie about people just because we don't like them, or don't like the way they look, or because we disagree with their ideology, or for any reason at all.  Remember honesty is the best policy. And we all should want to please God and obey His Commandments. And be kind to people because that's all that matters. Have a great day Friends and feel free to leave a comment, I love hearing from you all.

Weekend Devotional

      Hi Friends! I haven't written a devotional in quite a while. And I felt inspired to write one to encourage you (us). I'll keep it short but so often as humans we are always chasing after the next best thing and forget that the best thing of all is eternal life. So no matter what remember that our ultimate goal is to see Jesus and experience eternal life forever with Him.

John 6:47 King James Version (KJV)

47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

Never Forsaken

     As Humans, we always seem to want more and more. I read a wonderful verse and promise that God gave us, Hebrews 13:5 King James Version (KJV)

5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

I was thinking about the first part of the verse where it talks about covetousness and being content, I think contentment starts with having a thankful heart. I have found if I'm thankful for what I have now and not wanting more or even coveting what others have -which is a form of envy- I've found that I'm more content. The last part of the verse is so wonderful, God says that He'll never leave us or forsake us so therefore if I have a need He will graciously provide - which I have also experienced so many times in my life. God knows what we have need of and always works things out right on time. So, I'm working on having a thankful and content heart because I know God will never forsake me.

New Mercies, New Year,

     As 2017 comes to a close, I wanted to write my last devotional & Blogpost for 2017. This year has been amazing in so many ways. It also has been bitter after loosing a very close loved one a couple months ago,  but it has also been oh so sweet! As I reflect on all of the good things, I become more and more thankful- for my Family, Career, this amazing world we live in, and most all Jesus! He has taken such good care of me and my family beyond what I deserve; he has also bestowed an amazing amount of mercy and grace to me. And for that, I am forever grateful. Psalm 145:9 says,
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

As 2018 approaches, I hope to be a much better person than I am today. Sharing, loving, kind, and giving mercy as I have been given. I hope appreciate whats really important and not superficial. I hope for all things good. I hope to travel and explore this beautiful country that I live in and document each and every beauty with my camera. I hope to bring joy and positivity to someone. I also hope to make a good difference in our world. 

Happy 2018 and Blessings to you all and thank you for following along my little blog and reading.

Eternal Life

     The past few days has been so sad for my Family and I.  We lost a loved one, who was actually named after my mom, Pamela Denise.  After reflecting on all of the memories and crying and comforting each other.  I wanted to write a devotional on our Hope of Eternal Life.  We all know that we can't stay here on earth forever, but the good news is that Jesus came to give us a true hope of Eternal Life.  In John 10:28 Jesus says, And I give unto them Eternal Life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  This gives me comfort knowing that one day I will be with Jesus, my family and friends and we will live eternally.  And I never have to worry about being sad or crying ever again. This is the whole reason Jesus came was to take away sin and death. He was the first conquer death and He lives forever more. And I can't wait to meet my Blessed Savior someday soon.

In loving memory of my cousin and friend Pamela Denise. I love you and I miss you. I'm going to miss seeing you and you filling me in on all the latest family gossip and our late night talks. My heart aches. 💔 Remember to never take your loved ones for granted. Love on them everyday.

Finding Rest and True Peace

     Good Morning Everyone.  Today's devotional is all about finding rest and true peace in Jesus.  There are people in this world who turn to drugs or other unhealthy addictions trying to find peace in their life  or find happiness through lots of material things or even an answer. But just know that Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is such a great promise.

    There are times when I was really burdened and worried and I would just remember that God is much bigger than any fear, addiction or problem and that he can handle it all. So, if you are ever feeling afraid, sorrowful or maybe you have an addiction that you want to overcome. Remember you can always give it to God and he will give you true peace. It may sound cliché, but it is so true. I myself have experienced true peace and rest through God.

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by  and reading. Feel free to leave a comment I'd love to hear from you.

Angels to watch over me

            Hi There! So yesterday(Friday) I had a couple meetings North of where I live and most of the time I take the Interstate and then sometime I take a different route. Yesterday I took the interstate back home. I was just ending two different phone calls one work related and the other my mom. In the distance I seen lots of black smoke and the first thing I thought was that there was a fire in the Prairie or forest until traffic stopped. And I sat in one spot for  over 2 hours. A lot of fire trucks, ambulances and state troopers came rushing by and then I thought something really bad must've happened. Eventually Officials got traffic moving and I had seen the aftermath of a horrible accident . Later that day I found out the details which I won't expound on here because its very sad. But, one person did pass away among the 9 injured. My whole reason for writing this post is that the accident happened minutes prior to my arrival and I'm very Thankful for God keeping His Angels all around me and my family and friends. I travel a lot for work and I never know the God planned delays or  detours that happen in my life to keep me from harm. Who knows if God had me eat lunch early in the town I was in instead of coming back home to eat and being apart of the accident.

It also made me be very thankful for life and to not take things for granted. And to enjoy the pretty little things. Psalm91:11 is the one of my favorite Verses. It states For he (God) shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. I pray that God keeps his angels watching over my Family and I and also my friends. We should all pray it. I hope this inspires you and touches your heart. Have a great day and thank you for stopping by and reading.

Psalm 23

Happy 4th of July Weekend everyone! I hope its a good one for you so far! I just wanted to write a devotional today on something that I've been thinking about. One of my favorite verses is Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

This verse is truly what I pray because its what I want for myself. I want all of God's goodness and mercy to be with as long as I'm alive on this Beautiful Earth that He created. And the last Part of the verse is also dear to me. I want to dwell in God's house or presence for ever. God is always so faithful to me and I want to be thankful and serve Him and live for Him for ever. I never want to leave God. He is the Best Heavenly Father. I hope this encourages you to strive to be faithful to God as he is to us. And to dwell in his Presence For Ever. Have a great 4th of July! And thank you for stopping by and  reading.

Fresh Start

Happy Monday! I was thinking to myself that too often I or we as humans really don't like Mondays. But, I've been  trying to take a different outlook on Monday and thinking of it as a new day and a blank slate, a fresh start or a white canvas. Almost like how God gives us a fresh start and gives us new mercy every morning. So I'm going to try from now on to look at my least favorite day of the week as a new day, a fresh start, a white canvas filled with new mercies. I hope this has inspired you to do the same. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Blessings and have A good night.