June 11

It'll all be alright at the end of the day not cuz I run to hip-hop or have other passions and interests or cuz I have a sea of books providing me with wisdom or cuz I have an artistic gift I can use and art supplies or cuz I have amazing friends to kick it with or an incredible city to explore. It's all cuz I have Jesus. He is my Joy and He will make all things new.

*Inspired by hip-hop

Short-lived spouts of inspiration
vs
Sustained application through conviction of the heart carried out in a transformed life


Serving the One who died and rose again
Slapped death in the face like a piece of cake


Christ is the I.V.
Eternal life
Eternal peace.
Possible on Earth through Him.

I can do the math:
HE>i

5/27/14 power of words.

Don't think there's power in my posts
There is power behind the posts
The Holy Spirit
Speaking
Living
Breathing
Talking through me
I am the medium
God is the message bearer
He gifts us to use us
He gifts us to impact
We all have our spheres of influence
So do what you were gifted to do
Do what you do
Be free in Your identity in Him
Don't let any bondage hold you back
Be free

Life doesn't wait for us to charge our phone
We're not meant to live life alone
Stay in community
See Christ's victory!

Walls

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days."

~ Hebrews 11:30 ~





Walls
By faith
The walls
Fell

Church
By faith
The walls
Fell

Shy
By faith
The walls
Fell

Trust
By faith
The walls
Fell

grace.for.renewal.for.the.soul. 4/7/14 @ Great Lakes

Quarter past midnight

And I feel God's grace

Raindrops pourin'

Gracious reminders of gentle grace

"Who shall I fear if my anchor is secure?"

Gentle gracious grace

Oh, God, how You evidently picked me up

Restored the light to my eyes

I know You're real because the most out-of-control world became tranquilized-

The human inner world

The soul

You are the Doctor of that

Working miracles by transforming hearts

Ex-gang members become on-mission for the Gospel

Ex-addicts become disgusted with their precious life

Ex-Judgy judersons transform to a garden of the mind blooming with love

No medication

Psychotherapy

Drug

Experience

Person

Healthy act

Compares

To a single touch of Your beaming Light

The dust from the Light of Your Presence

Moves mountains of the soul

Ripping out old, beaten, broken train-tracks of established ways of thinking

Replaced and ever-replacing with better

Renewing the mind daily

You are active in our lives,

If we open the door

You are knocking

Only You, Lord

Only You




I am not silent because I am that transformed handiwork of Yours

The previous, ex-fill in the hundreds of blanks of a previous life bound by oppression

Shackles broken

To You alone be all the glory

Without You,

I am nothing.



~Yours

"A Prayer"... Video Recording

Video Recordings of Poetry

"I am not just a constant work in progress. I am beautiful now, in the present"

A piece asking for God to rest me in His finished work through love and acceptance of self.



- Jaybe 3 23 14

When simple truths..
become simple.

Simple enough to be digested.
Yum!

Now I've tasted...

Loosening the shackles I attached to myself
Even though I did it,
You hold the keys to my freedom from myself

sd to the D

went from a definition of a lack of sun meaning less than three hours a day in the sunlight
to less than 10 minutes in a sunlight-lit room

TBC

March 9, 2014

Really made to feel like I know nothing

Breeze will pass

The refreshment will come

Jesus, You take away my cancer

Pacify my problems

Clear my mind

Purify my heart

No More Cold Tomorrows

Jan. 21, 2014
---------------------------------


No more cold tomorrows
Our nation's children deserve a chance
To freedom
Not free doom
That truly reigns free

Free.
What is freedom?
Some will never know it...
Until they walk into your classroom
And when they walk out
The reigns are off
Environments
But internalized messages teach them not to become products of the environment

Hope.
Freedom.
Prayer in action.
The teacher battling at the end of the finish line.
Weight upheld
It becomes OURS

Blood
Sweat
Sleep-deprivation
Empty fuel tanks faked, prayed, forced to fill
For you

You're not alone anymore, baby

When you think of you, think of me
Your teacher
Your lover
Your fighter
Sometimes,
Your head's most gentle and gracious voice

Freedom.
Once I became liberated I became free to liberate (thank You, Jesus; lost without You)

You might not feel free out there
But you are free in here
And here
And here
And here

Nobody will take that from you
United, we shall overcome

Love,
Miss B.

2 - 7 - 14

God is the only One who has the power to fully transform. To erase completely. To heal fully. Why live for the world, Satan, lies, your fleshly nature, societal norms? That's bondage! I say no. LET'S SAY NO! Choose Life.
Even if I am battling with my flesh, thoughts, and the world each and every day to be more like the image of Him... it is what I was meant for... to be united with Him in the midst of this broken world. We are meant to live in abundance, joy, freedom even in the midst of all the heartbreak... it is available to us through Jesus. Striving. TYJ

2 - 18 - 14

Ever feel your life is without purpose? You're feeling dull and gray and you really don't know what to do. Or if you make a difference. Well here's God's message to you: I made you for a reason. You are beautiful, and I've endowed in you spiritual GIFTS. Custom-tailored by the Creator, Me, for creation, you. Give your gifts. Don't abUSE, USE your body. Offer hope, healing, compassion. Someone needs you. I love you.

With You Jesus, nothing's wrong even when it is. You take all the pain away... I'm in. All in.

Parents both out workin to the bone

2/17/14

If internalizing,
reflecting,
mentally preparing,
and spiritually growing
were jobs
I'd get an A+

I am not just a constant work in progress. I am beautiful now, in the present.

February 2, 2014

I want to feel like I'm doing things right, Lord.

Like I am pleasing unto You.

That is when THIS will all click.
That is when life will regain the vibrancy it once had.
That is when the past will completely be erased.

When I know I am on Your path.
When I believe I belong only to You.

That is when I will be healed.
That is when I'll be forgiven.
That is when I can truly move forward.
See life in color again; I've been struggling so much for this.

That is when I will have joy in every moment, during each task no matter if perceived trivial.
That is when I will have FREEDOM.

I will live in freedom.

That is when I will truly know my boundaries and GUARD THEM with FULL armor that You provide.
That is when I will be able to truly live for You.
That is when I will be able to truly love.

That is when I will be able to go to sleep at night and say to myself,
"Job well done today, Jess. Love you. So proud of how you spent the day! Sweet dreams, God's child."

That is when I will be able to rebuke any demon because of my faith in Your power and exercising Your authority.

That is when I will be fully full again.

That is when...

Well the realization is now...

The blessing and peace is therefore no longer a matter of when...

It is here.



Now.

A prayer 2.2.14

i desire to please God
not people

love by action
not word and emotion

be fully healed, then heal
instead of pretending like i have everything together

i want to believe
that life doesn't have to be so hard

and the humbling reality is
that i don't have it all together

the more humbling reality;
that all of us are trying to get it together
and if we're not
we are
to realize,
to accept that,
strips away any idea that we are in this life alone
we are going through similar struggles
or at least,
navigating common human emotions at the same time

life
needs an answer

life
demands a purpose

life
needs hope,
healing,
enlightenment,
encouragement,
love,
peace

life needs something more than itself
life needs the Source
life
needs to focus on itself at times
and on others at time
and on itself
and others
at the same time
and sometimes there is a battle of focus
and you can't be a person who is emotional contagion
because you end up neglecting the very essence of your needs,
your being,
your rights

be you
be true
to that light
be love too
be generous
focus
learn to embrace
learn to give
and especially receive
focus more on yourself
and stay true to that angel

life
needs the Source
i am blessed He lives in my chest
and in my ever-present awareness
and lack of awareness
in my mindlessness he lets me fall tripping to the ground
to wake me up

oh! sorry, Lord, i was too zoned out in anxious thoughts again
thanks for bringing me back

life
needs the Source
i am blessed He lives in my chest
embodies and lets out his aroma in my faculties that are saturated with His joy

life
needs the Source
without it,
it's empty

I.
need You, Jesus.
Take my weakness,
and transform it by Your power.

I need you in my life
You are my life.
You died for me, I live for You.
Lord, let not my spirit fail.

Amen,
your daughter

11-19-13

11-19-13
We are souls
Not bodies that ache
Sores that bleed
Muscles that spasm
Stress that’s felt
Anxiety
Oh, anxiety abounds in professions like this
We’re all working from home too
Feeling unappreciated
So new and uncertain
The answers will come
The tests may pass

Title: I am in love with my Students and what we Create

10.21.13

None of MY kids will become statistics
They will master linguistics
And know how to code switch like the back of their hand
Because the white man still rules, baby
So we'll learn and teach each other how to make it
You will rule the world one day
“If I ruled the world, I'd free all my sons”

You're free in here, honies
We are free in this classroom together
It's not about being observed
Being criticized for how I talk to you that bothers me
It's that these people are invading our world
But like we learn in the room,
We will respect each other,
Strangers in our land included
Because we know that the Earth is the only place humans can survive
There are aliens out there
In here, there is love

A classroom of love, kindness, focus, and growth
It's truly special isn't it?
What we built?
Look at this fort of our intertwined loves and energies
It creates a canvas that is Room 152 in Primary Academy
We have our love on the map
Here in Eastern Market, Detroit
Yes, I love you

A new week
Another day
I know we will grow together
You teach me more than you know
You help me become a more refined person
Because when I breathe inspiration to you,
You breathe it back to me
The things you say
The way you see the world
Don't grow up yet my babies

We will enforce AND follow the rules in here
We will laugh, cry, bleed, eat, hunger, push through, and overcome
All that we already have

Meeting human needs in the same space
The same windowless classroom
Purple walls
Full of color
Art you all made
It's beautiful in here!
Our little planet on this Earth
WE MADE THIS!
Haha, it's home!
8 hours of the day
Confined in these spaces
No, not confinement is occurring here
Because we are free
To dance
To move
To eat
To play
With a little rabbit
To play tag by breaking the rules
To play teacher with the yardstick

You are all so beautiful to watch
You are all so beautiful to listen to

I love you
I will embed everything I know within you
So you can wrap your mind around your questions
And have answers
Even at ages 5-8

You amaze me every day
One day, when you're ready, I'll tell you all the tears I swallowed in front of you
So that you wouldn't be confused by what was starting to make me cry
And this is what it was:
Simply put,
You amaze me
Each and every day
The things you say
The way you treat each other
How beautiful you are
You are all my shining stars
Going very far