A New Year, A New Issue - GLORIOUS LIVING!

GLORIOUS Living M A G A I N Z E

Issue 2 January 2022

EXCLUSIVE Editor's Interview with Mother of Jamir Cotton, a close brush with death!

IN THIS ISSUE Editor's Interview with mother of Jamir Cotton, on his close encounter with death!

Embracing Me with Lady Belinda Lewis

I Am My Sister's Keeper: Nuggets in the Valley

GLORIOUS Living

CONTENTS EXCLUSIVE!

14

STANDING IN FAITH WHEN EVERYTHING SAYS GIVE UP

04 FROM THE PUBLISHER 06 WHEN SUNDAY COMES 10 SHEPHERD'S CARE 12 ABUNDANT POWER 27 JUST BETWEEN US

Publisher - Gloria Green Editor-In-Chief - E. Claudette Freeman, Pecan Tree Publishing Literary Services Graphic Design - Omichele D. Gainey-Williams RoyalTeaEnterprises, LLC

21 NUGGETS IN THE VALLEY

23 EMBRACING ME: FIRST LADY BELINDA LEWIS

Contributing Writers: E. Claudette Freeman Carol Lynne Wheeler Cheryl Knight Locke Fujiko Jackson

Glorious Living Magazine is a Christian living and lifestyle publication. It is published quarterly by Glorious Living Magazine LLC.; P.O. Box 1154, Boynton Beach, Florida 33425.

For advertising inquiries, story ideas or other information, please contact us at 561.350.5048 or glorious.living28@gmail.com.

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GLORIOUS Living

PUBLISHER'S COLUMN

By Gloria Green, Publisher

Happy New Year! It is an absolute pleasure to welcome you to Glorious Living Magazine.

As we embark on relaunching this publication, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support. As the Publisher of Glorious Living Magazine, my vision is simple, people have amazing stories to share that the world needs to hear, and we are the platform to share them.

Glorious Living Magazine aims to consistently enrich our readers and to encourage them to embrace the best of Christian living, while promoting stories of faith and triumph. My team and I want to make the world a more inspiring place for you.

This relaunch issue should be a testament to never give up on your dreams. I would like to encourage you through a Facebook post from one of my mentors, Charity Israel, Author, 40 Days To Freedom,“Please don’t rob the world of what you were meant to give, take full advantage of the gift called NOW! Because later isn’t promised to any of us, tomorrow doesn’t belong to any of us, and we are all living on borrowed time.

Everything you put off, fail to create and refuse to start will have to go with you to the grave if you keep waiting for the "right time”.

Please hear me, whatever your dream was, I hope you hear it whispering in your ear, “I’m here, I’m still here.”

In the newness of another blessed year, live that dream. May you find your voice, your strength, and your hope. May God bless your family with prosperity good health and happiness in this New Year.

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BY FUJIKO JACKSON

When Sunday Comes

We understand that some of these things come from childhood experiences, some we assumed from being born into a family that has been bathed in one particular bondage or another, others we stroke and incite through our unconscious yet deliberate support of them and yet some come along for a ride when we take part in sinful and immoral behavior.

A stronghold is a faulty thinking pattern based on lies and deception.

The primary weapon of the enemy is to construct building blocks of deception for it is the foundation of strongholds. This demonic deception came to play in my life when long held emotional strongholds related to fear and death waged an intense battle, even while powerful prayer was being laid before the throne on my behalf.

The strongholds had recognized the presence of prayer around me, thus, the power emanating from the prayer communication had to be stopped.

Strongholds were rising to block divine communication concerning my life.

Years ago, after experiencing intense and excruciating abdominal pains throughout the day, several of my coworkers decided action needed to be taken and so they drove me to ab emergency room.

They also immediately began praying for me. As they did, something in my psyche shifted.

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I became weakened in my thoughts. My mind raced with fear. Suddenly, emotional things that had clearly been simmering in my spirit began to speak to me. The strongholds that had lain dormant were now clamoring for attention. Every belief related to my fears, failures and bad choices mounted a campaign – AS THEY PRAYED! The legion of strongholds had come, in the midst of physical pain, to finish me off. I heard them loud and clear, as if someone were in the room shouting them at me.

“You’re going to die.” “You won’t make it out of here alive.” “This is all because of you, destruction, disease, death.” “I finally got you.” “You are worthless, inadequate.”

My supervisor pressed harder in the intercession for me. Sensing the clamping on my mind, he kept telling me, “Whatever you do don’t believe the report. Believe that you are healed.” He and the others began a vigil of prayer just beyond my emergency room post. Finally, I began to pray frantically; wrestling the chains and clamps away from their post. "God, help me! I don’t know what to do! Lord Jesus Help me I can’t fix this! I don’t want to die!” Yet the strongholds intensified. I pictured the surgeon operating on me – removing my womb and organs. I had these thoughts of not being able to give the man I love babies and being less than a woman.

I could still hear Vincent (my supervisor), his wife Nobia and the others praying in the hallway and the praying struck a nerve. The prayers began to push back the enemy and bring peace to my spirit. I clung onto every word. With each second of prayer, I could feel the clamps on my mind and in my spirit loosening. As I battled back and forth with thoughts of despair, I remembered a passage of scripture that the late Bishop Isaiah Williams would often speak over his congregation. “What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”

BY FUJIKO JACKSON

“What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”

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I gathered the strength to say, “I want to live Jesus I want to live.” I began to say, “I am healed and well. I will live and not die.” I had to speak through locks, through clamps, through mighty fortresses trying to make my words void. I spoke. I proclaimed what God spoke to my spirit in that hour – that He came that I might have life and have it more abundantly.

I gathered the strength to say, “I want to live Jesus I want to live.” I began to say, “I am healed and well. I will live and not die.” I had to speak through locks, through clamps, through mighty fortresses trying to make my words void. I spoke. I proclaimed what God spoke to my spirit in that hour – that He came that I might have life and have it more abundantly.

For a moment, as the words pressed through my tears, the thoughts of death and anxiety tightened briefly; but just as quickly they fell away. A big burden was lifted.

By judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, God’s powerful Word distinguishes between those thoughts and attitudes that line up with divine truth and those that constitute human reasoning’s and demonic strongholds.

The apostle Paul writes, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (See 2 Corinthians 4:4.) The word translated "blinded" in this verse, tuphloo means "to dull the intellect," and the simple form of the same verb, tupho, means "to make smoke." That’s what strongholds serve as, methods of the god of this age. The smokescreen that clouds our spiritual vision and disables our ability to pray in faith is erected by the "god of this age" (See 2 Corinthians 4:4) a biblical reference to Satan.

Paul also writes that: "The weapons we fight with . . . have divine power to demolish strongholds." (Second Corinthians 10:4.) The King James Version reads that our weapons are not "carnal" but are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." (See verse 4.) The only weapon that can demolish deception is truth. And, as Jesus said to the Father in His Prayer of Intercession, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." (See John 17:17.) In Paul’s own description of the Armor of God, he only named one part of the armor that was a weapon.

He said to take "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (See Ephesians 6:17b.) That the word of God does indeed have "divine power to demolish strongholds" is confirmed by the writer of Hebrews who said, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

(See Hebrews 4:12.)

Spiritual strongholds are human reasoning’s that exalt themselves over the revelation of God’s will for our lives as revealed in Scripture.

They breed hopelessness that paralyze faith in God’s promises and cloud the mind from being able to see God’s purposes for our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray. When we make decisions as to how we will respond to life’s challenges without seeking God for wisdom and looking to His Word for guidance.

We turn ourselves over to strongholds.

Strongholds weaken our lives and make our prayers ineffective by causing us to become double-minded. We overcome strongholds in our lives by allowing God’s Word to be final authority in our lives.

Strongholds are not mythical notions, they are real. In professional counseling circles they may be known as repressed psychosis, defense mechanisms, irrational patterns, and vices. We must understand that because they are real, they can be overcome, and their impact weakened along the way.

“Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

First Peter 1:10 – 11.

You have the authority and the power to overcome every stronghold in your life. God has given you victory; grab it and walk it out.

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FEELING FINE

SHEPHERD'S CARE Carol Lynne Wheeler

Salvation is a gift that we can only receive from God. How we honor Him with our lives is a gift of praise we give back to Him. Making the decision to trust Jesus with your eternal soul is an amazing thing.

Making Jesus Christ the Shepherd over our lives means that right now we are telling Him that we trust Him. Trusting Him is one of the most profound practices of soul and self-care that we often overlook. We trust Him to direct our paths, we trust Him to guide our steps, we trust Him to watch over us when we are asleep, and we follow His lead.

He is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep that are dependent on Him for our very life. Our ultimate selfcare is in the truth that He cares for us, and we must live in that truth.

Trusting Jesus to direct our path reads easily on paper, but how do we put those words into action? Malachi 3:10 says “…Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty.” God knows that we are weak and that we innately want to be the god over our own lives, but He wants us to test Him and allow Him to show us that He is more than capable of leading and directing our paths.

Allowing Jesus to be the Shepherd over our lives is as simple as trusting Him. Trust comes easily to us, it truly does.

We put gasoline in our cars and trust that as long as we keep that tank filled, the car will start. We put our kids on the school bus and trust that the driver has not ingested anything that will place our babies at risk. We send our children to school and trust that the teacher will not only keep them safe but nurture their minds.

Jesus loves us. He made His love for us a verb … He acted out His love for us. John 10:11 says, “I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” Jesus Christ laid down His life for our very own, and once we acknowledge Him as Savior, we should allow Him to reign over the life He saved. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching…”

We go to restaurants and sit at (John 14:23,24) fancy tables far away from the kitchen, and trust that the Allow Jesus to reign over your cook did not do anything to life. You have trusted Him compromise our health. We with your eternal soul. Trust trust the results of our blood Him with your very life, with work … Few people ever ask for your everyday existence. He a second opinion. We trust that longs for us to hear His voice the doctor read our x-rays and follow Him. He loves us properly, but we struggle with and He longs to fellowship trusting God. We do not have a with us every single day. trust issue; we have an issue of Meditate on these probing faith. We need to allow God to questions, as you sit in take the reigns of our lives and reflective silence, in a be the Shepherd over us. We welcome atmosphere for the need to allow God to direct our Holy Spirit to dwell and path and trust that He will lead practice the care of The Good us to the place where the grass Shepherd: is healthy and green, and the water is thirst quenching and refreshing.

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Have you and will you allow God to be your Shepherd?

Are there areas in your life that you have not surrendered fully to God? What is it that you have not surrendered to God? What areas have you not sought His leading in?

What was the last thing you truly sought God’s guidance in?

What was the result?

God had never failed us in the past, so why do we have such a hard time trusting Him with our everyday needs, desires, challenges, or obstacles?

Carol Lynne Watson is an Inspirational Speaker and the author of The Journey to Peace; A Woman's Guide to Finding Inner Peace and Healing The Womb.

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ABUNDANT Power Power is defined by Webster’s dictionary as possession of control, authority, or influence over others. A question that you may ask yourself regularly during various stages in life: Who is the most powerful? Who influences the decisions that you make? For young children, the whohas- the-most-power question might include Mom or Dad, Batman or the Joker, Superman or Lex Luther. For the politically astute, is it Democrats, Republicans (including the Tea Party Republicans) or Independents.

Let’s not forget the consistent male female debate regarding who is in charge and running things in relationships. There is one power mêlée – God or Satan – where the answer is crystal clear on who has the most power.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10, KJV) According to the New King James Version, Kingdom Dynamics Commentary, Jesus said that He came to give life – not just ordinary existence, but life in fullness, abundance, and prosperity. On the other hand, the enemy (Satan) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. The line is clearly drawn. On one side is God with goodness, life, and “plenty” of all that is necessary for life, and on the other side is the Enemy of our souls, who comes to rob us of God’s blessings, to oppress our bodies through disease and accidents, and to destroy everything that we love and hold dear.

As a Christian, you have decisions to make daily. Who will have the most influence regarding your attitude toward yourself, your family, your commitments, and your career?

How will you react when you face challenges? Will you allow Satan to steal from you and destroy your day? Will you focus on God and His promises, His protection, and His power to provide an abundant life?

Practical Application During the next week, document daily the influences on your decisions and attitudes.

Honestly evaluate the outcome and determine what changes need to be made to ensure that you are experiencing the abundant life that God has promised.

Cheryl Knight Locke is the curator of I am Royalty, a lifestyle brand that encourages women to become financially free and embrace a lifestyle of wholeness befitting of a queen. With over 25 years of experience in Accounting and Financial Services, she is a licensed insurance agent, masterful workshop facilitator and has made it her mission to help clients create, grow and leave a legacy of wealth. A gifted writer, she recently released her first book, I am Royalty 4 Kids, along with her co-author, who is her young son, Levi. Also available on her website is I am Royalty apparel. Cheryl is committed to leading by example with multiple streams of income. Connect with Cheryl today via her website, www.aroyalpeople.com so you can embrace and enjoy your Royal Inheritance.

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Middletown, Connecticut, a community like many others across the country. Full of families, houses of worship, children involved in school and an array of creative, scientific, and athletic events. A place were life-long friendships are made and life is lived. For Sana Latrease Cotten and her family, their home city became a place for God to stir up a faith movement in a manner that changed their lives, tested their faith and forced them to declare life when others were pronouncing death. It all started with a prayer and an accident.

Glorious Magazine’s E. Claudette Freeman spoke with the mother of Jamir Cotten, about a summer they will never forget.

ECF: Your family suffered a horrific incident. Tell us about that.

Sana: June 22, 2021, my then 18-year-old son Jamir, was involved in a car accident. His best friend was driving the vehicle, his best friend's girlfriend was in the passenger seat and my son was in the back seat. The day before the accident, I had been in prayer asking the Lord to give my children (we have a 13-year-old daughter as well) their own experience that would draw them closer to Him. What I didn't know was that my prayer would be answered the very next day.

On the 22nd, around 7:00 PM, we received a news alert on our cell phones saying that there had been a car accident. And when I received the news alert, I knew that it was my son, I just knew it, although it didn't say any names or what the injuries were. Around 9:00 PM, my husband and I were laying in the bed watching TV, when there was a knock at the door. It was the police.

They told us our son had indeed been in a car accident.

And I asked them, was my baby alive and he said, “I can't tell you that information. You're going to have to call this phone number.” All the personnel at the phone number would tell us was that he had been transported to Hartford Hospital.

ECF: Take us back to the day before the accident and the prayer that you were praying for your children.

Was that a prayer that you had f been leaning on or were you just led to pray that, that day?

Sana: So, it was kind of a mix, my kids are good, not involved in anything that would be alarming or anything like that. But I know in all I went through in my own life I didn't get to have a relationship with Christ until I was an adult. And so, I wanted my children to be able to experience God for themselves because they've watched me and my husband (who is a youth pastor), for so long in ministry. I was concerned they’d become desensitized to who Christ was.

I was praying for the prayer of protection over them, but also that the Lord would give them their own experience so that they could get to know the same God, that we serve. It's a prayer that I pray every so often, but on that particular day, I remember praying it fervently.

ECF: With all that buzzing around you, the knock on the door and now you have to go see your son.

Sana: We didn't know whether he was alive or not, but we made our way to the hospital, which is probably a 20-minute drive from where we live. I remember on the way there, crying and praying and asking God, “please, God, let my baby be alive, just please, God, let him be.

Don't take him like this.” When we got to the hospital, they put us in a room with the emergency room doctor.

Again, the first question asked is, “is our baby alive?”

The doctor looked me in my face, and she said, “he's alive - for now.”

I screamed and screamed! But then, at the same time, realized that regardless of what she said, he was alive period. And so, I immediately went into prayer, and I said, “God, I need you to keep him alive. He has to stay alive. He's not going to die.” I started proclaiming, “Jamir will live.” And as our family and friends began to come up to the hospital, that’s what we continued to pray. When he initially arrived at the hospital, he was alert, but he immediately went into shock because his aortic valve was ruptured, and he was bleeding from the rupture. They rushed him into surgery and told us that most people don't make it out of those types of surgeries.

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ECF: That clearly was a lot to take in.

Sana: It was. He was in surgery for about three hours. After surgery, he was moved to ICU. He was put on a ventilator because he had also punctured lungs. He had shattered his pelvic ring, fractured the left side of his face, and he had a TBI, which is a traumatic brain injury. He fractured his C2 spine, he had lacerated kidneys, and his spleen was damaged.

ECF: It sounds like his whole body was crushed.

Sana: His whole body. It was raining that day. His friend lost control of the vehicle, it veered off the side of the highway and flipped over several times before it landed in a tree. When it landed in the tree, it split the car.

They brought us up to the ICU to see him and I remember when we walked in it was so noticeably quiet. It was eerily quiet, and they brought us into the room, and you could hear the sound of the ventilator and all the different machines going. There was a ton of different machines pumping meds and just doing what they do. They had him covered up to his neck and they had like a towel around his head. The only thing you saw was his face and the ventilator tube coming out of his mouth. When you looked at him, even though the left side of his face was fractured, he looked like he was asleep. There wasn't so much as a scratch from glass. You would think he would've had scratches on his face, but there was nothing his face was like in perfect condition. I remember thinking that they had prepared him as if they were preparing us to see him for the last time.

ECF: They wanted you to know they weren’t expecting him pull through?

Sana: And they told us that. But he was sedated and, in a coma, so they said that we may as well go home because there wasn't anything anybody could do. They said we would have to wait until the morning to see what would happen. Plus, this is during COVID, so they don't even allow you to stay overnight anyway, in the ICU. We all went home, and I didn't sleep of course. Before we even woke up good that morning, the surgeons were calling us because they needed to start the first set of surgeries. From that day forward my son endured 13 surgeries within 24 days.

ECF: He’s going through these additional surgeries on top of the major heart challenge.

Sana: Exactly. And he's in a coma, so he's not awake through any of it.

So, I'm making all the decisions and, it's COVID so you can't have multiple people in the hospital, so we don't have that support there because we can't.

ECF: How did you all did with that? I’m sure there was concern from family, church members, friends.

Sana: I'm very transparent. I started sharing what was happening because it was all over the news, plus my son and my family were very well known in our community. So, when it got out who was involved in the accident, everybody knew. And I wanted to make sure they had the right information; not what people thought was going on. And so, I started to share the journey on social media, and I started asking the community to come together and to pray, to pray for our son, and to pray for our family because he was fighting for his life.

ECF: How was that response?

Sana: It went beyond just our community, it went all over the country, churches from all different states were praying on prayer lines. It just went bigger than I ever thought that it would. I kept sharing every time there was a different surgery, everything that would happen, I kept sharing.

ECF: Amazing. With multiple surgeries and a nation praying, there was a twist in the story. Tell us about that.

Sana: While he was in the hospital ICU, he was diagnosed with COVID the hospital. He contracted COVID while in a coma in the ICU. And he had been in that hospital since June 22nd. We couldn’t understand.

We were asking, how did he get COVID? But I said, well COVID or not, this is my baby and you're NOT just going to tell me I can't see him. I would put on all that hospital protective gear, and they made special arrangements for me to be there. I was by his bedside through all of that and never got COVID myself.

ECF: He recovers from COVID and what happens next?

Sana: He had tons of feeding tubes, tons of tubes draining different fluids and blood off of his brain and different organs. Then finally he had his last surgery, which was the final repair to his pelvis. But he developed an infection in his kidney, so we had to deal with that. Plus, they had to reopen his abdomen four times and they would have to remove part of his intestines. They told us he would need a colostomy bag.

We immediately spoke against that and declared that he would not have a colostomy bag. No matter what they said, what they explained, we were not receiving that colostomy bag. We gave approval for them to go forward with the surgery, deal with the infection – but we would not accept that he would need a colostomy bag. After the surgery, the next morning they called and said, “We don't know what happened; but when we got in there the infection we saw was gone and he doesn't need the colostomy bag.” That is God! I knew that the Lord was showing people who He was through my son.

An interesting thing is at one point his intestines were sitting in a bag outside of his for a week. Because he was so swollen, he had 30 extra pounds of fluid on his body, and they couldn't close him because he was so swollen. They had to keep him open, leave the intestines out and give him medicine to drain the fluids out of his body enough to close him. Then finally he had the last surgery.

ECF: And after that final surgery, came another critical step. Because he was still comatose, right?

Sana: Yes, then it was time to start trying to wake him up. He was on so many meds for so many conditions and purposes; plus, he had been in ICU for a long time. He developed what is called ICU delirium.

ECF: What is ICU delirium?

Sana: ICU delirium is what patients get when they are in the ICU for so long and all they hear are the machines beeping. And when they regain consciousness, they're, confused. They don't know where they are.

Mentally they're almost delirious; they don't know what's going on, they are just not there. Their body is there, but their mind is not there. I would look in his eyes and could tell he wasn’t there. At this point, he’d been comatose and in ICU for about a month.

Imagine lying flat on your back, you're sedated, you're on heavy medications, and that's it for 30 straight days. And so, they had to start un-sedating him so we could start to wake him up and we could see what his brain was doing. Was he cognitive? But then we had moments when they would sedate him because of the delirium, he would get scared. So, he would start to fight immediately, he would start trying to get out of bed, but he couldn’t. He had 14 surgeries. The challenge now was how to sedate him safely.

ECF: Certainly, another moment to cling to faith.

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Sana: And I had to go before The Lord and I said, ‘God, it's been 30 days now!” I know my son was in there. Before this accident, my son was a football player, he's been playing football since kindergarten.

He's athletic. He's strong and I know what my son can handle. But you're looking at medical doctors who are telling you medically, he can't handle this. They're treating what they see medically, but I'm telling them, no, it's time to wake him up, start taking the dosage down, all the drugs, the propofol, all these meds that you have him on, I want you to start weaning him off. And they're telling me, “Ma'am, that's not safe. We can't do that.” They were looking at me like I’m crazy. And honestly, I'm looking at me like I'm crazy because I don't have a medical degree or a college degree for that matter. But I'm listening to what the Lord is telling me, and the Lord is telling me it's time for him to wake up.

I demanded that they take him off the meds. At this point, I would sit in the hospital all day until they made me leave in the evening. I would watch those machines and I would make sure that they did not increase any of the dosages. And every day, my expectation of them was to come down, even if it was by a point – the dosages had to come down. And they did. They were finally weaning him off the meds. Day by day, the machines that administered the meds would be gone and my son is starting to wake up.

ECF: That’s great news.

Sana: So, now he's awake but he doesn't know what going on. He’s still on the ventilator because he’s not completely breathing on his own. He can't talk. He doesn't recognize that I'm there, none of that, but his eyes are opening a little bit. I had them like put the TV on sports all day because he loves sports, and I needed his mind to be stimulated again. In his room every day the TV channels flipped between sports and cartoons. And when I was there, I would play gospel music, or I would read to him and do different things to make sure his brain was stimulated. And then eventually he was breathing on his own and they took him off the ventilator, but they put a trach to be sure that if he should have an issue with breathing, they could reconnect him to the ventilator easily.

Him coming off the ventilator was important, because as long as you're on the ventilator, you run the risk of continuously catching pneumonia and he had caught pneumonia twice because of the ventilator. Eventually they weaned the settings of the trach as well and he was breathing on his own.

ECF: And so, between the starting to wean off the medicine and removing the trach, we are already at a month. So, how much additional time now has passed?

Sana: Only about a week because things started to move faster than they anticipated. So, they're a little shocked because they don't understand how things are moving so quickly. At this point, they tell us “we're going to get him out the bed today.” They wanted to get him started with physical therapy. I walked in that room and my son had gotten out of the bed, with their help! He was standing on his feet for the first time in over a month.

Then they asked again about the day, and he responded, “I don't know I thought it was June.” It was actually about July 20th. And suddenly he said, “I missed my birthday.” His birthday was July 7th. He was in a coma for his birthday.

ECF: How difficult was that moment for him?

Sana: He was very shocked. He started crying and all that stuff poured out of him. For them, all of that was good because it meant his brain was functioning properly.

ECF: His progress is clearly still shocking them. But it’s positive.

Sana: And he was up for about three days when they said he could move to a regular floor, which they call a step-down floor. So, they moved him down to the step-down floor and continued to kind work with him. It was critical for me to be there, so we were able to call the president of the hospital and to get special permission to stay with him.

I would stay all night and we did that for three days in the hospital and all day long, all through the night.

And finally, on the third day, he said, “Mom, I have to get out of here.

Mentally, I can't stay here anymore. I feel like I'm losing my mind.”

He didn't know yet that his friend had died, we didn't tell him because it was just too much. He didn't even remember the car accident; he had no clue how he even got there. He said, “I need to leave. I want to see my friends. I want to see family. I can't stay here anymore.”

As his mom, I went back to the Lord and I said, “Alright, God, you got to tell me what to do, what do we do? How do I get him out of here?” And the Lord said, “Just tell them, it's time for him to go today. He's leaving today.”

When they came in for rounds that morning, I'll never forget it; the doctors Said they need to keep him for another week to run more tests. My son looked at me and he started crying. I looked them in the face, and I said, “No. We're done! He's leaving and he’s going to rehab today!” They told me he wasn’t ready, no rehab would take him with a feeding tube, the trach in and he still has a picc line (Peripherally inserted central catheter). They were convinced no one would take him.

They didn't know I had already visited rehab centers because when I decided that my son was going to live and the Lord confirmed that he would, we prepared for that. By faith, my husband and I called rehab facilities, set up appointments, and we did walkthroughs. We found one that we liked, had it approved through the insurance company, and spoke with the case manager at the hospital. So, on that day, I called the case manager and I said, “Listen, can you call the rehab place and see if they will take my son with a feeding tube, with a tracheotomy, with a picc line.” And she called and they said, “Yes. We'll take him. We have a bed available now we'll take him today.” The doctors protested. They didn’t want him discharged, they said it wasn’t safe.

ECF: Was he starting to piece together things at this point?

Sana: Well, he kept looking at me and now they're asking him questions. They’re assessing cognitive things and he’s looking at me, like why. They’re asking him questions. Do you know what day it is?

Do you know what year it is? Do you know where you are? He's like, in the hospital, and they're asking him, do you know what month it is?

And he said, “June.” And they said, “No, it's July.”

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 16

HE'S A ECF: Oh, my gosh.

Sana: That's how small he had gotten. And as of today, he's 118 pounds.

ECF: And he's home now?

I told him not only was he leaving but his bed would be ready at five o'clock. I told them to discharge him, or I would unplug every machine and take him out on my back. They still protested. I got on the phone with the president at the hospital. He wanted to do a story on my son and his treatment at the hospital, so I told him you want to do that story you get him discharged now. Within half an hour, my son was discharged and on his way to rehab.

That was nobody but God. Sometimes we don't know how to properly advocate for our children. And we don't know how to completely trust the Lord. And if you're going to trust Him, then you got to completely trust Him. You can't start walking out on the ocean and then look down. If He says keep walking you just got to walk; and that's what I did. Even when they looked at me like I was crazy. Even when I'm sure they wanted to report me for feeling like I was abusing my child by no longer going along with their medical plan. I still trusted the Lord and I stood firm in it; and I didn't allow them to make me feel like I didn't know my child.

We went to rehab, and they were surprised. The thought he was going to be worse than he was based on the charts sent over from the hospital. They started feeding him the day after he arrived without the feeding tube. They started in on regular food and he was able to tolerate it. That was confirmation to me that this is what the Lord told you to do, and you made the right decision. The therapists and doctors at rehab estimated he would be there about a month. But I heard something different. I told them he was going to be here for two weeks.

I told them, “That's all you got. You got two weeks. After two weeks, he’s going home.” They gave us their concerns. He’s not going to be able to walk and all this stuff. I was firm on two weeks. On the 14th day, my son was discharged. He was upon his feet; he was able to walk with a walker. He was able to feed himself, and he was able to use the bathroom by himself. They couldn't believe it. The doctors would tell him he’s a miracle. He came home on August 18th. He still does outpatient rehab to build up his strength and all that stuff. He had to gain his weight back because he had gone from 140 pounds the night of the accident, to 84 pounds the day he was discharged to rehab.

Sana: And he's home and he's a walking miracle. The day he came home we told him that his best friend had died. And we told him his own story of what he had endured. He has no memory of any of it. He doesn't remember being in the hospital, he doesn't remember anything, he doesn't even remember us on the step-down floor and him looking me in my face and saying he had to get out of there.

ECF: From a medical standpoint, do they think any of that will ever come back, or do you think that is part of God protecting and healing him?

Sana: I believe it's part of God's protecting and healing him. Medically, the doctors said, it could come back. They don't know because he still has the brain injury so they can’t say with certainty whether he'll ever remember it or not. But the whole time that my son was in the hospital, my husband's prayer was that he would not remember anything, that he would have no pain. And that is what my son is experiencing. I mean he would have small amounts of pain, but he didn't have real pain at all; and right now, the only medication that he's on is for his brain injury, other than that, my son doesn't even take Tylenol.

ECF: How did the brain injury affect his cognitive abilities?

Sana: The brain injury slowed him down a little bit so, it may take him a few minutes to process what he's thinking, but that's it, there's nothing else. When I say a little bit longer, I mean like maybe a minute or two longer to process what you're saying to him. But other than that, nothing, and he has short-term memory loss, it doesn't show up in any other way. Father's day was the 19th, which was that Sunday before the accident, he remembers up until father's day.

ECF: When you told him the part of his story he doesn't remember, and when you tell him about everything that you went through about how you guys had to advocate for him and stand in faith for him, what does he say?

Sana: He remembers what happened in rehab because he was alert. He knows there were a few friends who are like brothers and sisters to him (they've been friends since kindergarten) who would visit him in the hospital when he wasn't even awake.

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 17

ECF: Now based on your prayer, the day before the accident and where he is now and how he views his life now and how he talks about faith matters now, do you see what you prayed manifesting in his life?

Sana: Honestly, not yet. I've seen him pray and I've seen him, you know, thank God. But one word that I was given while we were in the midst of him being in the hospital, was that his testimony will come and it may not be when I think it should be, but it will come. And I realized that while I said that prayer for my son (that he would have a closer relationship with God), all of this has made my relationship with Christ stronger than ever before it has increased my faith a thousand times over.

ECF: How has his experience affected the faith walk for the family?

Sana: It flipped life upside down for our family, but it also showed me faith. Even the faith for our community, because while we were going through this, there were so many kids, youth, friends that my son had touched, and they were praying and believing. But we watched so many kids in this community of all ages praying. My son, who’s 19 now, worked in a middle school here before the accident. He was a duty aid.

He watched the kids, made sure they kept their masks on, they're not roughhousing in the hallways, that's what his job was. And so, there were kids as young as 10, 11, 12, who knew him and when they found out about this accident, I had parents reaching out to me saying, I and my son or my daughter are praying every night for Jamir.

They often tell him, “Your mom was no joke. We watched her advocate for you, we watched her argue with the doctors.” He only saw the way I advocated for him in rehab. I have a lot of videos, pictures, and stuff that I took along the journey so that he would be able to go back and see himself and see the progress that he made because I knew he would never believe it. So, I made sure that I captured lots of videos and pictures and me talking on the videos of what happened today and what the doctors are saying, everything in real-time, for him. He looks at me now and he's like, “Mom, I'm so grateful for you. I'm so grateful for you because on top of that.”

I still have to advocate for him. We go to doctor's appointments a few times a week. Because there are so many follow-ups with, with all the different injuries he had. Those follow ups and related things are expected to continue at least for the next year to make sure that he's healing properly. He will have to continue to see a cardiovascular doctor for his heart for the rest of his life. He's got metal screws put in his pelvis and his big thing is will he ever be able to play football again.

The day after the accident, he was supposed to try out for a semi-pro football team. That has been tough for him because football is all he knows; that's been his life since he was in kindergarten. And so now facing the possibility that he won’t be able to play again is tough. But he believes he will be able to play again and so , he's starting to move towards that. He's found his cleats and he's starting to get on the field and try to run again. That’s encouraging, because for a while he was scared to do anything. He didn't know what his body could and couldn't do. His dream is that he's going to be back on the football field. That's his goal; it may not be professionally, but he is going to put those cleats back on and he's going to play football again.

Young people who had never prayed before would come over to our house and just pray. Watching my faith, our faith, and the way we trusted God gave them something to believe in. And then to see them, the day he came home, our community, the mayor, they shut the street down, they had a whole block party for him. So many people in our community had gotten invested in this story and were praying for this young man and now they were able to see their prayers manifest as they saw him home and walking.

ECF: It was like their son was coming home.

Sana: All over the country, I kid you not, if you were to look on social media people started calling them his nephew! They were praying and every win for Jamir was a win for everybody. And when a surgery got canceled or pushed back or something, everybody felt the pain that our family felt. Seeing how God has taken such a tragedy for our family but made it something beautiful for so many other families -it has been an honor to have been a part of it.

ECF: And that is an interesting perspective. Your family's perspective is like, God, thank you for choosing us to use this experience, to draw people to you.

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 18

Sana: Right. You trusted us enough to know that every step of the way we wouldn't say it's because of the doctors, yes, we know it's the doctors that did the physical work, but even you all are serving the purpose of God. And even the doctors are being blown away by this miracle that they get to work on and so God, thank you for trusting us.

Thank you for knowing that we would not take this miracle and give credit to man, but we would give credit to You. ECF: Earlier, you mentioned your younger daughter. What was that impact for her?

Sana: It was extremely hard for her. The whole time that he was in the hospital, she was unable to see him because with COVID guidelines, no one under 16 could visit. And, you couldn't have visitors under 16 in the ICU. She saw the pictures, and the videos, but it was different from being able to see her brother that she was used to seeing every single day. I didn't allow her to come to the rehab, until his last week there because mentally for him, it was very tough. Even seeing his friends, because they could leave and go home, but he'd still be in the hospital.

I didn't want her to see him until there were no more tubes. She was allowed to see him the week he came home. It was very tough for her, because on top of that I wasn't home at all. The entire summer I wasn't here; I was at the hospital. My husband went to work every day because we still had to pay our bills and all that stuff. She was with my family, my cousins, and her grandparents, between all of them for the whole summer. She was very lonely and fell into depression.

We started family therapy, and she has therapy on her own. Jamir has yet to start his therapy because he's not ready. He participates in family therapy, though he doesn't talk as much about his feelings. He will, however, come to me and my husband and he'll talk. He dreams about his best friend often. He visits his grave every couple of weeks.

He talks to his friend's mom all the time. He's processing it his way right now and so we're allowing him to be able to do that because it's still very unreal to him. He struggles with knowing that he survived this accident, and his friend did not. His friend’s girlfriend was blessed, although she lives with the trauma, she walked away from that crash with a broken collar bone and was released the night of the accident.

ECF: Looking at everything you guys have experienced what would you say are your three key takeaways for someone when it comes to what you've learned through this experience?

Sana: Be careful what you pray for. Our words are powerful, and God hears us. Asking God to give my son an experience, I didn't think that that would also mean that I would have my own experience, so be careful about what you pray for. The second thing would be to put your faith in God. That's a major one for me. Put your faith in God and God alone. And then my third takeaway would be to cherish your family, they helped us get through this. They showed up for us in major ways, they made sure that our house was clean every day that we came home. We didn't have to worry about cooking. Our community set up a meal train for us. Cherish your family, and for us when I say cherish your family, know that we gain family from our community as well. We gained a village, and you have to trust them, and you can't be afraid to ask for help ECF: What is your prayer for your son now?

Sana: The prayer for my son now is just that he lives his life with purpose and that he declares the works of the Lord. In the midst of all this that has happened, the scripture that I started speaking over my son through the whole thing was that he will live and not die and declare the work of the Lord. I declared to the point where we had bracelets made that people were wearing that read #LIVEJAMIR. And it's the scripture that our family stands on for him and his life and it Psalms 118:17.

ECF: How can people follow Jamir's story online?

Sana: You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram Sana Latrease.

And you can also search the hashtag #LIVEJAMIR

Sana Cotten, Mother of Jamir Cotten JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 19

Omichele D. Gainey is the owner of RoyalTea Enterprises, LLC and the graphic designer of Glorious Living Magazine. She is also author of Thirty-Five Days to Breakthrough and The Pocketbook to Healing, both available on Amazon.com. She also serves as the Senior Pastor and Co-Founder of Rehoboth Empowerment Center, Inc. in Gainesville, Florida.

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 20

NUGGETS IN THE

VALLEY

FAITH Luke 17:5-6 (NIV) - The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

THINK ON THESE THINGS: Faith is our first shield of defense against the enemy. It is the core deflector of the enemy’s attack. When we stand strong in our faith – even the faith as small as the tiniest seed - no matter what our circumstances are, it is impossible for the enemy to defeat us and possible for miracles to take place in our lives.

PEACE Isaiah 26:3 - You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

THINK ON THESE THINGS: Real peace can only be experienced when we truly allow ourselves to trust God and take comfort in His promises. We must learn to take a promise and apply to everything in our life, like applying healing medicine to a womb.

When we allow the peace of God to rule in our own lives, it will open doors for us to share the peace of God with others. Know Jesus, Know Peace.

WORD Isaiah 55: 10-11 - As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

THINK ON THESE THINGS: God's Word is described as the sword of the spirit, and it is able to cut down strongholds and temptations of the enemy. When Jesus was temped in the wilderness, He spoke The Word to overcome the tempter. Activate (speak, write, scream, shout, sing) God’s Word today and every day, to resist Satan’s lies, doubts and temptations and also to hide in your heart, remove sin and strengthen your inner man before the enemy attacks.

PRAYER “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” -Martin Luther King Jr., Pastor and Civil Rights Icon THINK ON THESE THINGS: Prayer is so much more than us bowing the knee, putting our heads down, hands up, or crossed “right.” It’s about positioning our hearts towards His. It’s about putting our focus on Him, not us.

Whether you are a seasoned Christian, or you’ve just come to know the Lord; know this, Romans 8:26 tells us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness, even when we don’t know what to pray, even if all we can do is moan or utter things that don’t seem to make sense. The Holy Spirit translates the unspoken, the rambled, and the disjointed. The Spirit intercedes for you; and for me.

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 21

“The church is the hospital, so when you come there, there are going to be some people that have to find fault in you, but not everybody is like that. Look at it like this, when you go to the hospital, they don't reject you because have an oozing wound or whatever. If you show up at the emergency room (ER), they take you in.

The church is full of sick people, like the ER, except some fall short of providing medicine. They’re judgmental and that affects how they try to reach you. in regards.”

Author and First Lady Belinda Benton-Lewis knows how the sickness of the church community can traumatize others. Still, she has a powerful piece of advice for women hurt in Kingdom communities. “Be yourself! Don't ever try to be anybody else because when you do, you are saying to God, ‘you made a mistake when you made me because I'm not like sister so and so.’” Lewis continues, “Allow God to use you the way that He wants to and do not compare yourself to other women.

Love God. Love yourself and know who you are regardless.”

Benton-Lewis, founder of Embracing Me Movement, also serves alongside her husband, at Love Temple Church of God by Faith, in Stuart, Florida. She started the movement to encourage women to love themselves spite of flaws and all. Author of, They Say I'm The First Lady is also an avid photographer.

LADY BELINDA LEWIS

BY E. CLAUDETTE FREEMAN Her vision for Embracing Me comes from her personal pain of church hurt. “I experienced tremendous hurt, from the church, when I became pregnant out of wedlock. I grew up with my kids and that was frowned on. I’ve experienced multiple tragedies, and the death of my parents. Sadly, part of my life hurt, has even come from my position as a pastor’s wife.”

Benton-Lewis explains that an epiphany one day made her realize how being pregnant at nineteen, and the fallout from that affected her ability to love herself and all of a sudden, She said she walked into her home one day and the realization hit her, that with everything she was dealing with and being she didn’t know herself. “I kind of got lost in the shuffle of being this wife, being this mother, being this grandmother, and didn't really know how to love me. Then, I had an encounter with a young lady who used to attend our church; she caused so much havoc for me because she wanted to take my place. She would call me names and say just the nastiest things to me. It opened my eyes to the weight those things had on my self-esteem.”

That encounter, and others, led Benton-Lewis to press into God about who and what He created her to be. “The Lord healed me, and He showed me that I was beautiful and that I was fearfully and wonderfully made. He showed me that in order for me to love others, I had to first learn how to love me – fully. That's where the Embrace Me Movement was birthed from, and it has been an amazing journey.

We're up to five hundred members on Facebook.”

Women who are part of the movement, have a private and encouraging social media presence in their Facebook group. Benton-Lewis and other who are part of the group, which thrives on transparency and vulnerability, invite other ladies to join them on the journey to self-love, selfdiscovery and tapping into the definition God has written of them. There are rules and regulations that must be adhered to in order to become a member of the group and administrators are serious about weeding out any animosity, judgment, condemnation or gossiping within the group.

Benton-Lewis says their focus to remain on encouraging, healing, and empowering each other.

JANUARY 2022

ISSUE 02 | 23

Part of the activities the women engage in force them to take a deep introspective look at what’s going on within and how it is manifesting in their lives. What are some of those activities?

“One of the exercises is the no makeup challenge. That was difficult for most of the women to do. They had to take a picture of themselves, post it on the page, wearing absolutely no makeup. The challenge teaches them to understand and realize it doesn't matter whether they have on makeup, or whether they have long hair, short hair, or no hair, to love themself just as they are. We do random challenges, like drop a photo of yourself when you really felt confident. I also get them to say something positive about themselves and learn how to accept compliments because some women can't do that. I was one of them. It seems simple to look in the mirror, tell yourself you're beautiful, drop a photo of yourself feeling confident. But it’s not easy at all.”

One of the things the pandemic affected was the group gathering for their annual photo shoot, yet it did not stop of the Godly-force of sister strength that the movement was created to do.

The Embracing Me Movement founder has some invigorating reminders for women lost in their lives, lost in church drama, lost in unnecessary woman-against-woman battles, insecurity, and gossip.

“We are the righteousness of God. We are daughters of The King, and we should act accordingly. I call my ladies, QUEENS on the page, because of our royal position. God created us in His image and His likeness. If we are here, we have a purpose. It's just a matter of us finding out what that purpose really is and trusting God with you and it.”

Benton-Lewis can be found on Facebook @belindabentonlewis.

A YEARLONG PLAN TO SAVE, INVEST, AND GENERATE ADDITIONAL REVENUE

By Merrie Allmon Allen

The beginning of a new year causes us to reflect on areas of our lives where we know we can do better. One area that stands tall over most is the area of our personal finances.

Instead of commiserating on what didn’t work so well last year, you can walk confidently into the new year with hope and a plan. Luke 14:28 asks, “Which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the costs, whether he has enough to complete it?”

This one-year financial wellness plan will ensure that next year’s reflection will bring only good vibes!

January/February Create your financial goals for the new year. Do you want to get out of debt? Buy a newer car? Increase your giving? Whatever it is that you hope to accomplish, write it down. Be specific in identifying your goals, the steps you’ll take to achieve them, and commit to a realistic deadline. Review your budget to make sure your line items reconcile with your goals. If your goal is to get out of debt, your budget should include enough funding in your line item for debt reduction. Focus this month on tightening up your budget and adjusting where necessary. And treat yourself to a little chocolate for Valentine’s Day!

Merrie Allmon Allen is a Certified Educator of Personal Finance, founder of Money Management Wisdom LLC, and author of “Money Management Wisdom for Millennials” and “Money Management Wisdom: 8 Steps to Living Your Best Life.” ww.MoneyManagementWisdom.net

March/April Review contributions to your retirement plans. The Economic Policy Institute reports that nearly half of American families have no money saved for retirement. How will your life change once you no longer have your working income? If your job has a retirement savings program such as a 401(k), make sure you are contributing at least 15% of your income and taking advantage of the company match. Don’t leave free money on the table. Contact a fiduciary certified financial planner to learn about retirement saving options that fit your desired retirement lifestyle. Consider the ant in Proverbs 6:8 who gathers his food in the summer so that when winter comes, he will have food. Winter (retirement) is coming. Will you be prepared?

April is financial literacy month. Take a class, attend a seminar or workshop, or read a book to increase your knowledge of money matters. It’s also a great time to do some spring cleaning and get organized. Shred any financial documents and old receipts that are no longer relevant. If you do not have an emergency fund, start one this month with a goal of initially saving $1,000 for the car repair, broken water heater, or another mishap that is sure to happen. An easy way to start your emergency fund is to sell stuff. Have a garage sale or list unwanted items on eBay.

Continue reading at next page > JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 25

MAY/JUNE Merry Christmas! Oh wait—it’s summer. And there’s no better time to start working on your Christmas list. Start carrying that list in your purse or wallet and watch for things that would make the perfect gift for someone on your list. You will save money by not being rushed or tempted by the glitz of prepackaged gifts that start showing up after Halloween. You are halfway through the year. Now is a good time to review your goals. How are you tracking? If you find yourself falling short of meeting your financial goals, make the necessary adjustments to your budget to get back on track. What areas can you cut back to increase your savings or pay more on debt?

JULY/AUGUST Ahhh . . . the dog days of summer. Save money this year by taking a staycation.

Discover interesting hidden destinations in your own backyard. Unplug at a cabin in the mountains or on the beach. Act like a tourist. Check out the tourist destinations in your geographical area that you take for granted. When I was younger, I lived 20 minutes from Niagara Falls. I never fully appreciated it until I visited with my new husband and toured it as a “visitor.” It was amazing!

Following this annual plan of financial actions ensures that you’ll have all your financial bases covered.

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 26

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER If you are falling short on funds or want to expedite your debt repayment plan, now is the perfect time of the year to get a part-time job. Businesses are now hiring for the holiday season. If you didn’t get the chance to take that summer staycation and you need a break. Take a mini vacation during this off-season.

Hotel rates and packages are less expensive.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER As you approach the end of the year, now is the time to review your life insurance policies. Have you had any major life events that may require additional or decreased coverage? If your children are grown and financially independent, could you reduce your coverage and redirect the money saved on premiums to your retirement savings? This is the season when we celebrate the birth of the beautiful gift of Jesus Christ.

Celebrate by looking for opportunities to give to those in need, as well as those not in need. My mom used to say to me, “Merrie, it’s just nice to be nice.” She was a giver at heart. When you give, financially or otherwise, do so without any expectation of reciprocation. What charities can you help? Can you be a bigger blessing to your church by increasing your giving? We know that giving is as much a part of financial planning as saving and investing. For it is true that we reap what we sow.

As a giver, God has promised that you will always have the provisions you need. Why? So that you can continue to be a generous giver.

JUST BETWEEN US Dear Loved One Who Feels Forgotten:

I heard that you’ve been having a tough time lately; well really for a little over a year. And I felt it only right to reach out to you and offer some encouragement. I remember in my times of sadness, worry and even fear, who was there for me more than anyone else. It was Grace (Acts 15:11). Grace has always been there for me, so let it be there for you now. I remember grace telling me that I am precious and more valuable than gold

Life presents a daily flow of challenges, dilemmas, and

(Psalm 116:14-16). It reminded me that kindness

moments when tears become overwhelming. In those

and compassion nourishes my soul, so I can go on

moments, its great to know someone feels you, someone

even though I feel weak and at times paralyzed by

understands the heaviness, someone is there to share a

worry (1 Timothy 4:6). I would be forsaken, lose

word of power and encouragement.

people, and material things, but grace and sometimes mercy would tell me those things

That’s what Just Between Us is about. Sharing powerful

were temporary anyway so why focus on it so

words to let a reader – somewhere – know that you are there

much (Ecclesiastes 1). Grace reminds me of what’s

for them.

important and everlasting - love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

How can you participate? Pray and focus your attention on the throne of God. When you feel your spirit stirring for a

So now in your time of need I want you to

particular type of person: a single parent, someone battling

remember who you are in God, beloved, His own,

anxiety, someone overcome with grief, or someone facing

joint heir with Christ; and I want you to remember

financial loss begin to write a letter of encouragement to

that your strength comes from God and His Word

them. We only need it to be about 350 words. Then email it

daily (Psalm 28:7)! Remain faithful no matter what,

to us at glorious.living28@gmail.com. We’d love to share it

in all things. And guess what? God’s grace will pull

one of the Glorious Living Magazine issues.

you through time and time again. You’re still here and that means there’s still a chance, there is still

If you need some warm, inspiring words to hold you, please

hope and you are still God’s child (Psalm 33:22).

glean from the letters shared in this issue.

Love, Toni JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 27

JUST BETWEEN US Dear Young One,

I know that life isn't easy for you. You are only 21, trying to find your way in this world, to live a righteous and holy life and support yourself. I understand how much it hurts you to not have the level of parental support and care you so desperately need. Sadly, not everyone has parents they can rely on in the way that they need. That's okay. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong or are being punished; it's just who they are. They have their own demons to concur. We all do. I fall short in some areas too. No one is perfect. Know that they love you even if it doesn't show up how you need it to and continue to pray for them and be the best you can be. Other’s shortcomings, people abandoning you or their judgements of you, does not define you nor is it a reflection of your worth. You are an amazing human being.

Trust and know that God has never abandoned you or failed you even though at times it may feel

Trust yourself. Show up for you every day even if no one else does. If you make a mistake learn from it and do better next time. No one is perfect so be gentle with yourself. Love on you because you deserve it. You deserve all things good so start by being good to you. Get the rest you need. Take care of your temple by eating healthy and exercising. Meditate.

that way.

Get therapy if needed, it works. Take walks, get regular

You are surrounded by God's glory. He loves and

smarter not haarder. Go to the beach and do things that

care for you. You also have me and others helping you along this journey we know as life. It may not be "enough" by your measure, but you don't go lacking in the things you need. You have a roof over your head, food, transportation, clothes, love, and most of all God. You even have you! Yes, you can rely on yourself! Having the capacity to take

medical and dental checkups. Learn how to invest and work make you feel good about you! You are smart, witty, loving, kind, compassionate and so much more! So, lift your head up, dry your tears, know that you can do all things through Christ and go be intentionally great! You got this and God has you. I love you and God loves us most.

Love, Tametria Harris (Auntie T)

care of yourself is a blessing. Not everyone can do that! Believe in you. I certainly do.

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 28

JUST BETWEEN US Dear Friend Called to Pray,

I thank God for you. He connected us for such a time as this. I am glad to have someone I can share the longings of my heart for God. He is so powerful; I love it when I seek after Him and He gives me signals that He is speaking back to me through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is revealing to me the importance of our roles as intercessors. It is so much bigger that what I thought or imagined. In my experience lately, I see that He first had to break me. I had to be gracefully broken. He stripped me of things and people that I thought I needed and couldn’t do without. He removed the “hook-ups” from my life which forced me to depend solely on Him. But how can you depend on someone that you don’t know that well? He put me in a place of full surrender and trust in Him and only Him. I began to understand some of the weight I was feeling and carrying was not for me to hold onto, it was for me to intercede in prayer and

Hey My Friend,

I know it’s rough and times are challenging and it’s okay to feel down, but I am just a phone call, social media post, or few miles away. I can come give you company and remind you that God sees your hurt and He wants you to come to Him with all your burdens. Be reminded of how much you are loved today and know that you are needed in this world so rest up and recharge because

carry the cross for someone else.

greater things are coming your way.

I have learned that I may feel the weight or need of a person

Love,

that I don’t even know. I have learned to identify or discern

Your Friend, Marjorie

these feelings that I have and immediately know that I am supposed to pray. I see and imagine myself sometimes as a faucet that connects heaven to earth. I stand as a conduit, serving from the well of living water. As I open myself up, I shower what is under me or those assigned to me in the earth.

Do you sometimes feel a weight and not sure where its coming from? Maybe you too have the call of an intercessor. Pray and ask the Father, He is longing to hear from you. I am praying for you.

Standing in the Gap, Freda

JANUARY 2022 ISSUE 02 | 30

ISSUE CLOSING PRAYER Dear Heavenly Father, Blessed be Your powerful, mighty, and merciful name.

May our tongues, in all their variations, forever praise Your name, the name of Jesus The Christ, and the name of The Holy Spirit. We call upon Your Spirit to rain upon us and reign over us. We call upon Your grace to walk with us as we grow in You. We yield, submit, and surrender to Your perfect, holy, and righteous will.

Father, may we never cease to follow You; and when we do may be do it obediently, swiftly, and with a pure heart. May we not alter what You have spoken. May we lean into and trust that You are working providentially in our lives; and that there is no plan, scheme or assignment issued in our lives of which You are not aware. May we remember, not just in this New Year, but in every day of our lives that You secured the victory when You sacrificed Jesus on The Cross.

We are grateful that You remain great and prevalent in our lives. We give thanks. We give honor. We give glory. And we give all these things to You and You alone.

In the name of Jesus, we pray and seal these words in His powerful blood.

Amen!