opm ORDINARY PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Miracles & Blessings
Descriptions Of The Enemy For Your Health
The Benefits of Forgiveness vs The Health Risk of Unforgiveness Consider This
A Serpent and A Pole 2ND QUARTER 2023 | VOL. 14 | ISSUE 42
On the Cover
Kimberly Taylor
of Kimazing Photography
Editor-in-Chief
One Lesson from The
Book of Esther BY SHARON E. LOCKLEAR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The Book of Esther is a compilation of lessons to be learned and mastered. The most important lesson for me was Obedience. Queen Vashti did not obey her king and was dethroned (NLT Esther 1:13-20). The queen lost her throne and not only was she no longer queen, she was also banished. Queen Vashti lost everything. The importance of obedience for a Christian is obeying GOD. The definition of obey is comply with the command, direction, or request of (a person, or a law); submit to the authority of, carry out (a command or instruction), behave in accordance with (a general principle, natural law, etc).
11:28 NLT, James 1: 22-25 NLT). Obedience to GOD proves our love (1 John 5: 2-3 NLT, 2 John 6 NLT). Obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:2223 NLT). Obedience will not be learned overnight, it is a lifelong Christian process. Daily prayer, meditation, studying the Bible, attending service, worshipping with our Christian brothers and sisters will help us to be obedient. Allowing GOD to replace our will with divine will, assists us to be more obedient. Obedience Bible Verses
As a young Christian, I struggled with obedience, I accepted Christ and desired to continue to obey my laws and rules per my interpretation, by my might and my power. It did not work, that line of reasoning failed miserably. Prayer, humility and Christian education taught me the need to embrace obedience. Becoming obedient was a process, accepting GOD’s will and authority was a choice. Understanding the why of obedience to GOD is important.
Deuteronomy 11:1 John 15:9 Exodus 19:5 2 Corinthians 10:5 Ephesians 6: 1-3 Revelation 14:12 Romans 1:5 Hebrews 13:17 John 15:14 2 John 1:16
Joshua 5:6 Romans 2:6-8 Luke 11:28 Colossians 3:22 Romans 5:19 1 Peter 1:14 James 1:25 Acts 5:29
Sharon Locklear 06.22.2023 Obedience is love (John 14:15 NLT). Obedience is worship (Romans 12:1 NLT). GOD rewards obedience (Genesis 22:18 NLT, Luke
2 | June 2023
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contents JUNE 2023
02
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF One Lesson from The Book of Esther
08 JUST TO ENCOURAGE YOU 14 ON THE COVER Kimberly Taylor
The Truth about Esther!
A Little Bit of Encouragement
22 FOR YOUR HEALTH 28
GOSPEL MUSIC/ARTISTS Gospel Recording Artist “TALEIN”
The Benefits of Forgiveness Verses The Health Risk of Unforgiveness.
All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part without the founder/editor’s consent is strictly prohibited. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the positions or views of the editor. The publication of any advertisement in the issue does not constitute an endorsement of the advertiser’s products or services by the publication. © 2023 Ordinary People Magazine VeMaShe’ Enterprise LLC
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MIRACLES AND BLESSINGS
38
CONSIDER THIS
Descriptions of the Enemy
To Give or Not to Give: That Is the Question!
42 INSPIRATIONAL WORDS 51 53 FROM WITHIN...
SMALL BUSINESS CORNER Linda White Photography
God’s everlasting presence
22
08 28 38
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Miracles and Blessings
D E SCRIP TIONS OF THE ENEMY BY TAMMY TERRELL KENNARD Big lips, big eyes, big nose, pushed-back teeth, big head, big ears, bumpy face, knocked knees, flat booty, big chest Tammy who talked with a lisp… That’s what they called me, and eventually, it’s how I saw myself. I was the ugly girl of all my friends, according to the boys and the girls. So, I became the cool girl and the bulimic girl. I started throwing up
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after meals because one of the neighborhood adults thought it was necessary to point out how even though I was small, I was still the largest one in my circle of friends. So I started throwing up to keep from becoming a fat girl also. I became the girl who could rap better than all the boys, and I learned how to check. (Checking is kind of like your momma jokes. It’s when you
jive talk about another person). I was good at checking because I’d go low below the belt. There weren’t any limits as to what I’d talk about if you hurt me. I’d talk about you, your momma, daddy, siblings, or even deceased grandparents if you messed with me. I played really dirty. I mean, I had to make folks leave me alone and stop picking on me. My big brother couldn’t defend
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me anymore. He was graduating, so I was determined to protect myself, and checking was my answer. It worked, too. It got folks off my back.
He was a good guy, it seemed. That thought of him didn’t last long. Raised by parents who didn’t kick their kids out as soon as they turned 18 but determined to be grown and on my own, I moved out at 19 to shack with a man I eventually married. Nothing fancy, just a quick “I do” in the pastor’s living room with no one but us, the pastor, my sister, and her husband. I don’t even think the Holy Spirit attended that ceremony.
You would have thought my confidence would have been top-tier because I was one of the few families in our Smokey City neighborhood that still had two parents in the home. My daddy worked hard as a welder plus a truck driver, and my mom stayed home caring for us and the house. Times were much different back then. Kids could play But, life was together without fun now, so I anyone getting thought because I hurt. Well, that’s could dress how what I thought I wanted and do until a close friend what I wanted, we called Red was living away from killed right before my loving but my high school controlling parents’ graduation to drugs home. I didn’t and gun violence. move too far, Then, six months though. later, my friend, nicknamed Moo, was also murdered. That’s when We rented a one-bedroom duplex right down the I was 1st introduced to death, but even still, I street from them. lived my life without fear of dying. Now, with my own crib and my own husband, I felt I had it all together, especially since everyone I really wanted to be a rapper after high school wanted to be at our house. We worked during the because I was good with words, but my parents day and had parties almost every night, living insisted I find something more serious to do. paycheck to paycheck. Baby, we had it going At that time, I thought 12 years of school was on. Me 19 and him 18, you couldn’t tell us this enough for me. wasn’t the way life was designed to be.
“Descriptions of the enemy inside are what filled the bag I carried. That’s what defined me, and that’s what I believed.”
So, I decided on cosmetology school. Knowing good and well, I had zero desire to do hair. Now, I was definitely born for the beauty industry, but becoming a manicurist was my natural gift. I discovered that by doing more nails than hair in hair school (that’s still funny to me). During this time, I was 19 years old, and this was also when I met who I thought was my person.
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The only thing missing was a baby. Especially since all my friends who weren’t married already had kids because they’d gotten pregnant in high school. I was jealous. I wanted a baby, so we started trying. But miscarriage after miscarriage became the new definition of me. Big lip, big nose, big eyes, pushed-back teeth Tammy who couldn’t even carry a baby full term before it died.
With people constantly asking “When are you going to give that man a baby?” insecurities attached itself to me even more. But I painted a smile on my face as if I had it all together. Outside appearances often tell lies, and I was the face of it. Descriptions of the enemy inside are what filled the bag I carried. That’s what defined me, and that’s what I believed. You’d think with all the negative labels Satan had attached to me that it wasn’t room for any more, but that wasn’t the case for me. That cunning little sneaky, evil, and nasty beast added another description to my already list of heartbreaking labels. Our marriage didn’t stay happy very long because, for one, it wasn’t built on the foundation of GOD. He was a follower (and not of CHRIST). He was an alcoholic and a cheater. Dealing with all of that, I became physically abusive towards him. Yep, you got it. I was the one putting my hands on him. I remember one time I stabbed him in the face with a piece of glass just for hanging a picture wrong, and it fell off the wall breaking. I was angry because I thought I finally had someone who liked me and accepted all my flaws, yet he cheated over and over again. I was so hurt, and I wanted to hurt him just like he and everyone else had hurt me. The blood was pouring down his face from where I’d stabbed him with the glass. He called my daddy, and my daddy came up the street to our house. When he walked in, I fell into my daddy’s chest, crying. “He made me do it.” Before asking was he okay, my daddy asked him what he did to me. My daddy loved me, and he wasn’t going to accept anyone doing me wrong or accept anything anyone said negatively about his baby girl. I was a perfect angel in his eyes. He saw me as his beautiful girl, and I grew up with him always telling me how beautiful I was, how smart I was, and how the world was mine if I’d just go get it.
With a good daddy, you’re probably wondering how I could ever have low-self-esteem or even allow what others thought of me to affect me. But Satan spoke to the young and spoke through the young. So, as a teenage girl, when you’re at that age where boys are starting to like girls, you’re the only one no one likes, and then they verbally remind you why they don’t like you, and it’s all physical, it makes you repeat the descriptions from your peers. Big lip Tammy, big nose Tammy, big ears Tammy, pushed back teeth Tammy, knocked knees Tammy, flat booty, big chest Tammy, bumpy face Tammy, Tammy with the big head who talks with a lisp. As I said earlier, you would have thought, with all the negative labels already attached to me, that it wasn’t anything else he could say to bother me but Satan’s plots, plans, and schemes to attack my mind and my life was running rampant. After only five years of marriage, trying to beat some sense into someone who was an uncontrollable alcoholic and habitual cheater, divorce found its way to my address. I’m sure by now you’re already calling me the names everyone else did. Big lip, big eyes, big nose, pushed back teeth, knocked knees, abusive, miscarriage having, divorced Tammy who talked with a lisp. Descriptions of the enemy had their way with me, and Satan wasn’t going to give up until those labels ended with me committing suicide. To Be Continued: Scripture: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
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