Week 14: Sunday Service Announcements
The book of Job teaches us that we will never suffer as a punishment, that it is a fruit of the Spirit. Stay with me now Church...
You will never suffer because you deserve it.
Do you know the fruits of the Spirit?
Love, joy, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, long-suffering against such things there is no law.
Therefore, what we need to understand is that God is never going to put us through suffering because we did something wrong, we go through long suffering to be the vessel for inspiration.
God reveals himself to Job at the end and points out Job’s perspective which caused him to not see why he would be put through suffering. He didn’t understand that God was using him as a vessel to allow the people around him to gain wisdom and knowledge from the lesson.
In the end, Job was restored as if nothing ever happened, but the wisdom gained through it was greater than him going through the suffering. And today that’s the message God has for you.
The suffering you have been going through is not in vain; God is not punishing you. God is using you for something greater than you can see right now. Let me give you my testimony because I am Job.
God told me a year ago, in September 2023, to sell everything, break my lease, and buy a one-way ticket to California. I didn’t think I was ready; my money wasn’t right but if you know how the Spirit moves then you know none of that mattered. On October 1st, I turned in my apartment keys to my dream downtown apartment, but we never made that flight. For the next year, God had me in my long-suffering isolation.
and my book, Un-Trap da Hood, became my written timestamp.Let’s bring this back full circle.
I went through my long-suffer while sharing my vulnerable stories to be an inspiration for the ones around me: YOU. This community has witnessed in real-time God restore me through elevation. When I started this community, I moved to Oakland because God said move. I didn’t understand, but I was tired and ready to go home, wherever that was. I was coming home to Oakland, California when the first Sunday Service Announcements newsletter was published. And for these past few months, I couldn’t comprehend why God would have us living in a room for a year just to bring me to Downtown Oakland to rent a tiny room studio, but it wasn’t that.
My living situation is temporary. I am being restored in the physical to be inspired and gain the knowledge to do it for the people around me.
, , and Un-Trap da Hood are all interconnected because they are all a part of the elevation I prayed for when God told me to leave my hometown in September 2023 now September 2024 I am home in my dream reality.This week, I challenge you to find a new perspective on your suffering and what it is God is trying to reveal to you.
Sundays are for Stillness
Greetings Brothers and Sisters in the work,
Please join me in a collective breath.
Let’s take a deep and expansive Inhale.
Hold.
And.
Release with a liberating and grounding Exhale.
Congratulations, you made it to the here and now. Welcome to Sunday.
Today I want to commune with you about the potential offered to us on Sundays.
There’s something about Sundays that invites rest, relaxation, recalibration, and rejuvenation. After all, many of us interpret the day God rested after laboring on this glorious creation as Sunday. So this Sunday, we’ll contemplate the one condition that makes the invitations above possible.
stillness.
Stillness isn’t only accessed through sitting cross-legged in lotus or laid out in savasana. It’s not confined to being alone in a lavish bubble bath or at the peak of a beautiful hike. It isn’t even about having quiet in our immediate surroundings.
Issa state of mind
and (sometimes) body where we return to ourselves.
In stillness, we connect with the very source of our being and are plugged into the truth of our existence. We exist. Here and now. We are breathing, living beings that are crucial to the plot of this incredible light show.
Stillness allows us to drink it all in.
In the same way that silence allows us to hear and space allows us to see stillness allows us to be.
In being we strengthen our resolve to live our highest most aligned purpose. In being we release the burden of the past and the stress of trying to control the future. In being we are uplifted by the power that placed us in this moment to flow through our challenges, face our pain, and alchemize our suffering into thriving. In being we begin and we end.
Cultivating stillness in your Sunday requires only the intention. Once you set the intention to invite stillness into your Sunday all the opportunities to anchor in will present themselves. Maybe it’s the moment before you take your first sip of tea.
You mindfully bring the cup to your lips, feel the steam on your face, and smell the aroma wafting upward before savoring that initial sip and journeying with the warmth, using your attention, down your chest and into your tummy.
Perhaps it’s while washing the dishes today, taking a walk around your neighborhood, or reading a poem. Sitting at a stop light, being on hold during a call, or the moments when we transition from one space to the next are all opportunities to feel yourself being alive and connect to the stillness in that being. Moments of stillness are offered all around us, and with the intention to notice and embrace them, we’ll find that they multiply.
Maybe this Sunday's stillness will be the first stitch in a quilt of your week where stillness is presented, embraced, and cherished on all days of the life experience you are gifted.
Hear My Cry from a Broken Home
Jacquie told me, “we just need your heart.” Her words bring to mind this verse: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable.”
My heart has been breaking--
open and healing. It is by God’s grace that I have found the strength to not let the things that tried to break me harden my heart, dim my will to live or weaken my courage to release and let love in.
Some things are harder to bear than others, and in those moments, I fall to my weary knees and surrender it all to God. With each cry of 'take care of everything,' my heart is laid bare before God, where nothing can be hidden.
I had something else in mind to share with you all today, but when I opened my heart, to my surprise, hate was finding a way to seep in. I prayed for the day when thoughts of my children’s father no longer stirred resentment, anxiety, or remembered pain. I had to find solace in my conversations with the divine, if God dwells within me, hate will not find comfort here.
Amid so many broken homes in our community, I know I am not the only mother fighting this struggle—yearning to create a healthy, loving environment for her children, even after a union that is now divided. Love will heal us all.
So, I share this prayer with you, sending my love to all the mamas doing the work: healing generations, breaking cycles, and seeking peace. Through the grace of God, our Father’s divine love will free us from suffering. We are not alone. We are loved.
Dear God, grant me the courage to change the things I can the serenity to accept what I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference.
I come before You with my heart, uncertain and weary, questioning whether it’s still pure after all the hurt it has endured. It feels tainted—worn down by the pain of betrayal, the scars of broken love. But all I truly desire is to be loving and know love.
Love, how I grew to know it, has wounded me.
more times than I can count.
I long for the wisdom to discern what I can change, though at times it escapes me.
A heart, once open, pure, and sweet, slowly dimmed by the world’s unkind touch.
Violations I didn’t ask for, betrayals I didn’t deserve—they all dimmed the light within me. I want that light back.
I am working to forgive. I know that forgiveness is the path to my freedom, but God, it's hard.
Who answers prayers, why you, God? I realize what my heart has always known, I need You. I need You to help me heal. I’ve tried leaning on therapy and reason, but I cannot do this work without Your divine guidance.
Guide me in raising my children with love and patience. Help me co-parent in peace, despite the challenges, so that my children may grow in a healthy and loving environment. Where there is division, bring unity; where there is hurt, bring healing.
Your forgiveness is about freedom—freedom from the chains of resentment, bitterness, and hurt. And this is the freedom I long for.
“Faith hasn’t got no eyes, but she long-legged” Zora Neal Hurston
With the eye of faith, I can see God and I hold on to that vision. I place it on a shelf in my heart. With my eyes on God, I forgive and claim my freedom.
With backing from the holy spirit, I see that forgiveness is not acceptance of his behavior but an act of self-liberation. Grant me the wisdom to set healthy boundaries without bitterness, and to co-parent in peace without compromising my well-being. Heal the brokenness within him too, Lord. Show him the path to becoming a better man, a better father. I pray that You heal this family, drawing us closer to You, and creating a peaceful and healthy co-parenting environment for our children.
Most importantly, God, heal my heart. Restore its purity and strength. Teach me to guard it with wisdom and grace, not allowing harm or hatred to take root. I surrender all of my pain, confusion, and hurt to You. I trust You to take care of it, to heal what is broken, and to bring clarity where there is none.
God, I surrender my heart, my hurt, my past—everything. Take it and transform it. Help me to heal, help me to forgive, and allow me to move forward with love, grace, and peace. Let Your will be done in my life.
Amen.
here’s something to hold onto, i love you all:
I release the pain of the past and open my heart to healing. I forgive, not for others, but for my own freedom. With God's guidance, I am reclaiming peace, restoring love, and protecting my spirit. I am worthy of a heart full of grace and a life filled with peace.
you have to be intentional about living
The theme of 2024 for me has been intentionality.
Since having a few conversations about seasonal depression recently, I've been inspired to get ahead of an emotional winter by living more intentionally.
I usually have a hard time in the Winter months, sometimes filled with deep depressive episodes. Oddly these last two years have felt significantly easier. Not completely absent of depression, but better.
After reflecting on last Winter, I remembered I was participating in a group full of creative black women meeting weekly while working on a personal zine and a new YouTube channel. The year prior I was participating in that same creative group and putting together my first poetry book. Seeing a theme of creativity right?
These last two years might’ve gone so well because I tapped into my creative energy at the right time. Also, I’m a Fall baby, so the spirit of Fall may just be more aligned with my creative season. Maybe. All hypotheticals, but I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t go for it again. Having a creative project to focus on might be part of the Winter depression cure.
Another part I’m slowly realizing is intentionality. This tweet sums it up well.
Intentionally creating joy in the mundane could look like taking a walk and finding patterns in the clouds, the trees, the local plant life. Or blasting music in the shower. Or putting on a “baddie” playlist while getting dressed. Or having a podcast you only listen to when washing dishes.
Or simply planning themed days. TV binge Tuesday, sweet treat Saturday, spiritual Sunday, new music Friday, try a new food Thursday, Wednesday walking adventures, midday nap Monday. These are my literal ideas to try out next month with just picking 1 or 2 each week, because why not?
I saw someone on TikTok mention weekly soup nights with friends. Someone else mentioned leaning into festivity to have something to be excited about. I've never been a festive person but if that's what I have to do to live a meaningful life, then aye deck the halls and give me a Santa hat.
Point is, before the days shorten and darkness closes in, we have to be intentional about how we use our daylight.
I know I said "we", but I’m really just preaching to myself and hoping someone else may benefit.
I’ve been playing around with time and perspective to maintain solid mental health while working a strenuous job. I’m honestly proud of how well I’m hanging on, but intentionality applies to all areas of life, apparently.
Like on my last hair wash day, I was annoyed with having to do my hair, as always. Usually, I’d steep in that frustration for the entire duration of doing my hair, and groan about how much time it stole from me afterward. But in the spirit of intentional living and trying to speed up time, I decided to turn on my essential oil diffuser and play the songs I’m currently obsessing over. I had a blast. A task I’ve long dreaded turned into a fun moment just from a simple intention to feel better. Intention to make another fun moment simply because I DESERVE another fun moment.
With all my recent experiments with time and reflecting on how my perspective has changed over the last 2 years, I'm learning that it was up to me to be intentional all along. I just expected life to suddenly feel joyful one day. I expected time to warp itself in my favor without me thinking about it. I expected bad moods to disappear on their own. I expected fun to randomly fall into my lap. I thought not having excessive free time was the reason my life felt so lackluster. The sad part is I internalized those failed expectations. Conditioning I guess?
I’m a 28 year old teenager learning how to live life, and this is just part of my reparenting. Learning and teaching myself that I can enjoy life much more than I have been as long as I create these moments for myself.
My friend recently recommended this cool black woman’s YouTube page where she plans fun and rest for the upcoming week every Friday live. Her main point is that if we plan it ahead of time, we’re more likely to prioritize those moments. Absolutely LOVE this idea. This just speaks to how as adults, it really is up to us to put forth the intention to live. Whether it’s intentionally resting, intentionally playing, or intentionally creating. It doesn’t always just “happen”.
What do you have planned this Sunday? Next Sunday? Anything fun soon? If not, what’s stopping you?
I love that we’re all so creative, but how creative are we being with the way we live our day to day lives?
who all in your energetic cup?
exactly what kind of emotional smorgasbord are you feasting from?
is it muck or is it love…
we so hurriedly shovel into our proverbial mouths, seeking to feed our attention-starved souls?
we often overstay our asses in situations we should’ve left behind long ago, all for the sake of convenience.
she’s been doing my hair for years… but lately the service been lacking.
the unsaid: you dated her daughter who cheated on you, but you still pull up to get your crown done.
hours upon hours, where she feels compelled to speak ill on her daughter, spinning tales of how she’s not doing well in life without you & catering to your fragile victimized emotions out of guilt….
& still you show up to eat.
you feast because it’s so much ‘easier’ to continue than expend energy on finding a new stylist, even as you notice the level of service wane, your hair not lasting as long as it use to…
you sit in her chair & feed on the guilt-riddled muck all to feel any form of justice when your heart was so wrongfully hurt.
now trust: been there, done that.
some wily wisdom from the other side:
chuck the fu*kin muck.
we love to gorge ourselves on the energy we know; fearing the unknown with gusto.
doing the same actions, living in the same places, staying around the same people, no matter what.
nevertheless, at the end of the day… muck is muck.
& consuming all that muck will leave us stuck, right where we were & right where we no longer want to be.
attracting the same karmic lessons while flabbergasted at how we ended up back at square one.
you know who craves the muck?
e.
g.
o.
emotions going overboard.
ego: simultaneous protector & problem child.
the muck connoisseur.
the ego, which will continue to run rampant if left unchecked.
whenever you’re reading these words, ask yourself:
am i functioning off any muck for the sake of attention?
or am i holding space for sources of detoxified love?
again, i ask: who all in your energetic cup?
it’s ultimately up to you, what you continue to feed your soul.
eldest daughter, eldest cousin, the eldest.
over years & tears, i’ve naturally gravitated toward the role of confidante & counselor to those of my inner circle.
often a voice of detached clarity whence dealing with complicated emotional entanglements; pinpointing patterns missed while navigating the mess & plotting on how to pluck a person out of emotional unrest.
i am a neurospicy soul who guides others through life’s knots that are tricky, sticky, & muthafu*kin icky.
intention for those who consume these words: rescale your balance, release your mental|emotional burdens, & resume your walk TF forward.
Prayer Hotline
I pray you redefine your suffering.
I pray you recognize that you never lose when you follow divine guidance.
I pray you understand what is for you will always find you.
I pray you take the first step toward your dream with the faith of a mustard seed.
I pray you love yourself inside and out.
I pray you learn how valuable your life is when you curate it with intention.
I pray you are more intentional with yourself in this new season.
I pray you learn rest and make it a state of mind.
I pray you rest for the generations before you whom’s curse you have broken.
I pray you start to appreciate you today.
I love you!
Amen.
Francesca Lake
London, United Kingdom
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This year God showed me that suffering is a gift! What a hard pill to swallow! Grateful for this letter because we don’t talk about suffering nearly enough as Christians!
🙏🏾 Amen